“Oh, honey,” Harper breathes. “I’m so pleased for you all.”
A thought hits me, and I stare hard at them before responding. “Want to hear their names?”
Harper laughs, a little subdued but still undeniably Harper. “Is that a trick question? Of course!”
“Okay.” Swallowing, I grab Max’s hand, and he glances at me uncertainly. “Emery Harper Grey.”
Max starts, but smiles at me. Bastien gives me the thumbs up, and I’m relieved to see they don’t mind my throwing a middle name in there. But it feels right.
Harper is silent. “Oh, Ava,” she whispers unsteadily, her voice quivering with unshed tears. “That’s…I don’t even have words. Thank you.”
Clearing my throat, I ask, “Could you put Rogue on for me?”
“Rogue? Sure. He’s right here.”
The line rustles before Rogue’s deep voice echoes through the phone. “Congratulations, Ava. I hope you’re well?”
“I am, thank you. Rogue… I’m so sorry about your dad.”
He coughs, but his voice is heavy when he responds. “Thank you, Ava. I appreciate that.”
“I wanted to share my son’s name with you.” I sense his surprise, so I hustle out the words before I lose my nerve. “Leo Christian Grey.”
Rogue inhales sharply, a whistle through the phone line. “I—I think dad would have liked that.”
Smiling at my son, I offer, “I think so too. You’ll have to come by sometime and meet him.”
Rogue swallows audibly. “I’d like that. You’ll let us know if you need anything?”
“We’re fine, but thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” His voice breaks a little, and I’m not surprised when Harper comes back on the line. “I need to go,” her voice hitches, “but I’ll call you later?”
“Of course, Harper,” I whisper.
Handing the phone back to Luc, I turn away as he starts to speak into the phone. Max wraps a cautious arm around me, and I sink into him with a sigh.
“Leo Christian Grey. I like it,” he says, testing out the words.
“It felt right.” Moisture burns the back of my eyes as I stare blankly at the muted television, still showing images of omega rights protests from across the country. “It seems so unfair,” I blurt out. “That he doesn’t get to see this.”
Christian Winter was not a good man, or a white knight in shining armour. He was a patchwork of light and dark. Imperfectly flawed, making questionable decisions to do what he thought was best.
When you have to turn a blind eye to darkness to prevent something worse from happening, where is the line?
I can’t judge him for the choices he made. He made his stand, and he lost his life for it, saving mine in the process. All I can do is fight to make sure nobody else is put in the same position. I know with certainty that my father does not have the same moral code as Christian, and bile burns my throat as the gates of the Compound appear on the screen. God knows what’s happening to the omegas under his care.
Luc puts the phone down, and I turn my attention back to him. “Devlin agreed with us,” he explains. “They’re holding on to see what happens too. He thinks it’ll either die off, or it might grow into something that the government can’t ignore.”
“They can ignore this?” I watch the screen in disbelief.
“You’d be surprised how much it takes for people to see the evil in their actions,” Bastien says softly, watching the screen with me. “They’ll either bury their heads in the sand and hope this goes away, or it’ll get too big for them to brush off. It’s just a waiting game now, love.”
A gurgling snaps all of our attention to the moses basket, where Leo blinks up at me, his face screwed up. Bastien whips him out and hands him to me so I don’t have to reach for him, and I laugh lightly at my son’s unhappy expression, disgruntled lines forming between his eyes as he opens his mouth and lets out a squawk.
“Hey, little one,” I coo. “Are you hungry? Do you need some milk?”
“I shouldn’t be turned on by that, right?” Bastien mutters as I undo my shirt, and I pause, blinking up at him. “Seriously?”
