Chapter 179: Do You Still Love Elise?

Chapter 180: Do You Still Love Elise?
Zephyra's POV

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Lily asked, wiping flour from her hands onto her apron. She glanced at Ophelia, who was completely absorbed in cutting out star-shaped cookies. "Ophelia, I'll be right back, okay? Just keep cutting out those shapes."

"Okay!" Ophelia nodded enthusiastically, not even looking up from her task.

Lily led me to the living room, far enough that Ophelia couldn't overhear but close enough that we could still keep an eye on her. The serious expression on her young face made my stomach tighten with anxiety.

"What is it?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

Lily took a deep breath before meeting my eyes. "You and dad belong with each other. Let him in and I promise you, you won't regret it."

My heart skipped a beat. The certainty in her voice was unnerving. "Did you... see something?"

She nodded slowly. "You will face a huge loss but don't push dad away. Let him be there for you. Lean on him." Her small hand reached out to touch mine, her skin warm and reassuring. "I promise, in the end, you'll be happy."

I felt the blood drain from my face, my mind racing with possibilities. "A loss? What kind of loss? Who am I going to lose?" The panic rose in my chest as I thought about Ophelia, about Noah, about the few people I'd allowed myself to care about.

Lily's expression softened. "I can't tell you everything. That's not how it works. But trust in the goddess. She has your best interest at heart."

I swallowed hard, trying to process her words. A part of me wanted to demand more information, to shake the details out of her if necessary. But I knew better than to question a seer's methods. The Moon Goddess worked in mysterious ways, and her messengers were bound by rules I couldn't begin to understand.

"Thank you for telling me," I managed to say, though my voice sounded hollow even to my own ears. "I appreciate the warning, even if I'm a bit doubtful."

A loud clatter from the kitchen interrupted our conversation. We both turned to see Ophelia standing frozen beside an overturned metal tray, cookie cutters scattered across the floor. Her eyes were wide with embarrassment, flour dusting her clothes and face.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking like she might burst into tears.

Lily immediately moved toward the kitchen. "It's okay, accidents happen. Let me go back to help before we have more accidents."

I nodded, still shaken by her prophecy. "Okay, and I'll go get a nap. I'm still feeling a bit tired."

As I climbed the stairs to the bedroom, Lily's words echoed in my mind. A huge loss. Don't push Noah away. Trust in the goddess. It was all too cryptic, too ominous. I'd faced enough loss in my life—hadn't I paid my dues already?

The bedroom was quiet and still, sunlight filtering through the half-drawn curtains. I collapsed onto the bed, not bothering to pull back the covers. My mind was racing too much for sleep, but my body craved rest. Before I knew it, my eyelids grew heavy, and I drifted off.

I wasn't sure how long I'd been asleep when I felt it—that prickling sensation of being watched. My eyes flew open, my heart hammering against my ribs. After the threatening notes and photographs, my first thought was that someone had broken in, that I wasn't safe even in Noah's home.

But as my vision cleared, I saw Noah standing at the foot of the bed, looking at me intensely. Relief flooded through me, followed quickly by irritation.

"You scared me," I said, pushing myself up to a sitting position.

Noah's expression was unreadable, his eyes dark with some emotion I couldn't place. He didn't apologize or move closer. Instead, he asked a question that made my blood run cold.

"Who is your fated, Zephyra?"

I froze, caught off guard by the directness of his question. For a moment, I considered lying, but something in his eyes told me he already knew the answer. There was no point in hiding it anymore.

"It was Dominic," I admitted reluctantly.

Noah nodded slowly, as if confirming a suspicion. "I thought so. I've had my suspicions since yesterday." A bitter laugh escaped his lips. "Isn't fate strange? He was mated to my fated and now I'm the one mated to his fated."

My eyes widened in shock. "You mean Elise? She was your fated?"

"No," Noah shook his head. "Elise was my chosen. My fated was Vivian."

The revelation hit me like a physical blow. Vivian—the woman who had caused so much pain, who had torn apart families and manipulated everyone around her.

"When I was eighteen," Noah continued, his voice distant, "Vivian rejected me. She wanted a stronger Alpha, someone with more power and influence. She found Dominic and lied to him, just as she lied to me." His face twisted with pain. "Watching them together was torture. A year later, I met Elise. She helped me out of that dark place. We fell in love, bonded, and had Lily."

I studied his face, noting the guilt and regret etched into his features. This was clearly difficult for him to talk about.

"Ten years into our relationship," he went on, "Vivian and Dominic separated. She came back, and I..." He paused, swallowing hard. "I did something unforgivable. I cheated on Elise with Vivian and then filed for a separation."

My breath caught in my throat. I'd heard rumors, of course, but hearing it directly from him made it real in a way gossip never could.

"I smeared Elise's name, nearly ruined her business. I turned Lily against her." His voice cracked with emotion. "The final straw was when I humiliated her at Lily's birthday party. She signed the papers and left for a year. She only came back because Jake got sick."

I stared at him in disbelief. The man standing before me seemed nothing like the cruel, vindictive person he was describing. It was hard to reconcile the two images.

"When I found out she married Dominic, I was pissed and jealous. It wasn't until Vivian's lies were exposed—that she'd been cheating on both of us and was pregnant with someone else's child—that I realized what a fool I'd been. I loved Elise, not Vivian, but it was too late." His shoulders slumped. "I tried to break them up, but eventually, I had to let her go. She was happy with him."

The room fell silent as I processed everything he'd told me. It was a lot to take in—the tangled web of relationships, the betrayals, the consequences.

"What happened to Vivian?" I finally asked, though I suspected I already knew the answer.

"Dominic killed her after she ran Elise over with a car."

I nodded slowly, remembering that day all too clearly. The chaos, the blood, the fear. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

My head was spinning with all this information. I didn't know what to think or how to feel. Could I trust a man who had betrayed his wife so completely? Who had chosen his fated mate over the mother of his child? Who had tried to destroy Elise out of jealousy?

"What about now?" I asked cautiously. "Do you still love Elise?"

Noah's eyes met mine, steady and sincere. "I do love her but I'm not in love with her anymore. The woman that my heart now solely beats for is you." He took a step closer, his voice dropping to a gentle murmur. "I love you, Zephyra... I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but I also understand if my past is a deal breaker."

I couldn't speak. The words I wanted to say were stuck in my throat. Noah's face fell, hope quickly fleeing his eyes as he interpreted my silence as rejection.

But it wasn't rejection—it was shock. I hadn't expected him to lay his heart bare like this, to confess his love so openly. Part of me wanted to run to him, to tell him I felt the same way. Another part held back, wondering if I could trust him not to do to me what he had done to Elise.