CHAPTER 271: RAW AND UNSTOPPABLE (5)

Benjamin’s POV

All my kids still have their own rooms in this house, even if they’ve all moved out and built their own lives. I kept those rooms just the way they were, spotless and waiting, so they’d always know: no matter how cruel the world gets, they still have a home to come back to.

When I stepped out of my office, the living room was empty. The quiet felt too still. I asked Alfie where everyone was, and he said, "Upstairs."

I went up and stopped at Vicky’s door. I knocked once. Ella opened it, her eyes darting between me and the room. Inside, Vicky was lying on her bed, pressing a cold compress to her cheek. Oliver and Liam sat on either side of her, like sentinels.

"I don’t want to talk to you!" Vicky snapped before I could say anything. Her tone was sharp and like a spoiled brat, made me want to smile, if only because it reminded me of how she used to pout when she was trying to stifle a cry when she was little. But I bit it back.

Vicky. My only daughter. The proof that love can survive even the longest separation. Prudence and I hadn’t seen each other for years before she was conceived. That day we met again, we proved something to ourselves, that what we had wasn’t gone, just buried. Still alive, no matter how much we tried to kill it.

She was a bright kid, easy to raise. Never threw tantrums, never demanded toys or trips like other children. She just took what we gave her, quietly. When my father arranged her marriage, she didn’t cry, didn’t rebel, just nodded and accepted it like it was her fate.

But now, seeing her defy me like this... It’s the first time she’s truly fought back. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find it a little endearing. No matter how old she gets, she’ll always be my little girl.

Still, I can’t put this off any longer. I don’t want bitterness to take root in her heart, but it’s time she knows the truth about this family. Gods, I just hope she won’t turn against me—or Violet. Or Reagan.

"Can you give us a moment?" I said to Liam, Oliver, and Ella. They exchanged glances, then quietly left the room.

Vicky rolled to her side, turning her back on me.

I sat down at the edge of her bed. For a moment, I just looked at her, the curve of her shoulder, the way her hair fell over the pillow. My little girl, now a woman. Time really does move too damn fast.

"Go away," she muttered, her voice sharp and sulky.

I couldn’t help the small smirk tugging at my lips. "I can’t, not until I tell you a secret. The Knight family’s secret."

That got her. Vicky’s always been the curious one. Even as a child, she’d sneak around, eavesdrop on adult conversations, ask the kind of questions no one wanted to answer.

Still, she knew when to keep her mouth shut. Maybe that’s why her brothers never told her about Reagan. They wanted to keep her spark alive a little longer.

"Secret?" she asked, glancing at me over her shoulder.

Aha! Hooked!

"Yes. Now, can you sit properly? This one’s going to take a while," I said, watching her roll her eyes like a teenager again.

She pushed herself up, leaning against the headboard with her arms crossed. "This better be good, or I swear I’ll walk out and never come back to this house," she snapped.

I smiled softly. "Reagan’s not my blood," I started, and her face instantly tightened.

I lifted a hand before she could interrupt. "On paper, I’m his father. I raised him. So he is my son. Always will be."

Her lips parted. "I—I don’t even know what to say. But go on."

A dry chuckle slipped out of me. It almost felt surreal, saying it all out loud again.

"Your mother was my first love. My true love. We were together on the ship back then, inseparable. It was only a matter of time before I planned to propose to her. But one day, my father told me I couldn’t marry Prudence. He had other plans. Said if I defied him, I’d lose everything, and how can I start a family if I have nothing?

I don’t want my future wife and kids to live in poverty. If my father bans me from his ships, he will also tell the other companies to ban me; he was that powerful. I could already see myself doing menial jobs because no one would want to hire me because of who my father was."

I rubbed the back of my neck, my throat tightening with old shame. "He was the CEO. He had the power to ground me, and he did. I was too young, too proud, too heartbroken. I drowned myself in whiskey until Violet showed up at the bar—sent by my grandfather, along with the driver, to fetch me.

She was his assistant back then. I made her take a drink with me. I told her I wasn’t going to leave until she took one shot. She didn’t want to, but she did. One shot, and she was gone. The driver told me later he took us to a motel—my idea, apparently. I don’t remember much. I was drunk and stupid. I was a real jerk back then. I woke up halfway through the night, still reeking of alcohol, and left her there."

The silence in the room thickened. I could hear Vicky’s soft breathing, steady but sharp, like she was trying to process every word.

"The next day," I continued, my voice low, "I packed my bags and went to my grandparents’ house. My grandmother begged me to accept the arranged marriage. Said Prudence would never be happy if she joined our family, that my love would destroy her. And I believed her. I didn’t want to make your mother miserable, so... I agreed."

I looked at Vicky then; her eyes were wide, her lips pressed into a trembling line.

"I asked for one more term before the wedding. I thought it’d give me time to let go of your mother, to accept my fate. When I came back, everything was already arranged. Only... the woman waiting at the altar wasn’t the one I’d been promised. It was Violet. And she was pregnant—visibly."

I swallowed hard, the old guilt pressing on my chest. "I didn’t need anyone to tell me whose child it was. I knew. It was my fault. I was the first man she slept with, I took her innocence, and I will take responsibility for the result I had left her."