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  “Blue collar work.” His words dripped with disgust.

  I reeled back like he’d slapped me. “Since when did you become such an elitist asshole? You think that sort of work is beneath you?”

  “It’s not the sort of work I’d hoped that my son would do.”

  “You need to stop interfering with my life,” I said.

  My mother came in the room, her hair tousled from sleep, wearing a white robe. “What is going on in here?”

  “Dad's interfering with my life. Again,” I said. “You two have already pushed one son out of your life, at this rate, you’re never going to meet my Omega and my son.”

  My dad stood studently, his face red with anger. “That slut Omega has no business in your life. I paid him to get the fuck out.”

  I recoiled. My instinct told me to retaliate. I'd love to walk over and punch my father square in the nose. Nobody talked about my Omega that way. “That's it. That's the final straw. I'm done. You don't talk about Ollie that way. Or Christopher. He's my son. And I love Ollie. I'm going to marry him, if he'll have me.”

  My father glared and pointed a finger at me. “You walk out of this house right now, Philip, then you're done. You're cut off.”

  “Cut off from what?” I said. “I haven't lived here in years. I have my own job. I pay my own way. What exactly are you cutting me off from?”

  My dad sputtered, his face darkening with each passing moment. I thought for a minute the he was going to have a heart attack. “Your inheritance. The wealth I’ve acquired in my life. You won’t get it.”

  “Ollie’s been going over the town budgets.” I watched his face carefully for a reaction. “Are you embezzling money? Is that the wealth you’ve acquired?”

  He flinched. Telling me everything I needed to know.

  “I'm out of here,” I said and lifted up my hands in defeat. “Mom, I can't do this anymore. He can't keep interfering with my life. I can't let him push Ollie away again. He and Christopher are my family. And if he has been stealing money, I plan to report it.”

  Tears fell down her cheeks, but she nodded. “I understand,” she said.

  “Don't you walk away from me, Philip. You'll regret it,” my dad shouted.

  I held up a hand. “Talk to me when you can stop interfering with my life and prove you haven’t been stealing from the town you claim to care so much about.” I walked out the door.

  Tomorrow, I'd go down to the town hall, retract my application and get copies of the budget for myself. Where did I even go to report that sort of thing? That was a question to answer tomorrow. First, I had an apology to make to Ollie. I should have listened, should have believed him.

  I went back to my lonely apartment. I'd barely spent any time there since Ollie and I had begun seeing each other again. The place was cold and empty. And quiet. No laughter from Christopher to fill the space. How had I ever been content here?

  There weren't many other people around. It was an apartment complex, but really, it was just a large house that the owner had converted into three separate living spaces. One of them was unoccupied at the moment. The other housed an older couple. I didn't converse with the neighbors a lot, just a friendly wave every now and again.

  I sent Ollie a text message telling him that I was sorry, and that I hoped to be able to see him tomorrow and talk with him then. He sent me a message back letting me know that I was welcome for dinner tomorrow night, just like normal. That made me feel better, but still not that great. I didn't want to fuck up my chances with Ollie. It seemed that my dad was putting as much effort as he could into ruining my life. If it came down to it, which it seemed to at the moment, I’d choose Ollie and Christopher over my dad any day of the week. If that was what it took, then I’d live with it.

  ***

  The next day, I got to sleep in, although my sleep wasn't overly restful. It had been filled with bad dreams of Ollie disappearing, this time with Christopher. I knew he'd never do that to me, but that didn't keep the nightmares at bay.

  I wasn't in any hurry, but I figured I might as well get my day started. I grabbed my gym bag so I could go for a run after I visited town hall. I’d stop by the firehouse and lift a few weights in the weight room, then shower there since it was easy. No point in doubling back to my house. My lonely empty house. Plus, that way, if there was any good food at the station, I could mooch off them.

  At the town hall I approached the clerk, Susan.

  She looked up from her desk and smiled at me. “Hello, Philip,” she said. Susan was an older lady who'd been working for the town for longer than I could remember.

  “Hi, Susan. I came to retract my application for mayor.”

  Her eyes widen at that and she said, “Oh, I was under the impression that you were going to be following in your father's footsteps.”

  “No,” I said. “I don't have any desire to be mayor. Ever.”

  “Okay. Well, I haven't filed any of the paperwork yet. So, I'll just give it back to you.” She picked up a manila folder from her desk and handed it to me. “Funny,” she said. “Your father was just here. I was talking with him about that nice man, Oliver Stone.”

  “Oh, yeah?” I said. “What about him?”

  “Just seemed odd that he came to look at the town budget. He had me make a few copies for him yesterday. It's always nice when we have residents interested in the town's goings on, you know?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “What did my dad have to say?” Nothing good, I was sure of it. He’d probably been livid to know that other people didn’t think Ollie was the devil.

  Susan’s brow furrowed. “He wasn’t too happy. I’m sure he had something else on his mind though.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Then he had to run off to some meeting. You know your dad, always busy being mayor.”

  “Of course,” I said. I wasn’t here to shatter Susan’s rose-colored glasses. That would happen with time after the investigation started. I lifted the folder in my hand. “Thanks for this,” I said. “If my dad tries to file this again, just throw it in the shredder, all right.”

  She laughed awkwardly. “Okay.”

  I smiled to ease her confusion. She smiled back.

  I tossed the application in the nearest trash can as soon as I was in the parking lot. Then I headed toward the fire station. Cameron was still on shift. I waved a hello as I walked in.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” he said.

  “Had nothing better to do, figured I’d go running and then hit the weight room.”

  “Shouldn't you be at home with your Omega?”

  “I wish,” I said.

  “Trouble in paradise?”

  “Yeah.” I sighed. “Nothing too serious, I don't think. At least I hope not. I might have stuck my foot my mouth yesterday and haven't quite figured out how to get it out.”

  Cam shook his head. “You Alphas have a tendency to do that.” A flash of sadness crossed his eyes and I wondered what was behind it. He’d never really talked about any alphas in his life. “We’re having sandwiches for lunch. You want me to make you one?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “That’d be great. I should be back in a little bit. I'm just going to go for a quick five miles.”

  “Have fun.”

  I changed into my running clothes and took off.

  The five miles didn't do much to ease my mind, but I did burn off a bit of energy. I tried to brainstorm ways to show Ollie how sorry I was for not listening to him. Perhaps he and I could go over the town's budget together. My dad was laundering money, and we needed to put a stop to it. My jaw clenched, and I pushed myself to run faster. I couldn’t ignore the evidence in front of my eyes. If my dad was stealing money, that meant an investigation and charges and arrests, and if my mom knew anything, she'd be in trouble too. Christ. What a nightmare.

  My five miles turned into six and I was halfway through mile seven when I realized how late it was getting. If I didn't go back now, I'd miss lunch. I turned around and headed back tow
ard the station.

  Just as I was entering the front door, the sirens rang, and everybody hustled into action. I stood out of the way since I wasn't on duty.

  “Where's it at?” I asked to know one in particular.

  Cam came running by, he had his gear in his hand. “Philip, thank God you’re here. Suit up. You're coming with us.”

  “What? Why? You guys short-handed?”

  “No,” he said. “The fire. It's your apartment.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Oliver

  On Friday, nausea woke me up. My stomach rolled and I barely made it to the bathroom before I emptied the contents of my stomach. I splashed some water on my face after and held a hand over my belly, trying to convince it to calm the fuck down. It must have been something I ate, or the fact that after Philip left I’d finished two more bottles of beer.

  I didn’t usually drink alcohol, maybe it just didn’t agree with me anymore. It could be that I was upset enough from my argument with Philip, but he had texted and apologized last night. Tonight, he and I would discuss things like adults. Our little fight was hardly enough to make me sick.

  I knew that I wasn't wrong, though. There was something going on with his dad and this town. I hated to be the bearer of bad news, but then again, I'd rather be by Philip’s side when he dealt with it than leave him alone and let someone else discover his dad’s wrong doings.

  Damn. My stomach rolled again. If his dad was embezzling money, then it's likely that his mom and maybe even Philip himself would both be investigated as well. I knew Philip wasn't involved, but I knew very little about his mother.

  “Dad? Are you in there?” Christopher's little sleepy voice filtered through the closed door.

  I shook myself off. I didn't want to let him in on the fact that I wasn't feeling the greatest.

  “Yeah, buddy,” I said.

  I got him his breakfast and got him dressed for school. As soon as I dropped him off, I went to the grocery store to pick up our weekly groceries. I rolled past the family planning section. Then stopped and wheeled the cart back, looking at the various tests on the shelf.

  No. No way. It couldn't be.

  It had been three weeks since the weekend Philip and I had spent together. We'd been together a handful of times since then as well, but I was on suppressants.

  Abstinence was the only one hundred percent effective method to prevent pregnancy.

  I shook my head and pushed my cart past the section and wheeled it around the corner. There was no way I was pregnant.

  Then get a test and prove it.

  Fuck.

  I found myself turning around and grabbing a test. If nothing else, it would ease my mind. Just don't be disappointed when it’s negative.

  One of the hardest things to accept about being a single dad was knowing that I'd likely only have one child. I'd always wanted to have half a dozen at least. But being a single parent made that a little bit more challenging. Christopher and I had barely made ends meet those first few years anyway. Even now, our budget was tight.

  I picked the self-checkout this time. Philip’s dad had spies on me years ago, who could say he still didn’t?

  When I got home, I put the groceries away and threw the test in the bathroom. I’d do it later. It wasn't a pressing matter after all. Then I set to work on the sketches I had planned for the next book. I hadn't even put my pencil down to paper before I stood up and marched back to the bathroom.

  I had the test open and I was reading the instructions before I even realized I'd made the decision to do it. Nothing had changed in the past six years as far as pregnancy tests went. Pee on the stick, wait for the results. Apparently, this was a rapid results test. Guaranteed to have the results in a minute or less.

  I peed on it then stared, waiting for the window to change. Negative it had to be negative. I was on suppressants. We were careful. Sort of. I guess we could have been smart and used condoms and suppressants all the time. We did, all except for that first weekend. Thirty-eight seconds had passed when the second blue line showed up.

  I sucked in a breath. I was pregnant.

  Absolute joy filled me, followed closely by panic.

  Not only was I going to have another child, but it was Philip’s child. And this time he could be a part of it. Whatever happened with his dad and that whole mess did not change the fact that I loved Philip and I knew he loved me. But did he want more children? He’d only just begun getting to know Christopher.

  Christopher was going to be a big brother. The best big brother.

  I wanted to call Philip right then and tell him the news. He had the day off. I could go to his house. But no, I could wait. Maybe plan some cutesy way to tell him. I could bake a cake and write out the announcement in frosting. “You're going to be a daddy… again.”

  He and I should clear the air first before I sprang this on him. He had a lot to think about as far as his dad went. Me and this pregnancy weren't going anywhere.

  I pushed down my desire to tell someone, to let someone know about the baby. Philip should be the first one to know and I would wait to tell him, for a little bit. Until then, I had other things to focus on, like picking Christopher up from school and finishing the sketches for the next book or repairing the rail on the basement steps. I also had to call and schedule inspections, so we could open the daycare in two months.

  There was plenty for me to do. Thankfully, with all that on my to do list, I was able to pass the time until three o'clock when I had to pick up Christopher. I grabbed the keys to the car and left, while mentally I added another thing to my to do list: find a primary care doctor in the area for myself. Christopher would need one as well. Might as well schedule all the appointments at once.

  ***

  I arrived at the school and waited in line with the other parents to pick up their kids. It was always a crazy hectic mess, but somehow the kids always managed to find their parent’s car Minutes past though, and I didn't find Christopher. When he was over ten minutes past the final bell, I knew something must be up.

  I was the only one authorized to pick up Christopher, so I knew he couldn't have gone with someone else. I swung the car into a parking spot, shut it off, and went inside. I was greeted by the school secretary who gave me an odd look.

  “Mr. Stone, did Christopher forget something?” she asked.

  I cocked my head to the side. “What do you mean? He hasn't come out yet. I thought he was still inside.”

  She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at me. “I thought that…”

  The cloud I'd been riding of absolute happiness turned to dread in an instant.

  She grabbed the sign-out book from the corner of the desk and looked down the page. “He was picked up after lunch today by Mr. Miller. Mayor Miller. He said that you knew he was going to take Christopher on a camping trip this weekend.”

  The room swirled around me. My stomach rolled, but I knew it wasn't for morning sickness. “You released my son to someone not authorized to take him?” I bit out the words.

  Her face went stark white. “He's the mayor,” she said.

  Blood pounded in my ears. He might be the mayor to them. But he was my worst nightmare. “Oh God,” I said. “Call the police. Right now. Christopher's been kidnapped.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Oliver

  I sat inside the principal's office with the door closed. The principal was there, as well as the secretary and I was told that the police were on their way. I tried not to hyperventilate.

  “I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for this,” the secretary said.

  I glared at her. “You let my son get taken by a person not authorized to take him.”

  “He's the mayor of this town,” she said for the eight-hundredth time.

  “I don't care if he is the President of the United States or Queen Elizabeth herself. He is not authorized. I filled out paperwork, there's signatures involved, you cannot just let my child go with other people.”
I slammed my fist on the desk.

  “I'm sure that everything's fine, Mr. Stone. We have been trying to reach out to Mr. Miller's office—”

  “I want the police here right now.”

  “They're on their way—”

  “No,” I said. “I don't want the township police. For all I know they are in the mayor's back pocket and he's got them paid off or whatever. I want the county police or the state police. If necessary, I will bring the FBI here.”

  The principal covered my hand with hers. “Mr. Stone, I can't imagine what you're going through and I don't know the entire situation between you and Mr. Miller. But the officer that has been sent here is my son. He's an upstanding individual. I'm sure that—”

  “Did he grow up in this town with Ian Miller as his mayor, since before he was born?” I asked.

  “Oh, for God's sakes,” the secretary said, and I glared at her again.

  The principal ignored her. “Actually, no. He hasn't. I moved here just a few years ago and he was just transferred here two months ago.”

  “All right,” I said. Knowing that made me feel slightly better, but it didn’t get Christopher back. “I've got to go find him. I have to find Christopher. I should call Philip and let him know. My phone is in my car, I'm going to go grab it.”

  Before I could leave the office the police officer came in. I was struck by how oddly familiar he looked but didn't have time to dwell on it.

  “I’m Officer Jefferies. Is the mayor at his office? Is it possible that he took your son there to show him where his grandpa works? I am to understand that Mr. Miller is the boy’s grandfather, correct?”

  “Hardly,” I said. “Biologically, yes, but he's never met Christopher. He's hasn't spoken to me in six years. It's a complicated situation. He doesn't like me, and he has no interest in my son. If he's taken Christopher, then he means to do him harm.”

  Officer Jefferies nodded. “All right. Ride with me, we're going to go to the town hall. If we don't find the mayor there, then we'll go to his home.”

  For the first time since the situation started, my heart rate returned to almost normal. “I should get my cell phone, maybe I have a missed call or something.”