Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother - Chapter 228

Chapter 228: Chapter 228
Seraphina’s POV

I closed Lily’s door softly.

Her breathing was already evening out. Deep. Peaceful. The kind of sleep only children could achieve—no worries, no betrayals, no images of their father in another woman’s bed burned into their brain.

I stood in the hallway for a moment. My hand still on the doorknob.

Down the hall, I could hear Adrian’s music playing softly through his door. He was still awake. Reading probably. Or pretending to read while his mind worked through whatever eight-year-old problems he was dealing with.

Normal kid stuff. Homework stress. Friend drama. Not the complete implosion of his parents’ marriage.

I walked past his room. Down the stairs. Each step feeling like wading through concrete.

Damien was still in the living room.

I saw him from the corner of my eye. Sitting on the couch in the dark. His elbows on his knees. Head in his hands.

Looking exactly like someone who’d spent the night with another woman and got caught.

Or looking like someone dealing with a crisis I didn’t understand yet.

I couldn’t tell anymore.

My feet carried me past the living room. Toward the stairs leading to my room. The guest room. Because I still couldn’t bring myself to sleep in our bedroom.

He looked destroyed. Dark circles under his eyes. Hair a mess. Clothes still wrinkled from… from wherever he’d been.

“Sera,” I heard his voice. “You look weird.”

What was I supposed to say? That his brother showed me a picture? That I saw evidence of betrayal? That every word out of his mouth today had felt like a lie?

“I’m just tired,” I said instead. “It was a long day at training.”

We stood there. Ten feet of space between us that felt like miles.

“Did something happen?” His voice got quieter. More uncertain. “At the facility? Did someone say something?”

My face must have reacted. Some microscopic change. Because his expression shifted immediately.

“Nothing.”

“Sera—”

“I said nothing.” I turned away. “I’m going to bed. Goodnight.”

I walked toward the stairs. Fast. Before he could stop me. Before I could break down and demand answers I wasn’t ready to hear.

His footsteps followed. “Sera, wait—”

“Goodnight, Damien.”

I took the stairs two at a time. Heard him stop at the bottom. Heard him exhale slowly.

“Goodnight,” he said finally. Defeated.

I reached my room. Closed the door. Locked it.

Then I stood there. Back pressed against the wood. Breathing hard like I’d run a marathon.

The room was dark. Cold. Empty.

I moved to the bed on autopilot. Sat down on the edge. Stared at nothing.

My phone felt heavy in my pocket.

I pulled it out. The screen glowed in the darkness. No new messages. No missed calls.

Just that picture Gabriel had shown me. Burned into my memory. Refusing to fade.

I lay back on the bed. Fully clothed. Didn’t even bother getting under the covers.

The ceiling stared down at me. Blank. Uncaring.

My mind raced through possibilities. Explanations. Scenarios.

Maybe it was fake. Maybe Gabriel had photoshopped it. He was manipulative enough. Cruel enough. It would be exactly his style.

But the image had looked so real. The lighting. The details. Emma’s hand on Damien’s chest. Those marks on her neck.

My marks. The ones he used to leave on me.

My stomach churned.

Or maybe there was a reasonable explanation. Maybe he’d gotten drunk. Maybe Gabriel had set something up. Orchestrated the whole thing.

That made sense, right? Gabriel hated Damien. Hated me. He’d love nothing more than to destroy us.

But then why hadn’t Damien said anything? Why the vague excuse about work? Why the guilt written all over his face?

I rolled onto my side. Curled up. Made myself small.

The darkness pressed in from all sides.

Hours passed. Or maybe minutes. Time had lost all meaning.

I couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t stop thinking. Couldn’t turn off the endless loop of questions and doubts and fears.

What if Gabriel was telling the truth?

What if Damien really had moved on? Really had found someone better? Someone who deserved him more than I did?

Emma was perfect. Beautiful. Capable. Present. Everything I hadn’t been.

Why wouldn’t he choose her?

The thought made my chest cave in.

Three years. Three years I’d been gone. Three years he’d been alone. Three years for him to realize he was better off without me.

And then I came back. Broken. Damaged. Without my wolf. Without anything to offer except pain and complications.

Of course he’d want Emma instead.

The logical part of my brain tried to argue. Tried to point out that Damien had come looking for me. Had locked me in that hotel room. Had brought me home. Had fought to keep me here.

But the other part—the part that had been broken three years ago and never fully healed—whispered different things.

*He kept you because of the kids. Not because he wanted you.*

*He’s playing both sides. Keeping you hidden while building a life with her.*

*You’re the dirty secret. She’s the real Luna.*

I pressed my hands over my ears. Like that would stop the voices.

It didn’t help.

My phone buzzed on the nightstand.

I grabbed it. Some stupid part of me hoping it was Damien. That he’d come upstairs. That he’d text me. That he’d explain everything and make it make sense.

Unknown number.

I stared at it. My thumb hovering over the screen.

It buzzed again. Another message from the same number.

**Unknown: Still thinking about what I showed you?**

My blood turned to ice.

Gabriel.

**Unknown: Must be eating you alive. Not knowing. Not being sure.**

I should delete it. Block the number. Throw the phone across the room.

Instead, I typed back.

**Me: How did you get this number?**

The response came immediately.

**Unknown: I have my ways. But that’s not important. What’s important is the truth.**

**Me: And you think you have the truth?**

**Unknown: I have evidence. You saw it yourself.**

My hands shook. The phone screen blurred.

**Unknown: But if you want more… if you want to know for sure… I can help.**

I stared at those words. Read them three times. Four.

This was manipulation. Obviously. Gabriel was playing games. Trying to drive a wedge between Damien and me.

But what if he was also telling the truth?

My finger hovered over the call button.

This was insane. Calling Gabriel. Trusting anything he said. He’d cheated on me with my own sister. He’d lied and manipulated and hurt me before.

But he was also the only person who seemed willing to give me answers.

I hit call before I could change my mind.

The phone rang once. Twice.

Then his voice. Smooth. Satisfied.

“Well, well. I was wondering when you’d call.”