Chapter 67 Abandoned son
The restaurant in Ivory City was dim, tucked between two forgotten apartment blocks, a place where people hid their faces and whispered only when necessary.
Not a place for the rich.
Not a place for the poor.
It was a place for secrets.
Private booths were divided by wooden partitions. In one such booth, a woman sat waiting.
A wide-brimmed hat shaded her face. A thin, black veil hid the rest. Her hands were folded tightly on the table, knuckles white from the pressure. In front of her sat a small metal flask, still warm food she had cooked herself.
Killian slid into the booth then took a seat opposite her.
Silent and Unapproachable.
The way only someone who had raised himself could be.
“You’re out at night,” he muttered, annoyance flickering through his voice as he pushed his hair from his eyes. “Didn’t think you were allowed.”
She smiled faintly behind the veil. “My employers went on a small vacation.”
His brows lifted. “Vacation?”
“Well… since the second young master woke up, they thought a honeymoon would help him bond with his wife to bear an heir.”
Killian’s stomach dropped. His jaw tightened
His Eva, still trying, still hopeful.
Still begging for Maverick’s affection while the man was cheating under her nose.
These feelings inside him would ruin him one day.
She opened the flask gently. “I brought your favorite.”
The smell of chicken soup drifted out warm, comforting, a scent he hadn’t smelled since childhood.
Killian didn’t say a word, but he picked up the spoon.
“Are… are the Edward’s treating you well?” she asked softly, voice trembling.
He hummed without looking at her.
Silence filled the booth, thick and suffocating.
“The things you asked me to send…” she hesitated, fingers twisting nervously, “Killian, the pictures of the first young madam’s room, her bracelet…. what did you need them for?”
Killian paused mid-bite.
“I thought you agreed not to ask questions.” He hissed.
Her head dropped immediately. “I’m sorry. I’m just worried about you.”
He stopped eating. His eyes lifted sharp, cold, dangerous.
“You want me to leave? Say it.”
“No….no. Please stay.”
She reached out to brush the hair from his eyes a small gesture, motherly, instinctive.
Killian caught her wrist.
Not violently.
But with a firm, final warning.
“Don’t act like a mother now,” he said through clenched teeth. “When I needed one… where were you?”
She stopped breathing.
Tears slid down her cheeks, falling onto her shaky hands.
“Killian…” her voice broke, “it’s not what you think. I never wanted to abandon you.”
“You…did.”
His voice cracked the first sign he was human at all.
“You chose another family. Even after father died, you chose them.”
She covered her face, shoulders curling inward. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t come for you.”
“Why?”
His jaw tightened.
“Say it.”
But she said nothing.
A truth sat heavily in her throat, refusing to escape.
Killian let out a bitter laugh. “This is pointless. Maybe we shouldn’t meet again.”
He stood.
“You keep me and father a secret… and suddenly you want meetings, favors, updates on my life?”
His eyes narrowed.
“Why the sudden interest, mother?”
The word mother sounded like poison.
Her breath caught.
Her hands shook.
Her veil fluttered as a gust of wind blew through the booth and her face was revealed.
Butler Rose.