Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

314

144 Chapter 144

Damien’s POV 1

| was already reaching for my car keys before Ophelia could respond.

“Whoa.” She caught my arm, her grip surprisingly strong. “Slow down, Damien. We need to think this through.”

“Think what through?” I shook her off, my heart racing with the first real hope I'd felt in three weeks. “If Sera’s

there, | need to get to her

now.”

“And what if she’s not? What if we're wrong?” Ophelia’s voice was gentle but firm. “You've been holding it

together by a thread. | won't watch you fall apart if this is another dead end.”

Her words hitlike cold water. She was right. I'd been surviving on pure willpower and desperation. If this

didn’t pan out...

“But what if she is there?” | asked quietly. “What if she’s been there this whole time, and I've been searching in

all the wrong places?”

Ophelia studied my face for a long moment. “Then we go get her. Together. But we do this smart, okay?”

I nodded, though every instinct screamed atto get in the car and drive until | found her.

“Do you even know where Caleb lives?”

“I can find out.”

An hour later, | stood in my driveway, keys in hand, watching Ophelia throw an overnight bag into her car. The

sun was already setting, painting the sky orange and pink. We'd lost daylight, but | couldn't wait until morning.

Not when | might be hours away from holding

Sera again.

The front door opened, and Adrian appeared on the porch in his pajamas, his dark hair sticking up at impossible

angles.

“Daddy?” His voice was small, uncertain. “Where are you going?”

My heart clenched. “I have to go somewhere for work, buddy.”

“At nighttime?”

| knelt down to his level, looking into those silver-blue eyes that were so much like mine. “Sometimes grown-up

work happens at weird

times.”

Adrian studied my face with that unnerving perception children sometimes possessed. “Are you going to look for

Mama?”

The question hitlike a punch to the chest, I'd been so careful, so sure | was hiding the truth from him. But

kids saw more than adults

gave them credit for.

“What makes you think that?”

“She’s been gone a really long time, Adrian said quietly. “And you're sad. Like. Even when you smile.”

| closed my eyes for a moment, fighting back tears. When | opened them again, Adrian was still watching me

with that patient, knowing

16.83

1/3

144 Chapter 144

expression.

“Yeah, buddy,” | said finally. “I'm going to look for Mama.”

“Can | come?”

“No, sweetheart. You need to stay here with Ms. Sarah and take care of Lily.”

“But | want to help find her too.” His bottom lip wobbled slightly. “I miss her so much, Daddy.”

I pulled him into my arms, holding him tight against my chest. “I know you do. | miss her too.”

“Is she lost?”

“She had to go away for a little while,” | said carefully. “But I'm going to find her and bring her home. | promise.”

The drive to the border took four hours. Four hours of tense silence, broken only by Ophelia’s occasional

directions from the GPS and

the sound of my hands gripping the steering wheel so tight my knuckles went white.

Every mile took us further from civilization and deeper into rural territory. Towns gave way to farmland, then to

forests and mountains.

The kind of place where people went when they wanted to disappear.

Turn left at the next intersection,” Ophelia said, squinting at her phone in the dim light.

| turned onto a narrow two-lane road that seemed to wind through endless trees. “How much further?”

“According to this, about ten miles to the town center.”

The perfect place to hide from a world that had bectoo painful to face.

“Damien,” Ophelia said softly. “What are you going to say to her? If she’s there?”

I'd been asking myself the squestion for the past four hours. What did you say to the woman who'd walked

out of your life because

she thought she wasn’t good enough?

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I'll figure it out when | see her.”

The town appeared around a bend in the roadsmall, quiet, exactly what I'd expected. A few houses scattered

along the main street, a

general store with a neon “Open” sign flickering in the window, and in the distance, the glow of what looked like

a repair shop,

Morrison’s Auto Repair. The sign was old but well-maintained, and there were lights on in the building behind it.

I pulled into the gravel parking lot, my heart hammering against my ribs. This was it. Either Sera was here, or |

was about to face another crushing disappointment.

“You ready for this?” Ophelia asked.

“No.”

But | got out of the car anyway,

The house behind the repair shop looked lived-in and welcoming. Warm light spilled from the windows, and |

could see the flicker of

16:33

2/3

<

144 Chapter 144

what might be a television in the living room.

| walked up to the front porch, my legs feeling like lead.

| raised my hand to knock, then froze as | heard voices from inside.

A man’s voice. Deep, familiar.

And then... a woman's laugh.

Soft, musical, heartbreakingly familiar.

My heart stopped completely, then started beating so fast | thought it might burst. She was here. She was

actually here.

| pounded on the door with enough force to rattle the frame.

“Sera!” | called out, not caring who heard me. “Sera, | know you're in there!”

The voices inside went silent. Footsteps approached the door, but they were too heavy to be hers.

The door opened, and Caleb Morrison stood there, looking exactly as | remembered him. Tall, broad-shouldered,

with that easy confidence that had always annoyed me. His blonde hair was mussed, like he'd been running his

hands through it, and he was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt that made him look like he belonged here.

Unlike me, in my expensive suit and desperation.

“Damien?” | could see the surprise and wariness in his eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“Is she here?” The words exploded out ofwith all the desperation I'd been holding back for three weeks. “Is

Sera here?”

Something flickered across Caleb's face.

“I don’t know what you're talking about,” he said evenly.

Comment 0

Leave the first comment for this chapter,

6

Vote

Show support to the author by leaving comments when sonding

word

word

mmMwWLIII0fiflo&1

mmMwWLIII0fiflo&1

mmMwWLIII0fiflo&1

mmMwWLIII0fiflo&1

mmMwWL1i10f1ifl0&1

mmMwWLIiI0fiflO&1