"Daddy!"
Little Roe lit up, scrambling on his small feet to launch himself at him.
Azrael caught him mid-air, lifting him with one arm. He frowned, feeling his wounds pull, but the loud wet kiss on his cheek smoothed it away.
The little boy wrapped his arms around his neck. "Mommy said you were busy!"
His eyes fell on the woman avoiding his gaze before softening as he turned back to him. "I just got free."
"Then let's go see the bounce house now!"
Azrael smiled, looking at the wide-eyed little thing. How could this little squirrel be his son?
He had hardly known he existed for a month now, but just the thought of someone hurting this little squirrel made him murderous.
He carried him toward the back doors, catching every micro-expression as Little Roe's face lit up.
The big colorful bounce house looked absurd against the elegant landscape of Azrael's estate.
With towering slides, castle-like turrets, climbing walls, tunnels, and enough ridiculous excess to rival an amusement park.
"Daddy, I love it!" Little Roe scrunched him in a hug.
An unfamiliar warmth spread in his chest. He felt like he could give him everything to feel it again. "Yeah? I can give you one bigger than this too."
Little Roe's tiny jaw dropped open. He exclaimed, "Really, Daddy? Bigger than this?"
"Roe!" Valerie heard him, almost stumbling.
His round eyes widened in fear as he saw his mother speed-walking toward him with a deadly glare.
Little Roe screamed, "Daddy, run!"
When his daddy just stood still, he quickly pushed off him and took off running inside the bounce house.
"Don't..."
Azrael frowned, about to stop her when she ran past him toward Little Roe.
Thinking she was going to hit him, he was about to rush in when he heard Little Roe shrieking with laughter and his feet froze.
"Mommy! Hehe… Mommy!"
"Want another bounce house?"
"No… Mommy! Hehehe… Roe loves this… hehe… no another!"
"I should fill the whole world with bounce houses! We should live in a bounce house too! No?"
She finally caught the boy, tackling him to the ground to tickle him.
"Hehe… Mommy!!!"
Azrael turned back with a smile to see Uncle William fidgeting beside a very battered-looking Victor.
His jaw ticked looking at the bastard. He would have dumped him in a barrel to be shipped off if not for his new wife's strange temperament.
The... crying last night still ached in his head.
He walked toward them, pointing Victor toward the bounce house. "Look after them."
Nodding at William, he added, "Follow me."
"But—" Victor started, but Uncle William's glare quickly shut him up.
William followed immediately. The two disappeared toward the west wing.
Valerie looked quizzically at Victor. She looked behind her to see Uncle William and Azrael missing.
A laugh burst out. "They left you out too. What did they say, adults only?"
He glared at her, running after her. She ran, picking up Little Roe.
"Baby, run! It's a sore loser!"
Squealing, running, and venting, they tired themselves out.
Little Roe's round eyes bounced between both of them before he ran past them to explore possible hideouts in the bounce house.
Catching their breath while lying on the ground, Victor scoffed.
"What are you, five? So childish." He huffed out a ragged breath.
Barely catching her own breath, Valerie rolled her eyes. "It must be really mature running behind a mother of four in your worldview."
"Yeah. Mother of a four-year-old! Did your brain even develop after middle school?"
"I don't wanna hear that from a bed-wetter at eleven."
They stayed quiet, just breathing for a while before he braced himself.
"What do you want to do now?"
"I don't know." She sighed. "I wanted to go back abroad for a vacation with Roe till all of this sorted itself out. I don't dare leave the house after those guys barged into our house."
He stayed quiet for a while. "I'm sorry… if I wasn't being an asshole that day, you wouldn't be in this mess."
Valerie nodded. "You should be sorry that you made me bash your head too."
"I'm sorry for that too." He said, emptily staring at the sky.
She sat up to look at him. "Who are you and have you made sure my brother can't return from whatever you have done to him?"
"...It felt like you went behind my back to marry your abuser."
"Vicky. He didn't abuse me…"
He sat up too. "The first thing he did was manipulate you by smearing your name in the media. Did he even leave you a choice? After yesterday, I can see there must be things we didn't know, but he could have talked with us."
"...What are you trying to say?" Valerie frowned confused.
"He didn't trust us. He probably married you because he thinks we have some agenda to use his biological heir against him in his family power struggle. Did you think he married you because he fell for you?"
Valerie's eyes widened.
This made sense!
"So that's why..." but she quickly waved her hands at the last part. " And no, I didn't think he fell for me. We have a contract marriage."
Victor felt a bomb drop on him, "…You're kidding me?"
"I can divorce him after one year whenever I please. He can't force me into anything. Also, Little Roe will be his heir whether we stay married or not. I'll send it to you later."
He stared at her in disbelief. "You are telling me this now? We wouldn't have fought if you just told us!"
"I was trying to!" Valerie huffed. "But you were breathing fire and he was pouring fuel! You didn't let me get a word in." She was exasperated.
He opened and closed his mouth, speechless. "This is ridiculous!" He grabbed his bandaged wound. "Suddenly it's hurting more." He sharply turned to her after a thought. "Hey, you read the contract carefully this time, right?"
"O-Of course! Do you think I'm stupid?" She avoided his eyes.
Yeah. Nothing was wrong... for the most part. He was sneaky, but at least she wan't exploited.
He scowled, making her laugh. "Yeah, so don't be so emo and chicken out now."
"I feel like an idiot."
"It's called self-reflection."
He snorted.
Both of them sat quietly processing things before Victor jumped up when he remembered something.
"Oh! I almost forgot! Did you check your feed?!"