Piss Off, Alpha! You Lost Me Forever-Chapter 170 You Deserve To Be Free

SOPHIA’S POV

We were still talking when we turned the corner toward my office.

Lance was mid-sentence, saying something about a research paper he had reviewed the night before, and I was listening with half my attention.

Then I saw him.

Damien was standing outside my office door.

He was simply standing there. His wolf energy was contained and quiet this morning, unlike last night. He had put himself back together. He always put himself back together.

What was he doing here?

I stopped walking for just a second. Then I kept going.

My face stayed neutral. My pace stayed even. Whatever this was, I was not going to have drama the middle of a hospital corridor in front of my colleagues and my friend.

Lance had gone quiet beside me. I felt him notice the situation without saying anything.

Damien saw me coming then moved away from the door. He stepped forward into the corridor, positioning himself in front of me. His eyes moved briefly to Lance, then came back to me and stayed there.

I stopped in front of him. "What are you doing here?"

He didn’t answer the question directly. Instead he reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and brought out a folder.

"It’s signed," he said. "Everything. All the pages, all the clauses. You can handle the next steps on your end. Desmond said the courthouse filing should be straightforward from here."

I looked at the folder in his hand.

Seven years. This was a marriage that had started with me believing completely in our love. Now, it had ended with me learning how to want nothing from it at all. And here it was – in a a blue folder, held out in a hospital corridor.

I took it.

I opened the folder, scanning each page methodically. The signatures were there. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

I closed the folder and slid it into my bag.

"I’ll file it soon," I said.

I turned toward my office door.

"Sophia."

I stopped. I didn’t turn around immediately. I took one breath first then turned.

Damien was looking at me with an expression I recognized from last night. His jaw was tight.

"Ashley," he said. "Are you going to keep seeing her?"

I looked at him directly. "She’s my daughter. Of course I’m going to see her. Don’t interfere with that."

He nodded. "I won’t stop you. You’re welcome to see her whenever you want. I - I won’t make it difficult."

I had no idea what to say to him. So, I didn’t respond. I turned and walked into my office.

Lance followed, closing the door behind us.

"Sophia." Lance spoke. "Why was he here?"

"The divorce papers," I said, setting my bag down "He signed them. All of them. It’s done. I just need to file them at the courthouse and it’s legally over."

Lance was quiet for a moment. He kept looking at me, like he was making sure I was okay.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

I thought about it honestly. I didn’t just want to say the automatic fine that lived at the front of my mouth, but the actual answer, the one that required a moment to think about.

How did I feel?

"Light," I said finally. "I feel light, like I’ve been carrying something for so long that I forgot it had weight, and I’ve just put it down and realized my arms don’t hurt anymore." I paused. "Is that strange?"

"No," he shook his head. "It’s exactly right."

He moved then stopped in front of me. He didn’t come too close. His eyes were warm as he looked at me.

"Sophia." He said quietly "You chose yourself. You held on through everything they put you through and you chose yourself, and now it’s done. I’m proud of you and I’m relieved, because you deserve to be free of something that was making you smaller than you are."

My throat tightened.

I hadn’t expected those particular words. He didn’t congratulate me. He didn’t say you’ll be fine or things will get better. Just: I’m proud of you. You deserve to be free.

My wolf howled deep in my chest. The sound she made was her responding to something that felt like being genuinely seen - not as someone’s wife, not as someone’s doctor, not as someone’s convenient option. But this was me being seen as just as myself, just as Sophia.

"Thank you," I said.

He nodded. Then he took a small step back, "You have patients in twenty minutes. Do you need a moment first, or-"

"I’m ready," I said.

And I was. I felt more ready than I had been for anything in a very long time.

I straightened, set my shoulders, and reached for the first file on my desk. The folder with Damien’s signatures sat in my bag beside me.

Lance moved to leave, pausing at the door. "I meant what I said. If you need anything, anything, Sophia - I’m here."

I looked at him standing in the doorway. Lance was one of the most genuine people in my life right now.

"I know," I said. "Thank you, Lance."

He left.

I turned to my desk and began my day, feeling lighter, finally, than I had been in years.