Claimed by My Bully Alpha Chapter 454

Aurora’s P.O.V

I sat across from him, my chest tight with everything that had been swirling inside me since last night, and before I could stop myself, the words slipped out, shaky but firm.

“Caleb… How are you holding up?” I asked suddenly. “You were all alone without anyone’s help; you had to stand there, helpless, watching your own father turn against you… not even recognizing you. Do you know how much that broke me just to witness? I can’t even begin to imagine how you felt actually going through it.”

Caleb’s gaze moved away, his hands rubbing together as if he was trying to keep them busy so they wouldn’t tremble. “He’s been apologizing non-stop since last night,” he muttered, almost in disbelief.

“I’ve never seen him like that before, Aurora. Never. It’s like… every word he spoke was drenched in regret. And I should feel better about it, right? But instead, I just…” He let out a small laugh, bitter and soft. “I just feel sorry for him. Because in the end, it wasn’t really his fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.”

I leaned forward, my fingers curling into the blanket beside me. “And yet it still feels like the world demands we carry that pain,” I whispered. Then I straightened, forcing a half-smile that never reached my eyes.

“At least those wraiths are gone now, for good. That’s something to hold onto. But still… Caleb, I can’t believe I actually trusted Ashton through all of this. I let him stand beside us, I believed every word, and the entire time…” My throat tightened as I shook my head. “The entire time he was someone else altogether.”

Caleb finally looked at me, his eyes holding both exhaustion and a strange clarity. “No one could’ve guessed it, Aurora,” he said firmly, almost like he wanted to take that burden out of my hands.

“No one. Ashton… he didn’t look a day older than us. If someone had told me he was Harmona and Lucas’s real son, I would’ve laughed in their face. I mean, how could we have seen it coming?”

“But I should have,” I snapped, though more at myself than at him. “I should’ve known. I felt it in pieces, the way he always held himself back, the way he smiled like he knew more than he let on. I ignored it, Caleb. I wanted so badly to believe in him that I ignored every red flag.”

“You’re being unfair to yourself,” Caleb said, voice steady but filled with that quiet sadness he always carried when he thought I was blaming myself too harshly.

“If anyone was in your shoes, they’d have done the same. Ashton knew how to hide. He was raised on secrets, on lies. He made sure no one could see through him.”

I laughed, but it came out broken. “Raised on lies, and we let him weave them around us like a net. I trusted him, Caleb. I trusted him even more than I should’ve, and now…” My voice faltered. “Now, I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself for it.”

I blinked at him, trying to hold back the tears, but his voice softened, his words steady like a balm. “Aurora, stop torturing yourself over what you couldn’t control. Please. If I can forgive my father for turning against me, because I know that wasn’t him, then you can forgive yourself too. Don’t you see? We’re all just trying to survive the pieces we’ve been given.”

For a long moment, I just sat there, staring at him, feeling both raw and understood all at once. “You make it sound so simple,” I murmured.

“It’s not simple,” Caleb admitted, finally letting out a weary sigh. “It’s hell. But it’s the only way forward.”

“Then forward it is,” I whispered, gripping his hand back as if I might drown without it.

“Forward, Caleb. No more looking back.”

“Forward,” he echoed, with the faintest trace of a smile that still carried a lifetime of scars. “I don’t want to talk about the past anymore. I don’t want to keep reopening wounds that never seem to close. I don’t want to sit here and keep replaying what happened over and over in my head.”

He looked at me carefully, his hand brushing against my cheek, and whispered, “I just… I just want us to let it go. To put it all behind us and never drag it back into the room again. Can we do that? Can we just forget everything?”

I nodded my head and pressed my palm against his chest, “Yes. Let’s just…not talk about it anymore. Let’s not give it life. Let’s not give it power. I’m tired too, Caleb. I don’t want to keep bleeding for something that should’ve died already. I want to move forward. With you.”

He sighed, long and heavy, like he had been carrying the same thought but didn’t dare say it out loud.

“No more,” he promised, kissing the top of my head. “Just this moment. Just us. That’s all I want.”

“Good,” I breathed out, closing my eyes, “because I don’t want to lose this. Not again.”

“You won’t,” he said, his voice low, steady, almost a vow. “As long as we keep holding on to this, you won’t.”

I smiled faintly against his chest, murmuring, “Then hold me until I fall asleep.”

“I will,” he said softly, almost like a promise he carved into the night. “I’ll hold you until morning.”

And with that, I felt his body sink deeper into the mattress, his warmth curling around me like a shield. My eyes grew heavy, my breaths matching his, and finally, for the first time in so long, we let ourselves drift off together, tangled in the same silence, the same surrender, the same fragile kind of peace that felt almost like forgiveness.