Page 20 of The Omega's Secret Baby
How was I his son?
“Your woman didn't even give you children,” my father spoke on while I remained silent.
“I've been too busy to raise kids, anyway.” Not that I wouldn't have made time if I'd known about Jake... but that was a different topic. And not anything I was going to discuss with my father.
He gave a dry laugh. “We are alphas. We sire children. We do not raise them.”
What to say to that? My father certainly lived by those words. He hadn't raised me. My mother hadn't raised me. Their staff and expensive private schools had.
All so they could have heirs.
“You say that like it would be a bad thing to spend time with your children.”
He shook his head. “My time needs to be put in the business so this family can prosper. No good comes out of an alpha thinking he has to waste his time doing a woman's job. Trust me, we don't have their instincts for handling children. It's all--“He stopped speaking to clutch his chest.
I stood from the chair. “Are you all right?”
He straightened again and waved me off. “It's nothing.”
Was it, though? We alphas often ended up getting heart problems as we got older. Was that was this was? It would certainly explain why my sister was so concerned.
“In any case,” my father continued. “You have to find yourself a new woman. Or let your mother find you one. And don't mess it up again.”
“Certainly,” I said, only because I didn't want to stress him, not when he'd been holding on to his chest a moment ago.
I excused myself from his office and left the house, intending to take a walk to clear my head.
Before I knew what I was doing, my feet had carried me into the town's center, and from there, it was only a short walk to Oceanport Elementary School.
I didn't linger by the school's fences, but I glanced across the schoolyard as I walked by, hoping to catch a glimpse of my son. I hadn't been able to get a good look. It had been dark, and I hadn't known that I was the boy's father back then.
There were no children on the schoolyard, though. They had to be in class, and I couldn't hang around until break time. People would start to wonder.
So I headed on, head full of questions. What was I going to do about Jake? If that day had taught me anything, it was that I couldn't use my own father as role model. Sadly, I couldn't think of anyone else in my life to imitate either.
I had to dosomething, though. I wasn't going to let Jake grow up like me--without knowing who his father was. No, I was going to be there for him. And I wasn't going to let my mother, my father, or even Eli stop me from that. Not any longer.
11
Elias
“Dude, you actually told Matthew the truth?” My brother shot me an incredulous look while pouring coffee for us both after I'd put Jake to bed the day after I'd come clean about his parentage.
“Last night,” I confirmed.
“And you waited until now to mention that fact?”
I shrugged. “I couldn't believe it myself. I mean... He asked me, and I... fessed up. Just like that.”
Griff raised both eyebrows at me.
“Told you I couldn't believe it either.”
Griff took a sip of his coffee and immediately grimaced, presumably because he'd burned his tongue. “How did he react?”
I laid my hands around my mug, as if to keep myself warm. “He got angry. At first, anyway. And then... I don't know. I think it was too much for him to process.”
“It is a lot,” Griff agreed. “I don't know what I'd do if someone told me I had a seven year old kid.”
