Page 73 of A Chance at Love for the Twin Alphas

I put the glass of champagne aside. “I was so unhappy with myself that I took it out on others,” I admit.

Just get it off your chest once and for all,Tony links me.It’s time to move forward and do better, just like you said.

I nod and then rip it off like a bandaid, telling Dad everything: the hurtful things I said, the younger students I tormented, how I looked away when my peers bullied that poor girl, Livia was her name, and how it was me who set the tone. I tell him what I told Elodie last night and how Livia even changed schools.

When I’m finished, Tony sighs. “I didn’t know how serious you were about telling everything… like absolutely everything. You really don’t half-ass anything.”

“That’s not funny,” I mutter.

He shrugs. “I’m not joking.”

I shift around nervously, not knowing where to look and what to say. Dad meanwhile has his glass of champagne in his hands and moves it around a bit. He sighs. “I can’t say I’m not disappointed to hear that,” he finally admits.

“I know,” I mutter.

“But I commend you for telling me about it and owning up to it. But why, Henry, why did you do that? You are an alpha’s heir; your job is to protect the weak and not torment them. ”

“I know,” I say bitterly. “I was just so angry. Not that it’s an excuse for anything.”

“About what?” Dad pushes.

I stare at him. Shit, I forgot about it. In my weird, twisted mind, he and Mom were the reason for it and the secret Tony and I found out. I said, “It’s not an excuse.”

“I still want to know it,” Dad says.

I exchange a gaze with Tony, one that Dad catches because he furrows his brows. “Listen,” he starts. “I still stand by what I said. You grew up and are sincerely working on yourself. Both of you are doing that. And as a parent, it makes me proud, even when you did wrong in your past.” He pauses. “But I cannot give you the redemption you’re looking for, Henry, because it’s not on me. You are a great son, and there is nothing for me to forgive you for. If you want to make up to this girl, you need to find a different way. I know the man you have become, and I approve of your willingness to change. It makes me proud. It also makes me proud that you had the guts to open up about what you did and even prouder that Tony, back in the day, stood up against you. Had I known back then when you were a bully, I’d have made sure to punish you for it, but I can’t do that now.” He puts his glass aside. “But since we are already on it, tell me everything. I know the both of you are hiding something, and I know it eats on you. After all, this had to be something bad enough that made my strong and righteous son so angry he rebelled in the worst way possible. Isn’t it about time to talk about it?”

I can see Tony’s hands tremble slightly. “Dad,” he mutters. “We know that Mom abandoned us.”

The horrified look in my father’s eyes makes me almost wish we hadn’t come here today to talk to him.

I can hear his heartbeat pick up. “When did you find out?” he asks.

“When we were around sixteen,” I admit. “We… found your journal.”

The whole thing was written down there, how his parents forced him to leave his fated mate, Janice. How they alpha commanded him to mate with someone they chose, our real mother. How they forced him into intimacy without giving him a choice. The knowledge of being a rape baby truly hit Tony and me hard, way harder than realizing Mom wasn’t our real mom.

Our real mother left once we were born, and Dad’s parents wanted him to take another chosen mate, which is why Dad challenged his father in an alpha duel and won.

Dad’s eyes widen, and several emotions flash through them: horror, sadness, guilt. I swear that even his lycan is on the surface for a few seconds. “I know I should have told you long ago. Janice and I even argued about it once…” He pauses, swallowing nervously. “I just didn’t know how to. I never wanted you to feel like I didn’t want you like you weren’t the light of my world. You were only a few months old when your mother left, and my parents wanted me to take another chosen mate. I knew it then. Either I fight for you and me and Janice and our possible future, or I’d never be worthy of being a father and mate.”

I didn’t want him to feel bad, and it’s certainly not the reason why we told him. “We understand, Dad,” I tell him. “Really. We are so glad to have you and Mom in our lives, and not once did you give us the feeling of not being wanted.”

Tony nods. “We just didn’t know how to handle it, and now, Henry and I decided it’s about time to tell you. Mom deserves to have her pregnancy be treated as something special.”

Dad swallows, tears swimming in his eyes. “Is there something you want to know?”

I didn’t even consider that he would offer us to talk about everything, to ask more questions.

Tony licks his lips nervously. “Did she even call, just once?” he asks all of a sudden. “Or… just asked what happened to us? Does she know anything about us? Is there a part of her that might have loved us?”

The look in his eyes tells us all. “She really didn’t…” I mutter. Not that I can blame her. Not everyone wants to stay in contact with a rape baby. At least she moved away and decided not to take her anger out on us. It still hurts, though.

“I don’t know where she is,” Dad admits quietly. “When you were one year old, I tried to reach out to her to see how she was doing. But she had changed her name and disappeared. I could have dug deeper to find her, but… I violated her, too, back then when we mated. She was under a command, too.”

“You didn’t violate her,” I emphasize. “You were both victims. Neither of you did that out of free will.”

“And Mom… I mean Janice… did she really not mind that you had us?” Tony asks.

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