18 Chapter 18 Too Late Now
Julian’s POV
I shook my head immediately. That would never happen. I wouldn’t let her leave me again. I’d atone for my mistakes, and if she wanted to punish me, she could do it while staying right here.
“What fantasy have you been living in?” My patience was evaporating fast. “Until today, you’ve been nothing more than a sister to me. We grew up together. I know our parents hoped we’d eventually pair up, but I never saw you that way. Whatever happened last night, or whatever you claim happened, changes absolutely nothing. It was a mistake fueled by alcohol and rage, and I regret creating any situation that allowed you to spin this
narrative.”
“Can we talk?” I asked, gentling my voice. Her face was stone, completely unreadable. I braced myself for rejection, but she simply nodded.
I stared at her, a cold dread spreading through my chest. This girl was completely delusional. She knew I was retrieving Seraphina. Did she honestly believe one night, or her version of one night, would change my mind?
“You’re not going anywhere,” I said with absolute conviction. “I’m going to fix this mess. I’m sorry for how I treated you when our relationship began, and I’m sorry for the mistake I made last night that put me in a situation that caused you such pain. But I promise I’ll be better. I’ll treat you with the respect you deserve.”
Of course, my father intercepted me first, and his expression made my stomach drop.
We walked to the house in oppressive silence. I was formulating my approach when she spoke first.
I’d seen the devastation in Seraphina’s eyes when Roxanne made her announcement. She’d tried to mask it, but her pain was written across every
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feature. The way her face crumpled before she rebuilt her walls told me how deeply she cared. It also told me I might have shattered something
irreparable.
“You abandoned me there like some cheap hookup, then waltzed back in with her!” Roxanne’s sobs wracked her body, mascara streaking down her cheeks. “What did you expect me to do?”
I paused, letting the weight of my words settle. “For what it’s worth, Roxanne, I am sorry. Sorry that Seraphina had to endure this, sorry for my part in creating this situation. But we both need to learn from this disaster and stay far away from each other.”
“Have you completely lost your mind?” I snapped, releasing her arm the moment we crossed the threshold. She stumbled backward, then burst into
tears that seemed to come from nowhere.
The truth was I planned to tell Seraphina everything I could remember, which wasn’t much beyond waking up disoriented with Roxanne beside me and her claims about our night together. I’d been waiting for the right moment, somewhere private where I could explain properly. Not at some roadside motel. But Roxanne had destroyed that chance, and now Seraphina probably despised me more than ever.
“Fang your things and get out of my house,” I commanded, my voice turning to ice. “It would be inappropriate for me to banish you from the pack since I’m partially responsible for this mess through my drinking and poor judgment. But if you had any decency, any remorse for what your lies have done to your sister, my mate, you’d leave the pack voluntarily.”
She paused, and when she continued, her voice turned even harder. “What I don’t understand is why you’re so determined to drag me back here just to torture me. You can finally be with the woman you actually love, and I promise I’ll never interfere with your happiness again. Just tell me where my father is, and I’ll disappear from your life.”
“Don’t you dare blame me for this!” Roxanne’s voice pitched higher despite
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her tears. “You’re the one who betrayed her! Though I wouldn’t even call it betrayal since it should have been us from the beginning. She’s the intruder here! We finally had our chance, so why did you bring her back?”
I dragged Roxanne by the arm straight to my office, my grip tight enough to leave marks. Whatever possessed her to humiliate Seraphina in front of the entire pack was beyond comprehension. The scene she created would be her last performance under my roof.
The pieces finally clicked into place. Seraphina’s hints about Roxanne and me hadn’t come from nowhere. Roxanne had been poisoning her mind with lies, and I’d handed her the perfect ammunition by getting so wasted I couldn’t remember my own actions.
I expected to search everywhere for her, worried she might attempt another escape despite my warriors monitoring her movements. Instead, I found her returning from somewhere with my mother, their quiet conversation ending when they spotted me.
The guilt was suffocating, but I deserved every ounce of it for allowing a situation to develop that would haunt Seraphina forever. But I needed her forgiveness. I couldn’t exist without her. I’d spend my entire life making this right if necessary.
I might as well have been talking to a wall. She stood there staring through
me like I didn’t exist.
“You don’t owe me any explanations,” she said coldly. “You made it clear on my first day here that I should never expect anything from you. So I have no right to be angry.”
I left her sobbing in the office. My priority was finding Seraphina and explaining what little I could remember, confessing my inexcusable lapse in judgment and Roxanne’s manipulative claims.
I shook my head quickly. “No. Even drunk, I wouldn’t have disrespected our home that way. Honestly, Seraphina, most of that night is completely gone from my memory after I left the bar. I woke up with Roxanne claiming we’d
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been together. I don’t know where it supposedly happened, or if it happened the way she described, but I accept that I was found in a compromising position. I take full responsibility for losing control so completely.” The truth didn’t make anything better, but I couldn’t hide from it. “You have to understand, I was furious, searching everywhere for you. When I couldn’t find you anywhere, my anger and fear that you were gone drove me to drink beyond any reasonable limit. That was unforgivable.””
“Is this where you two spent the night?” Her voice was completely flat, devoid of emotion.
“I can’t even stand to look at you right now,” he said, his voice carrying a disappointment that cut deeper than any blade. “I didn’t raise someone who would devastate their own mate like this. You’d better find a way to fix it.”
“I accept complete responsibility for what happened,” I said, keeping my voice steady despite the chaos in my head. “Yes, I was drunk. Furious. Most of that night is a black void in my memory, but I woke up next to you. You told me what we supposedly did. Why would you think it meant anything more than a drunken mistake I can barely piece together?”
“It’s too late for that.”
He walked away without another word, leaving me standing there with the full weight of my failure crushing down on me.
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