Sebastien pauses briefly, looking down at his hands.
"Albert Strada consulted frequently for the organization, that is where I met him, he knew how to listen and always offered good advice. He was often the person I confided in when I complained about how poorly things were going between me and Rhys. Our relationship at that time was completely platonic, friendly, he was Max’s husband and I had recently given birth to my second son."
I listen carefully, because although some might find his story too convoluted, this is that one special moment when my origins are being laid out before me and I do not intend to miss a single word.
"The crisis in my marriage grew worse, Rhys had no interest in running the agency, while it was my passion, I wanted to develop it and turn it into a strong organization that wouldstrike fear into anyone who wanted to harm omegas. Things only intensified after Rhys’s parents died, when all the responsibility for the agency fell on me, and I felt completely alone in it. Albert helped me a great deal during that time, even if only with kind words and goodwill…"
Sebastien exhales, and for some twisted reason I feel a kind of satisfaction that my parents actually liked each other, that I was not just the result of a moment of weakness, and maybe it should not matter, but somehow it does.
"I always suspected that Albert and I had very high compatibility even though we were both omegas. I felt incredibly comfortable with him, there was an ease and smoothness to the way we connected… That incident at the conference, when he went into heat, was the turning point in our relationship. Albert was locked in a hotel room like an animal in a cage, and it was hard for me to accept that, so I went in there to keep him company, so he would not feel alone while waiting for Max to arrive, and we knew it would not happen quickly… He was suffering, he had a severe heat case."
There is a moment of silence, and Blue, who had remained quiet throughout that speech, staring somewhere above my head toward the rows of cabinets along the office wall, suddenly says,
"I think you can spare us the details of what happened, because we all know what must have taken place for Alex to be here now. What I do not understand is why you did it if you knew your sperm contained live cells."
I decide to speak up.
"I can add something. That was a lie my dad told. He told me that for years he and Max did not have children for unknown reasons, and he thought he would give himself that one chance to have a child, so he lied to Sebastien and said he was on contraceptives."
Sebastien nods. "That’s exactly what Albert told me, and he apologized for that lie. In a way, I understand him, because I knew how much he wanted a child, and over all the years, he would tell me again and again that another heat had ended in failure, and it took its toll on him."
"Did it never strike you as suspicious that Albert couldn’t have children for so many years, and then suddenly he ended up pregnant?" Blue asks abruptly.
Sebastien winces slightly. "The day Albert went into heat was the last day I ever saw him, he quit his work with the Red Line Agency and moved with Max to the other side of the city, and he even took a job in a different court division. I assumed it was guilt, since I carried the same guilt and it suited me, our separation. Neither of us planned a divorce, so I decided that this was simply the best solution."
"You really never found out that Albert had a child? This community isn’t so big that news like that wouldn’t reach you."
"Believe me, if I had known, I would have asked him directly whether the child was mine, but soon after that everything in my life collapsed and flipped upside down. Literally a few months later I met Darius. We discovered we were True Mates, my whole life changed, I divorced Rhys, I had two more children, and that situation from the past completely disappeared from my mind and memory until the day Albert called me. He told me you were already an adult, that you were going to college, that your boyfriend came from a good, wealthy family and that you would be safe. So I assumed that if I reached out to you, I would be meddling in your life."
My eyes drop to my hands, still clenched without me realizing it, damp and cold with stress.
"When he called you, he probably still believed he would pull through at that point. It must have been before Bay and I split up. Dad told me about you on the same day he died, butdidn’t give me your first name, and then the doctors walked in. A few hours later, he was gone."
"If you had come to me then, I would have helped you."
I keep staring at my hands, feeling stupid for some reason. "Fortunately, my boyfriend Bay turned out to be a generous person, and throughout my entire time in college he paid for my living expenses even though we were no longer together, and he gave me the house he bought. It’s him," I say as I lift my eyes and look at Blue, "he is the one whose case I brought to you, begging you to help me understand what happened, why we are so highly compatible and yet completely incompatible."
Sebastien takes a few steps toward the sofa and sits next to me. "I know about this situation from Blue. And I want to help you with it." He reaches for my hand and squeezes it gently. "It really is unusual, so I’ve decided to… fund a detailed set of tests. I never contributed a penny to your life, so I can at least do this."
I look up at him. There is a gentleness in his face and an honest regret over the fact that we were never a family.
A wave of emotion tightens in my chest. Even though Sebastien comes from the Lowen family, widely disliked for being aloof billionaires, he seems to have a decency in him. Does he want to make things right?
"Thank you," I whisper. "It means a lot to me, and I… on my part I promise that I will never speak publicly about my origins and I will never seek any inheritance rights from you, I would only have one request…" My voice trembles a little. "It will sound stupid, but here it goes. Would you… hug me?"
Two tears roll down my face because there is so much emotion inside me.
"Oh, child… of course!"
Sebastien leans closer, practically kneeling beside the couch with his arms open, and I push myself upright to hug him. Even though I don’t really know him, the awareness of thisundeniable, powerful biological bond between us means so much to me.
So I press myself against him and a sob tears out of my lungs, so heavy and ripping that it almost hurts, because in this world where everything is falling apart and everything is going wrong, this one thing turns out to be something good.
Sebastien doesn’t push me away.
We stay like that for a long moment, and he strokes my head and holds me tightly, and some small piece of my pain, a tiny thorn rooted deep in my soul, finally feels soothed.
Slowly I straighten and look into his eyes, and he gives me a warm smile and wipes the tears from my cheek with his thumb.
