The night was quiet, but Claire’s mind was a storm.
She sat on the edge of the bed in the east wing suite, the mansion silent around her. Alex Jr. was asleep in the next room, his soft breathing the only sound breaking the stillness. But Claire couldn’t sleep. The weight of the past five years, the custody negotiations, the pack’s lingering resentment, Xander’s cold distance, and her own deep-seated doubts had finally become too much to carry.
Tears came first — silent, then louder, until her shoulders shook with deep, wrenching sobs. She pressed a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound, but the breakdown she had been holding back for weeks finally crashed over her.
“I can’t do this,” she whispered brokenly, rocking herself. “I want to trust him again. I want to believe we can heal. Bu
