Page 120 of Chosen Beta

“What do you need?”

I sit back in the chair. “I need to focus on the current issue. Beyond that, I can’t say.”

It’s not what he wanted to hear. I get it. I do.

Everyone wants this new mate in our lives.

It doesn’t make sense to wait when we’re fated.

But that doesn’t erase my past. I still need to deal with how badly it messed me up to be cut loose and left to sink or swim after I’d basically been raised to be reliant on people for everything I needed. It was torture to learn to become a functional human being, but it made me who I am.

“Being back here makes me want to tear my skin off.”

“I know,” he says, giving me a wry smile. “I can see that.”

“It’s all the shitty memories. They’ve been playing on a loop since I got here.”

“Maybe …” he starts, before he shakes his head.

“No, you thought of something. What was it?”

If he has an idea, I want to hear it.

“It’s not my business, but maybe you need to talk to your parents. Find out how they feel about losing touch with you. Maybe that would give you the closure you need.” He shrugs.

I laugh. “They cut me off completely when I made my choice. They called me just to tell me they never wanted to see my ungrateful face ever again.”

“And that was ten years ago. It’s a long time, Owen. A lot might have changed. Even if they haven’t, you have.”

“Fucking hell,” I mutter, realizing it’s been a whole decade now.

Ten years. My parents will be in their early fifties.

I can’t imagine they’ve changed much since I left.

My father was too stubborn for change.

My mother was too firmly in his corner.

When I left, I never wanted to see them again.

I knew in that moment that they didn’t love me.

It cut deeper than I expected to feel that truth.

“They wouldn’t want to see me, and more importantly, I don’t want to see them.”

“You’re sure about that?” Ezra asks.

He has no idea how much he’s riling me up right now.

“Yes, I’m fucking sure. Those assholes never gave a shit about me. They wanted someone who was like them to carry on their name, whatever the fuck that’s supposed to even mean. They wanted a kid who would grow up to marry the right woman and have kids they expected the same bullshit of. They wanted to make more elites. That’s fucking all, and it’s all bullshit.”

I stop when I realize my voice has been steadily rising.

Ezra looks at me. “You’re still angry about it, Owen.”

“Of course I’m fucking angry about it! They threw me away, Ezra. I was their only son!”

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