Chapter 70


    #Chapter 70 – Victor vs John


    “Come on boys,” my mother says, reaching down to take Alvin and Ian’s hands. She shoots Emma a


    worried look as she does so. “Let’s let the grown-ups talk for a minute, we’ll go outside and see the


    lake.”


    “No.” Victor says, keeping his eyes on my father. “My children will stay with me.”


    My eyes sh between Victor and my father. I’m suddenly aware that this was going to be bad. Part of


    me is pleased by this – despite my happy reunion with my mother and sister, I’m still very pissed that


    my father took my children from their school today.


    Still, this could end in bloodshed. I don’t want my boys to see that.


    “Mama,” I say calmly, my eyes on Victor. “It’s time for the boys to go home.”


    Alvin and Ian cry out at this – clearly, they’re not done ying. I snap my eyes to them and they fall


    silent, intuiting, finally, that this is quite serious.


    “Mama,” I continue. “Why don’t you take the boys out front to the cars. We have plenty of Betas waiting


    who can buckle them into their seats. The Betas can text us when the boys are secure.”


    I say this all very calmly, so as not to spook the boys, but Victor and my mother intuit that this is a very


    calcted n. My mother will take the boys to the car and hand them off to our Beta team, who will


    confirm when the exchange has taken ce. When the children are safely in Victor’s control, I imply,


    we can begin to talk.


    Victor nods and my mother takes the boys by the hands, leading them from the room, speaking to them


    cheerfully as she goes. My sister follows after her, sneaking onest worried nce at us as she pulls


    the door shut behind her.


    A few minutes pass and none of us move, my father, Victor and I staring silently at each other while we


    wait for confirmation. Victor’s phone dings, the sound abnormally loud in the tense quiet of the room.


    He breaks my father’s re for the first time to nce down at the message from his Beta.


    “The boys are in the car,” he says, “surrounded by my Beta force.”


    “How dare you,” I growl, the words ripping from my throat in a violent snarl. “Take my children – “


    “Bet quiet, Evelyn,” my father snaps, not looking at me. I feel my mouth snap shut and raise my hand to


    my lips. A knee-jerk reaction to an old childhood habit, I quickly assume, learned from years of


    enforced silence.


    “You’ve crossed a line,” Victor says, his own voice low and threatening.


    My father justughs, ignoring him. “I hear that you’ve moved your wedding up, Kensington, a


    Christmas affair,” he says, casually strolling further into the room. “I’m still checking the mail every day,


    looking for my invitation.”


    “If you ever take my children again –“


    “And what will you do,” my father snaps, snarling into Victor’s face, shutting him down mid-sentence.


    “I’m aware of your situation, Victor. You’ve gutted your Beta force, put all of your funds into that


    ridiculous little school – you’ve crippled yourself, Kensington. You’re no longer in any ce to tell me


    what I will and will not do.”


    My eyes dart between my father and Victor. Is it true? I was aware that he had made big changes – but


    where did the Betas go? The money?


    “They are my CHILDREN!” Victor’s voice is nearly a roar here, his teeth fully bared, but my father does


    not back down. “If you every a finger on them again, I will rip you limb from limb. And I will have


    every legal right to do so, if you threaten my heirs.”


    “I have every right in the world,” my father hisses. “As they are my heirs too.”


    My eyes widen with shock, my breath shuttering. What? A quick nce at Victor tells me that he is


    equally ignorant about what’s going on. How can –


    “Tell me, Victor,” my father says, falling into a more casual stance that mocks Victor’s ignorance and


    powerlessness. “What is it, precisely, about this Amelia, this brainless model, that appeals over my


    Evelyn?”


    My mouth falls open at this – shock after shock.


    “What?” Victor hisses.


    “Truly, I want to know.” My father says, shrugging. “What is it that makes you so determined to marry


    her and keep Evelyn as your secret pet, hidden away in that cabin out back. Is Amelia so much better


    in bed? Because I’m sure you can have Evelyn taught some tricks.”


    My face turns bright red and I clench my jaw in frustration, in utter embarrassment.


    “Amelia is my mate,” Victor grinds out, “my Luna.”


    “All of that is inconsequential,” my father says, shrugging. “You can keep your mate, your little y


    thing, but she doesn’t have the political advantages that at match like Evelynes with. Alpha-born,


    the Walsh name. She’d be a better choice.”


    Victor sputters, shocked. Of course, this has happened for generations – powerful Alphas marrying for


    advantage, having secret – or not so secret – rtionships with the ones they truly love on the side.


    But in this modern age, people privilege love – if you have found your mate, you marry them, even if it


    means divorcing a partner that you had married at a younger age.


    What my father proposes here is an old-fashioned idea about the roles of marriage in an Alpha world,


    but it’s one that he has long privileged. His own marriage to my mother was never about love, but


    instead about the lineage, prestige, and money she would add to his pack.


    “And you know Evelyn breeds well,” my father continues, looking me up and down. “Something which


    your pretty little mate has not yet proved. Why chance weak pups, when you know my girl can give you


    more strong boys?”


    Victor’s eyes here nce at me but then move briskly back to my father. “Who I marry is none of your


    concern –“


    “Oh, but it’spletely my concern,” my fatherughs, moving over to a roll-top desk on the other side


    of the room. “It is important to me who acts as the mother to my grandchildren, who are, after all, my


    acknowledged heirs.”


    “What,” I hiss, spinning towards him, towards the papers he now holds in his hands.


    “This is impossible,” Victor says, rigid beside me. “My sons have been officially acknowledged as my


    heirs, you have no right to them –“


    “My im is patrilineal.” My father says, holding up the top piece of paper, which has a single silver


    seal on its corner. “I im them as my heirs through Evelyn.”


    Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.


    “Evelyn is mine,” Victor hisses. “I imed her as part of my pack, an Alpha-level she-wolf. You have no


    ties to her any longer, you gave up that im years ago –“


    “And what,” my father says, casually surveying the paperwork that he holds in his hands. “Was the date


    of that transferal? From James Wirds pack to your own?”


    “The twenty-second,” Victor growls, growing suspicious.


    “Ah, then it seems, my boy, that you have been the victim of a dirty trick,” my father says, smugly


    handing him the piece of paper. “Because you see, James Wird transferred a Rogue wolf to me,


    Evelyn Ortega – previously Evelyn Walsh – to me one day earlier, on the twenty-first.”


    “I’m sorry, my boy,” my father continues as the blood drains from my face. “But it seems your deal with


    Wird has no legal holding, as he had no power over her on the twenty-second.”


    My father turns his cruel gaze to me. “Evelyn is mine.”