12 - GRUVV'S POV

I hurried into the house through the side door, and Dhurudatta's main house was already packed. Dhurudatta's first grandchild, Leona, had a birthday party that was so festive. A bunch of people from all sorts of places came to celebrate a five-year-old girl's birthday,

"Your clothes are ready for you." George handed me a paper bag with a fresh outfit inside, an impressive suit. My shirt's already covered in blood, I just wrapped up taking care of some business.

I'm going to head upstairs and hop in the shower before heading to the party.

"Oh, you're here." Joshua said that when I came down the stairs, he'd been chewing a lot of chocolate cookies. The cookies that they give are only for the kids. I looked at him, thinking about what Cross said about Joshua taking my place by now.

I couldn't even tell which one was the kids because he blended in so much with them.

"Chew it properly, Josh. Your cake is going to get messed up." I wiped his face with a tissue and sighed.

He's just a kid, and Cross wants him to handle the Underground business by himself?

"Uncle!" Leona let out an excited yell as she ran over to me. I picked her up, and she let out another cheerful cry.

"I've got a present for you. It's upstairs." I said, giving Leona a little kiss on the cheek. The little one laughed loudly in my arms.

Cross and his Omega partner were married for twenty years. In the first year, they didn't like each other because the two got married for business reasons. In their tenth year of marriage, they fell head over heels. After trying for so long to get pregnant, Leona was finally born.

That's why we treat Leona like a princess in our family, as Father and Dad have waited so long.

I let Leona down from my arms. She was running around with her friends. With so many high-level people showing up, it's clear this is more than just a kids' party. They're just using it as a excuse to celebrate a kid's birthday, but in the end, they're making new connections with each other.

I headed over to the adult area to meet Dad. The older gentleman was enjoying his drink, sitting by himself. A few people were about to talk to him, but some bodyguards were in the way.

I think Cross was after dad, he was exactly like that.

"Dad." I said hello, and he turned to me and sighed. I realize he'd rather not see me, but honestly, it would've been great if he'd shown a bit more leniency at a public event like this.

"Gruvv! You're coming!" My father came running up to me and gave me a big hug. He was always smiling.

"Have you met Leona?"

"Yeah, but you can't deny that this isn't just a regular birthday party, given the guests who showed up." I pointed out, looking around, and Father nodded slightly.

"Exactly, people always jump at the chance to get involved at events like this."

I gave my throat a little cough and took a sip of wine. "You should've met an Omega here, too." Dad said.

Father had a bitter smile on his face as he held my hand and asked, "How was your visit to the doctor?" He tried to switch topics because he knew his alpha husband was picking on his middle child with that comment.

I was quiet, but I knew Dad and Father were working hard for me, and it made me realize that they were doing everything they could. I was just sick of going to the doctor and dealing with treatment.

"He never went back to the doctor." Dad said, looking at me out of the corner of his eye.

Father didn't say anything, but he was really there for me. He just gently held my hand

"Gruvv, no worries. You can take a break when you need to." He said.

"You know, you really should think about settling down and having a kid. You should let your little brother, Joshua, handle that underground business. I'm thinking you could try to move the headquarters instead."

This isn't the first time Dad's gone on about marriage, and I'm pretty tired of it. I left the big sigh and got up from my seat.

"Gruvv!" Father called me, and it was clear he was worried.

We kind of knew each other without saying a word, and it was clear that what Dad was saying went a bit overboard. So I just gave Father a quick kiss on the cheek and took off. From the start, the place was packed. I really wasn't meant to be here.

If it wasn't for Leona, I never would've come back to this place.

I walked out the back door, and George was waiting for me in the car.

I'm in a bad mood.

"Sir, we found Gil Rudapriya's son."

I lit a cigarette and looked over at George in the rearview mirror.

"And what about Madam Rose?" I asked, taking a drag on my cigarette and letting the smoke fill my lungs.

"She just went to the airport, and I heard she'll be in China for work this week."

I didn't say a word for a minute. I was thinking about all the plans I had to make this evening. Basically, right now it's like beating up people until they're knocked out is the best option to humour me.

"We should bring some extra people. It'll be fun to totally wreck her place."

The rides took an hour, and I brought about 30 people with me. My people are having trouble tracing Gil Rudrapriya because his son is being sold in a remote area of town.

So, we went in and searched every room to look for Gil's son. We tracked him down after they gave us Shiloh Rudapriya's location. When I went in, he was surrounded by almost ten Alphas.

"He's Shiloh Rudapriya, the guy we're after. He's a dominant Omega, and he's Gil Rudapriya's son." Shin said that. He's one of my underlings.

I paused, took a big puff off my cigarette.

Shiloh Rudapriya, he's got a white body like snow, with ash-colored, gorgeous, flowing hair. He's really pale. His bruises are bright pink, and he's got hickeys and bites on some parts of his body. It looks like he's in a lot of pain. He was so thin, his ribs were pretty noticeable, and her lips were dry, chapped in some spots. His legs and arms looked long, and his eyes were open but unfocused. He was out cold. His hands and feet were tied, his legs spread wide open, and I could see his red hole.

He looks terrible.

I looked over and noticed a few needles lying around on the table.

"Are they using drugs?" I asked, put on my gloves, and checked the needles.

"This kid got a special dose of the drug." Shin said, I looked at him wondering what he was thinking.

"So that's why he's unconscious?" I looked at the boy. Shiloh went wild, his mouth packed with spunk as well as drool.

As we were speaking, the boy coughed and some flower petals came flying out of his mouth. We were both pretty shocked. My body moved on its own, I quickly untied all the ties in his hands, wrapped my arms around him, and put my finger in his mouth, trying to pull out the petals.

The petals of the red-colored flower kept coming out as he coughed.

"Hey! He'd better not choke on those petals!" I let out a yell when Shin untied the ties at the boy's feet. He hurried to wrap Shiloh's body in a blanket.

It was my first time feeling this anxious. He was kind of a mess.