“Yes.” Valentin seemed to shake the rust off his thoughts. “I know them… I just didn’t know that they are…who they are.”
Apprehension invaded Zinn’s chest because he knew what he had to say next. It was hard, but also not. Because he was sick of secrets. Tired of the unknown. “And that alpha—” he pointed “—is Calder…my partner.”
Valentin’s arms slackened, but he did not stammer when he turned his head and said, “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
“I feel dizzy,” Valentin said, releasing Zinn and stepping back. “And I have so many questions.”
“I have a few of my own.”
Valentin bit his lip. “Can you perhaps start by telling me why you changed your name?” He scratched his temple. “I guess that’s why no one could find you.”
“There’s a longer story, but basically, I needed something new to stay hidden from my parents. And the name I chose was… Well, you know why—”
“Zinn…for zinnias.”
“That’s right.”
“The tattoo,” Assa whispered, then clamped a hand over his mouth.
Valentin gave him an affectionate glance before turning back to Zinn. “You chose that name. So, in a way, you took a piece of me with you.”
At his awed tone, the last of Zinn’s anger faded. It was shocking how quickly it left his system, almost like a physicalforce. Considering he’d held onto it for so long. Only the sadness for what might have been remained.
Zinn seized Valentin’s hand and placed it over his own heart. “It wouldn’t have mattered if I changed my name. I always had a piece of you with me. Here.”
“Always.”
Zinn swallowed roughly. “Valentin?”
“Yes?”
“Why did you leave?”
“What?”
“Why did you go away when I needed you most? Were you really that afraid of my parents?”
“Oh, stars. Have you really spent all this time thinking I left you by choice?”
“I didn’t want to believe it.”
“Did you, though?” Valentin sounded distraught.
Zinn’s breath caught in his throat. Had he truly thought Valentin left of his own accord? Not at first, but eventually, in his worst moments, yes. His parents never wavered in their story. Antoni had corroborated it. Asher insisted Valentin was a loser and a coward. But deep in his soul, Zinn always believed something more had been at play. Even when his hope for Valentin’s return evolved to fury at his absence.
In that instant, squeezed into a room with the four most important men in his life, he knew.
“No,” he whispered, a tear slipping down his cheek. “I said I did. I even thought I did sometimes. But no. I never truly believed that you took the money and ran away.”
Valentin cupped his jaw, brushing away the tear with his thumb. “They literally had to lock me up to keep me from you.”
“My parents?”
Valentin nodded. “They stole our happy ending.”
Of course Father and Daddy were to blame. He’d known without knowing.
