Broken Together

Chapter Nineteen: Time

I reach the door and open it revealing the man my mate, until recently, didn't know still existed.

"Bryan," I say, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I go by Gresham. So, how is my daughter?"

~Xavier~

"Safe, no thanks to you." I ball my fists, trying to control my anger. If he had stayed, she would never have had to go through what Tom did to her.

"Don't you think I know that?"

"Then why the fuck did you leave her?"

He looks down at his hands and fidgets with them before his eyes meet mine again. Aurora does that when she is nervous. Like father, like daughter huh? Fuck.

"I thought I was protecting her. She wasn't even born yet and I thought-Christ. I was so obsessed with cleansing the world of your kind, that it consumed me. It tore my marriage apart. I saw how much I was hurting Devina. So I staged my own death and left. I thought I was doing what was best for Aurora. I knew that one day she would find out what I did. I didn't want that life for her. Hiding it from her mother was hard enough. When I found out about Tom and Devina, I thought Aurora would be safe, and that she would have the family she deserved. I-I had no idea who Tom was until recently. I should have seen it. He hid it so well. turns out that all these years the witches masked his scent and his transitions. It's why you never sensed it. Why I never...Why I never knew the danger Aurora was in."

I knew about the fucking witches. I'm sure Tom had something he threatened them with because witches do ultimately hate our kind. I hate the fact that he has a point. I also hate the fact Aurora's father left her in the first place. I am not a father. At least not yet, but I still can't imagine ever leaving my child.

His words play over in my head. Is he telling the truth?

"Why now? Why have you come here now Gresham?"

The air shifts and we stand there staring at each other. I feel my face furrow harder as the silence remains when he finally speaks up.

"To make amends with my daughter."

He is telling the truth.

But he is also lying.

He is hiding something. I am fucking sure of it.

"I-" I stop when I feel my mate's presence behind me.

I turn to face her small figure hidden in my big clothes.

"Y-you should go."

~Aurora~

I stare into the eyes of a man I thought was dead. A man who I never knew abandoned me.

"Aurora."

"Dad." The word slips out of my mouth before I can stop it. He is familiar. Too familiar. I was so young when he...well when he left.

I look towards Xavier who is still shirtless. His eyes remain on me.

"Let me explain-" My dad starts to say before I cut him off.

"No. Y-you got to choose to leave. I g-get to choose if you stay. So, l-leave."

His eyes show sadness and regret, but also understanding.

He reaches toward me handing me a piece of paper.

"When you are ready." He says as he backs away, taking one last look at Xavier, and does as I asked. He leaves.