Chapter 204

Cecilia's pov I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Wait--what? You forced her out?" Sebastian gave me a sideways glance, that infuriatingly charming half-smile tugging at his lips--the one that always made my heart do something reckless. "Technically," he said, "my mother asked her to leave." I blinked at him, stunned. He reached over, one hand leaving the steering wheel to curl around my waist. "Because," he murmured, voice brushing over my skin like velvet, "she's getting ready to welcome the woman who'll stand at my side--for life." My breath caught. For a split second, I couldn't decide if I was elated or on the verge of cardiac arrest. Then reality hit--not like a slap, but like a bucket of cold water on a winter day: jarring, unwelcome, and impossible to ignore. Who was I kidding? His mother would never accept me. Not really. This wasn't a fairy tale. I wasn't what she pictured when she thought of her son's mate. Not even close. But still... He'd gone to war with his family fo