Forbidden Temptation My Mafia Fiance's Alpha Father (Brooklyn and Aden)

Chapter 48

Brooklyn

I sit there sobbing on my bed, when I hear the door creak open. Hudson's dark head appears. "Brooklyn?" he calls, hesitating. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," I say, wiping at my eyes.

"Are you alright?" he asks, pressing the door closed and coming to sit next to me on the bed.

I nod, sniffing and working to contain myself.

"Just...looking through old pictures." I gesture towards the album.

Hudson picks it up and leafs through it.

"Wow," he says, looking between me and the woman on the page. "Brooklyn, she looks just like you."

"I know," I say, my eyes wide. "Obviously, I remember what she looks like, from when I was a kid, but...I didn't realize I'd grown to resemble her so much."

He nods, still leafing through. Then he looks at me. "I can see how this would be hard for you. I never, ever go through my mom's old albums."

I nod, reaching out a hand for his, understanding.

Life can be so hard, especially when you've lost a parent. It's a fine line between wanting to remember them and missing them so horribly that all you want to do is run from the feeling.

Hudson squeezes my hand and we both sit quietly together, having our separate thoughts.

I mean, I'm not in precisely the same situation. I'm not married to a man I clearly love, having borne his child.

But in some ways, seeing my face in those albums, it feels like it's all happening, all over again— repeating the past.

Am I really doomed to repeat it? Will I, too, find reason to flee from this world, to try everything I can to leave it behind and build a new life in hiding? Would it eventually take me out, too?

And what, really, killed her? Was it just a car accident, or is that too much of a coincidence? For a Don's bride to be killed so shortly after she fled.

Oh my god, was I going to die young as well?

I burst into tears again, fear and sorrow and panic flooding my body.

Hudson puts his arms around my shoulders.

"It's okay to miss her, you know," he says.

I wonder, once again, what it would be like if Hudson could love me the way I want someone to love me.

I shake my head because he has it all wrong. I know it's okay to miss her. But that's not what I'm afraid of.

I am about to try and articulate what I feel when the door opens again, this time without a knock.

Aden is standing there in the doorway, and I know I should stop crying, but I can't.

"What is all this?" Aden asks, crossing his arms over his chest, taking in Hudson's morose expression and my flood of tears.

I'm crying too hard to answer, but Hudson responds to him with a frown.

"She's just having a hard day, dad," he says. "Leave her be."

"It's time for dinner," Aden says, ignoring his son. "Dry your tears and come down to eat before it gets cold."

I shake my head, sniffing again, working hard to stop crying. It's so embarrassing to cry in front of someone like Aden, who always has it together-but I can't.

I take a deep breath and try to speak through my tears. "I'm not -" Hiccup. "Hungry." Is all I can manage.

"You are hungry," Aden says, his voice low and tinged with the Alpha inside of him. "You've barely eaten all day!"

The tears start to come harder as he yells at me.

I'm just completely overwhelmed. Even my wolf doesn't know how to handle me right now. She's on edge with too many emotions.

I watch him, watching me cry, see the anger in his face turn into something else worry, pity, even fear. "Stop that!" he yells, pounding a fist against the wall. Hair is starting to sprout on the back of his hands, and his wolf is rippling dangerously close to the surface.

I take a deep breath, working hard to do as he says-to obey.

Lena is practically begging me to obey, to cede to his wishes.

But I can't hold it in. Despite myself, the tears continue to roll down my cheeks, my chest wracked with repressed sobs.

Aden takes several steps toward me, and I half expect him to grab me by the shoulders.

"I said stop it," he said again, his voice low and warning.

"Dad!" Hudson exclaims, standing up from the bed and coming between us. "Will you just get out of

here!? She's having a hard time, and you yelling at her isn't doing anything to help!"

Aden just glares at us, first Hudson, and then me, and then storms from the room, slamming the door behind him.

We both wait a minute to see if it takes, but he doesn't come back.

"Sorry about that," Hudson murmurs, sitting down and leaning back against the pillows again.

"Why -" I say, wiping at my eyes with a corner of the bed sheet, "why was he so mad?"

Hudson shakes his head, still staring at the door.

"Little known fact about my dad," he says. "He can't stand to see people he loves cry."