Chapter 163

Julian’s POV

With Penny’s suspicions matching my own, I looked back at Tony. “You hired this woman, Becky. You are certain that she wasn’t actually Olivia?”

“You said you’ve known her for years at the theater,” Uncle Peter added, also looking at Tony know. It was good to have him on my side. As the oldest and gruffest here, his help was unexpected but welcomed. Though I was Alpha, he was something like the family patriarch. Those that wouldn’t listen to me seemed cowed by him instead.

Tony was no exception and lowered his head slightly at Uncle Peter’s implied accusation.

“Tony,” Aunt Kathy said, pressing with her motherly tone. Tony’s parents weren’t around anymore, they had both passed in a tragic accident a few years before, but Uncle Peter and Aunt Kathy seemed to make for good stand-ins, encouraging his submission with only a few disapproving words.

“Alright, that was a lie,” Tony said. “I’m sorry, truly. I don’t… I didn’t realize she did those things.”

“Wait,” Penny gasped. “So that really was Olivia?!”

Tony waited a moment, and then nodded once.

Immediately, my stomach dropped. I couldn’t believe it. Even with his misunderstanding of her, how could he still invite her into this place, into our family? She had been exiled. I had declared her to be an enemy of the pack. And Tony had gone behind my back to bring her here anyway?

Gods, she could have actually hurt Mom. We had left her alone in there with her. What would Tony have done then?

“Olivia tracked me down through some mutual connections. She gave me the full sob story and I ate it up,” Tony said. “She kept talking about our past friendship and I let myself fall for it. She told me you were pushing her aside because of Amber’s influence.”

“That’s bullshit,” I said.

“Yeah…” he said, letting his voice trail. He took a breath and continued, “I thought if I could get the two of you together again that it would trigger some romantic connection, and you’d see how you’d been manipulated.”

He laughed once, bitterly. “I had no idea I was the one being manipulated. I had no idea she was guilty of cheating.”

“None of us really did,” Uncle Peter said. “Such a vile thing to do. A mate should remain committed.”

It bothered me that my relations seemed to care more about Olivia’s infidelity than they did that she had tried to have Amber killed and Alice hurt. But in this moment, I supposed I would have to settle for this being the cause of their dissatisfaction rather than nothing.

I didn’t like it though. At all.

“Do not diminish the hurt she caused to my family,” I snapped. “To Alice and to Amber.”

“Yes, yes, that too,” Uncle Peter said dismissively, which only managed to further stir my ire.

I was still angry about all of this, about the way Tony had treated Alice, about the way he had invited Olivia into our lives again, and now how everyone was more upset with cheating that attempted murder.

That anger was stirring within me without a real outlet. It had nowhere to go.

Aunt Kathy was the only one who seemed to notice that I was a walking, ticking time-bomb. She moved closer to me, yet was careful not to touch me. Gently, in a soft voice, she said, “Perhaps you should check on Alice. She most likely needs to feel the protectiveness of her father. I’m sure she’s scared, the poor dear.”

Aunt Kathy’s compassion did successfully calm me a little and, after curtly nodding at her, I turned and left my family to argue amongst themselves, letting Uncle Peter deal with Tony as I went to the room where I had seen Amber earlier take Alice.

I knocked on the door, but it was a moment before Amber answered.

“The room is occupied. Please find another.”

“Amber? It’s Julian. May I come in?”

Another moment passed. I heard soft voices and Alice and Amber talked but I purposefully tuned out, not wanting to eavesdrop on private mother-daughter conversation. I was confident my family would want to see me, whatever they had to discuss, so I simply waited for them to appear.

After a few long seconds where I counted my heartbeats and tried to control my breathing, Amber appeared at the door.

“Go easy,” she said in a breath.

I was surprised that she felt that I needed a warning for how to treat my own daughter who I had thought that I had already proven that I loved twenty times over.

Yet, as Amber pulled back the door, I could understand the cause of her concern.

Alice looked terrible, her eyes red, tears streaming down her face. Her hands were in a tight ball in her lap, her body lightly trembling.

Immediately, I started toward her.

“Don’t!” Alice shouted.

I froze. “Why?” I asked, looking from Alice to Amber and back again.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Alice said.

Amber’s whole crumpled up, as did the feelings inside of my chest.

At once, wasting no more time, I moved toward my daughter, where I swept her up into a hug. She squirmed at first, fighting against me, but I was insistent and sure. Eventually she relaxed, then even reached up to hold me back tightly. She buried her face in my shoulder, her tears dampening my shirt.

“I’m your father, Alice, “I told her. “You could never hurt me.”

She sniffled and hiccupped.

“You can always depend on me,” I told her.

After a while, she cried herself to sleep. Holding her, I lifted her up into my arms. Then I turned to Amber, who had been watching us with tears in her own eyes.

“We should get her home,” Amber said, and I agreed.

“I’ll carry her,” I said.

As we left the room, I was pleased to see that Tony had gone and most of my family seemed to calm down now, all of them sitting down.

I didn’t tell them where we were going, but they must have been able to figure it out, with the way I was carrying a sleeping Alice, with Amber beside me. No one tried to stop us from leaving, at least not until we were reaching the exit.

There, one of my enforcers stopped me.

“When we heard Olivia had been here, we searching the hospital,” he said. “We gave the entire building a sweep. I’m sorry, Sir, but it seemed like Olivia had managed to get away.”

“How could that be possible?” I asked. The enforcers were supposed to be guarding every entrance, every door. I could understand that one person could sometimes disappear like a needle in a haystack, but they had been purposefully looking for Olivia. There should have been no way for her to sneak out.

The enforcer must have seen my disapproval. He frowned a little, as he said, “Alpha, I believe that she may have had help.”

“Help? From whom?”

Immediately, Tony came to mind, but he had stayed with the family for a while. Olivia, supposedly, sneaked out before he left himself.

“We don’t know yet, Sir. But we are searching for the answer.”

I nodded, dissatisfied but at least assured they were looking into it.

At my side, Amber stayed quiet for a few steps before she turned to look at me.

“Julian,” she said, calling my attention. When she had it, she looked at me with confusion, worry, and a touch of hurt. “What was Olivia doing here?”