Chapter 15

Darren.

I stare at the woman who I thought loved me. She looks nothing like her impeccable self. Her hair has not been brushed for days and her skin looks pale and ashy. Even though she had changed clothes, they weren't her usual designer brands; I could tell that she hated that.

After the paternity tests had come out, Sebastian had handed her over to the council for trial, his claims based on her drugging him then taking advantage of him, and also lying about the child she was carrying being his.

Given he was a prominent Alpha, the council had responded immediately, taking her off his hands and locking her in their cells as she awaited trial.

"Why, Miranda? Tell me why," I ask her, unable to hide the tremble in my voice.

I was allowed to see her only because I was her mate. I couldn't stop myself from coming to see her. I just wanted—needed—to know why she did this to me, to us. Nobody knew that I came to see her, otherwise they wouldn't have approved of this visit.

She shrugs her shoulders. “It's really nothing personal, Darren. Stop taking it to heart.”

I look at her as if I've never seen her before. Is this the same woman who had approached me a year ago with her claims of love? Telling me that even though she got mated to Sebastian, she never got over me? That she always loved me?

How could I have been so blind and stupid? She was so sweet and loving and, like the fool I am, I fell for her act. I left Lauren, the perfect mate, and trampled on her love all for her, and all she can tell me is that it's nothing personal?

“How is it nothing personal? You fucking cheated on me with multiple men,” I shout at her, still unable to grasp the truth after a little investigation.

I was losing it. My anger and pain were warring against each other. Kai was shattered when we got the results and realized the pup she was carrying wasn't ours and neither was it Sebastian's. The realization literally brought us to the ground.

She rolls her eyes and just looks at me, unbothered, like this was nothing of importance to her. Like my pain was insignificant. She was my fucking mate, my fated mate, and it's as if she felt absolutely nothing for us.

“When Sebastian and I separated, he took everything from me. I was left with nothing. I needed someone to cushion my fall from grace. You were the perfect man for the job,” she says, staring at her nails as if she hasn't just crushed my world.

"Perfect man for the job?" I ask stupidly, unable to believe what I was hearing.

She replies noncommittally. “Hmm.”

“So you used me?”

“Pretty much,” she says with a cold smile.

How have I never noticed how cold she was? How cruel and deceitful she was? This version I was seeing of her clashed with the one I knew—the one she pretended to be. I wanted to blame the world, blame Lauren for not fighting harder for me, and blame my family for allowing me to fall for her trap. But in the end, the blame is on me.

"Did you ever love me? Truly love me?” I hoped that she would say yes. That a part of her, no matter how tiny, had loved me. That all this hadn't been for nothing.

She sits upright in her tiny cell bed, sighing as if the thought of loving me made her tired.

“If you want the truth, then the answer is no. I didn’t love you and I never will, Darren. You might be my fated mate, but I never even liked you. I only stayed with you those first few months because of your title. When I got a better man, I left and never looked behind—that was until he found out the truth and kicked me out—but I never loved you.”

If I thought I knew pain before, then that was nothing compared to how I was feeling right now. I felt like my insides had been shredded. Like my chest had been torn open and my heart had been ripped apart.

I grab the bars of the cell to steady myself. I feel like I have just been sucker-punched. Everything that I had believed had been a lie. Nothing had been real for her, and she was just using me. The funny thing is that I would have laid down my fucking life for her.

“Seriously, can you be any more dramatic?” I hear her sneer, but it sounds like it's coming from underwater.

I needed to leave. The room was closing in on me and I couldn't breathe. My lungs felt constricted, like I was suffocating. I turn around to leave, blindly. My eyesight was perfect, but in that moment, I couldn't fucking see.

“Darren?” she calls in a small voice.

Against my better judgment, I turn around. “What?”

"How long will it take you to take me out of this place? It's disgusting.”

I look at her in contempt and shock. Here I was hoping that she was going to tell me that she had loved me, that she wanted me. Yet here I am again as the fool. Just like from the start, she just wanted to use me. To use the position I held.

How could she even think that I would help her after the train wreck she just caused? Am I really that gullible that she thinks she can play me a third time?

"Why don't you ask the bastard you fucked behind my back to get you out? Or maybe you can spread your legs for one of the guards since you're so good at it. I'm sure they'll consider letting you out once they're done with you.” I hear her gasp, but I no longer give a damn. I was done with Miranda.

Without sparing her another look, I leave, even though my soul called out for its other half.

I end up in a bar, drunk and pissed as hell. No matter how much I drank, I couldn't seem to drown the pain I was feeling. It was a constant ache that bled with each breath I took. A fucking reminder that I loved and I lost. If I could, I would tear the useless piece of my body called my heart out, but I can't. My mind thinks back to Lauren, and I laugh at the irony that hits me head-on. Didn't she ask me the same question I asked Miranda just a few hours ago? I feel even more stupid when I remember telling her that I had never loved her and that my heart had always belonged to Miranda.

How ironic is it that Miranda told me the same thing I told Lauren? Karma truly was a fucking bitch. Because here I was, drunk off my ass with a bleeding heart. I had broken Lauren, torn her heart, and trampled on her love. A love I now wish I had never let go of, because she now belonged to someone else and I had nothing but heartache and regrets.

Was it too late to claim the woman that I had thoughtlessly thrown away? Would she even want me back enough to leave Sebastian, after everything I've put her through?