#Chapter 51 – Closet Conversations

As I tuck the boys into their beds, the television in their room set to stream a Disney Channel show for the next couple of hours, I hear the phone in my closet ring.

“Do you have another secret call, Mama?” Ian asks, his eyes fastened to the screen as he asks.

“What?”

“Your secret phone,” Alvin says, absently tossing popcorn into his mouth as he watches the bright colors, “the one in your closet.”

“How…” The boys, sensing a problem, both look at me at once. I sigh. Genius twins, Evelyn, remember? I don’t know why I thought I could keep anything from them.

The phone continues to ring.

“I have to go take that call, boys, but it’s for work. I want you to keep away from the secret phone, okay? It’s secret for a reason. It’s our secret. So don’t tell anyone, not even Edgar or Daddy or Amelia.”

I tried to hide “daddy” between two other innocuous persons – Edgar and Amelia wouldn’t care.

Ian gives me a thumbs up and Alvin gives me a conspiratorial smile. The boys love a secret. Problem solved for now, I pull their door closed behind me and hurry into my room and then my closet.

“Hello?” I say, answering the phone a little breathless.

“Did we not have a call scheduled.” It’s a question, technically, but Victor doesn’t present it as such. He knows we did.

“Yes, I’m sorry,” I say, settling into my closet’s corner. I even added a little pillow back here, for greater comfort. “My children needed a little…unexpected attention. I apologize.”

“That’s fine,” he says. “I understand.”

“Wonderful. So, how are things going for you lately?”

“Things are…complicated,” Victor grinds out. My heart sinks a little bit in my chest. What? I thought things were going well after the camping trip. At least on my end, everything is pretty smooth.

“What happened?” I ask.

relationship, which is largely what I wish to work through with you, I discovered that my partner betrayed me

an uninvolved therapist. “I’m

my back and contacted someone who puts my family, my plans, in jeopardy. It’s caused a lot of problems for me, but I confronted her about it and she didn’t even seem contrite. She tried to persuade me that what

say, “was

with her plan, I

also need to know. “I find myself…struggling to comprehend. I understand

sighs. “But most significantly, my relationship with

at this, dread filling my body and bones. “Are they safe?” My voice

fine. The ultimate result, the solution to her meddling, is that I’m going to have to move up the event of my sons’ claiming, marking them as my heirs and as part of my pack

reaction and find that I am fine with this. We agreed long ago that Victor would claim Alvin and Ian as his

“that moving up the date is not

“I’d claim the boys tomorrow if the event didn’t take so much planning and preparation. That’s not the issue. The problem is that my

you’ve told me so far about your partner. She must have had strong feelings, in order to circumvent your control in

also, a certain unwillingness to

my mouth to contend this – remind him that

But in this situation, she has crossed a line. It’s not merely that she’s asking to change or delay our plans for

disbelief, my eyes wide with shock. “What did

that I’m a therapist in this situation. I change tactics. “That is a very significant betrayal,” I say more

was…more physical, than I would have liked it to be. But she maintained that she was correct – that the best plan of action is for the boys to leave our lives, to remain unacknowledged by me – for me to support them and be a less-signficant part of their lives, but to privilege our own future children as my heirs. Not my current

b***h, pretending to be my friend all this time – fireside sisters my ass. She’s

course, a large part of me is fine with the idea of the boys not being the sons of such an important Alpha and instead leading totally normal lives. As Victor’s heirs they will be destined to take up his track in life. Not a bad path, but certainly a narrow one. If they were not acknowledged, they’d have fewer privileges, but also more freedom to pursue

he will acknowledge them. To break that promise – for Amelia’s sake – would be a great betrayal to my boys. If Victor goes through with it, I’ll never

that you disagree with your fiancé – that you plan to acknowledge the

would be very Victor. “She has betrayed me – the kind of action that

I say, my heart steely. “That

“What do you mean?”

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