Broken Bond: Between Vices and Virtues (BL)
Chapter 196: Web of lies

Chapter 196: Web of lies

Lyssana ruffled Aresh’s kid, and after that, the kid ran to the indoor, inflatable playground. The older woman then turned to Knox with questioning eyes. She then asked what intrigued him.

"Is that kid...your son too?"

Knox was rendered speechless. He wasn’t naïve to not hear the curiosity and malicious intent behind her words. Did she think that Aresh was his kid before he met Azrael? That another alpha impregnated him?

He wet his lips and nodded, but also explained it well. "Yes. Adopted."

Lyssana’s eyes sparkled. "Oh, isn’t there a standard rule that unmarried individuals can’t adopt a child?"

"That’s true, but Aresh came from an orphanage sponsored by my family’s foundation. It was easier to adopt him without adhering to the rules. As the old saying goes, in every rule, there’s always an exception," Knox replied, masking his lie with unblinking eyes and a calm demeanor.

A hint of dismay flashed in the woman’s eyes. She nodded like she was agreeing, and thankfully, did not probe any further. She also knew that with power and great influence, even the judicial law can make exceptions.

Once seated, Lyssana wasted no time. "Thank you for coming," she began, her voice turned to a soft, velvety whisper that held an undercurrent of tension, completely opposite to the cheerful aura she showed the kid. "I won’t beat around the bush. I will tell you why I reached out to you in the first place. I know this might be hard to hear, but there are things about Azrael’s family you need to know. Things that will explain why he’s been so distant."

Knox’s eyes shook. Sweat trickled down his back as he could feel his anxiety rising within him. "How did...how did you know that Azrael...has been so distant?"

Lyssana sighed, looking at the omega with sad eyes, but inside her, she was smirking deviously, thinking to herself, how could I not know? One look at you and I can tell already. You’re a naïve omega agreeing to meet up with someone you don’t even know...how stupid, just like that dominant omega bitch.

She answered, "Azrael tells me everything. Remember? I’m the one who raised him. He’s even closer to me than the chairman, and he listens to me as well."

The waiter came and served the pastries and drinks they ordered. After he left, Lyssana’s eyes flickered with a shadow of something akin to regret and fear as she reached Knox’s hands and held them together, as if she were gathering the courage to share the things she finds hard to tell Knox.

She then began, "Azrael’s family is...complex. His father, Chairman Rage, is a man of considerable power, but he’s not someone you want to cross. He’s involved in numerous illicit activities, many of which Azrael has tried to distance himself from."

Knox, "I’m already aware of that. The public, or even you, might have believed that it was his assistant, Philip, who planned my abduction, but I know it was his order. I was conscious when Philip talked to him over the phone. I knew it was him."

Lyssana slowly nodded, letting go of the omega’s hands. She then asked with furrowed brows, yet concern was written all over her face, "And you’re not frightened? You married into a family of...vicious, cruel, ruthless men—

"Azrael is not like that...no, maybe he was before, but he...he’s changing," there was a pause in Knox’s words, realizing that he knew nothing about Azrael’s escapades the past few days. What if he went back to his old ways?

Lyssana enjoyed watching Knox’s conflicted expression. She continued acting.

"Yes, of course, our dear Azrael is different from his father. I made sure to raise him differently from the chairman, so I know he won’t do something beyond inhumane." Lyssana took a deep breath. "Now, let’s move on. If you already know about that, and you don’t find it revolting, then I must say, you truly deserve to know more. Azrael will need someone to lean on during his hard times. I’m still living in his father’s mansion, so every time he’d be remembering those painful pasts he had, he’d rather keep it to himself than visit the mansion."

Knox’s pulse quickened. There it was, the very thing he wanted to hear, the purpose of that visit. With eagerness displayed in his face, Knox held the woman’s hands this time. "Please, can you tell me everything about Azrael’s...past? I wanted to be able to console him every time he’s...in pain."

Lyssana smiled kindly, but inside her, she was rejoicing that her plans were going down the right path. Her eyes darted to the entrance, where two of the four bodyguards Knox brought were standing guard, watching them.

She dreaded that Azrael’s men would recognize him, but he was surprised that they didn’t suspect her and didn’t even stop her. Only goes to say that those people weren’t working for Montgomery.

Azrael was slowly detaching himself from the shadows of Del Valle, and it irritated her.

"Of course, I’ll tell you," Lyssana squeezed Knox’s hands back and smiled sweetly. "But for the record, I wanted to explain why Azrael was acting distant. I don’t have the details—dark dealings, coercion, violence, and many more—his family had been involved in those things. Azreal did his best to stay away from those but...sometimes, there are things that you can’t just easily snip from your existence. That’s the Del Valle’s origin, and he is a Del Valle. It runs in his blood, so there are times when he can’t...just look away. After meeting you, it’s slowly tearing him apart. He was torn in between.

"I think he’s distant because he is trying to keep you away from all of this for you and your sons’ safety. He thought that shielding you would protect you from his family’s malignant influence, especially after what happened to you, which was the result of Azrael angering his father."

"I...didn’t think of that..." Knox admitted to himself, shamefully. He fought with Azrael, pestering him to tell him more, but if Azrael did leave him in the dark to protect him, then can he say that it could really give him assurance and a sense of safety?

Can ignorance provide some form of temporary protection or relief? What if it isn’t a reliable or effective long-term solution that can only lead to more complications? Knox was clueless, and it frustrated him that it was holding him from doing anything.

All he could do was rely on someone who held the answer, to kill the growing uneasiness inside him.

Lyssana proceeded to explain, confirming that the omega was indeed very clueless about what was happening to his husband’s family. "I’m actually working under the young master, undermining the power inside the chairman’s mansion. As Azrael’s guardian, that’s the only thing I can do for him...but after the appearance of another person that piqued the interest of the chairman, my position has become increasingly precarious."

Knox furrowed his brows due to concern, "What do you mean? Another person appeared?"

Lyssana sighed frustratedly, expressing her anxiousness and fear for that person. "Yes. He’s someone who claims to be the chairman’s son and is offering himself to carry the chairman’s favors if that would mean accepting him into the household. He’s a persistent guy and the chairman is beginning to fall into his hands. Our dear Azrael is the only rightful heir! I know this! I know that man is nothing but a fake!"

Knox’s body stiffened. His eyes trembled and his palms sweated profusely. He wanted to slap his face, check if he wasn’t dreaming or if he was hearing things right. With quivering lips and a pounding heart, Knox asked, "The man...what is his name?"

Lyssana raised her brows at the omega’s reaction, but Knox was too focused on the woman’s lips, waiting for them to speak the name, and so he failed to notice that slightly off character in Lyssana’s acting.

The old woman then pronounced clearly, "His name is Ragel...Ragel Russel."

Something like a bomb dropped in front of Knox, and for a moment, he couldn’t hear the surroundings, and just the memories he had with Ragel floated in his mind. Is it true? Did Ragel begin carrying favors for the chairman? That quiet, kind, and polite kid...was now working for such a man?

"How...how did that happen...?" Knox uttered, still lost in the revelation.

Lyssana, unaware of the meaning behind Knox’s question continued, "I just know he’s not the chairman’s son. Sure, he might be his former omega husband’s child, but I’m certain he’s not the chairman’s."

After hearing that Azrael’s other parent was an omega, Knox decided to focus on that and set aside thinking about Ragel. "What do you mean by that? Why are you so sure?"

Lyssana stared directly at Knox and explained, "The one who gave birth to the young master is a dominant omega, the chairman’s husband, Ashler Ford. He was a poor, ambitious man who wanted to see his name and image on billboards, magazines, television, and media. He seduced the chairman with his beauty, and the chairman became his sponsor, but then, he got pregnant and the chairman married him. He gave birth to the young master but...one cold night, when the young master was just nine and the chairman was away on a business trip, that omega brought another man into his room and spent his heat with him. That’s how that strange guy was made."

Knox felt his chest tightened. "Did Azrael... know about what his...omega father did?"

Lyssana nodded. "Yes, he knew. After all, he saw them with his two eyes."

If a bomb fell on Knox after hearing about Ragel, then it seemed like a meteorite hit him this time. He felt a bile churning in his stomach rapidly rising to his throat. He closed his mouth, covered them with his hand, and looked away from Lyssana.

Knox now knew why Azrael hated omegas. It was a tragic, painful, yet valid reason.