Chapter 94

Lisa’s POV

The walls of the room seemed to close in, the air thick with unspoken words and fading time. My father’s labored breathing filled the silence between us, each shallow inhale a grim reminder of his mortality.

I stood at the foot of his bed, my arms crossed tightly over my chest as if that would somehow keep everything from falling apart inside me.

I wasn’t ready for another confession.

I had barely processed the first—the idea that his cruelty had been some twisted form of protection, that the years of rejection and pain had been his way of shielding me. It didn’t make sense. It would never make sense.

And yet, here he was, drowning in regrets, trying to make peace with the past before death dragged him under.

His tired eyes lifted to mine, hollow yet filled with something unspoken.

“There’s more,” he said, his voice hoarse.

I stiffened. “I don’t want to hear it.”

But my father had never cared what I wanted.

He continued anyway.

“There was a woman,” he said, coughing weakly. “A long time ago. Before everything. Before you.”

I swallowed hard. “And?”

His fingers trembled against the sheets. “Her name was Linda.”

Something about the way he said it sent a strange chill through me. He wasn’t just saying a name—he was remembering. Holding on.

“She was human.”

The room went silent.

I felt Luke shift behind me, felt Mike’s quiet inhale. Even Hunter tensed slightly at my side.

I stared at my father, waiting for the rest of it.

“She was different,” he murmured, his gaze unfocused as if he were seeing her in some distant memory. “Gentle. Soft. She saw the world in a way I never could. She… she made me feel human.”

I let out a sharp, bitter laugh before I could stop myself. “You? Human?”

He didn’t react. Maybe he was too weak. Maybe he just didn’t have the energy to fight anymore.

“I loved her,” he said instead. “More than I should have. More than I was allowed.”

Something twisted in my stomach.

My father—the ruthless Beta, the man who had spent his life making mine miserable—had loved a human? Had cared for someone so deeply that even now, with death looming over him, she was still haunting him?

I didn’t know how to process that.

“I got her pregnant.”

The words came so softly, I almost thought I imagined them.

But I hadn’t.

Because suddenly, the floor beneath me wasn’t steady anymore.

Everything inside me locked up.

Mike cursed under his breath. Luke took a slow step back, as if physically retreating from the weight of those words.

Hunter’s grip on my hand tightened.

I blinked. “What?”

Giovanni coughed, his body shaking. His skin was pale, almost sickly, but his eyes were sharp.

“I had a child with her,” he said.

A slow, terrible silence filled the room.

My lungs refused to work properly. “You had a—” I stopped myself, my throat closing up. “Are you saying I have a sibling?”

He gave a slow, weak nod.

I shook my head. “No.”

His lips parted, but I didn’t let him speak.

“No,” I said again, more forcefully this time. “You don’t get to drop something like that and expect me to just—just accept it.”

“I’m not asking you to,” he rasped.

My pulse pounded in my ears. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real.

My father had spent my entire life making me feel like I was a mistake. Like I was nothing but a burden. And now, at the end of everything, he was telling me that somewhere out there, I had a sibling?

A sister? A brother?

I forced my voice to stay steady. “Where are they?”

His expression shifted then, the regret deepening.

“I don’t know. Where he is now” He said

"Wow is even a boy you abondoned."

Immediately the silence in the room thickened like a storm cloud ready to burst. I could hear my own heartbeat pounding in my ears, a relentless drum against my skull. My father’s words hung in the air, suffocating me.

Linda. A human woman. A child. A son.

My father’s betrayal wasn’t just to me, to my mother, or even to himself. It was to a child he had abandoned, a brother I never knew existed.

My throat felt dry. I struggled to speak, my voice cracking when I finally forced the words out. “You had another child?”

Giovanni’s breathing was shallow, each exhale weaker than the last. His once-powerful body had withered away, leaving nothing but a frail man drowning in his own past.

“Yes,” he admitted, his voice barely above a whisper. “Before I met your mother.”

I clenched my fists, nails digging into my palms. “And you left him? Just like that?”

He coughed, his body shuddering from the effort. Luke shifted uncomfortably, while Mike ran a hand through his hair, exhaling sharply. No one had expected this revelation.

“I had to,” Giovanni said, his voice hoarse but firm. “I was chosen as Beta of the Red Moon Pack. She… Linda… was human. She would have been a weakness.”

I felt like I had been punched in the gut.

“A weakness?” I spat. “She was carrying your child! And you just left her?”

Giovanni’s gaze flickered, but he didn’t look away. “I did what I thought was right.”

A bitter laugh escaped me. “Right for who? Yourself?”

He coughed again, and this time, Luke moved forward, placing a glass of water near his lips. Giovanni sipped weakly before continuing.

“I didn’t know she was pregnant when I left,” he admitted. “I found out later, after I had already claimed my position. By then, it was too late.”

I folded my arms tightly, trying to keep my emotions from spilling over. “Too late? Too late to be a father? Too late to take responsibility?”

A heavy sigh left his lips. “I tried.”

I blinked. “What do you mean you tried?”

His breathing slowed as he shifted slightly, the pain evident in his every movement. “I found out she gave birth. A son. I had to see him.”

A sick feeling crawled up my spine. “So, what did you do?”

His lips trembled. “I went to the hospital.”

A silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating.

“You—” My voice faltered. “You saw him?”

He nodded slowly. “I sneaked in. No one saw me. I held him, just once.”

My breath hitched. The image of my father, a ruthless Beta, sneaking into a hospital like a thief in the night to hold a child he abandoned—it was almost too much to process.

Mike shifted beside me. “If you saw him, what happened next?”

Giovanni swallowed hard. “I marked him.”

The words sent a shiver down my spine.

Luke stiffened. “What?”

My father exhaled weakly. “ Yes I did that for identification, when need arise."

My stomach lurched. My father—this man who had thrown me away, treated me like I was nothing—had secretly branded a child he never even planned to raise?

“So, you marked him,” I said, my voice shaking. “Then what? Did you ever go back for him?”

His eyes darkened. “No.”

A hollow ache settled deep inside me.

“You coward,” I whispered.

He didn’t deny it.

Hunter, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke, his deep voice slicing through the tension. “where did you mark him ?”

"Un...der...Un...der his chin. A small mark, barely noticeable. A crescent-shaped scar." My father’s lips trembled.

My breath caught. I had almost forgotten Hunter was still standing beside me, his presence a steady force.