Chapter 6

Amy's POV 

The sound of the glass shattering against the marble floor made me freeze. I turned towards the door and Kane was staring at me like he had seen a ghost. His face was suddenly drained of color, and his mouth slightly hung open. Broken pieces of the wine bottle lay scattered around his shoes as the red wine spread across the floor. 

“Is everything okay?” Thane asked and Kane nodded stiffly. 

“Yes, Alpha. The bottle slipped.” he said. 

“Get someone to clean it,” Thane said. “This is Amy. She's the new nanny.”

“Hello Amy.” Kane said through clenched teeth as he took heavy steps towards me. He stretched out his hand for a handshake and I took it. His fingers tightened around mine, and his eyes remained on my face. 

“Show her around and tell her what she has to do.” Thane said. “She starts work tomorrow. Good luck, Amy.” He tapped my shoulder and I drew in a sharp breath. 

We both watched Thane go up the stairs without another word. Once he was out of sight, Kane turned to me. “What are you doing here?” he asked. 

“Keep your voice down.” I whispered. 

Kane looked over his shoulder and then back at me. His expression had transformed from disbelief to something close to anger. 

I glanced towards the stairs and inched closer to him. “I can explain.”

“Explain?” He let out a disbelieving laugh. 

“You just disappeared five years ago. Everyone thought you were dead and now you are just reappearing back in his life?”

I swallowed as I fought the ball that tried to push itself into my throat. “I did not disappear by choice.”

He folded his arms across his chest. “What are you talking about?”

“Hear me out, Kane. Please.” 

He studied my face as if searching for something, like he could tell if I was saying the truth or not. 

“Come with me.” He said, pulling me across the living room and towards the library. 

I signaled for Ronan to follow. 

“Does Lucas know you are alive?” He asked immediately he shut the library door. 

“I don't think so.”

“He can't know you are here.”

“I know,” I said. 

“I don't think you do, Amy. You have no idea what Lucas is capable of. If he discovers you are here, he will not give you a chance to explain yourself before he makes you disappear again, permanently this time.” 

I scratched my arm and moved my weight from one foot to another. “I am not here to cause trouble.” 

“Then why are you here?” 

I looked down at my hands. I was here because I needed money to take care of the only thing that mattered to me in the whole world, Ronan. And I was here because I needed to see the son that was snatched out of my arms just an hour after I birthed him. He was now a little boy who was growing up in a house with a woman who didn't care about him. 

“I need the job,” I told him. “I need the money.” 

Kane glared at me like I had suddenly grown horns. “You're telling me you simply came back to work as a nanny because you needed the money?” 

“I didn't have many choices. After everything that happened, Ronan needs medical care. His condition has become worse over the years and I can't afford everything he needs anymore, at least not with the job I was doing.” My voice faltered, but I forced myself to remain strong. “The salary Thane offered was enough to cover his treatment and I can't just turn it down.”

Kane frowned and raised a brow. “Ronan?” 

I nodded. “He's my son.”

“Your son?” Kane repeated as his gaze moved towards Ronan, who stood by the door. “How old is he?” 

“Five.”

Kane’s brow pinched tighter in confusion. I could see him struggling to make sense of what I had just said. 

“There's something else I need you to know. Ronan is Lucien's twin brother.”

There was a deafening silence as Kane stared at me with his mouth wide open. 

“What?” he asked in a loud voice. 

I pressed my fingers against my lips and he inhaled sharply. “I birthed both of them on the same night.”

He shook his head. “That can't be true. Thane only has one son.”

“That is what he believes and what everyone knows, because Lucas took Lucien away from me. Ronan was sick when I gave birth to him, and he was not expected.”

Kane's jaw tightened. 

“After the accident, I went into premature labor. Lucien was surprisingly healthy, but Ronan was weak and Lucas came to see me at the hospital. He told me Thane was dead, and then he offered me money to give up my child. I refused, but he didn't care, and he took Lucien away.” 

I swallowed as my fingers curled into my palms. The memories from that night replayed itself like it had happened just yesterday. I remembered how a scream tore from my throat, how I had collapsed to the ground, how I had held Lucien for only a second and begged Lucas not to take my child away. 

Kane dragged a hand over his face. “Dear goddess.” 

“But Thane doesn't remember me, Kane, and I don't know what it is.” I said with a crack in my voice. 

Kane exhaled. “There is a lot you don't know. When Kane survived the accident, he was in a coma for a couple of weeks. When he finally regained consciousness, he couldn't remember anything about his life before it.”

My heart gave a painful thud. “Nothing?” 

“At least not everything,” Kane said. “He remembered his father, his position, his responsibilities but the accident left a hole in his memory. There were years he couldn't account for, people he couldn't recognize, and things he just couldn't remember.” 

I inhaled sharply. “Things like me?” I asked quietly and Kane nodded. 

“At first, he asked questions. He wanted to know what had happened and why he was in the hospital. And Lucas told him what he wanted him to believe. He convinced him that he got into an accident when he was going to hospital to see Seraphina give birth to Lucien.”

I felt as though someone reached into my chest and squeezed my heart roughly. “Why didn't you tell him the truth?”

“I was in no place to do that. Lucas threatened me, and I didn't want to mess up with his mind. Thane was in a terrible place after the accident and if I had dropped that bombshell on him, who knows what might have happened.”

I shook my head slowly. This was all too cruel to comprehend. Thane had forgotten me. He had forgotten our relationship, the promises we made, the nights that we had spent together. It hurt to know that the last memory I had of him was accusing him of using me as a breeder. 

My heart tightened as I remembered that they had been in this marriage for five years. For five years, Thane had continued without me, and he had become a husband to another woman and the father to the son I was forced to leave behind. 

I looked down, trying to steady my breathing. When I looked back at Kane, my eyes were moist with tears. “Does he love her?”

Kane didn't answer immediately. He exhaled. “I can't tell what he feels for her, Amy but they are married and you must never forget that.” 

I bit down on my lower lips. “Believe me, Kane, I won't forget.”

“I mean it.” He pressed on. “You cannot walk into this house and expect things to return to how they were. Thane is nothing like the man you remember. He has a wife, a son, and an entire pack depending on him. Lucas is still very much in control of the things happening around him.”

“I have heard you,” I said flatly. 

“Have you? Because if Lucas finds out Ronan is Thane's second son, you know what that will mean for you, right?”

“I know and that is why I am going to stay away from him.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose.  

“The only way you can stay away from Lucas is if you leave.” 

“I can't.” 

“Amy…”

“I can't, Kane.” My voice cracked as I raised it a notch. I quickly lowered it. “I have spent five years wondering whether my son was safe. I birthed his son, and I had no idea what his name was until today. I've wondered if he was happy, whether he thought about me, and now I finally have the chance to see him, touch him, be near him and you expect him to walk away?”

Kane simply stared at me. 

“I know the risk involved. I know what Lucas can do to me but I cannot abandon my son again.”

“And what about Ronan?” He nodded towards the door. 

“I must stay because of him. He is getting weaker and I don't know how much time I have before his condition becomes worse. I must give him every chance I can, even if it means walking into the lion's mouth.” 

“You shouldn't have to do this alone.” He said, looking at me with pity. I hated it. 

“I have been doing it alone for five years.” I said, with false confidence. 

Kane sighed and placed a hand on my shoulder. “You have no idea the monster Lucas has become.”