Chapter 215

Ella POV

“We could ask Sabrina.”

"I can't," Alexander said, his voice barely audible.

"Okay," I replied easily.

He was silent for a long moment before loosening his grip just enough to look at my face. "Okay?"

"Of course," I said. "I'm not going to pressure you to do something that's painful for you. We'll find another way."

Alexander stared at me like I’d grown a second head. The heavy bags under his eyes somehow made him look younger. Or maybe it was the lost expression on his face.

I turned in his arms and kissed him lightly. "We're both tired," I murmured. "We can talk after we’ve gotten some sleep. Nothing good will come of trying to solve things when we aren’t in our right minds."

"I don’t deserve you," Alexander said breathlessly. For a second, I thought I saw his eyes grow watery. Then he pulled me into a firm embrace, easing us both down onto the mattress.

The light was still on, my laptop sat abandoned at the foot of the enormous bed, but sleep was already tugging at me as I settled comfortably against him.

Alexander held me close, his heartbeat steady beneath my ear. The weight of our problems, as dire as they were, felt distant.

We fell asleep tangled together, safe in the warmth of our shared bed.

Third Person POV

"I don’t want to do this," Sabrina said with a weary sigh.

"I wish it wasn’t necessary," Diana replied, her voice tinged with regret. "But what choice do you have in the situation you’re in? You want what’s best for your daughter, don’t you?"

"You know that I do," Sabrina murmured. Her gaze flickered to the closed bedroom door, where her five-year-old daughter lay fast asleep.

Morning was approaching, and soon, she would wake. Sabrina needed to finish this conversation before then. The little girl had already endured too much in the past month.

"Sabrina," Diana said gently, reaching across the table to take her niece’s hand. "I know this feels terrible, but I’m only trying to help you."

Sabrina pulled her hand away, slow and deliberate. If this was Diana’s idea of help, she wanted nothing to do with it.

Had her aunt not interfered six years ago, she wouldn’t be in this position at all.

Back then, Sabrina had been happy with Alexander. They were young, reckless, in love. When she discovered she was pregnant, turning to Diana for guidance had seemed natural. She had expected support—help in breaking the news to Alexander.

Instead, Diana had been furious. She called Sabrina stupid for not taking precautions, told her she had ruined her life.

Alexander is reckless, she had said. He’s selfish. He’ll never have time for you or a child. He’ll be furious when he finds out—and now that you’re pregnant, no other man will want you.

Diana had convinced her there was only one way forward: marriage. A swift arrangement with a man who would believe the child was his.

Sabrina had resisted, but at nineteen, orphaned and alone, what choice did she have? Diana was her only family.

So she agreed. She married an older alpha from the North, a stranger she had never met in person.

And, miraculously, it had worked out. Her husband was kind, generous—a man she had slowly come to love.

Until he found out the truth.

Sabrina still didn’t know how he had discovered her secret. One night, after their daughter had gone to bed, he had called her into his office. Waiting for her was a crisp sheet of paper: a paternity test. Negative.

His voice had been cold, void of the warmth she had come to rely on. Take your bastard child and get out.

Since then, she and her daughter had been living in hotels, drifting from place to place, trying to make sense of the wreckage. She hadn’t even had time to grieve the life she had lost—her only focus had been on keeping her little girl happy, safe, and cared for.

Eventually, out of desperation, she had called Diana. Her aunt had agreed to pay for housing on one condition: that she return to the South.

Now, here she was, in the capital, feeling like a ghost in a place that no longer belonged to her. Every day, she lived in fear of running into Alexander.

And now, Diana was pressuring her to come forward—not to Alexander directly, but to the press.

The very thought made Sabrina sick to her stomach.

Alexander was a happily married man with an incredible future ahead of him. She didn’t want to hurt him, and she certainly didn’t want to use her child. But given the position she was in, could she really afford to refuse?

She needed someone to step in and help her. She had to put her daughter’s needs first. She was working hard to make money, but with her limited skills and experience, it was difficult.

“I know that it’s a lot to ask,” Diana said.

“Too much,” Sabrina responded.

Diana’s expression hardened, the kindness vanishing from her voice. “You’re asking me for a handout, and I’m telling you this is the condition,” she said harshly. “Take it or don’t—but I don’t see how you’re going to care for your daughter on your own. You’re barely qualified to wait tables.”

She stood abruptly and strode to the door, making a show of flourishing her expensive coat as she put it on.

“Don’t call me again until you’ve made a choice,” she said over her shoulder.

As Diana disappeared out the door, Sabrina rubbed her temples. This was a terrible arrangement, and she knew it.

Part of her wanted to go to Alexander and tell him everything—but why would he believe her?

She had hurt him in such a cold, final way. He probably never wanted to see her again.

No, she was sure she wouldn’t even be granted a meeting if she tried.

She had to figure this out on her own.

The door to the small bedroom creaked open, and Sabrina watched as her daughter rubbed the sleep from her bright eyes and padded toward the kitchen.

“Good morning, Mommy,” Lexie said. Her bright eyes studied Sabrina for a moment before she frowned. “You didn’t go to sleep on time, did you?” she asked in a scolding tone.

Sabrina smiled. “No, I didn’t,” she admitted. “I’m sorry.”

“You have a bedtime for a reason,” the little girl chided.

Sabrina couldn’t help but smile. It was a line she had used on Lexie more than once.

“I know, Lexie,” she said.

The little girl frowned deeper, studying her mother’s tired face. She knew something was wrong, something that made her mother sad and quiet.

She missed their home, and she knew her mother did too. But this felt bigger—like one of those big secrets that adults liked to keep.

Her great-aunt kept visiting, and every time she did, it made her mother upset. Lexie didn’t like Great-Aunt Diana. She spoke in a sweet voice, but it never reached her eyes.

There was something about her that made Lexie feel afraid.

“Come on, let’s get breakfast,” Sabrina said, breaking the little girl out of her thoughts.

Sabrina went to the kitchenette and pulled out a box of cereal. She was running out of food again.

She sighed, the weight of it pressing on her chest. She was running out of time.

As much as she didn’t want to hurt Alexander, she didn’t see a better way out.

She would have to make a decision soon—whether she wanted to or not.