Chapter Nine — My Father’s First Lie

The recovered footage ended, but the sentence remained inside my head.

He doesn’t know what his father made him for.

I read it once.

Then again.

By the third time, the words had become something worse than an accusation.

They had become a possibility.

Ronan was watching me.

Marcus was watching me too.

I hated that both of them could probably see the moment the thought took hold.

My father had hidden my Omega designation.

My father had authorized Daniel Kerr’s access to my floor.

My father had stood beside him while someone altered medication inside my private suite.

And now a dead man was claiming that Theodore Vale had not merely protected me.

He had made me for something.

“No,” I said.

Ronan’s expression remained unreadable.

“No what?”

“That recording proves Daniel Kerr wanted me suspicious of my father.”

“It proves more than that.”

“It proves he held up a piece of paper.”

“It also proves your father was with him.”

“I saw it.”

“And told him to change the dose.”

My jaw tightened.

“We don’t know what dose he meant.”

Ronan’s eyes hardened.

“You are defending a man who may have arranged your heat.”

“I am refusing to convict him based on six seconds of damaged footage and a message from a corpse.”

“That sounds better.”

I stared at him.

“What?”

“Anger.”

He stepped closer.

“It suits you better than pretending none of this matters.”

I almost answered.

Then the stairwell door opened.

My father stood there.

No security officer.

No assistant.

No expression.

Just Theodore Vale, looking at the three of us as though he had expected to find us exactly where we were.

My hand tightened around Marcus’s phone.

“You came back.”

“I forgot something.”

Ronan glanced toward the garage.

“Convenient.”

My father ignored him.

His eyes stayed on me.

“Adrian, we need to leave.”

“Not yet.”

“That was not a suggestion.”

For most of my life, that tone had ended conversations.

Tonight, it did nothing.

I turned Marcus’s phone toward him.

The frozen image showed Daniel Kerr holding the message to the camera.

My father looked at it.

Nothing changed in his face.

That terrified me.

“You recognize this?”

“Yes.”

Marcus inhaled quietly.

Ronan’s attention sharpened.

I stepped closer.

“So you admit you were there.”

“I never denied it.”

“You allowed me to believe you had not seen Daniel Kerr in twelve years.”

“I said he should have been dead twelve years ago.”

“You let me assume the rest.”

“That is not the same thing.”

A laugh escaped me.

It sounded wrong.

Cold.

“Then let’s stop assuming.”

I held the phone higher.

“What did he mean?”

My father said nothing.

“What did you make me for?”

His gaze flickered.

Barely.

But I saw it.

That was enough.

Ronan saw it too.

“Theodore.”

My father finally looked at him.

“Do not speak to me as though we are equals.”

Ronan’s mouth curved without humor.

“Tonight might not be the best night to discuss family superiority.”

“Ronan,” I said.

He went quiet.

I returned my attention to my father.

“What did he mean?”

Theodore exhaled slowly.

“When you were born, the Vale family was in crisis.”

“I know.”

“No. You know the version we gave you.”

The words settled heavily between us.

My chest tightened.

My father continued.

“My brothers were already preparing to divide the company. Your mother had suffered two miscarriages. The board wanted certainty that there would be an heir.”

“And they got me.”

“Yes.”

“An Omega.”

His face hardened.

“A child.”

“You spent my entire life making sure nobody used that word.”

“Because the world would have taken everything from you.”

“Or from you?”

Marcus lowered his eyes.

Ronan did not.

Theodore took one step closer.

“I protected you.”

“Then why was Daniel Kerr in my suite?”

Silence.

“Why did you tell him to change the dose?”

“It was not what you think.”

“Then tell me what it was.”

He looked away.

That was the first time I had ever seen my father avoid my eyes.

The heat inside me had dulled to a steady ache, but something colder had replaced it.

“Dad.”

His attention returned.

“Was my suppressant changed?”

“Yes.”

The answer came so quietly that I almost thought I imagined it.

Marcus froze.

Ronan’s expression turned lethal.

I felt nothing.

For one impossible second, nothing at all.

“You knew.”

“Yes.”

“You knew my medication had been altered.”

“Yes.”

“And you said nothing.”

My father’s voice sharpened.

“Because the change was supposed to prevent something worse.”

I stared at him.

“What?”

He did not answer.

I stepped closer.

“What was inside the dose?”

“Adrian—”

“What did you put into my body?”

“It was not designed to harm you.”

“Then why am I in heat?”

His silence became unbearable.

Ronan moved beside me.

“What was the objective?”

Theodore looked at him with open hatred.

“You are the last person who should be asking that question.”

Ronan went still.

My pulse changed.

“What does that mean?”

My father looked between us.

Then at the note in Ronan’s hand.

PRIMARY MATCH.

When he spoke again, his voice was lower.

“You think tonight began with Daniel Kerr.”

“No?”

“No.”

He looked at me.

“It began before you were born.”

Every muscle in my body tightened.

Theodore continued.

“There were families who believed certain Alpha and Omega bloodlines should never be allowed to disappear.”

Ronan’s face changed.

“My family.”

My father did not deny it.

I felt sick.

“The Ashcrofts?”

“The Vales too.”

I stared at him.

“What are you saying?”

“I am saying Daniel Kerr was part of something your mother and I tried to bury.”

“You tried to bury it by letting him into my private suite?”

“That was the mistake.”

Finally.

A crack.

My father looked older suddenly.

Not weaker.

Just tired.

“Daniel came to me three days ago and said the program had restarted.”

Ronan’s voice sharpened.

“What program?”

Theodore ignored him.

“He said someone had gained access to your medical records. He said your suppressant formula had already been compromised.”

My stomach dropped.

“So you changed it first.”

“I changed the emergency batch.”

“Why?”

“Because Kerr claimed he had developed a countermeasure.”

I stared at him.

“You trusted him?”

“No.”

“But you put it in my cabinet anyway.”

“I had no time.”

“That is your defense?”

My father’s jaw tightened.

“No. It is my first mistake.”

My breath caught.

“First?”

He closed his eyes for a second.

When he opened them, the fear was back.

“The lie came before that.”

My heart began pounding.

“What lie?”

Theodore looked directly at me.

“The greatest lie of your life was never that you were an Alpha.”

The room seemed to lose sound.

Ronan stopped breathing beside me.

My father continued.

“You were never born naturally, Adrian.”

I stared at him.

“What?”

His voice dropped to almost a whisper.

“You were selected.”

The words struck harder than anything else that night.

Then my father reached inside his jacket and removed an old photograph.

He held it out.

A hospital room.

My mother.

A younger Theodore.

And between them, standing beside an incubator, was Daniel Kerr.

On the back, one line had been written in black ink.

SUBJECT O-17 — VIABLE. ASHCROFT MATCH RESERVED.