Don't you dare
“Why do you think I never came to see you when you regained consciousness? I was both disgusted and scared. It was the first time I was ever ashamed of myself. At that point, I even regretted it. I still do. I hate that I did what I did…”
“So why the hell did you do it?! We were friends, man. We were, right? It was real, our friendship…”
“It was.” It fucking was.
“You cared deeply for me. Or was that all a lie?”
“Of course not. I'd go to war for you, man, and you know that.”
“I'd do the same. You knew that too. You knew I trusted you with my life. You knew how much Elena meant to me and you still messed with her?”
“I didn't mean to hurt you, man. I swear to God. I just…the situation couldn't be helped.”
“What couldn't be helped, Vince? Your sick feelings? Your twisted mind? Chasing my daughter and taking advantage of her innocence? Manipulating her into doing things she didn't wanna do? Taking advantage of her?”
“Wait, what?” I couldn't believe my ears. “I did what?” Nah, that's insane. I was the one who went for Elena. I pulled most of the strings behind the scenes. I was relentless about splitting her and Trent.
But help me, Lord. Elena met me at a point. She…got into this open-eyed at some damn point. It wasn't all my manipulation. She wanted this…as bad as I did!
How the fuck was it being narrated as a one-sided shit?
“What couldn't be helped, man?!”
“She's my second chance mate,” I added quietly. The room went cold. Richard was stiff for seconds. And then he took a sharp breath.
“Doesn't matter. You should have rejected her. The moon goddess isn't always smart with her bonds. There are cases where she makes insane bonds. You and Elena were one of those cases. You should have been the bigger person, Vince. You should have ended the bond and walked away!”
“Yeah, like that would have been fucking easy!”
“Damn right, it would have been!” Richard charged towards me again. But Leo held him back. “You…you…had a damn mate. Elena was mated to your swine of a son. She wouldn't have felt the sting of your rejection.”
That's true. That's fucking true.
“You just didn't wanna end the bond. You wanted a reason to go after her and that bond was your reason. You just wanted to ruin her life, with the excuse of her being your second chance mate!”
Even without the bond, I might have still gone after her. This was an unpopular fact. So he's right…again.
“I'll never forgive the mess you and your lunatic of a son made out of her. I'll never forgive you, Vince. For as long as I live.”
Those words coming from a friend who was once a ride or die hurt like shit. It was like I was being slashed with the sharpest sword ever. Brutally slashed.
“That’s fair enough,” I said.
He went to the window, bent next to it. His silent sobs echoed in the room.
“How…how could you have gotten her pregnant, man? Didn't you care about the stigma she's gonna deal with because of it? Didn't you care how much it would hurt me?”
“I'm sorry…” Truth is, my need to pursue her back then was way too intense that I never stopped for a second to think about who was gonna get hurt in the process by my actions.
I was a selfish asshole and there's no arguing it. There's no excuse. I was wrong…
“She's not gonna have that baby,” Richard dropped the bombshell, putting a halt to my thoughts. “I can't let her totally ruin her life like that.” He turned, looking me dead in the eyes. “She's not gonna have your child, Vince.”
Every teeny bit of remorse and guilt I was feeling vanished. My jaw clenched at the anger swelling up inside me. My heart rigidly reminded me of how much I low-key hated Richard. Because I've always known he's the only one who can really take her away from me.
“I can tolerate anything else, Richard. Hell, you could put a bullet in my head and it'd be fine with me. Just don't fucking mess with my child.”
“You messed with mine!”
“She's my second chance mate!”
“She's my daughter!!”
“That doesn't mean shit!” I fired back heatedly. “She's your daughter but she's my mate. In the eyes of the heavens and the law, I have every right to make her carry my child. Don't you fucking dare!”
Richard had a flabbergasted look on his face. He wasn't expecting this side of me to surface so quickly. I had no initial plans of showing this side of me either. I was gonna grovel and cry for his forgiveness. But he went too far when he mentioned killing my child. That was a bad joke. One he should have kept unsaid.
“You're bloody sick, Vince.”
“You know that much, so you better not dare touch my child. And let's not forget in a hurry that you fucking owe me, Richard. All the dangerous sacrifices I ever made for you. Every time I saved your ass from hitting rock bottom. Countless, man. Fucking countless.”
His eyes widened in shock. Even Leo's jaw was on the floor. This wasn't what I should be saying for someone apologetic. Again, I wouldn't be saying all these if he didn't threaten to kill my child.
“If anything happens to my child, you're gonna have to pay. For that, and for every teeny bit of sacrifice I ever did for you. That includes risking my life to save Elena from the rogues. You're gonna compensate me for all that. And I must warn you, I'm very vicious when it comes to collecting debts. You don't wanna go down that route with me. It'll ruin you completely. So don't even think about hurting my child.”
His bewildered gaze was all the response I got. I turned around and left his study. I walked past Elena's room even though every nerve in me was screaming at me to go inside.
When I got outside and to my car, Leo was already behind me. He was getting into the car and I was too, but the fluffy breeze sweeping past my nostrils forced me to look up.
Elena.
My heart burned at the sight of her. She was looking out her window, sobbing. Those tears irked me because they screamed an apology. Apology for whatever shit she said to Richard to make him think I forced her into this.
Anger surged through my heart. But so did an intense yearning. I couldn't help myself so I mind-linked her.
You're…never coming back to me?
She sobbed even harder. My grip on the door tightened as I awaited her response.
I'm sorry, Vince…
Again. Again and again and again, Elena! But fuck it, I should already be used to this, right?
I tore my gaze away from her and got into the car, speeding out of her Father's premises.