Olivia''s POV


    The morning air felt suffocating, heavy in my lungs like it had no right to be breathed. I had barely slept. The night had passed in a dull haze of exhaustion, the kind that numbs the body but leaves the mind screaming. When the sound of muffled crying finally reached me, it didn''t surprise me—it only confirmed the dread sitting in my chest.


    I followed the sound to the boys'' room.


    They were huddled together on the bed, three small bodies shaking as one. Leon had his arms wrapped tightly around Leo, while Liam pressed his face into the pillow, his sobs broken and uneven. The sight nearly dropped me to my knees.


    "Mommy," Liam cried the moment he saw me. "Daddy is dying."


    The words hit like a de.


    Through their tears and hupping breaths, they told me everything. They had seen him. Father Lennox. They said he looked like a ghost. Pale. Thin. Different. They said he looked like he was dying.


    Each word tightened something around my heart, squeezing until it hurt to breathe.


    Anger red—sharp and sudden—burning through the fear.


    He was supposed to let me handle the children.


    He was supposed to let me protect them from this. From the machines. From the sickness. From the slow, terrifying way their father was disappearing. Instead, he had let them see him at his weakest, had branded that image into their young minds.


    He had traumatized them.


    I gathered them into my arms, rocking them, murmuring promises I wasn''t sure I could keep. I told them Daddy was strong. That he loved them. That everything would be okay—even as my own voice trembled.


    When the nannies arrived, I handed the boys over with reluctance, brushing tears from their cheeks and kissing their foreheads.


    I left the nannies tofort the boys and marched downstairs, my anger acting as a shield against the grief. I found him in the dining room.


    The sight of him nearly stopped my heart. He was sitting at the table with Levi and Louis, picking at a te of food he clearly couldn''t taste. He was wearing a soft, knit head-warmer, and his face… it looked hollowed out, the skin stretched tight over his cheekbones like parchment.


    I sat down heavily across from him. "You weren''t supposed to let the children see you like that, Lennox," I said, my voice sharper than I intended. "They are terrified."


    Lennox looked up, his eyes ssy and recessed. "I''m sorry, Olivia," he whispered, the words barely reaching me. "I just… I needed to see them. I didn''t think."


    I stared at him, my brow furrowing. Something was fundamentally wrong. The way he sat, the way he breathed—it was like he was a puppet being held up by invisible strings. Why was he wearing that hat?


    Why did his face look so thin… so drained of life?


    "Olivia," he said softly, his voice trembling as he leaned toward me. "I am so sorry. For hiding my sickness… for the lies. I hope one day you find it in your heart to forgive me."


    My chest tightened.


    Before I could speak, he continued, his eyes fixed on mine as if he was afraid to look away.


    "I love you," he said quietly. "You have always been the only woman I''ve ever loved. There was never anyone else. Never."


    My breath caught.


    "I am happy," he went on, forcing a weak smile, "that in this lifetime, I met you. That I loved you. That I got to be your mate."


    His voice cracked. "And I hope… in another lifetime… I will be better to you. Stronger. Healthier. I hope I won''t hurt you the way I did in this one."


    Tears burned my eyes, but I couldn''t move.


    Slowly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. His hands were shaking badly now.


    "This came yesterday," he said. "It''s for you."


    He opened the box, revealing a delicate ne that caught the light. He stretched his hand toward me, waiting.


    I didn''t take it.


    My hands stayed frozen on myp. Fear wrapped tightly around my heart, whispering that this felt too much like goodbye.


    For a second, his hand hovered there. Then his fingers trembled, and he gently set the box down on the table instead.


    "I understand," he murmured.


    He pushed his chair back and tried to stand, his hands shaking as he gripped the edge of the mahogany table. His knees buckled immediately. Levi and Louis moved like lightning, catching him before his head hit the table, their faces etched with a panic they couldn''t hide. They practically carried him up the stairs, his feet dragging uselessly on the steps.


    I stayed in my chair, staring at the empty staircase. My chest felt like it was being crushed. What am I doing? I asked myself. He''s dying. He''s right there, and he''s dying, and I''m sitting here nursing my pride.


    I forced myself to pick up a fork, to take a bite of food, but I couldn''t swallow. Suddenly, the silence of the house was shattered.


    "Get the oxygen! Now!"


    "Where is the specialist? He''s not responding!"


    The shouting wasing from upstairs. I heard the frantic thumping of feet—doctors and healers who had been on standby were rushing toward Lennox''s suite. I sat still for a second, telling myself it was just another small crisis, another spike in his erratic vitals. But I couldn''t stay away.


    I focused on the space in his room and teleported.


    The scene was pure chaos. I appeared to find Levi and Louis copsed against each other by the window, sobbing openly. The doctors were hovering over the bed, but they weren''t using the paddles this time. They were simply checking his pupils, their faces grim.


    "What is it?" I screamed, rushing to the bed. "What''s happening?"


    The lead specialist looked at me, his eyes full of a heavy sorrow. "The effort ofing downstairs… it was too much for his heart, Luna. Alpha Lennox has fallen into a deep,a-like sleep. His systems are shutting down."


    He took a step back, folding his hands.


    "It''s time to say goodbye, Luna Olivia. He isn''ting back from this one."