Chapter 9 Trace everything back to five years ago

KILLIAN

I had been lost in thought, studying Dominic’s medical record, when I was interrupted by a firm knock on the door.

“Alpha?” Jason’s voice came from the other side. “May I come in?”

I put down the paper with a sigh.

“Yes. Come in.”

I had been tucked away in a private room of the hospital the hospital staff had offered me so I could process everything that had happened since Riley Clarkson had crash-landed into my life and detonated everything I knew to be true.

The solitude had been a blessing after all the commotion, but it had been fleeting.

“Everything’s been arranged,” Jason reported dutifully. After closing the door behind him, he dipped his head in a subtle gesture of respect. “The biopsy has been sent to the pack medical center. Healer Raphael will examine it today.”

I nodded and rolled my shoulders back.

My entire body was tense. The stress of this dramatic day had taken root almost instantly, and I could feel a migraine beginning to form. I rubbed at my temple.

“And what about the investigation?” I asked, glancing at the papers in Jason’s hands. “Did you manage to dig anything up?”

Jason nodded and set the documents onto the desk.

I pulled them toward me and began scanning the pages.

“This is everything I could find about Riley Clarkson,” he explained. “Records dating back to her time in an orphanage, all the way through her most recent employment.”

“Orphanage?” I echoed, my brows knitting together.

He nodded again.

“Yes. She was abandoned at the orphanage at the age of three. Her mother’s name is listed, but her father’s identity is unknown. There was a failed adoption attempt, so she remained there until she came of age.”

“I see,” I muttered, skimming through the pages.

“Also,” Jason continued, “her financial situation isn’t great. She never finish her college degree. She deferred for a year but ultimately dropped out. Her employment history consists of a string of part-time jobs, but none were long-term.”

“Dropping out her senior year…” I muttered, irritation thinly veiled in my voice . “What in the world was she thinking?”

Jason knew better than to respond. He waited as I scanned the various reports, respectfully averting his gaze.

The more information I read, the more my frustration grew.

Riley Clarkson’s life was an absolute mess.

I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt and believe that her intentions were good, but the evidence in my hands was convincing me otherwise.

What on earth had compelled her to go through with the pregnancy? Her decision to give birth to a child when she wasn’t certain of her own future seemed laughable, like some kind of fucked-up joke.

But I didn’t find it funny.

All I could find in those pages was record upon record of struggle and poverty, each stacking up higher and higher. While part of me pitied her, the other part was angry and confused.

How could she possibly have believed that she could raise Dominic well on her own?

She could hardly afford basic bills, let alone the expenses that would surely pile up after this hospital stay.

And despite all of that, she had dared to challenge me and fight back against my more than reasonable questions.

My personal life is none of your business!

Don’t you dare suggest I can’t take care of my own son.

Only Dominic wasn’t just her son. He was mine as well, and even though he’d been a complete mystery to me until now, I couldn’t simply stand aside.

As I continued to process the information in front of me, some of her other remarks danced through my mind.

Yes, I called you. Does it change anything?

It doesn’t have anything to do with what Dominic needs right now. It’s like you said back at your office. We don’t have time to reminisce about the past and what did or didn’t happen.

My temples began to throb again, and I closed my eyes for a moment.

She’s probably right. It’s nothing to do with Dominic’s illness or the situation we were currently facing. And yet, it kept bothering me.

What had she meant by that?

She claimed that she called me, and yet I hadn’t heard a word from her in five years. I hadn’t received a single call, text, or email after our night spent together. It didn’t make any sense. Had she called the wrong number?

No.

If she was able to track me down now, then she had clearly had access to my information all long. She had chosen not to reach out to me and purposefully kept my son’s existence from me for years.

When Jason cleared his throat, my eyes snapped open.

“All things considered, if she were to fight for custody, Alpha, her chances of winning would be slim,” he spoke up. “It’s unlikely that a human judge would rule in favor –”

I raised up a hand to stop him.

“That’s enough. Thank you, Jason” I said evenly. “You’re free to leave and get some rest. It’s been a long day. I’ll read through these on my own.”

My eyes returned to the papers, but when Jason didn’t move, I glanced back up at him.

He seemed hesitant, like something was on his mind.

“What is it?” I asked, arching a brow.

“Beta Bram has been trying to get in touch with you,” he explained. “He also tried calling you earlier, but it didn’t go through.”

I sighed heavily.

“Did he tell you anything specific to pass along, or did he just ask you to call me back?”

“Nothing specific, but he told me it was important,” Jason answered. “Not important enough to interrupt you, but enough to require a conversation.”

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my temples again.

Bram and Sophia had been trying to reach me through the mindlink all day, but I had been shutting them out. My phone had been on silent, tucked away in my pocket.

I fished it out, and sure enough, there were a several missed-call notifications.

“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered.

I had a pretty good idea of what they wanted, but I wasn’t in the mood to listen to them right now.

Jason glanced at the reports in my hand. “I wonder… if we should discuss this with Bram.”

His tentative words and the tension in his arms told me that Bram must have threatened him.

Jason wasn’t usually one to question my orders, which was why I trusted him with most of my tasks. He was fiercely loyal.

This was more than I could say of some of the others.

“Did you tell him anything more about the child?” I asked.

Jason shook his head.

“No. Not beyond what Riley told everyone in the conference room. Everything in those records is strictly between us.”

I nodded. “Good. I’ll deal with Bram. Don’t worry about it.”

“Yes, Alpha,” Jason replied, dipping his head respectfully. Once he straightened, he went to leave the room.

But then a thought crossed my mind.

“Wait,” I called out. “Jason, there’s one more thing I want you to look into.”

“Name it,” Jason said, turning around.

I leaned forward in my chair and clasped my hands beneath my chin, carefully considering my next words.

“She claimed that she called me five years ago,” I revealed vaguely. “And yet, I didn’t receive any such call. I see no reason why she’d lie to me on this. So, I believe someone else answered the phone without reporting to me.”

Jason looked at me with a slight frown. 

I continued, “I want to know about every call made to the Bryce Corporation that period onward – who placed them and who answered them. Trace everything back to the time when Riley Clarkson first became pregnant.”