Chapter 123 The Chase
Emilia’s POV
"Okay," I whispered instead. "I’ll take it. You should go now."
"Let me take you back to Lily’s..."
"No." I couldn’t do this anymore. Couldn’t sit here next to him pretending my heart wasn’t being ripped out of my chest one piece at a time. "I’ll go myself."
Sebastian was quiet for a long moment. Then he stood, and I felt him move behind me. His hand touched the top of my head, gentle, almost reverent.
"You’re stronger than you know, Emilia," he said softly. "Take care of yourself."
Then his arms were around me, pulling me back against his chest in a hug that felt like both a beginning and an ending.
I closed my eyes and let myself have this. Just this one moment of pretending he actually cared.
"Take care," he whispered against my hair.
Then he was gone.
I sat frozen on that bench, listening to his footsteps fade away. I didn’t turn around. Didn’t watch him leave.
I just sat there as the tears I’d been holding back finally broke free, streaming down my face in the darkness.
Love can’t be forced. You can’t make someone choose you if they don’t want to.
The thought should have brought me comfort, the certainty of it, the logic.
It didn’t.
I cried until I had no tears left, until my eyes were swollen and my throat was raw. I cried for what we could have been. For what we’d never be.
And when I finally stood up and walked away from Skymont Park for the last time, I didn’t look back.
Some goodbyes didn’t deserve one last glance.
Sebastian’s POV
The house felt like a tomb after Emilia left.
I threw myself into work with an almost manic intensity, burying myself in contracts and financial reports. Sixteen-hour days. Back-to-back meetings. Anything to keep my mind occupied, to stop myself from reaching for my phone and checking if she’d called.
She never did.
Time passed in this self-imposed exile from reality. Fynn kept shooting me concerned looks across the conference table, but he knew better than to ask. My parents had stopped trying to talk to me about it after the third attempt ended with me walking out mid-conversation.
The night before Emilia left, I couldn’t take the suffocating silence of my office anymore. I got in my car with no destination in mind, just driving through Silverlake City’s streets as the sun set and the neon lights flickered to life.
That’s when I saw her.
Emilia was walking along the sidewalk near Skymont Park, her shoulders hunched against the evening chill.
My hands tightened on the steering wheel. Without consciously deciding to, I pulled over and followed her on foot, keeping enough distance that she wouldn’t notice.
She stopped at a small bubble tea shop, ordering something before sitting by the window. The streetlights caught the side of her face, and my chest constricted painfully.
She looked sad.
"She’s our mate," Ryder’s voice growled in my mind, furious and aching. "She’s our fated mate and you’re letting her slip away because you’re too much of a coward to face your own feelings."
"I’m protecting her," I muttered under my breath.
"From what? From happiness? From love?" Ryder snarled. "You’re not protecting her. You’re punishing her for crimes Abigail committed. How is that fair?"
"Life isn’t fair."
"Then make it fair!" His rage vibrated through my entire body. "Are you really going to spend the rest of your life mourning a woman who left you? While Emilia, who actually stayed, who actually tried, walks away because you’re too broken to see what’s right in front of you?"
I leaned against a lamppost, watching Emilia through the window as she stared at her phone.
"What if I hurt her worse?" I whispered. "What if the curse—"
"There is no curse!" Ryder roared. "There’s only you, Sebastian. Your fear. Your pain. Your choice. And right now, you’re choosing to let her go."
My phone was in my hand before I consciously decided to call. It rang twice before she answered.
"Do you have time? Let’s meet."
After meeting Emilia, I treated it as a goodbye.
When I pulled her back against my chest, wrapping my arms around her in an embrace, for one terrible moment, I let myself imagine what it would be like if I was brave enough to keep her.
"Take care," I whispered against her hair.
Then I forced myself to let go and walk away.
Every step felt like walking through concrete. My wolf was howling, clawing at my mind, begging me to turn around. But I kept walking until I reached my car and drove home in numb silence.
When I got home, I felt empty inside. Like I’d lost something important, and it left me confused and lost.
I couldn’t sleep. I went to Emilia’s room and turned on the bedside lamp. I looked at the bed she’d slept in, the blanket she’d used, the books she’d read. It all made me ache. For the first time, I really started to think: what a man truly loves—is it the woman he met first, or the woman who never left me?
The sun rose from the east, and the morning light lit up the darkness in my heart. I finally found my answer.
I was on my feet and throwing clothes into a suitcase before the thought fully formed. I called Fynn as I moved through the house.
"Cancel everything," I said when he answered. "I’m leaving."
"Leaving? Where...?"
"Paris."
"Sebastian, what..."
"I’ll explain later. Just handle it."
I hung up and grabbed my keys.
My parents were still asleep. Tiffany too. I didn’t have time for explanations, for questions, for anyone trying to talk me out of this.
I drove to the airport like a man possessed, weaving through traffic and probably breaking a million traffic laws.
By the time I made it through security and reached the departure hall, it was seven o’clock.
And there she was.
Emilia stood near her gate, her carry-on bag at her feet, checking her phone with that small frown between her brows that always appeared when she was concentrating.
She looked up.
Our eyes met.
I raised my hand in a small wave, my heart pounding.
She stared at me like I was a hallucination. She rubbed her eyes, blinked, then walked toward me slowly, her gaze dropping to the suitcase beside my feet.
"Where are you going?" she asked, looking confused and a little suspicious.
"Paris."