Chapter 170 IS IT OVER?

Chapter 170 IS IT OVER?


The sunlight hit the packhouse like an accusation.  

There were no clouds to soften it, no rain to wash anything clean. Just white, relentless afternoon light pouring over the stone and the windows and the driveway, making every crack and every stain visible. 

Seraphina parked the car and sat for a long moment with her hands still on the wheel, because for the first time in years she didn’t know what came next. The gates had opened for them without a question, the guards just nodding and looking away, and now the big house was in front of her, bright and exposed, and inside it was Alex and Mia and probably Kane and Goddess knew who else.  

In the passenger seat Alessia hadn’t moved. She was staring out the window at the front steps like they were a cliff she was about to jump off. 

She still was wearing Seraphina’s gray sweater and it was too big on her and her hair was in a braid that was coming loose and she looked younger than she had any right to look, like a kid who’d been told she was a princess and believed it because she didn’t know any better.  

“You okay?” Seraphina asked, but her voice sounded wrong in the quiet of the car.  

Alessia nodded. “Yeah.”  
She wasn’t okay. Seraphina could tell by the way her fingers were twisting together in her lap, by the way her breathing was too fast.  

“Let’s get it over with,” Alessia said finally, and reached for the door handle.  

The heat hit them as soon as they stepped out. It was dry and heavy and it smelled like cut grass and dust. 

By the time they reached the front steps both of them were sweating. Seraphina rang and the sound echoed loud in the bright afternoon.  

The door opened before her knuckles had even finished.  

Kane stood there.  

He looked like hell. His shirt was wrinkled and there were dark circles under his eyes and his hair was sticking up in the back like he’d been running his hands through it for hours. 

He’d just gotten back from driving Jenna home and it showed. His eyes went to Seraphina first, flicked over her face, and then they landed on Alessia and he went completely still.  

“Alessia,” he said, and it wasn’t a question.  

Alessia didn’t answer. She just stood there on the threshold, blinking in the light, looking smaller than she ever had.  

From somewhere inside the house Mia’s voice called out. “Who is it?”  

Kane stepped aside without taking his eyes off Alessia. “It’s them,” he said quietly.  

Seraphina walked in first. The living room was flooded with light from the big windows and it made everything feel too honest. She could see the dust in the air, the worn spot on the rug, the way the coffee table had a ring from a cup. 

The fire wasn’t lit because it was too hot for that, and instead the AC hummed quietly in the background. And in the middle of all of it stood Alex.  

He was wearing a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up and there were bandages at his collar and his hair was damp like he’d just washed his face. One arm was around Mia and Sara was asleep on Mia’s shoulder, her little face tucked in.  

Alex stopped breathing when he saw them.  

His eyes moved from Seraphina to Alessia and then they stayed on Alessia and didn’t move. For a long time no one said anything. The only sounds were the hum of the AC and Sara’s soft breathing and the distant noise of a car passing on the road outside.  

Then Alex took a step forward, and then another, and his voice when it came was rough like he hadn’t used it in days. “Alessia?”  

Alessia’s mouth opened and closed and then tears started cutting clean lines down her face and she whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. He told me—”  

“Shh,” Alex said, and he crossed the room in three strides and pulled her into his arms.  

Alessia broke apart in his hold. She sobbed into his chest, loud and ugly and desperate, her hands fisting in the back of his shirt like she was afraid that if she let go he would disappear.

Alex’s hand came up into her hair and he held her there, steady, while she cried. “I thought you were dead,” he murmured against her hair. “I thought Ivan had you. I thought I’d lost you too.”  

Mia came up beside them and without a word she put her free hand on Alessia’s back and started rubbing slow circles there. 

The three of them stood like that in the middle of the living room, in the sunlight..  

Behind them Seraphina didn’t move. She stood in the doorway with her hands at her sides and watched and felt like she was looking at something she had no right to see. She’d spent years hating this man and now he was holding the girl she’d helped hurt and he was calling her family.  

Kane cleared his throat. “Is he—”  

“Basement,” Alex said without letting go of Alessia. “Cuffed to the pipe.”  

Kane nodded and his eyes flicked to Seraphina. He looked at her for a long moment, really looked, and Seraphina realized with a jolt that the pull was gone. The spell was gone. 

There was no heat, no fake mate bond, no compulsion. Just Kane, tired and angry and confused, looking at her like he didn’t know who she was anymore. Seraphina couldn’t hold his gaze. She dropped her eyes to the floor.  

The moment broke when Alex pulled back but kept his hand on Alessia’s shoulder like he was afraid she would vanish if he didn’t. He looked her over, face and arms and hands, searching for injuries. “Are you hurt?” he asked.  

Alessia shook her head. “No. He fed me. He gave me clothes. He said it was to keep me safe until it was time for me to take what was mine.”  

Alex’s jaw tightened and for a second something dark moved behind his eyes but then he smoothed it away. Mia guided Alessia to the couch and pressed a bottle of cold water into her hands and sat down next to her, not letting go.  

Alex stayed standing. The sunlight came through the windows and lit up his face and showed everything, the exhaustion and the anger and the relief all layered on top of each other. He looked at Seraphina and his expression didn’t change.  

“Seraphina,” he said.  

Seraphina flinched. “Yes?”  

“Look at me.”  

She did. It was harder than it should’ve been.  

“You did terrible things,” Alex said, and his voice was even, no yelling, no anger, just fact. “You lied to me. You shot me. You hurt people I love.”  

Seraphina nodded. Her throat was so dry it hurt.  

“But you came back,” Alex continued. “You brought her back. And you told the truth when it would’ve been easier to run and hide.”  

He walked over to her and Seraphina braced herself for whatever came next, for yelling or punishment or for him to finally be done with her. Instead he put his hand on her shoulder, heavy and warm, and said, “Thank you.”  

That was what broke her.  

Seraphina sank to her knees right there on the floor and cried. Not loud like Alessia, but quiet and shaking, years of guilt and grief and being used coming out of her all at once. Alex crouched down with her and didn’t touch her but didn’t move away either. “It’s okay,” he said. “It’s over now.”  

From the basement came laughter.  

Low and dry and amused, echoing up the stairs.  

Everyone froze.  

Kane was already moving toward the basement door. Alex stood slowly and his eyes went black. “Ivan,” he called down.