Is this really happening?

Yesterday, Skylar went inside my guest suite of his house here in Texas to talk to me. I thought he was going to assault me or something for what I had told his parents about him, but he didn't. He actually was so truthful, so incredibly vulnerable with me, that I did not know what to think.

He told me all about the expectations of him to make a great match and his insecurities around it. And how I was the one who hit the jackpot because I found someone who I truly cared about. It was a very honest and heartwarming conversation.

Skylar presented a side of him that I had never seen before and I liked it very much. Especially when we were alone and he had nothing to gain from that, except when he later told his parents that he had apologized to me.

Even if he did all this to look good before his parents who called him out on his errors, he didn't have to say the things he said. He didn't have to be so vulnerable with me, but he did. He held nothing back and at one point I thought he was going to cry - but he didn't. Barely.

Now it's Saturday and Alpha Frederick roped us into stopping by his office building to show Skylar something but we all ended up coming with him. I didn't mind so much because I love getting a first-hand lesson on the corporate world.

But when we arrived at the chief engineer's office, I had the surprise of my life.

The man who made my mother fall in love with him, only to abandon her while she was pregnant is here. He was the chief engineer of Alpha Frederick's oil company. I guess he came here after graduating from the University of Colorado. I didn't even know he was a Texan.

Or maybe he just came here to work in his field of expertise. Who knows?

All I know is that I don't want to be here for this. This is not fun for me anymore.

"Shawn is your father? But your name is Jacob Anderson!" Seth gasped in shock as he realized the obvious. Frederick Stronghold was immediately uncomfortable by the shocking discovery he was completely unaware of. Skylar was shell-shocked, though obviously not as much as I or the man was.

"Jacob Anderson Broderick. I just go by Anderson because I don't want to remember I am related to this man." I replied, tears filling my eyes right now at the unexpected encounter.

"I am going to wait for you guys downstairs." I said, fighting back tears. I moved to walk away but Shawn held me back.

"Wait, please! Can we talk, son?" He asked me and I was fuming.

"Don't call me son! I never had a father once in my life! Please let go of me, so you can go back to pretending I don't exist!" I shouted at him, livid. My eyes shone in rage. This is the last place on Earth that I would ever hope to find this man. This ratchet man.

"I am sorry for not being there for you growing up! I wasn't that much older than you are now when your mother got pregnant with you." He spoke as if that was even remotely an excuse.

"How is that my fault?! If you didn't want any children, if you didn't want to claim my mother, then why did you tell her you wanted to? Why didn't you stay the hell away from her?" I was raging as the tears fell from my eyes at a rapid progression.

"Stop with your bullshit and get the fuck away from me!" I shouted at him, getting far afield from him. This is the angriest I have ever felt in my entire life, I was practically a hair away from shifting into a wolf I was so mad.

"Can we go now, Seth? I can't be here anymore!" I begged him, who was deeply concerned for me at this point. Everybody was and we were putting on a show for the people working on this floor.

"Of course. I'll get my dad's driver to take us home. It's not a problem." He told me, worried about my state of mind.

"I am sorry that we met like this, but please don't go now. Talk to me, son!" Shawn pleaded with me.

"You are the reason I had to maintain a 4.0 GPA just to be considered by Ravenwood. You are the reason I had to hope for a scholarship! You are the reason my mom prayed I was accepted to the prestigious Ravenwood Academy! Because she didn't want me to end up like her: deceived, pregnant, and abandoned." I was furious, crying uncontrollably. It was uncomfortable for everybody around us, but I could not hold back my emotions right now.

"You are a monster and you ruined us!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, bawling my eyes out in despair. What the fuck is this prick even doing here? Why did he have to ruin an otherwise perfect weekend?

I ran away from him, incredibly angry and embarrassed to put on a show in front of all the employees and the CEO. Who knows what kind of image Alpha Frederick will have of me now? Seth ran after me as I walked down the stairs of the fire escape, eager to get away from the man who calls himself my father.

I was so desperate to get the hell away from him that I recklessly climbed down the stairs with tears in my eyes that blurred my vision, I ended up tripping on the stairs and injuring myself as I fell hard. Seth was horrified by the scene turning bloody.

"Help!" He cried out, seeing that I was unconscious and bleeding from my head after the harsh fall.

Skylar showed up in a hurry and took me into his arms, walked down with me until we reached the parking lot underground, and told his father's driver to take us to the hospital. He could go back to pick up Frederick later, but this could not wait another second.

I remained unconscious and bleeding when I was admitted to the hospital. Doctors examined and medicated me, expressing their concerns about the fall and the trauma to the head. Exams were ordered, and procedures were performed to ensure my life wasn't threatened by the fall on the stairs.

Some time later...

I woke up lying on a hospital gurney with Seth and Skylar by my side. The first thing I felt was ashamed of myself for putting them through this. This is not what we had planned for our Saturday here in Texas. But I was mostly embarrassed to have found Shawn here of all places.

"Are you okay?" Seth asked me, sounding worried for me.

"Just embarrassed that you had to witness that scene. I don't know how I am going to look your father in the eyes after the show I just performed in his company." I admitted, painstakingly.

"It was not your fault, Jake! You had no idea your father would be here!" He tried to put me at ease.

"That man is NOT my father! My grandfather is the only father I've ever had. He was the example of a man in my life. Not that deadbeat!" I raised my voice, irritated. Just not at him.

"Of course, I meant you couldn't have known what would happen today. No one can fault you for your reaction. I have no idea what it was like for you to meet that man for the first time in your life." He tried to sympathize with me.

"Horrible. And now I am stuck inside a hospital when we were meant to be having fun. You don't need to be here too, Skylar. It's bad enough I dragged your brother into being here." I told him, feeling ashamed to put a damper on the weekend.

He got up from his chair and approached the gurney, looking at my eyes intensely.

"Don't say that! We were worried about you. Stop speaking as if any of this was your fault. It's not! Goddess only knows how I would react to seeing the man who abandoned my mother after 18 years." He tried to empathize with me, but I started weeping after hearing his words. Seth glared at his brother.

"I am sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad!" He apologized, mortified by guilt.

"It's not you, Skylar. It's this whole situation... why did he have to be here of all places?" I cried, inconsolably. Seth tried to comfort me but there was nothing he could say at the moment except being there for me.

"I was born here. I only went to Colorado for undergrad." Shawn informed me, entering the hospital room. He looked worried about me - except for the fact that he never had until now.

"Oh, great. You're here! Why can't you leave me alone?" I shouted at him, irritated at his presence here in the hospital.

"I can, but I figured I owed you an explanation." He replied, looking at me with an apologetic expression on his face. Seth and Skylar left the room soon after he entered so that we could talk in private, but that was the last thing I wanted right now. By far...

"Unless you were abducted by aliens, there is nothing I want to hear from you. There is nothing that would excuse your abandonment. Even if you had regrets about being with my mother, you didn't have to abandon me too. There are plenty of separated couples who co-parent together." I roll my eyes in annoyance.

Shawn went on to talk about what happened between my mother and him, his plans and insecurities, but there was nothing he could say that could account for his abandonment of me. He was a coward, plain and simple.

Unfortunately, I wasn't in a position where I could run again so I listened to his bullshit and nodded along as I must while he relieved his conscience. Is the fact that he was 22 at the time really supposed to be an excuse for his decision?

Imagine if women used their age as an excuse for not parenting their children.

I guess when you don't have to carry a living, breathing being for nine months you get the privilege of not thinking about it. Just put it past your mind like it is nothing. He even had the nerve of telling me he never once failed to send child support checks. As if that excused his behavior at all... bitch, please! The least you could do is not want your child to starve - not that my mother depended on his money for anything. As if!

In the end, Shawn left me his business card and told me to not be a stranger. Yeah, let's all bond now like nothing has passed for the last eighteen years. Sure, why not?

The doctor discharged me after a while, telling me I was lucky I didn't have any concussions from the fall. But it was very reckless of me to run down the stairs in my state of mind. Well, forgive me, the next time I find the father who abandoned me for all my life I'll be sure to remember that.

"Thanks for bringing me to your home, it was unforgettable." I told Seth sarcastically later that afternoon inside his suite. It was just the two of us and we had already eaten by then.

"It certainly was. How could I ever know you are Shawn's son if I didn't even know your real last name?" He shot back at me in an accusatory tone, but mostly just as sarcastic as me.

"Had I known he was here, I would've told you. Trust me. Being a Broderick never brought me any comfort, so I prefer to go by my grandfather's name. The only decent man I have ever known who cared enough to stay. Mated people had the best luck ever!" I ranted, incredibly upset at this situation. I am glad to have him all through this, but I much rather we had a pleasant day instead.

"They did. At least mates didn't cheat." He sulked, thinking of his father who keeps a mistress.

"That is not a reflection on his quality as a father. At least he made an effort with your mother. Who knows what kind of deal he has with her? All I know is that he seems like a great father, invested in your happiness." It was my turn to cheer him up about the fact that Frederick seemed like an excellent father.

"I am not so sure that he is invested in my happiness as much as he is invested in a good match for me." Seth furrowed his eyebrows.

"That is how he shows his love for you, by making sure you make a great match. By making sure you will be taken care of. You already have plenty of money, now you just need a strong Alpha to be your rock." I argued, seeing the advantage in his father's approach.

Seth and I talked for a while and he asked me if I wanted to talk about Shawn, but I didn't. All I wanted was to forget he even existed, but of course I wouldn't. I can't. It's impossible. It was before and is especially hard now that I have a face to the man, the monster.

He did not look like a monster, though. He looked like a smart guy who made a bad decision. Extremely bad, but that is beside the point. For as long as I live, I will never forget him. It is my curse. He is the father that I never had, literally.

https://youtu.be/vo6D_tp3DeE

A|N: BOOM!

Mariah Carey once famously sang:

'If you think you're lonely now...'

Wait a minute. What? Another twist?

Next is "Nothing Breaks Like A Heart".

OFF: It is fitting that this is a father and daughter recording. Long may they live in memory.

PS: No new chapters until Tuesday or Wednesday. Calm down! It gets worse for our darling Jake.

Love,

Léo.