Fated To Not Just One, But Three-Chapter 654: Betrayed

Olivia’s POV

The air in the room felt heavy, like it was made of lead. I looked from the machines to the oncology bags, and then back to the man on the bed, who looked like a hollowed-out version of the man I loved. The "Third-Chance Mate." The "Soul-Pull." It was all a curated, cruel performance.

"Tell me the truth," I whispered, my voice shaking so hard it felt like my teeth might shatter. "Lennox... tell me the damn truth."

Lennox closed his eyes, a single tear escaping the corner of his lid and disappearing into the gray skin of his temple. "I’m dying, Olivia," he rasped, the words finally breaking free. "Stage four. It’s in my lungs... my bones. There is no mate. There is only death."

I felt like the floor had been yanked out from under me. My vision blurred, a high-pitched ringing filling my ears. I felt like I was going insane. Every memory of the last few days—his coldness, the way he let me beg on my knees, the way he brought that woman into our bed—it all flashed before me like a sick, twisted joke.

I slowly turned my head toward Levi and Louis. They were standing by the door, their heads bowed, their faces etched with a guilt so profound it was sickening.

"You two knew," I said. It wasn’t a question.

"Olivia, we—" Louis started, his voice cracking.

"You knew!" I screamed, the sound tearing from my throat.

In two blurred strides, I was in front of them. My hand moved before I could even think.

SLAP.

The sound of my palm hitting Louis’s cheek echoed like a gunshot. I didn’t stop. I turned to Levi, whose eyes were already brimming with tears, and I swung again.

SLAP.

"How could you?!" I shrieked, hitting Levi’s chest with my fists. "How could you watch me break? How could you let me believe he hated me? How could you let me say those things to him? I told him to die! I told him to die and get out of our lives because I thought he was betraying us!"

"He made us swear, Olivia!" Levi choked out, catching my wrists, though he didn’t fight back. "He said if you were in love with him when he passed, the bond would pull your soul out with his! He was trying to save your life!"

"By destroying my soul while I’m still breathing?!" I pushed him away with a burst of power that sent him stumbling. I turned back to the bed, my heart hemorrhaging.

Lennox was watching me, his expression one of pure, raw defeat. The "Alpha" was gone. There was just a man who had tried to play God with my heart and lost.

"You let me spend our last days hating you," I whispered, walking back to him, my legs feeling like they were made of glass. "You took our memories and poisoned them. You made our sons think their father didn’t want them. How could you be so cruel, Lennox? How could you think I’d want a life bought with that kind of lie?"

"What gave you the right?" I whispered, my voice trembling with a fury so cold it felt like ice in my veins. "What makes you think I would die if I were still in love with you?"

I stepped closer to the bed, looming over him as he stared at me with those hollow, sunken eyes.

"I have lost you twice, Lennox!" I screamed, the sound raw and jagged. "You died before, and I survived. You left, and I stayed standing. I have proven a thousand times over that I am strong enough to carry your memory without following you into the dirt! So what makes you think the Moon Goddess would take me now? Do you have so little faith in me? In my strength?"

Lennox tried to speak, his chest heaving as he reached for my hand, but I flinched back as if he were a leper.

"How could you?" I sobbed, the anger finally giving way to a crushing, agonizing betrayal. "These were the moments we were supposed to cherish. These were the days we were supposed to spend holding each other, saying the things that needed to be said, making sure our sons knew how much their father loved them. Instead, you turned our home into a house of horrors. You turned yourself into a villain so I wouldn’t have to be a widow? You didn’t save me, Lennox. You murdered the last of our peace."

The room was silent, save for the pathetic, mechanical hum of the machines and the sound of my own shattered breathing. Lennox looked like he wanted to disappear into the mattress. He looked small. He looked like a coward.

"Fine," I said, wiping the tears from my face with a brutal, final motion. "You wanted me to move on? You wanted me to hate you? Congratulations. You got exactly what you wanted." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

I straightened my back, pulling my dignity around me like a shroud.

"I am not stepping foot in this room again," I declared, my voice flat and dead. "You can spend your remaining time with your ’nurse’ and your lies. You can die in this sterile, dishonest room if that’s the ’peace’ you fought so hard for."

I turned my freezing gaze toward Levi and Louis, who were standing there like broken children, their faces red where my palm had struck them.

"And as for you two," I hissed, "don’t you dare come close to me. Don’t speak to me, don’t look at me, and don’t you dare try to apologize. You chose him over me. You chose a lie over my heart. You are dead to me, just like he is."

I didn’t wait for a response. I didn’t look back at the man who was gasping for air, his eyes wide with the realization that he had actually succeeded in destroying us.

I walked out of the room, slamming the door behind me.

I stumbled down the hallway, my vision blurred by a thick veil of tears. I didn’t teleport. I needed to feel the ground beneath my feet, even if it felt like the earth was splitting open to swallow me whole. My chest felt hollow, as if Lennox hadn’t just lied about a mate, but had reached inside and physically carved out my heart.

I pushed open the door to the boys’ room.

They were sitting on the floor, surrounded by toy soldiers and half-finished drawings, but they weren’t playing. They were sitting in a heavy, expectant silence, their ears tuned to the sounds of the house—the sounds of the chaos they weren’t allowed to see.

"Mommy?" Liam stood up first, his small face etched with a worry no child should ever carry.

I didn’t say a word. I couldn’t. I collapsed onto the rug beside them and pulled them both into my arms. I gripped them so tight it probably hurt, burying my face in the crooks of their necks.

Then, I broke.

The sobs came in violent, racking waves that shook my entire frame. I wailed into their small shoulders, a raw, primal sound of a mate who had been betrayed by the one soul she trusted most. I cried for the time we had lost. I cried for the hateful words I had screamed at a dying man. I cried because I was now truly alone, even with them in my arms.

"Mommy, why are you crying?" Leon whispered, his little hands patting my hair, his own voice beginning to wobble. "Is Daddy okay? Is he still sick?"

"He’s... he’s going away, babies," I gasped out, my voice sounding like it was being dragged through gravel. "He’s very, very sick."