Fated To Not Just One, But Three - Chapter 557

Chapter 557: If It Was Him
Olivia’s POV

I stood there… absolutely frozen.

My breath was not moving. My lips parted, but no sound came out.

Annabella was not done.

She wiped her cheek with her thumb, took a deep, shaky breath, and continued, her voice soft… but full of painful honesty.

“I have been in love with him, even in his unconscious state,” she whispered. “For four years, Olivia. Four years of watching him suffer. Four years of talking to him even when he could not hear me.”

My stomach twisted painfully.

She shook her head slowly. “But he does not know. He never knew. And even now, even if he finds out, he will never accept me.”

She swallowed hard, staring at the bowl she was mixing.

“Because of you.”

My heart thudded painfully in my chest.

Annabella laughed quietly, a broken, sad laugh. “Lennox loves you. He always has. Even when he was unconscious, even when he was half-dead, even when he woke up and you were not there, he still loved you.”

Her fingers brushed under her eyes again.

“He loves you despite how much you have hurt him.”

The words cut deep.

“I am not your enemy, Olivia,” she said softly. “I am not some villain in your story like you want to paint me. I am not trying to steal him from you. I am just…” she exhaled shakily. “…a girl who fell in love with a man who did not even know I existed.”

My throat tightened so badly it hurt.

Annabella turned away from me and continued stirring the pot, her shoulders trembling slightly.

The kitchen was painfully quiet, nothing but the sound of a wooden spoon touching the metal pot.

I stood there… unmoving… shocked… hurt… jealous… guilty… angry… all at the same time.

I did not even know what to say.

She did not look back at me once.

She just kept cooking.

As if confessing all that did not shatter something deep inside me.

I stood there… rooted to the floor… staring at her back… feeling the world tilt under my feet.

I did not know how long I stood there in that kitchen… staring at Annabella’s back while she stirred that pot like nothing had cracked open in the room.

Her words echoed over and over in my head.

“I cared for him.”

“I sustained him.”

“He almost died, and I stayed.”

“I fell in love with him.”

“He loves you despite everything.”

Each sentence hit a part of me I did not even know still hurt.

My throat felt tight… my chest heavy… my stomach twisting like I had swallowed fire.

I could not stand there anymore.

I turned around slowly… walked out of the kitchen with shaky steps… and the moment I reached the hallway, a tear escaped.

Hot. Quiet. Painful.

I wiped it quickly and hurried outside to the garden before anyone saw me.

The morning air was cool… but my chest felt hot… burning.

I sat on the stone bench near the flowers and let out a long breath that trembled all the way through my ribs.

Another tear rolled down.

Then another.

She said he almost died.

My fingers curled against my knees.

She said she stayed with him… while I did not.

My heart twisted painfully.

I did not know. I did not know any of it.

I was here living a normal life… while Annabella was fighting beside him… keeping him alive… watching over him in ways I should have.

I claimed to love him.

But I was not the one by his side.

She was.

A fresh wave of guilt washed through me so strong I bent my head.

And then the worst thought hit me.

What if the roles were reversed?

What if I was the one in that coma?

Would Lennox have abandoned me?

Would Levi and Louis have chased him away?

Would he have let four years pass without seeing me?

No.

Never.

He would have torn the world apart looking for me.

He would have sat next to me every night.

He would have fought anyone who tried to stop him.

The realization tore something inside me.

“I failed us…” I whispered to myself.

My voice cracked.

“I failed him.”

I heard soft footsteps and quickly wiped my cheeks.

A maid approached gently.

“Luna, breakfast is ready.”

I nodded and forced a small smile. “Thank you.”

As soon as she left, I inhaled deeply, wiped my face properly, and headed to the dining room.

The boys were already seated, bright and cheerful.

“Good morning, Mommy!” they chorused.

I smiled, big and warm, because they did not deserve to see my sadness.

Levi and Louis stood the moment they saw me.

“Morning, sweetheart,” Louis said, kissing my cheek.

“Good morning,” Levi added, kissing the other side.

We all sat down.

But their eyes lingered on me.

They knew.

They could smell the sadness.

They could sense the confusion.

They could hear my wolf pacing inside me.

But the kids were present, so they said nothing.

Louis’s voice slid into my mind through the link.

“Are you okay?”

I kept smiling at the boys and lied silently.

“I am fine.”

He did not believe it.

Levi did not either.

I could feel it.

Halfway through breakfast, Liam looked around suddenly.

“Is Father Lennox not coming?”

I froze.

Louis stilled.

Levi looked down.

I forced a soft voice. “No, baby, he is busy right now.”

Liam’s face fell.

He poked his food quietly.

Then, in a tiny voice that stabbed me in the chest, he asked:

“Is Father Lennox angry with us… because we abandoned him?”

My heart stopped.

The fork slipped from my hand.

Before I could speak, Levi’s voice came out rough and rushed.

“No. No, Liam. We did not abandon him. He was sick. Very sick. And he needed… no distractions.”

I frowned at Levi sharply, because even I knew that explanation was weak.

Liam stared at him, confused. “But sick people can have visitors. When I was sick, you visited me, and Mommy did too.”

Louis swallowed hard. “Lennox’s case was different.”

Liam tilted his head. “Different how? He was not suffering from a contagious disease… he was not dangerous… he was not.” His voice cracked.

“Even if he was, we still could have visited him if we really wanted to.”

The room went silent.

Liam looked all three of us in the eyes: me, Levi, and Louis.

“Why didn’t we?”

None of us answered.

Louis opened his mouth, closed it, rubbed his forehead.

I felt guilt slice through my chest like a blade.

Liam was not done.

“Father Lennox was alone, right?” he whispered. “All those years?”

Levi’s jaw tightened.

And Liam, sweet, innocent, honest Liam, kept going, voice trembling.

“We were here… eating… laughing… playing… sleeping in warm beds… having Mommy and you and Father Louis… and Father Lennox was somewhere else alone… hurting… and none of us were with him.”

Leon looked at him with wide eyes.

Liam sniffed once and wiped his face. “What we did was wrong, Father. Very wrong.”

Levi slammed his palm on the table, hard.

“Enough, Liam!”