How To Lose Your Billionaire Alpha Husband In 365 Days (Or Less)!-Chapter 62: Not Ready To...

JASMINE’S POV

The morning sun slipped through the slats of Sophia’s kitchen blinds, painting golden stripes across the countertop like a crime scene I hadn’t cleaned up yet.

I cracked an egg.

Too hard.

The shell shattered in my hand, the yolk oozing over my fingers and dripping to the counter. I stared at it like it might spell out answers, like the mess could give me something... anything—to hold onto.

Then I wiped it away and reached for another.

Sophia stood at the stove in a tank top that said "Tired But Sassy" and plaid pajama pants, flipping pancakes with more aggression than finesse.

She was humming off-key, some ’90s pop ballad she probably hadn’t thought about since college.

The melody was clumsy, but it filled the silence—something I couldn’t quite do myself.

My hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

I could still feel him: Aiden’s weight pinning me down, the fire in his eyes, the scrape of claws that didn’t touch me but could have, the terrifying nearness of it all.

I gripped the edge of the counter until my knuckles paled, forcing the memory down, down, into some corner of myself I didn’t want to look at.

Sophia glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. "Hey. You look like you’re about to start a fight with those eggs."

"I might," I muttered. "They’re not behaving."

She raised an eyebrow, flipping a pancake that was... definitely scorched. "Well, you break them, you buy them."

"If you burn those pancakes, I’m disowning you."

Her smirk was immediate. "I’ve been threatened with worse."

We almost smiled at the same time.

Almost.

The silence that followed felt heavy, almost suffocating, like thick fog hanging in the air. She didn’t need to ask if I had slept; we both knew what the answer was.

I cracked the next egg more gently.

Sophia turned down the burner. "You know... he called."

My hand paused over the bowl.

"Yeah, I know... I was there, remember?"

"No, after that. After you passed out on the couch. Said he wouldn’t show up unless you were ready."

I swallowed. "And you told him I wasn’t?"

"Obviously." She hesitated, then added, "I told him what you told me. Enough of it, anyway. Just so he’d understand how much he screwed up."

I didn’t answer.

What was there to say?

We stood there in silence for a while, pretending everything was fine. It felt like we were playing house, acting like we didn’t realise how close things were to falling apart.

Then came the knock.

Three short raps.

I froze.

The egg slipped from my fingers, splattering against the floor.

Sophia looked at me. "Do you want me to—?"

I shook my head. "You go, I’ll handle this," I said, already heading to find some napkin or mop to clean the floor.

I didn’t need to be beside her when she opened the door, but when she did, I felt it before I even heard him.

"I need to see her." His voice was low and shaky, as if he hadn’t gotten any sleep either.

I walked out of the kitchen and stepped into view, still barefoot, hair in a messy bun, wearing one of Sophia’s oversized shirts with a coffee stain down the front.

And there he was.

Aiden.

His hair was all over the place, his shirt was wrinkled, and his eyes were bloodshot and tired. He definitely looked like hell.

"Jasmine," he said, voice cracking around my name, "I’m sorry."

I didn’t move.

He took a breath. "I lost control. That’s not an excuse, but it’s the truth. The bond, the seal, it was like something inside me shattered. I’ve never..." He stopped himself, jaw twitching. "It won’t happen again."

I stared at him. At the hands that had held me down. At the mouth that almost—

"You don’t get to decide that," I said, cutting him off, my voice cold as ice.

He flinched like I’d slapped him.

"You think a promise fixes it?" I stepped closer, my tone rising. "You think saying sorry makes it all disappear?"

"No," he said, eyes locked on mine. "But I needed to say it anyway."

I didn’t blink. "Good. If that’s all, you can take your leave."

He didn’t move.

Sophia cleared her throat loudly from behind him. "You heard her."

Still, he stood there, like he couldn’t make his legs work.

"I’m not ready," I said, softer now. "I don’t trust you right now, Aiden. And I don’t know if I ever can again."

He tightened his jaw and nodded slowly, as if every movement were a struggle and something inside him was breaking apart.

I folded my arms. "The blood moon is in two days. We’ll deal with the ritual. Together. But after that—"

His eyes flickered. "Jasmine—"

"After that," I repeated, cutting him off, "we figure out the rest. If there is a rest."

A truce.

Not forgiveness.

Not yet.

He nodded again, his eyes lingering a second longer, searching my face like he was trying to memorise it.

"I’ll wait," he said quietly. "Whatever you need. However long it takes."

Then he turned and walked away.

Sophia shut the door behind him and let out a slow breath. "He’s a mess."

"I know."

"I mean like, beyond ’my-wife-left-me’ kind of mess. He looked like he’d gone full sad-wolf Shakespeare."

"I know," I repeated.

I dropped into the chair at the kitchen table, staring at the ruined egg on the floor.

"Still love him?" she asked, voice soft.

I didn’t answer.

But the scar on my neck throbbed—a dull pulse, like a heartbeat that wasn’t mine.

Sophia didn’t push. She bent down, grabbed a paper towel, and started cleaning up the mess without another word.

My phone buzzed on the table beside me.

I almost didn’t check it.

But something in my gut twisted tight.

I picked it up.

Text Message — Unsaved Number

Heard you’re dodging family, Jasmine. Meet me at the old headquarters tonight, or the board hears everything. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

My stomach dropped.

Sophia looked up at me. "What is it?"

I stared at the message. Vale’s words burned on the screen like acid.

"Trouble," I said finally. "The kind that doesn’t knock."