Reborn: The Alpha I Called a Mistake

Chapter 9

Aurelia’s POV

I pulled my hand away. But it was too late. His touch had already awakened something I’d buried.

Love.

Or perhaps simply the memory of it. And that was enough to make me hesitate. I knew better. And still— I gave him one last chance.

Because sometimes, you don’t truly know you’re done loving someone until your heart has nothing left to give.

And mine wasn’t empty yet. Not quite.

That would come later.

The rain had stopped by morning, leaving the city washed in a pale, uncertain light that seeped through my bedroom curtains like a secret I was not ready to hear.

I had not slept.

For hours, I had lain awake, replaying the scene at the diner—the look on Ryan’s face, the crack in his voice, the desperation in his eyes.

My phone had buzzed twice before dawn. Once from Ryan. Once from a number I did not recognize.

I had answered neither.

But Ryan had never been a man who accepted silence.

He showed up at my apartment at nine.

His hair was disheveled, his shirt wrinkled, and his eyes were rimmed with red, as though he had spent the entire night awake just as I had.

For a long moment, I simply stared at him.

I could not decide whether I wanted to slam the door in his face or let him inside.

Then he spoke.

“I need you to listen,” he said.

His voice was raw, stripped of the confidence and arrogance that usually came so naturally to him.

“Not forgive me. Not forget what happened. Just listen.” His eyes held mine. “Please, Aurelia. I’m begging you.”

Something inside me weakened.

I stepped aside.

I let him in.

He did not sit. Instead, he paced the narrow space between my couch and the window, his footsteps restless and uneven. He looked like a man searching for the right words and finding none of them sufficient.

Finally, he stopped.

“The night I kissed Vespera…” His jaw tightened. “I was drunk. Not tipsy. Not buzzed. I was so far gone that I could barely remember my own name.”

I opened my mouth to speak.

I wanted to tell him that being drunk did not erase responsibility. That I had heard enough excuses from people who had been caught doing things they regretted. But before I could say anything, he continued.

“She took advantage of me.”

The words hung heavily between us.

“I know how it sounds,” he said quickly. “I know what you must think. But I can prove it.”

My brows drew together.

“I brought her here.”

My blood ran cold.

“You what?”

“She’s outside.”

Before I could stop him, Ryan crossed the room and opened the door.

“Vespera. Get in here.”

She entered slowly.

Vespera Nightbane—the celebrated heiress, the woman whose name alone could open doors most people could never reach—looked nothing like the polished, untouchable woman I knew.

Her dark hair fell loosely around her face. Her shoulders were tense, and she kept her eyes lowered as though she could barely stand to look at me.

Ryan turned toward her.

“Tell her,” he said coldly. “Tell her the truth.”

Vespera flinched.

For several seconds, she remained silent.

Then she slowly raised her head.

Tears glistened in her dark eyes.

“He only ever loved you.”

My heart clenched.

“It was me,” she continued. “I pursued him. I used my family’s connections to get close to him, to push my way into his life. I thought if I could make him notice me, if I could make him want me, eventually he would forget about you.”

She swallowed hard.

“But he never did.”

Her voice trembled.

“He never saw me as anything more than a friend. And that night…”

She stopped, her breath hitching.

“That night, he was so drunk he could barely stand. I told myself it was my chance. I convinced myself that he wanted it, that maybe if I pushed hard enough, he would finally choose me.”

A tear slipped down her cheek.

“But he didn’t.”

The room seemed to shrink around me.

“I let you believe that he had chosen me,” she whispered. “I let you hate him. I let you hate me. And I deserved it. I’m sorry, Aurelia. I’m so sorry.”

I stared at her.

I did not know what I was supposed to feel.

Anger came first—a hot, bitter wave that made my entire body tense.

But beneath it was something far more dangerous.

Hope.

The fragile, foolish hope that perhaps the man I had loved had not become the monster I had convinced myself he was.

Ryan stepped toward me.

“I know I failed you,” he said softly. “I should have told you the truth from the beginning. I should have protected you from this. I should have given you the choice to decide what you wanted instead of letting you believe the worst.”

He reached for my hand.

“I’m here now, Aurelia. And I’m not going anywhere.”

His fingers closed gently around mine.

“Please. Give me one more chance.”

And my foolish heart—that traitorous, hopelessly romantic part of me that still loved him despite everything—decided to say yes.

For a while, I thought I had made the right choice.

The weeks that followed were almost enough to convince me that Ryan had truly changed.

He called every morning and every night. He remembered the smallest things I told him. He listened when I spoke instead of waiting for his turn to answer. He brought me flowers, but not the extravagant arrangements he had once favored. Instead, he chose simple wildflowers that reminded me of the fields near my childhood home.

He showed up when he said he would.

He kept his promises.

Little by little, he became the boy I remembered—the one who had held me during thunderstorms, who had whispered promises to me in the darkness, who had once made me believe that no matter what happened, he would always choose me.

And slowly, cautiously, I allowed myself to believe that perhaps we could find our way back to each other.

Then came the job interviews.

I had interviews with two companies that month.