Andrew only clued into where he was after a few more minutes of being cradled in Maxwell's arms. He was in one of the closed off rooms that they had entered with Mr. Dalton. Speaking of, Mr. Dalton was there, a cold look on the man's normally happy face.

In fact, there were quite a few people in this space, and while it had felt big before when it had been the 8 of them, it now felt small and cramped.

Amir's grandmother and grandfather were there too, grim looks on their faces, along with everyone else.

Luis was sitting down, not next to Andrew, but next to Maxwell. She had her head in her hands, and she looked exhausted. Andrew worried that she was behaving this way due to something that Andrew had done. That made him feel utterly terrible.

"This is going to be all over the tabloids tomorrow." She muttered, and Andrew felt like his fears were solidified.

"I…I didn't mean to cause problems." Andrew started and everyone jerked their gaze towards him, giving him a glare. Luis' was particularly intense.

"I'm not upset about what happened, Andrew. I'm actually amazed by how much you were able to hold yourself back in such a tantalizing moment. No, I'm more worried about how this could affect you. No doubt they are going to try to stake a claim on you now that everyone knows who your father is." Luis looked angry, upset.

"Didn't…everyone kinda guess who it was before? Why does it matter now?" Andrew asked, still new to this world even if he'd been involved in it his whole life without his knowledge. Maxwell sighed, holding him closer.

"Before we could pretend. Lie. No one needed to know your whole history. Now? Now everyone is going to know who your father is, and as much as we all hate it, that holds weight here. True alphas rarely sign over their rights to their kids, even if they are betas." Maxwell said, bitterness coating his voice. Kim sighed.

"He's right. That could mean that the Abraham family has some kind of claim to you. It's barbaric, but possible." Kim sounded annoyed, and she looked furious. Andrew, however, only laughed.

"They don't own me." Andrew said, and everyone gave him an apologetic look.

"Andrew, they can own you. True alphas work in a different realm compared to regular alphas. Unless you know something we don't, there is a chance that they could try to force you into their family, contribute financially to them, hell, they could even try to force you to marry someone else." It was May, who looked like she hated the words she was saying.

Andrew believed that they were worried, he understood exactly that they were worrying. But they were forgetting one thing.

That was the thing his Mom feared the most. The chance that they could take Andrew away from her. Tuck him away so that he could never see her again. Take his happiness, his joy.

There was no way in hell that the woman who had created a whole business just to deny the man who fathered her son that she hadn't put something in place to protect him if something like this ever came to pass. It just didn't make sense to him.

It seemed that in everyone's fear and anger that they hadn't considered that.

"I'll just have to go over the files that Mom left me." Andrew said, feeling confident. Not in himself, but in the pettiness of his Mom. "Mom was thorough. Do you think she didn't know about that? She came from a branch family." Andrew said and watched as the true alphas in the room paused, before Kim started laughing.

"Fuck. You're so right Andy. How foolish of me. I was panicking over nothing." Kim muttered, more embarrassed than anything else at that point. Everyone seemed to relax, except Mr. Dalton.

Even his wife seemed rather serious, concerned, and Andrew let them be. Mr. Dalton was that kind of man. He was fairly certain the man planned for the worst case scenario. Weighed every option. He was a savvy businessman, there was no way that he didn't.

He also knew his Mom, but it was clear that he also knew his father as well. Mr. Dalton let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm not worried about the piece of shit who contributed to your dna, Andy. I'm worried about your grandfather." Mr. Dalton's words were calm, but held a firm thread of worry. It made Andrew's surety even waver. What did he know? Who did he know?

"My grandfather?" The words felt strange in his mouth. Andrew had never met his Mom's parents, and they were never brought up. Kim didn't speak of them, nor did Jenny or anyone else. He'd always just assumed that they had passed, so it was strange to consider that he might have an older family member on his father's side.

He didn't get the feeling that they were anything like Amir's grandparents. They were probably closer to Maxwell's, and they were the fucking mob. Er, former mob. Allegedly.

"How bad are we talking?" Andrew asked, turning his gaze towards Mr. Dalton. The look that Mr. Dalton was giving him made the hair stand up on the back of Andrew's neck.

"Conniving, Andrew. A fox in an old man's skin. I've never liked interacting with him, and I've brokered deals with dictators." Mr. Dalton said with the enthusiasm of a man who had seen some shit. Andrew hated the sound of that.

So, he had a grandfather who was worse than a dictator?

Oh goody.

"So he's not going to want to let go of me? What if Mom gave me a solid escape route?" Andrew asked and Mr. Dalton shrugged.

"That would depend. How long are you willing to fight them?" He asked and Andrew tightened his jaw.

"I've never been called Andrew Abraham, and I'm not about to start now." Andrew said coldly. "I'd sooner take Kim's name, May's, or Maxwell's, before I took that name." Andrew declared, his nostrils flaring. Kim and May seemed moved, while Maxwell looked worried.

"If you take my name, I want to be because you are happy to, not because you are fleeing from relatives." Maxwell said softly and Thomas let out a sigh.

"Would this all go away if he was dead?" Thomas asked. It was practically the only thing the man had said so far, and Andrew was only a little bit surprised by his words. Maria was shocked, covering her mouth, while Mr. Dalton's mouth set in a grim line.

"That's only a possibility. I don't know if he's the true mastermind behind their empire, but he's certainly a major part of it. He could pass this on to someone else, so you'd have to eliminate the other heads before Andrew would be safe." Mr. Dalton was taking his words seriously, and Maxwell huffed.

"What are they? A fucking hydra? It's just a true alpha family." Maxwell protested and Mr. Dalton and Kim who came from what Andrew assumed were head households let out low, sinister chuckles.

"Max honey, they essentially are. With how long they have been in power, they have a lot of wealth. More than even what Andrew, your family, and I have. The only one who would be able to compete would be Mr. Dalton." Kim said softly, and Maxwell frowned deeply.

"Can't we just order a hit on the whole family?" Maxwell asked, showing off his true colours. Luis looked disgusted at her son's suggestion, while Thomas looked at him with a twisted sense of pride.

"We aren't ordering hits on anyone." Andrew said, cutting that idea off at the knees. "At least not until we've exhausted all other means, if we need to use them. You are all assuming that Mom didn't put in the legwork. He might have just been dumb enough to sign whatever she put in front of him if it meant he didn't have to worry about another useless beta child." Andrew said. It didn't hurt to refer to himself that way.

Andrew had never been ashamed of being a beta. It was nothing to be ashamed of. Had he cried when he got his test results back? Yes, but that was because he had wanted to be an omega like his Mom.

He got over it rather quickly.

The Beckett males looked a little upset at Andrew's declaration, and honestly, so did Kim, Jenny, Mr. Dalton and his wife, and so did Amir's grandparents. Andrew shook his head.

"We should trust Diana." Maria said, speaking up in her defense. "She's a smart cookie, and I bet your idiot father did just that. Your Mom was pretty. She probably just showed a bit of cleavage and he'd sign anything." Maria snorted, rolling her eyes at her own words, while Andrew didn't know how to feel of the image Maria had painted.

He knew that they…you know, but he didn't like to think about it.

"Hmm. Possible since D was always underestimated. It was her size. She was about the size of a child. So petite. It's amazing she gave birth to someone like Andy." Kim reminisced and May chuckled.

"He was the same height as her at age 11." She said fondly, and Andrew was glad that the tone had shifted. While several people still looked worried, it seemed that the heaviness had faded, and even Andrew was feeling better.

He was going to give himself the night, and then in the morning he was going to deal with whatever storm had been brewed up by his father.