Chapter Forty Valentin
Chapter Forty
Valentin
Valentin gazed down at his phone, smiling at Wes’s flirty text from this morning. His group chat with the Pashuks was equal parts mundane and hot, and he loved it. He’d woken up to a picture of the couple in bed, shirtless, with a message saying they were thinking of him.
Although the three of them had been messaging every day since he’d admitted wanting them, they still hadn’t been able to get together.
But Valentin was enjoying getting to know them over texts.
He entertained them with tales of the drunken meet-cutes he witnessed at the club.
Wes sent funny stories about his students, and Assa talked about his projects in the omega studies lab.
The couple occasionally mentioned their son, Ryde, and Valentin never tired of their anecdotes about burned pancakes and frantic hunts for field trip permission slips.
He’d never dated fathers before, largely because he hadn’t dated much at all, and there was a part of him that expected it to hurt more because of what he’d lost with Zeller, but he found the betas’ joy infectious.
They finally had a plan to meet up on the weekend, and he hoped that being in person would help clarify what they were to each other.
This was more than just a hookup, but what was it exactly?
There was still so much big stuff they hadn’t shared.
Valentin hadn’t told them about Bergam or going to prison, and although the couple hadn’t offered specifics, there had been enough context clues for Valentin to gather that they were going through some intense family drama right now.
It didn’t seem to be bad, necessarily, but it was something that demanded their full attention.
Valentin didn’t mind waiting. His own situation necessitated the same. While he and Wes and Assa flirted digitally, he was busy in the real world dealing with remnants of his past.
Specifically, the return of Asher Parkenson to his life.
Since that night a month ago when Asher saved him from Bergam’s goons, they had been working their way toward something resembling friendship.
Asher had shown up for Beta Night at The Cracked Heart every week, and each time, they ended their evenings holed up in Valentin’s office.
At first, it was mostly practical. They each had answers to questions the other wanted to ask.
But now that they’d worked through those pieces of the past, their friendship felt more genuine.
Valentin enjoyed Asher’s company, and he liked having this connection to Zeller and their shared history. Xan only knew the basics of Valentin’s story, and nothing about what happened to him before he went to prison. Asher provided a bridge to the wide-eyed young man he’d once been.
Asher had also given Valentin a shocking piece of information he was still struggling to process.
His son was alive.
Alive and living with adoptive parents.
“Do you know who they are? Where they live?” Valentin had asked immediately.
“Yes, but as much as I’ve been willing to answer most of your questions, I won’t tell you that. I don’t think it’s right for you to know if Zeller is still looking. My brother had so much taken from him. He deserves that information first, because he should be the one to decide what to do with it.”
Valentin had wanted to argue, but seeing Asher’s face, he’d known there was no point. Asher told him enough about his son so that Valentin understood the boy was happy and healthy, and that the beta couple raising him were good people.
“Do they know who their son’s birth parents are?”
Asher laughed dryly. “I’m starting to think there is no one in this equation who has all the info. They know about Zeller because I gave them the heads-up that he’s searching for his child, but I didn’t tell them your name or your connection to my family.”
“Why not?”
“Because when I talked to them, I was still under the impression that you were an asshole who ran out on my brother. Since Zeller disappeared, my sole focus has been on finding him. Your role felt incidental.”
Valentin hmphed. “You truly don’t have any leads on him?”
“The PI that he hired, Dawson, is out of the province for the next six months. I tried, but he can’t be reached. When he’s back, I’ll tell him I have the info my brother wants.” Asher sighed deeply and made an ugh face.
“What?”
“The one thing I’m not sure about is whether I should tell my nephew’s adoptive parents about you. Now that I know where you are, and that you’re not some deadbeat who abandoned Zeller.”
Valentin shook his head. “My first instinct was to push you on it, but I think you have the right idea to let Zeller decide what happens next. If I understand the law correctly, I’m the only person who might be able to challenge the adoption in Low Court, since I never technically gave up the rights to my son.
I don’t want my kid’s parents to worry about that. ”
“You wouldn’t fight for custody?”
“Only if Zeller wanted me to, and he’s not around to say. As long as you’re promising me these betas aren’t jerks—”
“They’re not, they’re fantastic parents.”
“Okay. Then I trust you and we can wait to see what Zeller wants. Once we find him.”
Besides giving Valentin the startling information about his son, Asher had offered more details about what happened in Warburton eight years ago.
Valentin had been dismayed to find out that Zeller believed he’d taken Keyes’s bribe and left town.
“Zeller honestly thought I would leave him? For money?”
“For the longest, he wouldn’t believe it,” Asher conceded. “Even after the baby was born, he was angry with you, furious, but he always thought there was more to the story. I’ve hated you this whole time for doing that to my little brother, but I see now that hatred was misplaced.”
The part of Valentin that feared Asher was in on the plan to frame him had been mollified by Asher’s genuine shock upon learning that his fathers had Valentin arrested for a crime he did not commit.
Valentin explained that he’d been snatched off the street and thrown in jail on theft charges, then convicted quickly in Low Court after receiving incompetent public representation with no ability to contact anyone.
Zeller’s brother seemed most distraught to discover that Antoni had been privy to the scheme.
“I find it hard to believe that Antoni condoned letting you rot in jail for six years.”
“Do you?” Valentin countered. “Your fathers wanted me gone until Zeller’s twenty-fifth birthday.
More than anyone, Antoni believes your parents are untouchable.
I imagine he decided fighting them was less important than maintaining their trust so he could be there to help Zeller.
I still fault him for his cowardice, even if I understand it, but at least he assisted me where he could. ”
“What do you mean?”
“When I got out of prison, Antoni was there waiting for me. He warned me that your parents weren’t aware of my release yet, and that I should get out of town before they took an interest. He also brought me my cat, knowing what having him would mean to me.
” Valentin closed his eyes, remembering Zeller’s excitement over pictures of the tabby.
He kept the memory to himself, saying only, “Antoni picked up Decoy from my apartment after your parents had me locked up and paid someone to keep him all that time.”
As if on cue, Decoy strutted into the office, settling himself in Valentin’s lap.
Valentin grimaced.
“Why are you making that face?”
“Antoni told me Zeller didn’t have the baby. At least, he strongly implied there had been a miscarriage. He told the truth about Zeller leaving your family home after his birthday, but he lied about that.”
“He must have thought he was protecting Zeller. And you, maybe.”
“Still tough to forgive.” Valentin petted the cat calmly, even as he raged inwardly. “I asked around town, too, because I didn’t fully trust him. But everyone I talked to had no memory of the Parkensons’ youngest son having a child. It makes sense now, after you explained.”
Valentin thought he was angry realizing Antoni had deceived him, but it was nothing compared to how he felt learning about the baby’s birth. The unnecessary removal of Zeller’s appendix was like something from a horror movie.
Once the two men had laid bare all the facts, Valentin was left with a mountain of regret, even if he had gotten some long-awaited answers about his baby. No. Not baby. He reminded himself. His little boy. The son he and Zeller conceived would be almost eight years old.
Despite the terrible revelations, it heartened Valentin to know that Asher had been disgusted enough by his parents’ actions to cut ties with them.
“I stayed close while Zeller still lived at home. I did what I could to protect him, even though he barely tolerated me after everything that happened. But once my brother left, there was nothing for me there.”
“They haven’t searched for you? Or Zeller?”
“I don’t know if they’ve given up looking for Zeller. For me, they can follow me through my socials or whatever. I’m not hiding. I just refuse to see them.”
“And your older brother?”
“Jem? I text him occasionally but that’s it. He’s a lot like our alpha father. Not much lost there.”
The night of the assault on Valentin, Asher had slipped away while Xan took Valentin to the hospital.
The following week, he showed up for another Beta Night, explaining that he’d needed a moment, but was ready to talk about the past. They delved into the whole thing that evening.
Asher stumbled out of the club in the early morning hours, leaving Valentin shaken in his office.