Free Web NovelChapter 48: Chapter 48 Deal with Devil
Bella’s POV
"You expect me to believe that through all of this, you were secretly in love with me?" The words tore from my throat, raw with the ache that clawed its way back into my chest.
"I was in love with you. I still am," Derek said, his hand pressing against his heart as he moved closer.
I threw my palm up between us, creating an invisible wall he couldn’t cross.
"Bullshit," I snarled. "You crawled back because your precious wife’s womb is empty and you need an heir."
The color drained from his face like I’d slapped him.
"You think I’m still that pathetic girl, don’t you? That same broken Bella who hung on your every word?" My voice cracked with fury. "I gave you one final opportunity that night when I told you about the baby. You looked me in the eye and said you never wanted to see me again. I begged you just to say it one more time."
My chest heaved as I glared at him through the space between us.
"After everything I’ve survived, you honestly believe I’d fall for your manipulation again? That would mean I learned nothing from the hell you put me through."
The words sliced through the air, and something twisted with satisfaction inside me when his eyes filled with tears.
Yes, I was exactly the kind of person who found joy in watching her former mate finally suffer. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
"You’re only saying this to hurt me," he whispered, shaking his head. "And you’re right about my mistakes. But do you know why I made them?"
He stepped forward and I retreated. We had nothing left to discuss.
I couldn’t understand his obsession with rehashing our destruction over and over.
"I don’t give a damn anymore. You have a wife. You’re trying to make babies with her. Come on, Derek. You already destroyed any respect I had for you. Don’t humiliate yourself in front of her too."
He shook his head with desperate determination.
"No. Today you’re going to hear exactly why I did what I did," his voice turned steel as he advanced until he stood directly in front of me.
"My father threatened me. He used your life, your safety, everything about you as leverage against me."
My knees buckled at his words and I gripped the bed frame to keep from collapsing. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
Just hearing about his father sent ice through my veins.
"My father was the reason I walked away from you. If I hadn’t, your entire family would have faced severe consequences," he continued, tears spilling down his cheeks.
I still couldn’t grasp what his father could have said that terrified Derek so completely. The man had threatened me before, but I needed to understand more.
What could have been so horrific that Derek couldn’t even speak to me afterward?
"Your father always hated our friendship, but that doesn’t erase the fact that I woke up alone that morning," I said, holding his gaze and forcing him to confront that memory that haunted me every single day.
I still wondered why I had fallen asleep. Why hadn’t I stayed awake to catch him sneaking away?
I wanted to know what went through their minds when they betrayed me like that.
"I never intended to leave you. I planned to stay, but I had no choice," Derek whispered as he reached for my arms.
I shoved my hands against his chest, pushing him back with a warning not to touch me. Just because he had an explanation didn’t mean I would believe it.
"That night, after everything we shared, I planned to stay. I wanted to ask you to choose me, to be mine," he continued.
I didn’t know what shocked me more, his words or his assumption that I would buy any of this, but he kept talking.
"That morning, my father called me," his voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "What I heard in that call scared me so badly I couldn’t even stay next to you."
I watched him struggle to breathe, to find his words.
"There was a video attached to his message," he added, guilt weighing down every syllable.
My brow furrowed in confusion.
"What video?" My heart hammered against my ribs.
"A video of you going through files in my father’s office," he replied. "He showed me that footage and threatened to have you punished for trespassing in the Alpha’s private office."
The memory slammed into me like a physical blow.
I remembered that incident perfectly, and suddenly I knew he wasn’t lying about this part.
"I knew that happened. I just had no idea he recorded it," I said, feeling dizzy as the implications sank in.
"He was going to send the warriors to arrest you at your home," Derek explained, his voice heavy with pain. "Then he planned to turn you over to the council. Back then, the council handed out brutal punishments to young women like you. They were going to sell you to some disgusting old man, force you into marriage with him."
Derek paused and buried his face in his hands. I could see the veins pulsing at his temples.
"I traded my freedom for yours, Bella," he said quietly.
When he looked up, his eyes were bloodshot. A tear traced down his cheek as he pointed at me, his voice breaking.
"Just to protect you from that fate, I made a deal with the devil himself. With my father. I gave him everything, my freedom, my mother’s inheritance, my future. I sacrificed it all for you."
I stared at him in stunned silence, my mind spinning with questions I wasn’t ready to ask.
"That day when you told me about the pregnancy, I was terrified for you," he continued. "If my father had discovered it, and he would have because his spies watched your every move, you would have disappeared forever."
He stepped back, dragging his hand through his hair in frustration.
"My plan was to endure being my father’s prisoner, accept the crown when he forced it on me, and then come back for you. I wanted to announce to everyone that you would be my wife. But that never happened, because you vanished. And I remained trapped in the deal I made with him."
