Broken Bond: Between Vices and Virtues (BL)
Chapter 158: Look properly, Nathaniel

Chapter 158: Look properly, Nathaniel

It was already past seven in the evening, but the chairman’s office was still brightly lit but not the sound of usual flipping pages and keyboard typing could be heard.

What caught in the air was breaths, careful breathings that may snapped the anger treading on the edge of the chairman’s patience at any time.

Althea glanced at her nonchalant mother who was gazing outside the window, lost in her own reverie.

Again, the furious voice of the man of the house behind the desk echoed in that spacious room. "How did this happen? Explain!"

From wondering what could her mother be thinking so deeply, Althea’s head turned to her father briefly, then shifted to the secretary’s direction.

She was somehow relieved that Anton had already gone back to England, or else, he’d only cause another headache to their father, insisting on disowning their new brother.

Steve even bowed his head even lower. "I apologize, Chairman. I told young master Knox that you didn’t want to see him in the meantime, but he insisted on staying. I couldn’t convince him to leave, so I went back to the office to tell you once more, but..."

The secretary’s voice trailed off. He furtively glanced at Geraldine who raised her eyebrows at him.

Steve gulped.

The madame wasn’t stopping him, and he knew she wasn’t the kind that would weave lies, so in the end, he honestly shared what transpired.

Steve, "But the madame told me you were already resting in your bedroom. She...uh, she said that she’d relay the message to you, so without concerning myself on it, I went back in the office and continued working."

Chairman Nathaniel furrowed his brows. He turned to his wife, scrutinizing her intentions of not bringing up the matter to him when she walked into his bedroom earlier.

Geraldine impassively met his eyes and didn’t say anything.

Turning to Steve again, Nathaniel sarcastically remarked, "You must have been so focused that you forgot to check if Knox had left already."

Steve nodded slowly, admitting his fault, "I...must have been. I apologize, Chairman."

Nathaniel sighed.

It wasn’t right to put all the blame on his ever-loyal secretary, so he waved his hand, signing the secretary to lift his head already. He then propped his elbows on the desk and clasped his hands under his chin, before giving his wife a sterner, accusing look.

Geraldine rolled her eyes and explained, "Don’t look at me like that, Nathaniel. I tried to bring it up to you but you were already upset and stressed with all these situations so I figured I’d just handle it on my own. I was only thinking about your health. That’s all."

Nathaniel pursed his lips. Doubt shone in his eyes which he immediately masked with a cold look.

He already hurt his wife enough that could cost him a lifetime of atonement, so as possible, he didn’t want to hurt her feelings again.

However, he won’t stay blindfolded to mistreatment. He asked, "So, you let him stand under that tree for hours? Under the heavy rain?"

Geraldine frowned. She crossed her legs and did the same with her arms on her chest. She then responded sharply, "I don’t like your tone, dear husband. I may have hated him, but I’m not so cruel to do that to a poor child."

Althea frowned at her mother. She could hear the insult in her mother’s words, but she remained silent.

Geraldine continued after her husband narrowed his eyes at her, "Haa, I asked a servant to send him away and to relay the same message you gave your secretary. After that, I took a rest. How would I know he’d still standing there, stubbornly waiting for you to change your mind?"

She tapped her fingers on her arms and added, clearly disappointed, "His head grew bigger just because you started spoiling him. Now, look at what he did, he disregarded your wishes and even acted like a spoiled brat."

She even sarcastically remarked, "What part of ’you don’t want to see him’ he can’t understand? And why does him, getting sick a big deal you’d disturb my resting time? I can’t believe this!"

Nathaniel fumed. He slammed his hand on the desk and exclaimed warningly, "Geraldine, the kid collapsed! And would it hurt you to just, for the love of God, to just show even a tiny sympathy toward the child?"

The chairman spoke those last words in difficulty and helplessness. He was being careful, but he also couldn’t keep his emotions in check. He kept telling her Knox was innocent, that it wasn’t the child’s fault.

"You’re asking me for too much, again, Nathaniel. Did you get worried like that when your second son fainted before?!" Geraldine abruptly stood, exploding in her anger and dismay.

She fanned herself with her hand and continued, "That kid is just doing everything he wants without thinking about this family at all! He thinks you’ll give in because he knows your guilt of neglecting him, but for goodness’ sake, Nathaniel! You don’t have to live in guilt because of him! The only guilt you should be carrying was cheating on me and ruining the harmony in this family!"

Geraldine let out a heavy breath. She averted her eyes from his husband and calmly voiced out, "Besides, you would have taken him in the moment he was born if you knew it from the beginning."

"I do, Geraldine," the chairman spoke, his voice lowered and deep, blunt and honest.

Geraldine froze. Althea looked at her father with bewilderment and Steve silently bowed his head.

Out of shock, Geraldine could only utter a single word, "What?"

"Dad..." Althea mumbled unconsciously. She held her breath as she waited for his father’s answer, witnessing the sorrow and guilt flickered in his father’s eyes.

Nathaniel pursed his lips before he formed the words he wanted to say, "I knew about him before he was even born," he looked at his desk melancholy and continued, "But, if back then, if I took him in, this family would have been worse. Athan’s just four...our kids were too young to bear the truth that their father committed a mistake and hurt their mom."

It was a short explanation, but the heaviness of his words explained everything.

Althea’s heart ached for his father, but she understood his point. Her altruistic father had been carrying that guilt not just for four years, but for more than two decades.

Her mother’s words brought Althea’s mind to focus again, "And you went on without supporting him, at the very least?"

Geraldine was conflicted. She had been picking on Knox ever since he appeared in their life. Was this why his husband was so adamant to instill in her head that Knox was nothing but pitiful, innocent, and unloved?

"I did reach out, but he...disappeared...and I never tried to locate him," the chairman answered, averting his eyes and gazing out the night sky devoid of any stars. He did what he must, and as he gazed at that dark sky, even if he couldn’t see any light that resembled that person, he was certain Killian was cursing him, despising him.

After a moment of silence, he turned to his wife and admitted, "So, yes, the guilt...it’s not merely because of abandoning him. It was more of the choice I willingly chose, and that I, until to this day, didn’t regret it."

Silence reigned in the room and the heavy atmosphere settled between them.

Geraldine was lost for words. She sat back on her seat exhaustingly, as though all that conversation wore her out.

On the other hand, Althea stood without evading his father’s emerald eyes.

She gained the attention of her parents. Staring at her father with a sad yet confused look, she muttered, "If that’s how you think, then why do you keep preventing Knox from achieving his happiness? Why do you keep getting in his way?"

Nathaniel gave an immediate answer as if the need to quickly oppose anything about Knox and Azrael’s relationship was ingrained in his head, "He won’t be happy with him, Althea—

"And he certainly won’t be happy marrying an alpha he doesn’t love. He won’t be happy going to blind dates you set up because Azrael Del Valle isn’t the one waiting for him to arrive," Althea cut her father’s words.

She said it respectfully, but there was conviction in her tone, "Dad, Mom said Knox was using your guilt to get what he wants, but if that’s all it could take; if he could easily play you in his palms and use that reason to get away with it, then he could have married the guy without your permission and completely ignored you."

Althea wanted her father to understand so she made sure to lay out her youngest brother’s efforts, "But he was willing to risk his health to get you to understand him, to at least hear him out, to explain everything to you so not to disappoint you. Look properly, Dad, you are the one using his weakness against him. He could never deny you, because Knox had been wanting you to accept him since the beginning. He was afraid of losing you, of losing us. You did acknowledge him, but at what cost?"

Althea sighed. Before she left, she answered her own question since her father was in denial. "His freedom."