Page 59 of Abandoned By My Alpha Husband

After a while, the door opened, and Liam walked in. His T-shirt was stained with blood, his lip split, his hair a mess. He stood in the doorway, hands shoved in his pockets, chin tilted up, eyes full of defiance.

Marcus bowed to me and quietly closed the door.

"Fighting again." My voice came out cold, laced with warning. "Why?"

"They started it." Liam leaned against the desk, that slouching posture stoking my anger another degree. His tone was flat, like he was commenting on the weather.

"What did they say?" I frowned.

"Nothing much." He shrugged. "Just some stuff about my mom."

My fingers clenched.

"What stuff?"

"You want to hear?" Liam lifted his head to look at me, those gray eyes—identical to mine—filled with mockery. "They said my mom was a liar, a mongrel, a whore trying to climb into your bed. So I beat them up."

He said it casually, but I saw his hands balled into fists inside his pockets.

"Liam—"

"Anything else?" He cut me off. "Can I go now?"

"No." I stood, walking around the desk. "Do you understand what your actions do to the Hale family? Those nobles are already talking—"

"I don't care."

"You should care!" My voice rose. "You're the Hale heir. Your every action represents—"

"Represents what?" Liam suddenly shouted back. "That you threw my mom out? That you didn't believe her? That you let her give birth to my sister alone?"

His voice echoed through the study. I stood there, something lodged in my throat.

"You know what?" Liam's eyes reddened, but he didn't cry. "My mom was pregnant. When you banished her, she had wounds on her stomach. She almost died. Then she gave birth to my sister alone and ran away."

My chest felt like something had slammed into it.

"How do you—"

"I looked into it." Liam's voice dripped with hatred. "If I want to find something out, I can. I'm Your Majesty's bastard son. I've got half your bloodline. Those people might look down on me behind my back, but to my face they have to bow and scrape!"

My hands were shaking.

"But I don't care what they say. I know I'm not a bastard. I have a mother. You know what? The day you threw her out, I wanted to call her Mom!" Liam stared at me. "She'll never get to hear it now."

I opened my mouth, tried to say something, but no sound came out.

"So don't talk to me about the Hale family's reputation." Liam turned toward the door. "You have no shame yourself. Why would I care about any of this?"

"Liam!"

He stopped but didn't turn around.

"Your credit card. I'm cutting it off." My voice was tight. "Until you learn some self-control."

Liam stood there, shoulders trembling slightly. Then he laughed once and pushed through the door. It slammed shut behind him with a bang.

I stood in the study, hands braced on the desk edge, breathing hard.