From Substitute To Queen novel Chapter 186

Chapter 186

I stared at him, confusion clouding my thoughts. “Dad, you want to say what?”

Rodrigo clasped his hands together on the table. “Sable, I’ve been thinking about how you’ve been lately.”

I frowned. “I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

He let out a heavy sigh. “No, you’re not fine. I can see right through you-you’re barely holding it together. You’re my daughter. I know you better than anyone.”

“Dad, if you’re trying to comfort me about Caelan’s new relationship, you really don’t need to. I’ve already accepted it.”

Rodrigo shook his head slowly. “No, sweetheart. The problem is… what you’ve accepted might not be the truth.”

My heart started racing. “What do you mean? What truth?”

His voice carried a weight that made my stomach drop. “About your breakup. About… so many things.”

Rodrigo’s face contorted with an internal struggle I’d rarely seen before.

“This morning, I saw the news. Lucian was eliminated. Marcus… jumped from the hospital.”

I nodded. “I know. It was horrible, but at least the threat is over.”

He looked at me with such intensity it made me shift in my chair. “You know what? When I saw that news, my first thought wasn’t relief. It was guilt.”

“Guilt?” I leaned forward. “Why would you feel guilty?”

Rodrigo squeezed his eyes shut, pain etched across every line of his face. “Because I realized I might have made the biggest mistake of my life.”

“Sable, do you really know what kind of man Caelan is?”

“Of course I do. He’s the Lycan King. Powerful. And now he has a new girlfriend…”

“No! The word exploded from him. “That’s not it at all! You have no idea what he’s done for you!”

His sudden outburst startled me. “Dad, what’s wrong with you? Why are you defending him?

Rodrigo stood up abruptly, pacing to the window. “Because I’ve seen the truth. And I… I almost destroyed a man who truly loves you.”

The words hit me like ice water. I gripped the edge of my desk. “What are you talking about?

He turned back to me, his voice breaking. He told me the only way to make Lucian believe you two had really broken up was it Lucian thought he no longer loved you. Only then would Lucian stop trying to hurt you.”

I gasped. “You’re saying…?

Yes. The breakup was fake. It was his agonizing decision to protect you.”

My hands began to tremble uncontrollably. “No… that’s impossible… He said he didn’t love me anymore…”

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Chapter 186

Rodrigo’s voice cracked. “Those were lies he had to tell. He’d rather have you hate him than see you get hurt.”

He resumed his pacing, running his hands through his hair. “And the person who hit you two with that car…”

“Who was it?” My voice was barely a whisper. “Wasn’t it one of Lucian’s people?”

Rodrigo stopped dead, turning to face me. “The driver was Marcus Blackwood.”

All the color drained from my face. “What?! Marcus? Caelan’s father?”

“He tried to kill both of you to curry favor with Lucian.”

“Did Caelan know?” My voice shook.

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Rodrigo nodded painfully. “He knew. But he made me promise to keep it secret from you.”

“Why?!” I shot to my feet, my voice nearly a shout.

“Because he was afraid if you knew, you’d be even more terrified. And you’d refuse to go along with the breakup.”

My mind reeled as the pieces fell into place. Caelan had endured so much alone-his father trying to murder him, then lying about not loving me to protect me, and now his father’s suicide. He’d carried all of that pain by himself, never letting me see how much he was suffering.

Rodrigo’s voice grew quiet. “After seeing you hurt, I turned all my anger on him. I forced him to break up with you.”

Tears welled in my eyes. “Dad…”

“I thought since his family wanted to hurt you, he should leave you alone. But I was wrong. So terribly wrong.”

Rodrigo walked over and knelt in front of my chair, taking my hands in his. “Sweetheart, I destroyed your happiness. I let my fear and anger force a man who truly loves you to walk away.”

“I thought I was protecting you, but I was actually hurting both of you.”

He squeezed my hands. “I saw the desperation in his eyes, but I still insisted he leave you.”

“That night, he broke down crying and said to me: ‘I’d rather die than leave her, but if this is the only way to protect her…”

‘I understand now-I wasn’t just forcing him to give up love, I was forcing him to give up his reason for living.”

His voice trembled, “Sable, your father made an unforgivable mistake. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?”

“I know I have no right to ask for forgiveness, but-

Tears streaming down my face, I interrupted him. Dad, you were trying to protect me too.”

“No, that wasn’t protection. That was my selfishness and shortsightedness. Rodrigo shook his head in anguish.

I gently stroked his hair. “Dad, I forgive you. We both made mistakes. I misunderstood Caelan too.”

Rodrigo pointed to the empty lunch containers on my desk. “Do you know who really made those meals?”

I wiped my tears. “Mary… she’s been so kind to me…”

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12:07 Fri, 22 Aug PM.

Chapter 186

Rodrigo shook his head. “No, sweetheart. It was Caelan.”

My eyes widened in shock. “What?”

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“He made them himself because he knew after the breakup you wouldn’t eat properly when you were upset. He even told Mary to lie and say she made them.”

Suddenly, today’s lunch made sense-the soup and that crying face made of vegetables. He’d known I’d been caught in yesterday’s rain and was feeling miserable.

I broke down completely, sobbing uncontrollably. “He… why would he do that?”

“Because he loves you more than his own life.”

Through my tears, I choked out: “What about Elena? She’s pregnant…”

Rodrigo shook his head firmly. “I don’t believe it.”

“Why not?”

“Because I know Caelan. That man is loyal to the point of being foolish when it comes to love.”

Rodrigo’s voice grew gentle but certain. “Think about it-if he really had feelings for someone else, why would he cook for you every day? Why would he still wear the watch you gave him? Edward told me about that. The man never takes it off except to shower or sleep. Does that sound like someone who’s moved on?”

I stared at him, speechless.

Rodrigo’s tone turned tender. “Sweetheart, his relationship with Elena is most likely the final step in his plan to make you give up

completely.”

I cried even harder. “That idiot! That stubborn fool!”

Rodrigo pulled me into his arms, gently patting my back as I sobbed against his shoulder.

I pushed back from him, voice breaking. “He shouldered all of this alone, and I spent this whole time hating him…”

Rodrigo sat beside me, his hand on my shoulder. “Sweetheart, now that the threat is over, maybe it’s time to go talk to him.”

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From Substitute To Queen