Fates | Book 2 ✔️

[27]

I stare at Lance's father as he circles around me and notice his slight limp. There is a scar going across his face as well. Whatever had happened then, he wore the effects of it now. He stops after a couple seconds and ties his hair back into a low ponytail. It had grown much longer than I remember it being once before. His cold blue eyes were the only things left unchanged.

There was nothing but silence when I thought it would be violent. The rain battering against the building filled the room but nothing else. All he does is stare which is driving me insane with the need to know why the hell I'm here. I continue to watch him aimlessly looking for a weak point to attack. No matter what happens or is said here, I will not let him leave here unscathed.

He despised Lance to the very bone back then even though he is his only child. No matter the words he may say to me to convince me otherwise, he was the one that had broken Lance in the first place. I suppose I am the one who shattered him into pieces. My head swims with thoughts like these for what seems like hours until, finally, I see movement come from him again.

He drags his hand down his face and sighs.

'Can you believe a son would do this to his own father?"

My eyes narrow in contempt. The audaciousness of this man. After everything he has done to him—he has the nerve to ask why. I shake my head and bite my tongue. Staying quiet may be in my best interest right now. His information is what I need, so I need to keep a cool head. I look at Cass wearing the same expression as me. What had he done to her?

"I can't believe a lot of things parents do under the guise of doing what's best for their child," I say unable to hold myself back. Just his face and demeanor alone irritate me. It makes me furious knowing he is the main reason why Lance is the way he is now.

"Ah, that's rich. Coming from a man who wasn't even a part of his child's life until recently."

I bite down on the inside of my cheek hard enough to draw blood.

"You must think you are a great father. That you know everything there is to know about it, but you do not. Wanting what is best for your child is something every parent feels, whether you would like to believe me or not. Sometimes, we have terrible ways of going about it." he sits down in a chair near a small table and taps his finger against it. "You wouldn't understand. Not yet, anyway. He's still young."

"Do not even think about going near him," I growl.

"I would go nowhere near that Red or the lands they keep separate from ours."

"What do you want?" I ignore that last bit. He's trying to bait me which I'm not going to fall for.

"I want my son back."

"Are you insane? He is not mine to give and he would never want to see your face again after everything you've done to him." I spit on the ground. "You are trash. Scum."

"If you can be redeemed, why can I not?"

I ball my hands into fists. Cas quickly wraps a hand around my arm, settling me down a bit.

"It's because his was not by choice. And he worked hard at getting his redemption-"

"He used him," Lance's father interjects. My brows furrow and my eyes lower to the ground. "There was a choice for him as well."

"Ah, you're right. There was a choice and I had chosen wrong then, but to compare me to you—that is outrageous. What you have done to him is unforgivable and irreparable."

"You think I wanted to treat my only son the way that I did? I did not! But he has that demon in him and I could think of no other way to suppress it than to do what I did then. I did not want him to end up like his mother."