To ruin an Omega novel Chapter 207

Chapter 207: Sticky situation

MADELINE

The word hung there. Simple and direct.

My heart kicked against my ribs.

I kept my expression neutral. Kept my voice steady. "What about us?"

He stepped closer. Not too close but enough that I had to tilt my head slightly to maintain eye contact.

"I need to know something," he said. "And I need you to be honest with me."

"I am always honest with you, Cian."

"Are you?"

The question landed like a stone dropping into still water. The ripples spread out between us.

I felt something cold settle in my chest. "What are you asking me, Cian?"

"I am asking if there is anything you are not telling me." His eyes searched mine. "Anything I should know about why you are really here."

My throat tightened. "I am here because I helped your mother. Because I had nowhere else to go. You know this."

"I know what you have told me."

"And you think I am lying?"

"I think—" He stopped and he ran a hand through his hair. "I think there are things that do not add up." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"Like what?"

"Like how convenient it is that you got excommunicated right when staying here became complicated." His voice was still calm but there was an edge to it now. Sharp. Cutting. "Like how your father, who holds immense power, just let this happen without a fight."

My pulse hammered in my ears. "You think I orchestrated my own exile?"

"Did you?"

"No." The word came out firm. Clear. "I did not."

He watched me. His gaze was intense. Searching for cracks. For tells.

I held it. Did not look away. Did not blink.

"Cian." I kept my voice soft. "I understand your mother and Fia probably feel uncomfortable with me being here. I understand that this situation is complicated. But I did not plan for any of this to happen the way it did."

"Then help me understand." He took another step closer. "Help me understand why your coven would go this far. Why your father would allow it. Why any of this makes sense."

"Because magic has rules." I spread my hands slightly. "Because covens have laws that even the father supreme cannot break. Because I interfered in your pack business when I was told not to." My voice rose just a fraction. "Because I chose to help you and your family over my own people. That is why."

He was quiet.

The afternoon breeze picked up. It rustled through the trees nearby. Carried the scent of pine and earth.

"I want to believe you," he said finally.

"But you do not."

"I did not say that."

"You did not have to."

His jaw worked. Like he was chewing on words he was not ready to say yet.

I took a breath. Let it out slowly. "If you want me to leave, I will leave. You do not have to give me a place to stay. I will figure something out."

"That is not what I want."

"Then what do you want?"

"I want the truth."

"I gave you the truth."

"Did you?"

We were going in circles now. The same questions. The same answers. Neither of us backing down.

I felt tired suddenly. Bone deep tired.

"I cannot make you trust me, Cian." My voice came out quieter than I intended. "If you have already decided I am playing some kind of game then nothing I say will change your mind. I feel so disgusting right now even. What would even make you think this way of me? No wonder your mom had that sick thought of me. I am not that in love with you... You arrogant prick!"

The space between us yawned open, heavy and charged.

"Maybe it is madness," he said, more to himself than to me. "Maybe Ronan was right. Maybe this is just cognitive dissonance."

My heart began to pound. "What are you talking about, Cian?"

"I was going to watch you," he admitted. His mouth curved in something like self-disgust. "Just watch you act. Let you exist here until you slipped. Until I could tell myself I was right to be wary."

My stomach twisted.

"But I cannot," he went on, lifting his gaze back to mine. There was something raw in it now. Something stripped bare. "Not on my honor. Or yours. You do not deserve this kind of suspicion."

Suspicion....

The word echoed in my skull.

My voice came out thin. "Suspicion?"

He hesitated.

For half a heartbeat, I thought he might lie. That he might soften it, reshape it into something easier to swallow.

He did not.

"You think I did something," I said slowly.

His silence was an answer all its own.

"You think I did something," I repeated, louder now, disbelief cracking through the exhaustion. "You dragged me here, questioned me, looked at me like I was something dirty under your boot, because you think I am capable of what, exactly?"

His eyes met mine.

"I thought you killed that witch."

The world tilted and cold spread through my veins, starting at my chest and radiating outward, like ice water poured directly into my blood. My fingers went numb. My mouth felt dry.

"What... are you taking about?"

"Mads, did you kill Ophelia?"