Chapter Sixty-Three
Zinn
Antoni looked ancient.
That was Zinn’s first thought when the butler opened the door. The lines that had always made his face look merry had settled into deep creases. All the spark was gone from his eyes.
“Asher,” Antoni greeted him. “I saw the cars on the cameras. How on-brand for you to stay away for years and then not give me an exact arrival time.” He held a hand to his forehead, shielding his vision from the sun. And you brought—” His mouth gaped. “Zeller!? Is that you?”
“Surprise.” Asher held up his hands as Zinn said, “my name is Zinn, actually.”
Zinn stood, arms folded across his chest. Antoni stared at him, clearly stunned and disbelieving, but eager.
Antoni slipped outside onto the porch, leaving the front door open a crack as he admonished Asher, “When you said you were bringing a surprise, I never dreamed you meant Zeller.”
“Zinn.”
“Sorry—Zinn.”
Asher shook Antoni’s hand, but Zinn stepped away.
“No, Antoni. I won’t shake your hand. Because that would imply that everything you did was okay.
And it’s not. I have the whole story now.
Asher told me. I’ll always be grateful that you helped make sure my baby went to a good home, but I’ll never forgive you for going along with my parents’ lies, and for everything you helped them do to Valentin. ”
Antoni dipped his head sadly, as though he’d expected this. “I’m sorry. It’s only recently that I’ve realized I could have—should have—behaved differently.” His face scrunched in confusion. “Wait. Who told you about Valentin? Asher never knew.”
“Asher not knowing about Valentin is the only reason I could forgive him for what happened with my baby. That, and the fact that he was the one person who refused to try to gaslight me into believing I’d never been pregnant.”
Antoni cast his eyes downward. “I’m truly regretful. I honestly thought I was making the best decisions I could.” Exhaling, his focus shifted to Asher. “Did you know where your brother was the whole time?”
“No,” Asher replied. “I only found out he was in Bellwether Province last year.”
“Because of the investigator?”
“Yes.”
“I never told your parents about that. They might have found out some other way, like from the hospital, but I didn’t tell them that the PI who snooped around was from Bellwether.”
“Well, they obviously didn’t look too hard for him if they knew.”
Antoni frowned. “You’re right. But everything is different now.”
“That’s why I’m here,” Asher stated.
“To take Jem’s place as your parents’ heir?”
“Definitely not.” It was Zinn who answered. “We came to make sure they can’t do to Lanni and Bevin what they did to me.”
“We also aren’t alone,” Asher added.
“I saw on the cameras,” Antoni said. “Who are they?”
“My family.” Zinn replied, not elaborating.
He and Asher had asked the others to stay in the staff parking area until they could assess the situation.
There had been a chance they would arrive to find his parents hosting a cabal of rich and powerful assholes.
He would not have risked exposing Jordie, Ked, Ryde, or Lachie to anything like that.
But so far, the estate seemed more than safe. It seemed deserted.
“Are our fathers here?” Asher asked.
“They are,” Antoni said, “and it’s probably good you came now because the other staff have the day off. They had to work overtime these past few weeks to make all the arrangements, so I thought they needed a break. Plus, your daddy has been…unwell, since Jem died. He needed a quiet house.”
Zinn felt a modicum of sympathy for his omega parent.
He knew it was Father who drove the decision-making in their family.
Still, he would never forgive Daddy for being so complicit, for never standing up for Zeller, and for always choosing his husband and their family’s reputation over his children’s happiness.
His blood boiled with the certainty that both his parents would have been perfectly happy for Jem to be a philandering husband, for Asher to be a miserable accountant, and for Zeller to be married to a boorish-but-well-connected alpha, as long as it benefited the Parkenson family name.
Zinn realized that if he’d never met Valentin, all three things would likely have come to pass.
Antoni fixed his forlorn expression on Zinn and he felt unwilling sympathy. But it didn’t alter his resolve.
He recalled Antoni pleading with him to accept his parents’ decision, telling him, “I don’t want you to waste your life being sad, Zeller. It would be best if you put the appendectomy behind you.”
Zinn would be forever thankful that Antoni helped get his baby to Wes and Assa, but that gratitude did not extend to forgetting what had been done to him. It never would.
He sighed resignedly. The stone walls of the exterior appeared dull in the sunlight. Like the dreariness could swallow him whole. They needed to get this business done quickly and get out of here.
“It’s good that Father and Daddy are alone,” Asher said. “It’s best we speak to them without an audience.”
Zinn nodded. “I want the others there too, though. Let’s text them.”
“You said the people in the cars are your family?” Antoni asked.
“My partners,” Zinn responded, emphasizing the plural. “And my children.”
Antoni’s eyes widened as Asher tapped on his phone.
“Can you tell our fathers we’ll be inside shortly,” Zinn asked Antoni. “Please give them the heads-up that I’m with Asher, and also that my family is with us.”
“I’ll let them know. They’re in the library.” Antoni went back inside the house, leaving the door ajar.
“Let’s get this over with,” Zinn said to Asher, scratching the back of his neck. “Now that I’m here, I realize just how badly I want to be gone.”
“Agreed.”
A few minutes later, the rest of the men and the children crunched their way up the gravel walkway from the direction of the parking area.
Calder held a drowsy Lachie in his arms. “It took a while to get everyone out of the cars,” he said, kissing the crown of Zinn’s head. “The little guy was still asleep.”
Zinn ran a hand over the baby’s wispy curls and Lachie grunted unpleasantly. “Oh, goody,” Zinn said, grinning. “He’s always such a pill when his nap doesn’t go right. Maybe he’ll be extra cranky for my parents.”
Wes and Assa chuckled, and Wes took the baby from Calder, patting his back.
“How did it go?” Assa asked.
“It’s surreal,” Zinn said. “Seeing Antoni. But how else could it have been?” He could hardly believe that he was about to confront his parents. “At least there’s no one else around.”
Assa squeezed his biceps. “You’re truly okay?”
“Yeah. I think so.”
“Did you really grow up here, Daddy?” Ryde asked.
“Me and Uncle Asher.”
“I knew your family had money.” Jordie whistled. “But not like this.”
Behind them, Valentin trailed up the walkway, observing the grounds.
Zinn walked over to him. “What’s going through your mind?” he asked softly.
Valentin rocked back on his heels. “It was strange pulling into the staff lot because it was empty. The last time that happened was…”
“My heat.”
Valentin nodded. “On the one hand, being on this property makes me nauseous, but on the other, some of the best days of my life happened here.” He tilted Zinn’s chin up and planted a kiss on his lips. “We happened here.”
“We never have to come back after today,” Zinn said breathlessly. “But the good memories we take with us.”
They ambled over to the others. Valentin pointed out a row of young maple trees to Ked. “I planted those,” he said.
Calder grasped Valentin around the waist, nosing into his scent gland from behind. Zinn smelled the smoky sage and pine and clove swirling in the air as Calder murmured, “You belong to us, moonbeam. They can’t hurt you.”
Valentin nodded, then followed as Asher led them into the house.
The cavernous library took up most of the east wing on the second floor.
Light spilled in from the windows. Zinn recalled reading in the big chair near the fireplace during Valentin’s early days working on the estate.
Every afternoon, he would curl into the plush green velvet, hoping he’d get a chance to talk to the intriguing alpha.
He hadn’t gone into the library after Ryde was born. Not once.
Yet he strode in confidently now.
Hand in hand with Valentin.
His parents were seated on the small couch in the center of the room, backs facing the entryway. They did not deign to turn around, forcing their visitors to come to them. Zinn had expected his alpha father to act this way. He’d see it as a power move.
Asher led them further into the library. “Father. Daddy,” he said. “I’ve brought Zeller, except he goes by Zinn now.”
“Yes, Antoni told us. And it’s about time you both came home.” Father spoke as though they’d stayed out past curfew, not severed ties for years. “Frankly, we’ve put up with the nonsense long enough—”
He stopped short.
Keyes and Deveron Parkenson stared as six men, two teens, a tween, and a baby assembled in front of them.
Daddy’s keen eyes met Zinn’s, but before Asher or Zinn could say anything, Father’s eyes lasered in on Valentin. “You,” he whispered.
Valentin met his malevolent gaze with one of equal intensity. “Fuck you,” he said simply.
“How dare—”
“I dare. Fuck. You. Fuck you. I wish I could say more, do more. But I won’t. You’re not worth it.”
Father’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t speak to me that way. I’ll make you regret it.”
“No, you won’t,” Zinn said. “And I also want to say fuck you on behalf of all of us.” He motioned to his partners.
“Normally, I wouldn’t condone cursing in front of my children, but this is an extraordinary circumstance.
” He stepped forward. “After over three years of my being gone, this is the first thing you do? Threaten my partner?”
“Partner,” Daddy hushed out. “How?”
“Did you think having me tossed in prison would keep me from the man I loved?”
Father scoffed. “Love. You were an arrogant nineteen-year-old boy. Not worthy of my son.”
“What you did to Valentin was despicable. Just like everything you did to Zinn,” Asher interjected.