SOPHIA’S POV
"Ashley, sweetheart, please calm down," Damien said "The doctor will be here soon. You’re going to be okay."
"I don’t want the doctor!" Ashley wailed. Her little body curled tighter around her stomach. "I want Tiffany! Call her! Please, Daddy!"
I watched as Damien looked helpless.
"Okay," he said finally. "Okay, I’ll call her. Just try to breathe, sweetheart. Deep breaths like Tiffany taught you."
He pulled out his phone and stepped away from the bed, dialing quickly. I heard Tiffany’s voice answer and Damien’s low tone explaining the situation.
"She wants to talk to you," Damien said, bringing the phone back to Ashley.
Ashley grabbed it immediately, pressing it to her ear.
"Tiffany?" Her sobs got quieter. "My tummy hurts so bad... I know, I’m trying to breathe... When are you coming home? Can’t you come now? Please?"
I moved to the chair by Ashley’s bed and sat down. My body moved on autopilot. My wolf was silent. She was too wounded to even whimper anymore. The mate bond felt like a dead weight in my chest.
"Tiffany says she’s going to come back early," Ashley said, looking at Damien instead of me. "She’s booking a flight right now. She’ll be here tomorrow."
"That’s good, baby," Damien said gently. "See? Everything’s going to be okay."
Ashley nodded, still clutching the phone.
"Don’t hang up," she begged Tiffany. "Just stay on the phone with me until the doctor gets here."
I sat there watching my daughter find comfort in another woman’s voice, and tears started sliding down my cheeks. I didn’t even try to stop them. What was the point?
I was sitting right here - her actual mother, the woman who’d carried her for nine months, who’d nearly died bringing her into this world, who’d stayed up countless nights when she was sick, who’d given up everything to try to be what she needed.
And she wanted someone else.
"Sophia." Damien’s voice was quiet. He’d noticed my tears. "Don’t."
Don’t what? Don’t cry? Don’t feel?
I stood up, wiping at my face. "I should go."
"The ambulance will be here any minute-"
"You don’t need me here. She doesn’t want me here." My voice came out flat and dead. "She has you. She has Tiffany on the phone. She has everything she needs."
"Sophia-"
"I need some air." I walked toward the door, and Damien grabbed my arm.
"Don’t leave like this."
I looked down at his hand on my arm, then back up at his face. "What do you want from me, Damien? You want me to stay here and watch our daughter cry for another woman?”
"She’s just a child. She doesn’t understand-"
"She understands perfectly." I pulled my arm free. "She understands that you love Tiffany more than you love me."
"That’s not-"
"It is. And I’m done fighting it." I grabbed my purse from where I’d dropped it earlier. "Call me when you need me to sign divorce papers. Until then, I’ll stay out of your way so you can build the family you actually want."
I walked out of the room and down the stairs. Behind me, I could hear Ashley still talking to Tiffany. Her voice got calmer as the other woman soothed her.


VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABEL
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Piss Off, Alpha! You Lost Me Forever