CHAPTER 27: PROMISES OF AN EX

FIA

I stared at the phone. Waited for him to say something that would make sense of all this.

"I’m coming there tomorrow," Milo said finally. "I’m going to tell Alpha Cian the whole truth."

The words hit me wrong. Like they didn’t fit together the way they should.

"Why?" I asked.

"What?"

"Why would you do that?" I shifted on the bed. The nightgown crinkled louder. "Isn’t it too late? You already got what you wanted. Hazel is free. I’m trapped. Mission accomplished."

"Fia, it’s not like that."

"Then what is it like?" I pressed the phone harder against my ear. "Because from where I’m sitting, you helped destroy my life and now suddenly you want to fix it? That doesn’t make sense unless something changed for you."

Silence followed.

My stomach dropped.

"Something happened between you and Hazel." It wasn’t a question. I could hear it in what he wasn’t saying. "Did it? Did your little love affair turn sour?"

More silence followed.

"Milo."

There was nothing. No response. Just his ragged breathing.

"I guess I am right then." I laughed but there was no humor in it. "What happened? She get what she wanted and toss you aside?"

He made a sound. It was small and broken. Like the man that he was.

"All I want to know is what I did to deserve your resentment." My voice cracked. I hated that it cracked. "What did I do? When all I ever did was love you. When I gave you everything I had. What about that made you think it was okay to do this to me?"

That’s when I heard it. The sound of Milo crying on the other end of the phone.

He was actually crying.

"I was foolish," he said through the tears. "I was so fucking foolish and I was blinded by power."

I waited. I let him continue.

"I thought she loved me." His voice was thick with snot and tears. "I really thought Hazel loved me. That we had something real. But she was just using me to escape Cian. That’s all I was to her. A way out."

"But what about me?" The words came out steady. Firm. " I did love you. And you played me for a fool."

"I know."

"Alpha Cian might be a cruel man," I continued. "But at least he’s honest in his cruelty. He doesn’t pretend to care. He doesn’t smile while he stabs you in the back. He’s not a snake like you."

Milo sucked in a breath like I’d punched him.

"You’re right," he said. "You’re absolutely right. But I can fix this. I swear I can fix this."

"How?"

"Tomorrow." He was talking faster now. Desperate. "Tomorrow I’m coming to Skollrend. I’m going to tell Cian everything. What Hazel and I did. How we planned it. How we tricked you into getting into Hazel’s wedding gown and put all the blame on you. All of it."

I sat up straighter. "You’ll take the consequences of lying to an Alpha? A powerful Apha Like Cian?"

"Yes."

"I don’t think so."

"I will prove you wrong." His voice was stronger now. More certain. "I swear to you, Fia. I will come there tomorrow and I will tell him the truth. I’ll take whatever punishment he gives me. I don’t care anymore."

I wanted to believe him. Goddess, I wanted to believe him so badly it hurt.

But this was the same man who’d stood by while Hazel and my stepmother manipulated me. The same man who’d watched me throw away my future and said nothing. The same man who’d probably smiled and kissed or fucked Hazel after it was done.

Why would he suddenly grow a conscience now?

Unless Hazel really had broken his heart. Unless he was hurting so badly that he needed to strike back at her somehow. And if telling the truth would hurt Hazel, then maybe he’d actually do it.

It was a selfish reason. A petty reason. But it was the only one that made sense.

"Okay," I said.

"Okay?"

"Tomorrow." I looked at my bleeding hand again. At the dried blood crusted between my fingers. "Come tomorrow. Tell him. We’ll see what happens."

"Thank you." Relief flooded his voice. "Thank you, Fia. I promise I won’t let you down."

"You already did that." I moved the phone away from my ear. "Bye, Milo."

I cut the call before he could respond.

The phone screen went dark. I stared at my reflection in the black glass. I looked terrible. My face was splotchy from crying. My hair was a tangled mess. There was a smear of blood on my cheek that I didn’t remember getting.

I should clean up. I should take that bath the omegas had tried to force on me. I should put on the nightgown and try to sleep and prepare myself for breakfast or dinner with Cian’s mother tomorrow.

But I just sat there holding the phone.

Hope was a dangerous thing. I knew that. I’d learned it over and over again in my life. Hope made you weak. Hope made you vulnerable. Hope was what got you hurt when reality came crashing down.

I should not hope that Milo would actually show up tomorrow.

I should not hope that he’d tell the truth.

I should not hope that Cian would believe him or that it would change anything even if he did.

But I was hoping anyway.

I could feel it growing in my chest like a weed pushing through concrete. Stubborn and persistent and completely unwanted.

What if Milo really did come? What if he really did confess? What if Cian found out that I’d been manipulated? That Hazel and her mother had tricked me into taking her place?

Would it matter?

Would Cian care that I’d been used? Or would he just see it as more proof that I was weak and foolish and deserved everything I got?

I didn’t know. I couldn’t predict what that man would do or think or feel. He was a mystery wrapped in cruelty wrapped in that bond that pulsed between us like a living thing.

But maybe, just maybe, knowing the truth would shift something.

Maybe it would give me leverage. Or sympathy. Or at least enough doubt that he’d stop looking at me like I was the villain in this story.

I set the phone down on the nightstand. My hand was still bleeding. Not a lot, but enough that I should probably do something about it.

I stood up. Walked to the bathroom. The floor was still wet from where the omegas had turned on the shower. There were drops of blood near the door. The ringleader’s blood probably. Or mine. Hard to tell.

I turned on the faucet. Ran cold water over my knuckles. Watched the blood swirl down the drain in pink spirals.

The cuts weren’t deep. They’d heal. Everything would heal eventually.

I washed my face next. Scrubbed away the tears and the blood and the grime from the cell. The water ran brown at first. Then gray. Then finally clear.

I looked at myself in the mirror. The woman staring back looked tired. Beaten down. But still standing.

I thought about what Milo had said. About being blinded by power. About thinking Hazel loved him when she was just using him.

Had I been blind too? Had I missed all the signs? Had I been so desperate for love and connection that I’d ignored every red flag?

Probably.

But that didn’t make what they did okay. That didn’t excuse the betrayal.

I dried my face with a towel that smelled like mildew. Made a mental note to wash everything in this room tomorrow. Or maybe just burn it all and start over.

The nightgown was still on the bed where I’d left it. I picked it up. The fabric was soft. Clean. It felt like luxury after wearing the same filthy wedding gown for over a day.

I pulled it over my head. It fell to my ankles. The sleeves were too long. I had to roll them up to free my hands.

Then I climbed into bed.

The mattress was thin but it was better than the cot in the cell. The pillow was flat but it was better than nothing. The blanket smelled stale but it was warm.

I lay there staring at the ceiling. At the water stain in the corner that looked like a map of some country I’d never visit. At the flickering light from the lamp that needed a new bulb.

Tomorrow I’d meet with Cian’s mother. The Grand Luna. The woman who was dying from the rot.

I’d have to smile and be charming and pretend like everything was fine. Like I was happy to be here. Like I wasn’t trapped in a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.

And maybe, if the goddess was feeling merciful, Milo would show up before that dinner. He’d confess. He’d tell Cian everything. And something would change.

Or maybe he wouldn’t show up at all. Maybe he’d wake up tomorrow and realize he had too much to lose. Maybe Hazel would sweet talk him back into keeping quiet. Maybe I’d been stupid to believe him even for a second.

I closed my eyes. Tried to quiet my mind. Tried to stop the endless loop of what ifs and maybes and possibilities.

The bond hummed in my chest. Cian was somewhere in this house. I could feel him. His anger had cooled to something else. Exhaustion.

He wasn’t thinking about me. I could tell that much. Whatever occupied his mind right now, it wasn’t me.

Which was good, I guess.

I had enough of my own problems.

Sleep came slowly. It crept up on me in pieces. One minute I was wide awake and the next I was drifting. My body finally giving up the fight to stay alert.

And somewhere in that space between awake and asleep, I let myself hope.

Just a little.

Just enough to get through tomorrow.