Chapter 17

Alexander

It was hard to focus on Sophia with the low hum of tension filling the air from the two little bodies next to me. My eyes slithered to them, like two puffed up puppies as soon as Sphia appeared. I almost smirked. They had the same furrowed face.

“What bring you here, love,” I said, trying to hide my suspicion.

“Oh please,” she hummed, “I couldn’t live with myself with things so tense between my baby and I!” Sophia’s smile was too wide, too rehearsed, as she pulled a wrapped gift out of her purse and held it infron of Owen.

I could already feel my jaw tightening, but I kept it in check.

Sophia’s voice pet the air, her eyes on my boy. “Mommy knows she was wrong to tear up your drawing. I’ve bought you a present to apologize,” she said, her voice syrupy sweet as she offered the gift to Owen, expecting him to just fall in line.

But Owen just stared at the gift, his eyes blank. He didn’t want it. He didn’t need it. His gaze shifted toward me, and for a moment, I saw a flicker of something in his eyes.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but I swore for a second that he was silently telling me that it wasn’t the gift he didn’t care for, it was her.

Abigail spoke before I could even think about responding. “He says he doesn’t like this gift.” She said it flatly, matter-of-fact, as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

I raised an eyebrow, genuinely impressed. Not by her ability to speak for Owen, but by the fact that she didn’t back down. That was a trait I respected.

I almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation. But then Abigail turned her head slightly, as if checking to make sure she had my attention, and said, “I can hear Owen’s thoughts.”

My gaze flickered to her. She didn’t seem like she was joking, and that stopped me cold. There was something in her voice—something dead serious—that made me wonder just how much she could actually hear. And that wasn’t the only thing that made me pause.

The wolf inside me growled, a quiet, dangerous sound. I like this child. She’s just like Owen.

I was tempted to agree. There was a sharpness in Abigail that mirrored Owen’s, and I found myself respecting her more with each passing second. She wasn’t just another kid. She had the kind of mind that cut through the crap, that saw things as they were and didn’t flinch. She didn’t try to sugarcoat things. And that was something I could understand.

Sophia, on the other hand, was a different story. She clung to me, her hand finding its way to my arm like she was a vine trying to choke the life out of me. I could feel her breath against my skin, the way she leaned into me like I was her safety net.

I shifted slightly, stepping away from her touch, sighing. I already knew another argument was coming.

Sophia let out a frustrated breath and dropped her hand, her eyes narrowing. “What’s wrong with you, Alexander?” she hissed. “Why are you pushing me away like this?”

“I’m not,” I said firmly. “I’m just standing.”

Instead, I looked over at Owen, who was still staring at the gift Sophia had given him like it was the most foreign thing in the world. He didn’t want it. I could see that much. And yet, I couldn’t help but hope that, somehow, he would warm up to her. That maybe—just maybe—he would see her as a mother figure, like he was supposed to.

But that wasn’t going to happen. Not today.

Sophia wasn’t a mother to him. She was just a woman who wanted to be in my life, one I never had the intention of fully marrying or having more children with. Not after this train wreck.

The amusement park was supposed to be a distraction. It was supposed to be fun, a break from the weight of everything that had been happening. But all it did was remind me of how much I’d messed up. How much I’d screwed things up with Lauren.

And now, here I was, stuck between the woman I had never stopped loving, and the woman I had allowed myself to be with for all the wrong reasons.

Abigail’s voice broke through my thoughts, as she chatted with Owen. “No, seriously, this is the best birthday I’ve ever had!” She grinning, her excitement genuine, her eyes sparkling with something I hadn’t expected.

I raised an eyebrow, “It’s your birthday today?”

She blinked, clearly taken aback. But before I could dwell on that too much, her phone rang, and the moment was gone.

“Mommy? No, I’m at the amusement park! We went on rides and—” Abigail’s voice came through hurried, a little too fast, like she was trying to say everything in one breath. “No, you don’t need to come…”

But then I heard Lauren’s voice. It was sharp, like a blade slicing through the air, cutting right to the heart of the moment. “Abigail!”

We all froze, turning just in time to see her walk into the park, her expression freezing the second she saw us, her hair a mess like she had ran here. The phone snapped down in her hand, glaring at the scene.

I could feel the tension thickening in the air, thick enough to choke. And yet, even as that coldness radiated off her, I couldn’t look away. I didn’t know what to do with myself, with this... this feeling.

The reality hit me hard. Abigail was Lauren’s daughter. And today was her birthday. Could it be…?

My heart skipped a beat. For a split second, a rush of hope surged through me, something I hadn’t expected. Something I hadn’t felt in years.

I turned to Abigail, trying to keep my voice steady, though I could feel my hands trembling. “Do you remember what year you were born?” I asked, my voice tentative, unsure if I was allowed to ask something like that, if it was too much.

Before she could answer, Lauren was there, behind her in an instant. She placed her hands on Abigail’s shoulders, her fingers tightening in a way that made it clear who was in charge here. She answered for her. “Abigail is one year younger than Owen,” she said flatly, her eyes hardening as she spoke, like I was an intruder in her world.

Abigail looked up at her mom, her face full of something I couldn’t read, but it was clear she was trying to say something. “Mommy—”

“We need to go. Come on, love,” Lauren interrupted, her tone brokering no argument as she tugged at Abigail’s hand. But Abigail didn’t move. She planted her feet firmly, the tiny little girl with so much strength in her.

Owen, too, reached out for Abigail, grabbing her sleeve with a desperation that tugged at my heart. “We can’t, Mommy!” Abigail said, her voice firm, unwavering. “Owen says he wants to come home and spend his birthday with us.”

Owen nodded beside her, his voice soft but determined. “Together.”

And that’s when Sophia’s voice, full of venom, sliced through the air. “What have you done to my child?” she hissed, eyes wild as they flicked between Lauren and me. “Ever since you showed up, he’s been pulling away from me more and more!”

I could feel my patience snapping. I clenched my jaw, the heat rising in my chest. “Enough, Sophia,” I said, my voice low, the danger in it unmistakable. “I’m not going to stand here and listen to you make baseless claims.”

Lauren’s voice rose in response, frustration bleeding through her words. “The environment you two have created for Owen isn’t helping him. Especially with this authoritarian family atmosphere. Don’t go blaming me.”

The words hit me like a punch. The heat in my chest turned to anger, the kind that made my vision blur. “You’re just his doctor,” I snapped, my voice biting. “You have no right to criticize how I manage my own family.”

And then, just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, Abigail spoke.

“You’re a bad father!” she shouted, her voice raw with hurt, her words stabbing into me like a blade. “I don’t want you to be my daddy!”

The words landed with a brutal finality. It felt like the world stopped for a second. The noise of the amusement park, the chatter, the laughter, the clinking of rides—it all faded away, leaving only the sound of my own heartbeat, loud and thundering in my ears.