Page 49 of Bound to the EMT

Her mouth opens, gaping as she looks about as if the others listening in will help her. “Such language,” she cries out. “He’s rubbed off on you already. As if he could belong to them. It’s evident this is all a farce.”

“I assure you,” Mrs. Astorford pipes in. “I birthed him. Had terrible labor too. Shall I show you the scar from the eventual c-section? Or will you actually take our word for it? Perhaps a DNA test will satisfy you. He is our son. The main difference is, he chose to give up his money to help the world. You’re nothing but a pustulant boil in need of a good lancing.”

Her face goes pale as she takes another step back. “They’ll turn on you, you know,” she sneers at me. “You’ll never have them as family.”

Mr. Astorford steps back in and wraps his arm around my shoulders. “I love her just as dearly as I do my own sons and daughter. She is a joy to my life and a treasure to have. I pity you for putting material wealth above something so rich and valuable as she.”

“But-”

“Fuck off,” he growls, earning claps and tittering laughs from the gathering audience. Turning to Father, or, well, Mr. Astencourt, he motions to my mother. “Do you claim this woman as your wife? Or would you rather forge a life with her daughter? The choice is yours.”

Leaving Mother off to the side, he makes his way over to me, his eyes shining with unshed tears. “I didn’t know. You have to believe me. I didn’t know. When my bonded wife died, it killed me, gutted me inside. I was a hollow Alpha, a shell. When your mother was arranged to be my wife, I simply assumed she’d fill that emptiness. But she never did. I wasn’t a father to you, and I know that. I can’t promise I’ll ever be that, seeing as I have nothing in me to give, but I never knew she was so cruel. Not to you. Never to you. I would have excised her from my life sooner.”

He turns to Mr. Astorford and continues. “You have to believe I didn’t know. Please, allow me to remain in contact with her.”

“Well, that’s entirely up to her and my son. I remember you from before the death. You’re a good man, and in time, I think you’ll find another wife to help you heal. This black widow has poisoned you long enough.”

“She has.” Walking over to my mother’s side, he clamps his hand around her arm so she can’t leave. “I’ll take her to the government offices myself. There are plenty of witnesses here to attest that she knowingly and willingly put her daughter in harm’s way by tampering with her suppressants. Please, Emmeline. Allow me to make up for all the years of hell you’ve gone through.”

A watery smile teases the edges of my lips as I slide back into Branson’s arms. “They are all the family I need. But I would like to try to be friends, just as long as she never comes near me again.”

“I can certainly agree to that.”