The Alpha Who Never Loved Me (Serena and Kieran) novel Chapter 82

Chapter 82

Serena

Three black vehicles sat in front of my parents’ house when I turned into the street, and my hands tightened on the steering wheel before I registered the plates. Thawthorne cars. My pulse climbed.

I cut the engine and walked inside. My mother met me in the hallway; her face was tight and her hands gripped each other at her waist.

“Kieran and his family are in the living room,” she said. “They want to talk.”

The air in the hallway was different; it carried the scent of authority that did not belong in this house.

I stepped into the room.

Crowley occupied my father’s armchair; his posture owned the space and shrunk the room around him. Michael stood by the window with his arms at his sides and Bridget sat on the smaller sofa with her hands folded in/her lap. Kieran sat on the couch nearest to th empty:34

seat beside him: his oves found me the second L appeared

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He stood. “My grandfather and my father want to talk to you.”

“About what?” I asked.

“Sit down. Hear them out first.”

My mother and father came in behind me; my mother touched my arm and nodded. I sat down and Kieran took the seat beside me; the warmth of his body pressed close to mine and Aina stirred, desperate and traitorous.

“Where is Josh?” I asked.

“In his room,” my mother said. “This is an adult conversation.”

Bridget stood up. She smoothed the front of her dress and looked between my parents and me.

“We are here to talk about the divorce.” Her voice was

careful. “Our families have been friends for a long time and Kieran helped your family when you needed it most. The children knew each other since they were young, and it would be a shame to see them split now.” She paused and her eyes dropped to her hands. “We did not do a good

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job raising Kieran. We raised him poorly and because of that, Serena suffered.” She looked at me. “We are here

to say sorry and to ask if it’s possible for you to give him

another chance.”

My mother looked at everyone in the room, then at me.

“Serena doesn’t want to go back,” she said. “It was Serena’s decision to get a divorce and we will honor it.”

Kieran sat beside me with his head bowed and his mouth

shut; he did not say a word and he did not look up. Bridget came with an apology but Crowley and Michael came with something else; their presence in this room was not peace, it was leverage, and my stomach clenched around the knowledge.

Michael stood. “If it wasn’t for Kieran, your family would have been destroyed.” His voice filled the room. “You lost your pack and you lost everything and he was the one who saved you.” He looked at my father. “She should be grateful for this marriage. Your family should be happy that we helped you instead of questioning whether she should stay.”

The anger was a spike through my chest; I moved to 377

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stand but my mother’s hand pressed against my knee and

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held me in place. My teeth ground together and the heat crawled up my neck and sat behind my ears.

My father spoke. “It is true that Serena married into your family and our lives improved because of it. But our daughter never begged to marry Kieran.”

Michael scoffed. “Since you know your family benefited from this marriage, you should be grateful instead of pushing for a divorce.”

My mother’s voice cut through the room. “Even if your pack were the greatest pack on this earth, we will not let our daughter suffer. The divorce is going to happen. No ifs, no buts, no exceptions.”

Michael’s face hardened. “Fine. Since you want the

divorce, Serena walks away with nothing. No property, no assets, no claims.”

My eyes moved to Kieran and his eyes were already on

My chest cracked open. He sat there and let his family call my parents broken, let his father throw our poverty in qurfaces, and he did not open his mouth, did not stand,35 did not defend the woman he renewed a bond with.

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Every year I gave this man burned through me at once, the devotion, the sacrifice, the mornings I reached for him in the dark, and all of it met the wall of his silence and shattered against it.

The regret was a flood; it filled my chest and drowned everything else. Love blinded me and it led me here, to this sofa, beside a man who watched his family tear mine apart and said nothing.

“Your son figured out the debt,” I said; my voice was steady even though my ribs ached. “He calculated every cent he spent on my family and he set the price at one billion dollars.” I looked at Crowley. “He told me he would not divorce me without that payment. I have the billion dollars, and if Kieran signs the papers, we will pay immediately.”

Kieran sat there and did not move; his jaw was set and his eyes stayed on the floor.

Crowley rose to his feet. “I checked the accounts. The amount Kieran spent on your family exceeds one billion. The actual debt is one and a half billion, plus interest, bringing the total to one point five billion.”

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The number was a fist to my sternum; the floor tilted beneath my feet and my fingers dug into my knees. I did not have that money. One billion was what Kieran told me, and one billion was what I prepared.

I went to my room and came back with the bank card, the same card Kieran refused before.

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