Chapter 80

[James’ POV]

James truly didn’t know what to do with himself. He felt as though the earth beneath his feet had split open and was threatening to swallow him whole.

In the span of the last twenty-four hours, he’d become convinced that he had single-handedly ruined his relationship with Mia.

‘Everything,’ he thought. ‘Everything had been going so well until that woman posing as Evelyn showed up.’

The fact that his Uncle Edward had the audacity to pull such a stunt had James’ wolf snarling with venomous rage. How dare Edward bring up such a horrible part of his past and think about using it against him? It had taken James years to cope with the loss of Evelyn.

Even though he was able to uncover the truth behind his uncle's sinister plan, part of him believed that Edward had still ended up winning. His plan was to essentially ruin James’ relationship with Mia by using Evelyn.

“Son of bitch, it fucking worked!” He grumbled to himself over a small tumbler of bourbon.

Mia had left him and refused to speak to him.

‘Yeah, and she has every right to be pissed off at you, asshole,’ his wolf snapped. ‘You chose to keep the truth from her and now what? Our mate wants nothing to do with us.’

“I know!” he shouted out loud. “I know I fucked up! I know I shouldn’t have kept everything from her.”

His mind became clouded with the images of Mia’s anguished expression and heartbroken reaction to hearing the news of their fated bond. James had silently hoped that she would have taken the news just a bit better. But no.

And why should she have? Mia was right, he’d been ignoring her and putting her off when he should have been focusing on her and giving her the attention she rightly deserved.

The pain inside of his chest was growing to become unbearable. He was desperate to find a way to fix things.

James finished what was left of his bourbon and reached for his phone to call Daniel. The beta was truly the only other person he genuinely trusted with his personal life.

“Hello, sir?”

James’ voice came out rough and strained. “Daniel. I need you to come to the house as soon as possible.”

Without another word, Daniel ended the call and made his way directly to the house. Looking a bit frazzled and slightly disheveled, Daniel caught his breath and requested to hear everything that was going on.

Over the next hour, James recounted the whole situation from the night he first discovered Mia was his mate to how he uncovered the demented plan of his Uncle. By the time he was done, Daniel was gently shaking and looked utterly panicked.

“S-Sir, may I speak with complete and open honesty?”

“Yes, Daniel.”

“The way I see it...You’re totally screwed,” he stated firmly.

“That’s not helping,” James muttered.

Daniel shook his head in pure bafflement. He threw his hands up and huffed.

“James, you need to take a step back and really look at this from an outsider’s perspective for a moment,” he instructed. “Based on what you’ve told me, Mia was violently assaulted by a woman who you believed was your first wife, putting the lives of her and her children in danger. She leaves the only place that was meant to be a safe haven for her because she no longer feels valued or safe. You managed to figure out that this mystery woman isn’t actually Evelyn—great. But now it’s too late because Mia already feels that you will always place Evelyn above her, no matter what.”

James felt his mood worsen. He dropped his face in his hands and groaned. “She doesn’t even believe that I love her.”

“Do you?” Daniel asked pointedly, causing James to snarl in defense. “You say that you love her, but what exactly have you done that would prove that claim? Mia isn’t someone who cares for material objects. Simple things like listening to her, sticking up for her, and validating her mere existence.”

Jesus Christ, he never felt like such a failure in his entire life. James had taken over his father’s business and made it better to where everyone ended up benefiting from it. He was known as one of the brightest students while making it through school.

There wasn’t much in life that honestly trumped him.

But when it came to his relationship with Mia, his one true mate, James felt as though he was constantly standing on eggshells.

He had no idea how he was going to fix any of what’s happened. “Maybe I don’t deserve her,” he said lowly.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Daniel and James turned their heads to find Lily stepping into the room.

“So sorry to interrupt,” she started. “It’s just that...Mia’s friend, Emily, is here.”

James drew his brows together in confusion and quickly left the study to search for Emily. When he made it to the main hall, he saw the woman frantically searching around with a panicked look on her face.

“Emily? What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Is Mia here?” she asks.

“What? No,” James answered. He was instantly filled with worry as well. “I thought Mia was still staying with you.”

“She is. She was meeting a friend earlier, she said she would be back no later than three. I can’t find her and she’s not answering any of my calls. I figured, maybe she decided to stop back here. I...I think something bad has happened.”

James knew this was no time to panic. He needed to keep his head clear and his thoughts rational. There were a number of possibilities as to why Mia hadn’t made it back to her friend’s place on time.

Right as he was about to speak, James heard his cell phone go off. He glanced down to see a number he wasn’t familiar with. He answered the call.

“Hello?”

“James Derek...” He recognized that tone of voice almost instantly. David Durent.

“Mr. Durent,” he gritted through his teeth.

“Mr. Derek, I have something that belongs to you. Well, something that should have never fallen into your grasp in the first place, rather.”

James’ heart slammed fiercely in his chest. “You’re the one who took her Mia.”

“Correct,” he said. “This patched-up marriage between the two of you cannot last. Which is why I’m prepared to offer you a deal.”