My Cheating Mate (Emma and Jeremy) novel Chapter 118

Chapter 118

My Cheating Mate

Jeremy pov

The morning came too quickly. I’d maybe slept two hours total, my mind racing through scenarios, tuntingencies, ways this could go wrong

Emma hadn’t slept much better. I’d felt her wake multiple times, heard her cheek on Grace, felt the tension radiating from her body.

Now, at 7 AM, she sat in the rocking chair by Grace’s bassinet, tears streaming silently down her fase. She’d been crying on and off since we woke, the reality of Dr. Chen’s betrayal hitting her in waves.

“Emma” I started, but she shook her head.

“I’m fine. I just–I need to process.” She wiped her eyes roughly. “Every session. Every breakthrough. Every time I trusted her with something painful–Jeremy, was any of it real?”

“The healing was real. What we built was real.”

“But she wasn’t.” More tears. “I told her things I haven’t told anyone. About feeling worthless when I discovered the affair. About the nightmares. About being terrified you’d choose Vanessa over me again. And she—she just—”

A soft knock interrupted. Lord Castellan entered without waiting for permission, his expression shifting the moraent he saw Emma’s tears.

Something I’d never seen before crossed his face. Concern? Sympathy? Hard to tell with vampires.

“Emma.” His voice was gentler than I’d ever heard it. “You’re crying.”

“I’m fine.” She tried to compose herself, to be strong. “We were just discussing-”

“You’re not fine.” He moved across the room with that unnatural grace and, surprisingly, sat on the floor beside her rocking chair. Not looming over her. Making himself smaller, less intimidating. “You trusted Dr. Chen. Trusted her with vulnerable parts of yourself. And she weaponized that trust. You have every right to cry.”

Emma stared at him, apparently as surprised as I was by the vampire lord’s sudden gentleness.

“I didn’t think vampires cared about-” she gestured vaguely at her tears.

“About emotional pain? We’re not monsters, despite what hunters believe.” He glanced at Grace sleeping in her bassinet, and his expression softened further. “We love. We grieve. We understand betrayal. I’ve lived long enough to experience all of it many times over.”

“How do you deal with it?” Emma asked quietly. “The betrayals? The people who use your trust against you?”

“Poorly, usually. Lots of revenge and dramatic gestures and decisions I later regret.” A slight smile. “But I’ve learned that the betrayal says more about them than you. Dr. Chen’s choices–her willingness to put your daughter at risk–that’s her failure. Not yours.”

“It feels like mine. Like I should have seen it. Should have known something was wrong.”

“How could you? She’s a professional therapist. Trained to make people feel safe, to build trust, to seem trustworthy.” Lord Castellan’s voice was firm. “Emma, you did nothing wrong. You sought help for your relationship. You did the work. You opened your heart. Those were all brave, healthy choices.”

“That’s-” Emma’s voice cracked. “That’s what Dr. Chen would say.”

“Then perhaps some of her guidance was genuine. Just because she betrayed you doesn’t mean every word she spoke was a lie

He paused Through understand why you’d doubt everything now.

+15 Bonus

Emma wiped her eyes again, taking a shaky breath. “You said your have a plan. For extracting her family?”

“I do.” He stood smoothly, moving to where Jeremy could see. “My people located Dr. Chen’s daughter and grandchildren. They’re being held in a safe house outside Portland, guarded by three hunters Not high security–they’re banking on Dr. Chen’s cooperation keeping her family safe.”

“Can you get them out?” I asked.

“Already done.” At my shocked expression, he smiled. “I moved quickly. My team extracted them three hours ago. Dr. Chen’s family is currently safe at one of my properties, being treated well and kept completely ignorant of why they were moved.” “You didn’t wait for our approval,” I said carefully.

“I didn’t. Because Jeremy, this needed to happen fast. The hunters expect daily check–ins from Dr. Chen. If she missed one, they’d know something was wrong.” He pulled out his phone, showing security footage of an older woman and two teenagers being escorted by vampires. “They’re safe. That gives us leverage.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify