His Knees, His Pleas, But Our Son's in Peace

Chapter

50

"Why?" I asked, unable to mask the confusion in my voice. "Aren't you swamped with work? Why are you offering to take us home?"

Carlos didn't even blink. "If Nathan sees you with a boy who looks exactly like his dead son, he's going to come after you."

My heart skipped a beat. Nathan. Of course. Nathan had already been suspicious back at the park, and now that Carlos had put it into words, I realized the danger I could be in. Cyrus did look so much like Oliver, Nathan's lost child. It wasn't something I could ignore anymore. Nathan wasn't someone to be taken lightly. I nodded silently, suddenly feeling the weight of the situation pressing down on me. Carlos was right. As much as I disliked his bluntness, he always had a way of cutting through the noise and seeing things for what they were.

We made our way back to my house, the ride quiet and tense. I could feel the

anticipation building in the air, an uneasy feeling that something was waiting for

to my house, there was Nathan, standing outside with his beta. His face was

before I could even get out, his voice booming with anger. "Doris," he shouted, his words sharp and accusatory. "Are

go off. Lfelt my stomach twist in knots as Nathan glared at

even a second of hesitation, I stormed up to Nathan and slapped him across the face. The sharp sound echoed through the stillness of the street, and for a moment, I was sure everyone around us

Our

bit of the

cold fury. "Just now, Sienna came after Cyrus, my son, trying to hurt him, and where were you? You didn't do a thing. You didn't step in. You didn't care. And now-now you show up,

the words pouring out of me, a flood of anger and frustration that had been building for years. Everything I'd gone through, the years of silence, the abandonment, the moments where I had stood alone-all of it came rushing back

never cared before, so why start now? All you need to know is that this child has nothing to do with you, Nathan. He's

the shock of what I had just said-and done. For a long moment, he didn't move, didn't speak. And then, slowly, his knees buckled, and he sank to the ground in front of me. The sight of him kneeling there, looking up at me with desperate, pleading eyes, filled me with a strange mixture of disbelief and

the man who had left me in the dust, was now on his knees, begging me for a place in Cyrus's life? It was absurd. It was insulting. "You have a child with Sienna, don't you?" I said sharply, iny voice cutting through the silence. "What are you doing here, acting like you care, when you already have a child of your own? Go home, Nathan. Go see