The Third Time My Alpha Accused Me Of Cheating I Left Chapter 10
Asher burst into heaving sobs.
He lunged forward and grabbed Esme’s leg again.
“Mommy, don’t go!”
“I was wrong!”
“I shouldn’t have broken your necklace! I shouldn’t have said those things about Grandma!”
“Kid, you’ve got the wrong person.”
A young man stepped forward suddenly, placing himself between Esme, the child, and us.
“Take the Luna and the young master inside to rest.”
Luna?
I stopped dead.
Esme didn’t look back.
She held the toddler close and followed the others, walking away step by step.
I stood rooted to the spot, staring at her retreating figure.
For a moment, I couldn’t process what was happening.
Nolan Whitlock. The near-mythical Alpha of Hollowmoon Pack who almost never showed his face.
What had he just called Esme? Luna?
It hit me then—all those years, several of our key business ventures had been strangled at their weakest points. Every trail I’d followed led back to Hollowmoon Pack.
I’d assumed it was corporate rivalry. Now I understood—it was Esme.
My heart clenched. All this time, I’d believed she couldn’t let go of Asher. Believed she’d come back eventually.
But she’d already built a new life somewhere without us—a new child, a new world.
And for three years, the Vale family’s empire had been quietly dismantled. I stared at Nolan’s retreating back.
I couldn’t explain why, but something about that silhouette felt familiar.
A blurred memory tried to surface from somewhere deep in my mind.
It took everything I had to see Esme one more time.
When she finally appeared, three years of silence stood between us. She looked at me with eyes as still and flat as dead water.
Asher pressed close to my side, calling out timidly:
“Mommy.”
Esme glanced at him.
Said nothing.
“Esme, that banishment report—I never actually signed it.”
“My son and I have been waiting for you to come home. How could you just… be with someone else…”
My voice grew tighter with every word.
“Hollowmoon Pack is powerful enough that even the Vale family has to defer to them—how could you let yourself be with Nolan? Don’t you realize—”
“You arranged those three affairs. Isn’t this exactly what you wanted?”
Esme cut me off.
Her tone was weightless. Effortless.
I snapped my gaze to her.
“What did you just say?”
“That man. The first one. It was him.”
“He was drunk. He wandered into my room.”
Esme watched my face carefully, speaking slowly: “Wasn’t that your doing?”
My mind went blank—a single deafening roar.
Nolan.
That man…
The first time—the surveillance footage—the figure whose face was never visible, only a blurred silhouette—that was Nolan.
“No—Esme, I didn’t arrange any of it!”
“Then couldn’t you see?”
She stared straight into my eyes.
“Three times, Grayson. Three times.”
“It never once occurred to you to investigate?”
My lips moved.
But nothing came out.
How could I not have been suspicious?
Only—every single time, I’d handed it off to Naomi.
Every single time, once the evidence landed in my hands, I’d chosen to believe whatever was most convenient.
“You didn’t arrange it. But you enabled it.”
Esme’s voice stayed low—as if she were talking about someone else’s life entirely.
“Otherwise, it wouldn’t have happened three times.”
My throat felt like it was being crushed.
A long silence passed before I could force any sound out.
“About all of this… and about your mother… I’m sorry.”
At the mention of Linda, Esme’s eyes went red—just for an instant.
Her lashes trembled.
“Grayson, don’t appear in front of me again.”
That was the last time she ever said my name.
Tears fell without warning. In that moment, I knew with absolute certainty—something had broken beyond repair.
Esme stood up.
She turned and walked away.
“Mommy—!”
Asher finally broke down, sobbing.
“Mommy, don’t go! I’ll be good! I won’t say bad things anymore! I’ll listen to everything you say—”
He tried to chase after her.
I stepped forward and caught him.
“Mommy—!”
Esme didn’t stop. Not for a single step.
All I could do was stand there, watching her walk into the distance. The sunlight outside was blinding. She squinted slightly, raised a hand, and swiped quickly at the corner of her eye.
Then she took out her phone.
“Release the video of him and Naomi that night. I want him destroyed.”
My body went completely rigid.
Esme had already hung up. She kept walking.
Three years of the Vale family’s influence being quietly devoured—territory after territory lost—it all connected in my mind in a single, terrible line.
So that was it.
She’d never disappeared.
She’d been doing what she set out to do all along.
And now, it was my turn.
Beside me, Asher’s cries grew louder and louder.
But Esme never looked back.
Step by step, she walked out of my sight completely.