Bella’s POV
I pressed my palm against my forehead and disconnected the call.
Hugo must have caught my frustrated expression. He left the children with the other kids and walked over to where I sat on the park bench.
"I tried reaching him directly, but his wife answered instead," I explained to Hugo, drumming my phone against my open hand.
"Yeah, Serena keeps him on a tight leash. Though I suppose you can understand why," he said with a shrug.
I shot him a questioning look.
"Look, I know she manipulated him into that marriage by refusing to back down, but he seed genuinely content with her. They were making plans for a future together, even though their agreent stated he could walk away if he chose not to have children with her. It wasn’t just about wanting kids with her either. Bella, everything shifted when you returned," he said carefully.
I nodded, drawing in a deep breath and letting it out slowly.
"Do you know much about how they interact behind closed doors? Beyond the legal arrangent, I an?" I asked Hugo, tapping my nails against the phone screen.
"What specifically are you trying to find out?" he responded.
"When Derek left the room earlier, I saw bruises on his skin. Does that happen regularly?"
I kept my voice low, watching the children as they played.
They had integrated seamlessly with the local kids, running around and laughing without a care in the world.
"Honestly, I never spent enough ti around them to observe their day-to-day dynamics," he admitted, and I nodded while biting the inside of my cheek.
"But I can tell you this much," he added, "every ti I encountered him after he’d had a disagreent with his wife, he’d be sporting similar marks."
His revelation confird what I had been suspecting.
"So she physically abuses him?" I asked in a hushed tone.
Hugo shrugged at first, then offered a slow, reluctant nod of confirmation.
"Based on what I’ve observed," he said quietly.
"That’s awful," I whispered, feeling a wave of compassion. Poor Derek. First his father’s cruelty, and now his wife’s violence too.
My phone buzzed again. Derek had likely wrestled it away from his wife.
"He’s calling back," I told Hugo.
"Answer it and explain why you reached out," he suggested, settling back against the bench with his arms spread along the backrest.
"Hello," I said, waiting for Derek’s voice.
"You called ," ca his response.
"I did," I replied, steadying my breathing. "Why are you pursuing this path? Don’t you realize what your demands will cost ?"
"Why should that concern you?" he shot back. "Once you beco my wife, my mate, no one will dare challenge you. My father leads the council. He’ll be your father-in-law. You’ll have enough influence to silence anyone who opposes you. Even if they discover the truth about your wolf, they won’t risk speaking against you."
He spoke as though he’d never actually t his own father, defending him with blind loyalty.
I switched to speaker mode so Hugo could hear this ridiculous conversation.
"Derek, do you honestly trust your father? You know he hates . What makes you believe he won’t separate from my children and force out of your life the mont it suits him?" I tried a different approach, hoping to break through the web of lies his father had spun.
"All I know is that he’s the only one offering a chance to be with you," Derek maintained stubbornly.
Before I could argue further, Hugo snatched the phone from my grasp.
"So what’s your endga here? Planning to run DNA tests on Leah to prove the kids are yours? You think I’m going to stand by and let you steal them from her?"
Hugo’s voice rose with anger, the veins in his neck becoming prominent.
Derek made an annoyed sound on the other end.
"So that’s what this is about? You’re taking her side, trying to manipulate her toward yourself? Is that your ga?"
He kept returning to the sa baseless accusation, completely refusing to acknowledge that his father had been feeding him lies.
"If you’re so concerned and desperate for a child, then demand a DNA test for Zack," he snapped. "Because once you do that, they’ll all end up in different hos. So if you’re really the decent guy you claim to be instead of the selfish bastard I am, then keep your mouth shut. Let have Bella and the children."
His heartless words left speechless. This wasn’t the Derek I once knew.
I released a shaky breath and looked up, scanning the playground for my children. Ice-cold fear shot through when I realized they were nowhere to be seen.
"Hugo, the kids, the children are missing," I whispered, my voice trembling with fear.
"Hold on, what’s happening?" Derek must have heard the terror in my tone.
I took the phone back from Hugo but couldn’t bring myself to end the call, my mind too frantic to think clearly.
We both jumped up from the bench, ready to begin searching imdiately.
"You take that direction, I’ll cover this side," Hugo said, pointing toward different sections of the park.
I rushed toward the slide area where I’d last spotted them, but found it completely deserted.
"Have you seen those three children you were playing with before? Where did they disappear to?" I asked the group of kids they’d been with earlier.
"They headed over there," one child answered, pointing toward the dense forest beyond the playground.
My throat constricted with panic.
The security guards weren’t even monitoring that area.
That must have been how my children managed to slip away unnoticed.
"Hugo!" I called out, getting his attention. "They went into the woods!"
The alarm on his face matched my own. My children were well-behaved, cautious, and never wandered off without permission.
He jogged over to the children I’d questioned and knelt down to their level.
"Did anyone go with them?" he asked urgently.
The children all shook their heads.
"No, just the three of them went together," a little girl replied.
I t Hugo’s eyes, and I could tell he recognized the terror written across my face.
"It’s going to be okay. Let’s go," he said softly, placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder before my composure could completely crumble.
We entered the forest, moving as quickly as possible since every mont counted. After walking for several minutes, a sick feeling settled in my stomach. Sothing was definitely wrong.
They would never venture this far without a compelling reason, and what could possibly motivate them to do so?
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