CHAPTER 526: LOVED

It was strange, stepping back into the same room where his mate had nearly killed his mother just moments ago. Roman didn’t even think about inviting Violet this time. This was his mess, and he’d deal with his parents himself.

"Where is she?" Alexa demanded, tapping her feet impatiently against the floor.

"Why?" Roman shot back, his voice dripping with venom. "So she can finish the job? Oh, right—" his lip curved in a snort—"you’ve always been a sucker for punishment. What a masochist." He muttered under his breath, but with meaning. Roman hadn’t just heard the rumors about his mother, he’d witnessed it firsthand.

Fire flared in Alexa’s eyes. She caught the jab immediately, and her mouth twisted. "Fine. Since you want to unpackage everything, let’s do it right now."

Alexa started, "All your life you’ve looked at me with disgust because you caught me in bed with another man at a young age. But I wasn’t the only guilty one. Your father—" she jabbed a finger at Leon—"was in it too. We had an open marriage. So why is it only me who is painted as the monster here?"

For once, Leon said nothing, his expression grave.

Alexa taunted him. "What’s the matter, Leon? Cat got your tongue?"

"Your mother is right," Leon said at last, locking eyes with his son. "She didn’t deserve all the hate. We were both in it together. If there’s anyone you should hate, it’s me, Roman."

His shoulders sagged, but his gaze never broke. "I’ve been a failure of a father. With the kind of life I chose..." He shook his head in regret. "I never should’ve brought a child into this world. No, I never planned to. That was your mother’s and my agreement from the start. But then Henry came along and convinced me of the advantage of having a powerful heir, especially with Elijah sterile..."

He chuckled bitterly at the memory. "I guess, I got greedy. The thought of an heir who could be Alpha King... all I saw was the benefit the South Pack would reap. I didn’t stop to think about the damage my lifestyle would inflict on the child I brought into this world."

Alpha Leon’s voice thickened with regret as he confessed. "Your mother never wanted a child. That was the agreement we made when we married. But I pushed her. I convinced her to have you, and I promised her I’d take care of you. So don’t blame her, Roman. Blame me. I’m the one you should hate. It’s all my fault."

Roman Draven was as still as a tree. Then the tears came, dripping down his cheeks like a river. He didn’t know which hurt worse, the fact that his mother never wanted him, or that his parents only birthed him for power. Either way, something inside him cracked.

"You should’ve never borne me," Roman said, his voice breaking as the hot tears fell faster.

Most people only saw his smile and thought nothing could ever shake him. Others looked at his playboy charm and assumed he didn’t care about anything.

But the truth was Roman Draven wore his heart on his sleeve. He just hid it behind a mask of nonchalance. Underneath, he was painfully emotional, and right now, the dam had burst wide open.

He locked the bond tight, blocking Violet out. If she felt the pain ripping through him, she’d break that door down without hesitation and there might be a repeat of earlier. This was his cross to bear, not hers.

Leon was on his feet now. "Roman, I’m so sorry."

"No," Roman said, stepping back so his father couldn’t reach him. "Sorry doesn’t repair what you did to me." His eyes burned as he finally bared the wounds he had carried all his life.

"You want to know what your lifestyle did?" he asked, his words cutting like shards. "It ruined me. It destroyed the way I saw love. You made me believe sex was all a relationship ever was. That’s all I knew. That’s all I thought I was good for. Do you know what that does to someone?"

His voice was cracking now, but he pushed through the anger and hurt that was spilling over. "I never had anything meaningful with women. Not once. Everything was shallow, just another game, just another bed, and I thought that was normal! Because that’s what you taught me, father! That’s what you showed me, mother!"

Leon’s face twisted, and for the first time, tears glistened in his eyes.

Roman’s chest heaved as he pressed on. "If not for the goddess showing me mercy, if not for the Matebond she forced on me, I would’ve never known what it meant to actually belong to someone. To love honestly and to be loved in return. Without that bond... I’d just be a broken product. That’s what you both made me. A broken product of your horrible parenting." His last words left him in a whisper, choked and ragged.

And for once, even Alexa broke. As hard as her heart had always been, a single tear escaped her eye. She wiped it away in fury, as if refusing to let him see that somewhere beneath the venom, his pain had struck her too.

Roman’s voice was rough and raw as he said, "So please, don’t ruin my bond too. That’s all I have left. I beg of you."

Leon’s throat worked, voice thick with emotions when he quickly promised, "Violet’s secret is safe with us. Whatever she is."

Roman dipped his head in a nod. "Thank you."

Then he turned on his heel, and walked away from the two people who had ruined his life.

Alpha Leon opened his mouth, the urge to call out his son clawing at his chest but the words died there.

What right did he have left? He had already done enough damage. The least he could do now was let Roman go.

Silence suffocated the room until Leon suddenly spun, his grief curdling into rage. His fist slammed down on the table, splintering the wood. Then, he grabbed the nearest chair and flung it across the room, the crash ringing through the quarters.

A vase shattered against the wall next, the water and flowers spilling uselessly over the floor. He swept an ornament to the ground, the sound of breaking glass mingling with his ragged breaths. His chest heaved as though destruction was the only language he had left to speak.

Alexa simply stood unmoving, her gaze unreadable. Without a word, she turned and walked out, leaving her husband to his fury. Yet, as she passed the doorway, she paused for just for a second. The image of Roman’s pleading eyes stabbed had ripped her heart open.

She had never wanted a child, that was the truth, but that boy was still a piece of her. And she had done a horrible job with him. She was the worst person to exist.

Leon remained behind, his rage collapsing into despair. He had sworn to himself he would end the cycle of weakness he inherited. He had grown up watching his own father cheat, destroy his mother piece by piece, and he had vowed it would end with him.

That was why he had sworn off children and lived his life to the fullest. There would be no child to suffer under his shadow, or a promise to keep to a faithful wife. But he did father a son—and became worse than his own father.

What he once dismissed as "harmless fun" had hollowed out his boy. He had lived his own nightmare, carrying over the trauma to the next generation.

—--------

That was not how that meeting was supposed to end. Roman wiped at his face furiously as he strode down the hall with his head lowered. No one could see him like this. What would they think if they saw a cardinal alpha crying like a child?

So he clenched his jaw, moving faster as if he could outrun the burn of humiliation clinging to him.

But the moment he pushed into his room and shut the door, he froze. Violet was standing there as if she had been waiting for him all along.

Her worried eyes took him in. She couldn’t have felt his pain through the bond; he had shut it off. Yet somehow, she had known he was hurting.

The realization carved something open inside of Roman and the dam broke.

Heavy tears spilled down his face before he could even curse himself for it. Wordlessly, Violet stepped forward, wrapping her arms around him. Roman collapsed against her, his breath hitching, and his body shaking as he let himself break in her hold.

He didn’t even notice the second presence until a larger arm came around him from behind, pulling him into a firmer, grounding embrace.

It was Griffin.

For the first time that day, Roman Draven wasn’t crying from a place of hurt. No, he was crying because he finally realized what he had.

He was loved.