Chapter 240
Chapter 241
I knocked on the door, but it was a moment before Amber answered.
“The room is occupied. Please find another p>
“Amber? It’s Julian. May I come in p>
Another moment passed. I heard soft voices and Alice and Amber talked but I purposefully tuned out, not
wanting to eavesdrop on private mother–daughter conversation. I was confident my family would want to see
me, whatever they had to discuss, so I simply waited for them to appear.
After a few long seconds where I counted my heartbeats and tried to control my breathing, Amber appeared at
the door.
“Go easy,” she said in a breath.
I was surprised that she felt that I needed a warning for how to treat my own daughter who I had thought that I
had already proven that I loved twenty times over.
Yet, as Amber pulled back the door, I could understand the cause of her concern.
Alice looked terrible, her eyes red, tears streaming down her face. Her hands were in a tight ball in her lap, her
body lightly trembling.
Immediately, I started toward her.
“Don’t!” Alice shouted.
I froze. “Why?” I asked, looking from Alice to Amber and back again.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Alice said.
Amber’s whole crumpled up, as did the feelings inside of my chest.
At once, wasting no more time, I moved toward my daughter, where I swept her up into a hug. She squirmed at first, fighting against me, but I was insistent and sure. Eventually she relaxed, then even reached up to hold me back tightly. She buried her face in my shoulder, her tears dampening my shirt.
“I’m your father, Alice, “I told her. “You could never hurt me p>
She sniffled and hiccupped.
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“You can always depend on me,” I told her.
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After a while, she cried herself to sleep. Holding her, I lifted her up into my arms. Then I turned to Amber, who had been watching us with tears in her own eyes.
“We should get her home,” Amber said, and I agreed.
“I’ll carry her,” I said.
As we left the room, I was pleased to see that Tony had gone and most of my family seemed to calm down now,
all of them sitting down.
I didn’t tell them where we were going, but they must have been able to figure it out, with the way I was carrying a sleeping Alice, with Amber beside me. No one tried to stop us from leaving, at least not until we were reaching the exit.
There, one of my enforcers stopped me.
“When we heard Olivia had been here, we searching the hospital,” he said. “We gave the entire building a
sweep. I’m sorry, Sir, but it seemed like Olivia had managed to get away p>
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“How could that be possible?” I asked. The enforcers were supposed to be guarding every entrance, every door. I could understand that one person could sometimes disappear like a needle in a haystack, but they had been purposefully looking for Olivia. There should have been no way for her to sneak out.
The enforcer must have seen my disapproval. He frowned a little, as he said, “Alpha, I believe that she may have had help p>
“Help? From whom p>
Immediately, Tony came to mind, but he had stayed with the family for a while. Olivia, supposedly, sneaked out
before he left himself.
“We don’t know yet, Sir. But we are searching for the answer p>
I nodded, dissatisfied but at least assured they were looking into it.
At my side, Amber stayed quiet for a few steps before she turned to look at me.
“Julian,” she said, calling my attention. When she had it, she looked at me with confusion, worry, and a touch of hurt. “What was Olivia doing here p>
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