The Alpha Who Never Loved Me (Serena and Kieran) novel Chapter 71

< The Alpha Who Never Loved Me

Chapter 71

Serena

A text from Jenna lit up my screen.

I’m in the country. Can we meet? I’m staying at the Grand Diamond, room 412. Come to the restaurant downstairs.

I stared at the message for a few seconds. Jenna did not know her way around this city; she must have booked the first hotel she found and sat there waiting for me.

I changed out of my scrubs and drove to the hotel.

The restaurant was on the ground floor, warm and busy. I scanned the room and spotted her at a table near the window; she stood the second she saw me.

“Serena!” She squealed and crossed the room in four quick strides.

I met her halfway. She threw her arms around me and squeezed so hard my ribs ached; I squeezed back just as hard. My eyes burned and I blinked the sting away before she could see it.

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“Oh my God, look at you.” She pulled back and held me at arm’s length; her eyes moved over my face, my body, my clothes. “You’ve lost weight.”

“I’ve been busy.” I forced a smile out.

“Busy starving yourself.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the table. “Sit down. This is my treat and you are going to eat until you can’t move.”

I sat. She was right; I neglected myself. The work and the studying consumed every hour and the meals I ate were small and forgettable. For a woman carrying a child, I was not doing a good job.

The waiter came and I ordered more than I needed; a steak with roasted vegetables, garlic bread, a bowl of soup, fresh juice, and a slice of chocolate cake. Jenna raised her eyebrows.

“That’s more food than I’ve seen you eat in a year.”

“I’m hungry.” I opened the napkin and placed it on my lap. “Now tell me about yourself. How is everything?”

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Jenna flipped her hair over her shoulder; she wore a burgundy blouse with gold buttons and her nails were

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freshly done in a deep red. She looked like she stepped off a magazine cover and walked straight into this restaurant without breaking stride.

“I found the most incredible moisturizer,” she said. “It’s from this tiny brand nobody has heard of but my skin has never looked this good. Feel my face.”

She leaned across the table and I pressed my fingers against her cheek.

“That is unfairly soft,” I said.

“I know.” She grinned. “I’ll send you the name. Your skin is dry, by the way. You need to hydrate.”

“Thank you for that observation.”

The food arrived and I ate. The steak was tender and the garlic bread was warm and the soup settled in my stomach and spread heat through my chest. I ate until the plate was clean and then I ate the cake and washed it down with juice.

Jenna watched me with satisfaction. “That’s the most I’ve seep you enjoy food since you left.”

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We talked about her plans for the week, about a new hair salon she discovered back home, about a drama series she binge-watched on the flight over. She told me that Trevor tried to cook her dinner last week and nearly burned down his kitchen.

“The man can run a bar but he cannot boil an egg,” she said; her laughter filled the space between us.

For an hour, I forgot.

Then the conversation dimmed.

The silence was much expected. I knew she had something else to say other than everything she had said before. And she knew I knew..

I set my spoon down. “Why did you come here, Jenna?”

She hesitated; her fingers fidgeted with the edge of her napkin. But then she eventually let it go and leaned in.

“Mom and I went to Sophie’s house.” She said with fervor for a woman hesitant a second ago. “We chased her out and we made sure to give her a good beating.”

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My jaw tightened.

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“Kieran found out,” she continued. “He came to the house

and made a ruckus. He almost hit me.” She swallowed. “And now he’s been going to the hospital every day because of her.”

I sat still, my heart suddenly too heavy for me.

Would a woman be happy to hear that her husband treated another woman the way he should have treated

his wife?

My chest was a fist; it clenched around everything I tried to keep buried. The hurt, the jealousy, the longing, all of it pressed against my ribs and demanded to be felt.

But I was done feeling.

I dropped my spoon and smiled at Jenna.

“Let’s not talk about irrelevant people.” I picked up my juice. “Tell me more about the moisturizer.”

Jenna blinked. Then her face softened and she nodded.

“Okay.”

We talked until the restaurant started to empty_She

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hugged me at the elevator and told me she loved me and I told her I loved her too and meant it with every part of

me that still worked.

The next day, Jenna texted me that she was leaving. I was at work and could not go to the airport but I called her and wished her a safe flight.

The call ended and I stared at my phone.

My heart was so heavy I could feel it pulling my chest toward the floor.

I had been keeping my emotions in check for weeks; I numbed them, I tied them down, I locked them away so I could finally be nonchalant to Kieran and all his drama. I did not want to get affected by him anymore and I thought I was doing well.

But hearing that Kieran went against his own family for Sophie, my heart was dug from its grave and strangled all

over again.

I hated everything right now.

Most of all, I hated that I could not hate him.

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But not hating him did not mean I was going to keep loving him.

It did not mean I was going to swallow everything he did and let it sit inside me and rot. I was going to ignore him and keep ignoring him until my heart turned to stone.

The divorce proceedings would not be handled by me anymore. My lawyer would take it from here.

Whatever Kieran wanted to do or say, he would face my lawyer, not me.

I kept my head clear and I focused on work.

In a few weeks, I would go home for the Full Moon Festival; when I did, I would see my family again.

The Full Moon Festival was a time for mates to renew their bond, a ceremony that kept the love and the connection between partners burning.

But there was no passion between Kieran and me that needed to be reignited. I would only be going back to see my family.

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Time went by, I poured everything into work and study

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for weeks. I ate better; I slept more. I did it for my baby because my baby deserved a mother whose body was not falling apart.

The break came and I bought my ticket and boarded the plane home.

Kieran

I sat in my car in front of Serena’s parents’ house.

My phone was in my hand; the screen showed an email from a divorce lawyer. I received it a few days ago but I could not stop reading it.

I thought we were cooling off. I thought she needed time and space and she would come back when her anger burned itself out.

But she hired a lawyer to push the divorce forward, even during the Full Moon Festival, the one event where mates were supposed to renew their bond and remind each

other why they chose to stay.

She did not want to stay.

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