Chapter 28 028
Chapter 28: Talia’s POV
In the seconds that followed, anyone could have heard a pin drop. The silence was only interrupted by my breathing, which was gradually getting heavier.
"What do you mean you're not going to pay for it? This is our son I’m talking about!"
"Do you think I don't know that?" he said, digging his fingers into his hair. "But in a short while, he won't be my only son anymore." He looked down at Shelly’s belly, then back to me with a hint of guilt in his eyes. "I know you hate me right now, and you have every right to, but—"
"I don't want any excuses!" I yelled in his face. My open palm landed on the table. It hurt, but nothing compared to the pain in my chest.
Shelly visibly shook as if my palm had made contact with her instead of the table. Reacting to her discomfort immediately, Varian’s face soured.
"Talia, you know how fragile Shelly is, especially now that she is pregnant. She shouldn't—"
"I don't care about her or her pregnancy!" I said point-blank. "I care about my son. Now, are you going to pay for the treatment or not?"
His mouth fell open, appalled that I wasn't going to spare a thought for his partner and their affair baby. He massaged Shelly’s shoulder and finally decided to give me a response.
"We have already spoken to the doctor as well."
My skin began to crawl. Why was he involving Shelly in our son's medical treatments? I wanted to question him, but I decided to bite my tongue and focus on the bigger fish.
He coughed, clearing his throat unnecessarily. "The thing is that Liam has never been a particularly strong child. I mean, even his sister was able to go through her shifting and is recovering normally. But he..."
"I don't care about what you think about Liam. This isn't about your feelings right now, this is about our son's future!"
"You think I don't care about our son's future?"
For a while, we just threw heated words at each other until I realized we were going around in circles. I eased back into my chair, tapping my finger on the table.
"Varian, if you are doing this to me because of the divorce..."
He waved his hand, dismissing me before I could even finish. "How could you take me to be that petty? I know that you will eventually come back to me, so this isn't some new form of punishment. I just sincerely think that our son would not be able to recover, even with that kind of treatment. So why give him false hope when we can just start training him on how to adapt? I knew a lot of people who grew up without their wolves and they still had very fulfilling lives."
I was just gaping at him. Every exchange proved that the man I had loved for years had never existed. "I’m sure they were able to live fulfilling lives, but there were a lot of unnecessary obstacles in their way. You know that."
"Maybe this is a blessing from the Moon Goddess," Shelly tried to pitch in. "Perhaps going through those challenges will make Liam stronger."
I almost jumped over the table to grab her by her neck, but somehow I managed to remain calm. Losing my self-control now would give her exactly what she was looking for.
"So, you're not going to help?" I asked him.
"I will help, but not in the way that you want."
I got up. For the first few seconds, I was wobbly on my feet. He actually had the audacity to stand up after me, trying to hold my hand. I slapped away his touch as if it was infected.
"How much longer are you going to make everything about you, Talia? I care about Liam even more than you do. What you see as a disability, I see as a new avenue for him to grow."
I spoke through gritted teeth. "Then how do you plan to tell him that you gave up on him without even trying?"
Varian went quiet. My disgust for him elevated. "You plan to lie to him, don't you? You're going to lie to your son just like how you lied to me all these years."
"I never lied to you. I just kept some truths hidden. That's completely different."
After he said that, I knew I had to leave immediately before I lost my mind. Thinking he would care about his own flesh and blood was nothing more than a fantasy. Now I would have to find some other way to make sure our son doesn't lose his wolf just because his father had written him off for a child that was not even born yet.