Five Fears Waiting, I Was Just a Lie Chapter 05

Harlan’s POV

I was at the Command gala when Maeve’s message lit up my screen. The glass nearly slipped out of my hand.

[We’re done, Harlan.]

I stared at the words. Something clenched inside me.

I typed back without thinking.

[Maeve, don’t do this.]

[Five years together and you’re just walking away?]

The message didn’t go through.

[Message Not Delivered.]

I stood there, staring at the screen.

In all our years together, even when things were bad, she’d never blocked me.

I couldn’t stay in that room.

I made some excuse about needing the restroom and slipped past the officers and guests. I took the stairs to the roof.

The cold hit me the second I stepped outside.

I called her. Again and again. Every time, the same automated recording.

“The person you are trying to reach is unavailable.”

When the gala ended, I didn’t go home with Serena. I drove straight to Maeve’s place.

My wolf was losing control, thrashing against my ribs the entire drive. Something inside me was unraveling, and I couldn’t stop it.

I pounded on the door.

“Maeve.”

“Open the door.”

“Let’s talk.”

No one answered.

The landlord next door came out, half-asleep and annoyed.

“Stop knocking.”

“That girl? She left this afternoon.”

The words stopped me cold.

It took me a long time before I could move.

On the way down, I spotted the bank card I’d given her. It was sitting next to the trash can.

She hadn’t taken it. She hadn’t touched a cent.

That was when it finally sank in. She wasn’t throwing a tantrum. She was done with me.

I sped back to the estate.

Serena was on the couch with a cup of tea. She took one look at my face and smiled.

“Your little girlfriend ran off?”

“Hurts, doesn’t it?”

We played the perfect pair in public. Behind closed doors, the masks came off.

I slammed the door shut.

I crossed the room and grabbed her by the throat.

“You drove her out, didn’t you?”

“I warned you. Don’t touch her.”

Serena clawed at my hand, her face flushing dark.

“Harlan…”

“Don’t forget our agreement…”

I let go.

Serena doubled over, clutching her throat and coughing.

“She left on her own. Nobody forced her.”

She looked up at me, voice raw but still mocking.

“You think everyone’s like you? Willing to live inside a lie?”

“If she’d stayed, the Blackwood elders would’ve gone after her. I did her a favor.”

I had nothing to say to that.

That night, I sat by the window and smoked until sunrise.

Years ago, I’d applied to the warrior academy behind my family’s back. All I wanted was to get out from under the Blackwood name and make it on my own at Command.

But without the family behind me, I couldn’t move an inch.

When my father’s old injury came back, the elders dragged me home. They made the terms clear: if I wanted to rise at Command, I had to accept the alliance bond with the Ashfords.

That meant bonding with Serena.

I did think about telling Maeve the truth.

One night on a video call, I tried to test the waters.

“What if I had to accept a bond my family arranged? What would you do?”

She didn’t even hesitate.

“Then we’re done. I won’t be the one who wrecks someone else’s family.”

After that, I never brought it up again.

I started lying to her. And I didn’t stop for five years.

But none of that excuses what I did.

The worst thing I ever did was knowing, with absolute certainty, that I couldn’t give her a real future. And I made her wait anyway.

Every time Command wore me down. Every time the family pulled me under. Every time the elders paraded me around as Serena’s perfect mate.

Maeve was the one I wanted.

Eastmere, where Maeve was, felt like my real home.

I loved Maeve.

But I couldn’t give her the mating ceremony she wanted. I couldn’t give her a bond that was only hers.

I pushed back against the family. Again and again. It never made a difference.

In public, I played the devoted mate. Serena always knew about Maeve. She chose not to care.

As long as I held up my end and didn’t embarrass the Ashford name, she looked the other way. She didn’t care who I actually loved.

But I never thought Maeve would leave like that. No warning, no room for me to talk her out of it.

I sat in the dark, my hand locked around my phone. The screen still showed the message that never went through.

Something inside me was being hollowed out, slow and irreversible. I could barely breathe.

So this was what it felt like to be left behind.