The Alpha Behind The Mask-Chapter 80: Hurting Him

​Aurora’s POV

​Our eyes met for a split second.

Oliver’s gaze was filled with panic, searching my face as if he was looking for the trust we had built last night. But all I saw was the man who had just dismantled a woman’s life without a single blink of regret.

​I couldn’t stand the sight of him. Not right now. So I turned sharply and climbed back up the stairs, my heart heavy in my chest. I didn’t return to his room. I went to my own room and slammed the door shut, leaning against it as my breath came in ragged gasps.

​Slowly, I walked to the bed and sat down, staring at nothing.

Cassey’s words kept echoing in my head.

He only wants you because you’re innocent... because you look like his mother.

​Was I really just a replacement? A way for him to get what he couldn’t have as a kid?

I thought about how he had treated Cassey. He was so brutal. He called their time together nothing but sex. He felt nothing for her. How could you spend so long with someone, shower them with gifts, share a bed with them... and feel nothing?

​If he could do that to her after so long of being together, what would he do to me?

​Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door. I didn’t flinch. I was expecting it.

​"Aurora?"

My throat tightened.

​"Go away, Oliver," I said, my voice trembling with pain.

​"Aurora, please open the door," he pleaded. He sounded desperate, but after seeing his cold face downstairs, I didn’t know which version of him was real. "Don’t listen to her. She was just trying to hurt you."

​"Oliver, you guys have been together for more than a year... how could you..." I paused, not able to finish my words.

​The silence on the other side of the door was deafening.

​"I never lied to her," he said finally, his voice muffled through the door. "I was honest about what I could give. I’m being honest with you, too."

​"Are you?" I stood up and walked to the door, though I didn’t open it. "Are you interested in me because I look like your mother, Oliver? Is that why you are kind to me? Is that why you want me in your bed?"

​I waited for him to say no. I waited for him to tell me I was unique, that he saw me. But the pause lasted too long.

​"For goodness’ sake, no Aurora," he spat, sounding frustrated. "You look like my mother, yes... but it has nothing to do with why I am attracted to you."

​I didn’t say a word; I just stepped back from the door and sat back on the bed.

​"Aurora, please open the door... let’s talk it out," he pleaded, sounding panicked—different from the cold man I saw a few minutes ago downstairs.

​"Please, just go away," I whispered, pulling my knees to my chest. I couldn’t do this now.

​"No, Aurora. I’m not leaving," he said, his voice dropping to a low, intense tone that vibrated through the wood of the door. "I have something to say. Something I should have told you before all this madness. Open up."

​My breath hitched. I knew what he was about to say. He was going to profess his feelings, and if he did, I would be forced to face a truth I wasn’t ready for. I wasn’t ready to choose between the King standing outside my door... and the man named Raymond who haunted my thoughts.

​"Leave," I choked out, covering my ears with my hands. "Just go away, Oliver. Please."

​"I can’t keep it inside anymore," he countered, his palm thudding against the door. I could almost picture him leaning his forehead against the frame, his blue eyes dark with the desperation I heard in his voice. "Everything Cassey said... it’s nonsense. It’s bitter lies. I need you to understand what you actually are to me."

​"I am nothing to you!" I spat, my voice rising so he could hear it clearly from the door. "You don’t want me, Oliver. You just want to own me. You want to fuck me until the novelty wears off, and because of that, you’re ready to lie. You’ll say anything just to get what you want."

​I could hear his breathing hitch on the other side of the door, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. If I didn’t hurt him now, he would confess his feelings for me, and I didn’t want that.

​"Whatever you want to say, I don’t believe you," I yelled, standing up and walking closer to the door, though I felt like I was trembling apart. "I won’t ever believe you. Cassey was right—you have no heart. You’re just a broken man, Alpha Oliver. You’re cold, you’re hollow, and you use people to fill the gaps where your soul should be."

​I waited for him to roar back, to use his Alpha command to make me silent. I waited for the anger. But instead, there was only a heavy, suffocating silence. It stretched on for seconds that felt like hours. I could almost feel his spirit shattering against the door I refused to open.

​"Is that what you truly think of me?" he whispered. His voice was so low, so utterly defeated, that it hurt worse than any shout.

​"Yes," I lied, the word tasting like poison. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

​There was a soft thud, like he had leaned his weight against the door one last time. Then, I heard the slow, heavy sound of his footsteps. I listened as the sound faded down the long hallway until it was gone completely.

​He was gone.

​I sank to the floor, my back against the door, and finally let the sobs take over. I had won. I had stopped him from confessing. But as I sat there in the silence of my room, I felt more alone than I ever had in my life. I had used his vulnerability as a weapon, and in doing so, I had hurt him in the most brutal way.

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