Charles drove down to Doncaster after discussing it with Edmund, who had agreed to stay a few days at the Tomlinsons'. The alpha's hands gripped the steering wheel tightly and his foot felt heavy on the accelerator, and for his part Styles thought exactly the words he was going to say, he needed to destroy Icarus Rose at any cost and no matter what price he had to pay, his son and everything he owned had been taken from him, a tear slipped down his cheek, but he wiped it away roughly.

"You reek of sadness and anger." Charles spat, rolling down the car windows.

"I'm sorry, there's just been a lot of things today." Ed replied as Charles parked outside a huge house on a private street, he could see the lights on through the windows.

"We'll discuss it in my office, oh, and if my omega asks, don't tell her your real last name, do you understand? I'm letting you stay at my house for a few days, but that doesn't mean we're friends, much less that you can talk to my wife or my daughters."

"I don't want to be your friend Tomlinson, all I need from you is to help me figure this out, and I think after listening to what I've heard you'll agree with me."

Both alphas got out of the car and entered the house. An omega came out of the kitchen with oven mitts in her hands, she smiled and gave her alpha a soft kiss, that reminded Ed a little of his family, what he could have had if he hadn't been a complete coward wretch when he got Jane pregnant, but he quickly erased that image from his head, it was too late for that."

"Lillibeth, darling, this is Edmund... Wade, a new partner, whom I offered to host for a few days because we need to discuss some matters." The alpha lied, but his omega seemed satisfied with that statement.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Wade, Elizabeth Tomlinson." They shook hands and smiled politely, although there was something about the man that the omega just didn't like. "I imagine you'll be in your office, dear, I'll bring you two some tea, is that okay?"

"Perfect, thank you, dear." Agreed Charles, both alphas entered the office that was next to the stairs, once inside and with the door closed Tomlinson told Styles to sit down. "Aren't you going to talk?I haven't got all night."

"Well, all I know is that Louis Tomlinson is one of the three crowns of Icarus Rose, one of the most powerful mafias, if not the most powerful in the world, " Ed said with a bit of venom in his voice, "and apparently he also has a thing for my son."

"I don't care if that bastard has anything to do with your stupid son or not." Charles spat, his voice laden with venom. "I thought that the bastard was dead, that's why I got rid of him, but apparently he's still out there dirtying the Tomlinson last name."

Neither of the two alphas noticed Lillibeth's stealthy footsteps outside the office, who frowned upon hearing her husband's words, what bastard was he talking about? Did he have another child that she didn't know about? She left the tray with the tea on a table next to the door and moved closer to it, very quiet and attentive to the conversation.

"Well, apparently not, a few years ago among the mafias a rumour spread, it was said that Kasper Malik took in two orphaned children, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson." Elizabeth's heart clenched when she heard the name of her son, whom she believed dead years ago...

She had been looking for her son for months, regretting having allowed Charles to run Louis out of the house, he was just an eleven-year-old boy, he wandered all over the city, her omega screaming for her to find her puppy, where could he be? But while she was contacting some people who claimed to have seen it, her alpha arrived with the worst news a mother could have been given.

"What do you think you're doing, omega?" Charles asked, a bit annoyed.

"I'm looking for my puppy, Charles, can't you see? It was a mistake to have kicked him out of the house, he's just a boy, he's eleven years old, for God's sake!" she screamed, hurting her throat, she felt so bad that she couldn't even stop her little one from walking out the door.

"Lillibeth..." The alpha sat next to the omega, who was looking at him waiting for him to say that news he had. "Louis... he's dead, they found him a few days after he left, lying in an alley near here... I didn't want to tell you because..."

The heartbreaking sobs that the omega released did not let him continue, the alpha tried to hug her, but she simply did not stop dropping blows every time he tried to touch her.

"NO, NOT MY BABY!" She screamed as she dropped to the ground, hugging herself, the pain she felt in her chest was something she never wanted to feel again, but she knew she would never heal.

Her little baby was dead, her son, whom she had cared for since she knew she was carrying him, saw him take his first steps, say his first word, his first day of school, even meet his first love, even though it's been a couple of hours... Her Louis was now dead, all her fault, because she couldn't stop him from leaving her house, if she had simply told her husband that if Louis left, she and all her children would go, Louis would probably follow along with her, he would hug her and she would be able to hear his singing voice say mommy again. But that was already lost.

She wiped away her tears and walked away from the door to walk to that room at the end of the corridor that was always kept closed. If you concentrate, a faint smell of rain could still be distinguished, the smell of her son... of her little Louis.

She opened the door with that key that she always wore on a small chain around her neck and memories flooded her mind, everything was exactly the same as Louis had left it the last time he was there, his trophies not only in sports, but in the school maths competition, spelling bees, among others, because her child was always an excellent student. The only thing that had changed was that the sheets were laid out and the clothes that Lillibeth had asked him so much to pick up from the apartment were stored in the closet, folded and clean, she cried a little, because she felt like a terrible mother, because maybe if she had searched a bit more...

He got out of bed and walked quietly towards the kitchen, but not before locking the door of Louis's room, he had to make tea again for his alpha and that friend of his, whom he distrusted even more after having heard what he knew about her son, at that moment she wasn't even sure if she trusted her husband, but a ray of hope lit up inside her again, if Louis was alive it meant that she could still find him. She made the tea thinking about Louis's last few months at home.

"Mommy, when can I see Hazzie again?" The little boy asked once they arrived at the hotel where they were staying and her father disappeared through the bathroom door.

"Soon, love, Harry's mum and I exchanged numbers and we've agreed to try to get you two back together, are you okay with that?" The little alpha nodded and once Lillibeth put the girls on the bed, she indicated to her son to sit next to her. "Before your father comes out of the bathroom, what exactly did you feel about that little omega, Lou? Why do you think he's your omega? You're a little young to know that forsure, honey."

"Hazzie is a very pretty boy," he whispered with his rosy cheeks, "he was afraid of heights, so I felt that I had to take care of him, and when he leaned on my shoulder I felt many butterflies in my tummy, just like you told me you felt when you met to dad, I also felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest."

"And what else did you feel, love?" The omega asked, touched by how well Louis expressed himself about how he felt.

"Well, he also smelled good, like the cake you make on my birthday, can you make some when Hazzie and I meet? I think he's going to like it a lot, just like I do."

"Of course, love." Lillibeth kissed her son's head and helped him get under the covers, just in time before Charles came out of the bathroom, looking annoyed.

He of course waited until Louis was asleep to start her speech.

"I can't believe all the drama Louis put on with that...brat." He spat out in annoyance.

"What are you talking about, dear?" Lillibeth knew perfectly well that it was best to play dumb in the face of the situation.

"What am I talking about? Are you going to pretend it's normal for our son to be out there wanting to mess with a male omega? Lillibeth, that's not normal, male omegas are an aberration of nature and you know it, and you know I am not going to let my son mess with one of those, he's not going to dirty my last name like that."

The months after that conversation passed relatively normally, except that Lillibeth had now struck up a friendship with Jane, despite the fact that they had never found the perfect excuse to get their children back together, as they were both aware that Charles would never allow them to see each other, it was good to dream, they had even talked about whether the children would continue to feel all that in the future, they both knew that Hazzie constantly asked about the little alpha, and that Lou ,every time he tried a new food or bought some clothing item clothes, repeated that he couldn't wait to see who he had proclaimed as his Hazzie so he could taste all those delicacies and give his opinion on how the new striped shirt her aunt had given him looked like.

But little by little, Hazzie's name began to be replaced by Connor, a classmate of Louis's school, and with whom it seemed he was beginning to be somewhat attached, Lillibeth suspected that he could be an omega, but out of fear of her husband, she decided to silence her suspicions, his little boy regularly asked her to buy a double portion of sweets so that Louis could share with Connor, and even asked her to let him wear his best clothes to go to school and impress Connor, and of course the woman fulfilled his whims, whatever to see her little one happy.

Until December arrived, and as soon as Louis spoke those words, the omega felt her alpha's wrath through the bond, it burned like never before, and only then did she know that everything would go wrong, but she never expected to see her son to walk out that door and never come back, he was carrying a simple rucksack into the cold Doncaster winter, and what made it even worse was that her husband was so relaxed about it.

"WHAT'S GOING ON, Charles?" The omega yelled as she ran towards the door, but her alpha's grip on her arm made her stop. "He's a boy, for God's sake! You can't kick him out of the house for something as insignificant as that."

Charles slapped Lillibeth, who felt her whole body burn with anger and sadness, her shoulders shaking and her eyes dripping, but she didn't dare to sob.

"No Tomlinson is going to feel attracted to an aberration like what a male omega is, he had already given indications of this and we let it go, you began to spoil him too much, Elizabeth, this was hopeless." He spat and released his wife. "And don't even think about looking for him, he decided his own path, let him go and not stain the image of this family."

The words that her husband dedicated to her that day were still burned into her mind, and her anger increased even more when she entered to leave the tray with two new cups of tea.

"The tea is ready, I hope you like it, Mr. Wade, it's imported from China." She said with the best poker face she could put on, she was about to explode from all the emotions she brought with her.

"What took you so long with the tea, Elizabeth?" Her husband asked and she fixed her blue eyes on him, wanting to throw something at his head and force him to tell her where her son was, but instead she smiled at him.

"Oh, it's just that Dotty asked me for help with some things." She answered with false modesty, but apparently her husband believed it. "Well, I'll leave you with your things, good night."

Both alphas nodded and Lillibeth left the office as fast as she could, wanting to vomit and an incredible disgust that she had never felt towards her husband, the alpha whom she was supposed to love unconditionally.

☺☻☺☻

The days after young Louis left the house, Lillibeth fell into a depression that she believed to be incurable, she did not get out of bed and forbade her alpha to sleep in the same room as her, she hated him, every time their eyes met, she felt disgusted of having come to feel love for him at some point in his life.

The mark on her neck was itchy and festering from her lack of attention, and even though her alpha was in the same house and they shared glances from time to time, their bond felt so distant, as if the love was fading

As the first year passed, and after having held a small wake for Louis, Lillibeth decided it was time to move on with her life, she still had two daughters to raise and watch grow, and she would make sure they both had the best childhood possible, she would make sure they lived the life his little one didn't get to live.

Little Dotty was five years old now and baby Mia was not a baby anymore, she had turned three in August and they had thrown a huge party for her, it had been the first party they had held at the Tomlinson mansion since Louis was gone, although the guests were aware of the news, they were not too interested, they were all friends of Charles and business colleagues, and none of them even bothered to offer their condolences to the couple for the loss of their son, although the omega knew that he himself had taken it upon himself to let everyone know that his son had been an aberration.

As time passed, Lou's bedroom door remained locked, no one other than Elizabeth was allowed to enter, although it took her a long time to do so without breaking before she could even open the door, that day she had gone in to clean the dust. It was starting to accumulate and little Dotty managed to sneak into the room without the older one noticing.

"Hello mommy." Said the little voice from under the bed, causing the omega to jump in fright.

"Dorothy Tomlinson, can you tell me what you're doing here?" She asked angrily, Dotty looked down and came out of her hiding spot.

"I... I wanted to come play with Lou, I miss him." Her comment drew a confused gesture from the omega, who didn't count on the little girl remembering her brother since she hadn't mentioned it all the time year that had passed

"Oh my little one, I'm afraid Lou won't be able to play with you." Those words hurt her, but she had to be direct with her daughter.

"Well, but I want to play with his toys, he always lets me use them." She ran to a huge trunk full of toys and began to take some out. Lillibeth's eyes watered, it was time to start healing the wound.

After that day she allowed her daughters to play in Louis's room once a week after completing their homework, Mia didn't remember her brother but went along with her older sister in every step she took and in regards to the Charles and her relationship was complicated, it was difficult to see the man who was supposed to make her feel better be the one to blame for her ailments and suffering, but over time she learned to live by his side, she would never forgive him for what he had done but I could help him change so that the same thing wouldn't happen to one of her other little ones.