Chapter 74 - I Scored Dinner With Him At Least?

"At least I scored dinner with Xavier," Madeline said, trying to console herself.

'What did I just do? Did I really just say that to him?' 

Madeline buried her face in her hands, 'Great job Madeline.'

'You made a fool of yourself in front of him. It's a miracle he agreed to dinner.' 

'Do I tell Briar this?'

Feeling horrible and guilt-stricken, she shook her head, 'I'll tell her, but I'm going to take a short detour first.'

She headed straight for where she knew Emilio was. 

Adrian's office. 

Madeline had visited Adrian's office only once before, but that didn't stop her from remembering the directions to said place. 

She hummed a song as she walked to Adrian's office, trying to keep her cool. 

'Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic,' she told herself repeatedly. 

She wanted to tell Emilio something. 

Madeline knew it was quite fast for her to want to talk to Emilio, but this was how she dealt with things. She wanted things dealt with swiftly and as efficiently as possible, even if it meant compartmentalizing. 

Unlike what she did with Xavier, she knocked on Adrian's office door, waiting for him to open the door or respond to the knock. 

An annoyed voice asked, "Yes? Who is it?" 

"It's Madeline!" She exclaimed.

And in a matter of seconds,  the door whooshed open, revealing a dishevelled Adrian and an Emilio peering curiously from behind him.

"Madeline?" Emilio called out, wondering if he was seeing things or if it was really her.

He hadn't expected to see her so soon. 

Or did she mean to visit Adrian and not him?

"What are you doing here?" Adrian questioned, as curious as ever.

What could Madeline possibly be doing at his office?

Was it something about Xavier?

Or was she here to talk to Emilio?

'Wait, is she?'

'And does Xavier know about this?' 

"Come in," Adrian said, ushering Madeline in and ever so subtly shooting Emilio glances. 

'Be on your best behaviour,' Adrian hissed. 

'Trust me, I am on my best behaviour,' Emilio insisted. 

'It better stay that way or Xavier will hear of this,' Adrian warned. 

'I'm not some immature child, I know how to behave myself,' Emilio looked Adrian up and down, wondering who did Adrian think he was to talk to him like this?

Despite him not being the alpha anymore, he wanted to be treated with respect. 

Or was that too much to ask for?

"I came here to talk to Emilio."

Emliio piped up, "You could always call me dad."

Madeline glared at him.

"Or whatever suits you," Emilio added, nodding. 

Turning to Adrian, Madeline said to him, "I didn't come here to bother you, I just want to talk to…" 

She inhaled, "My dad."

Emilio looked contented when Madeline had called him her dad. 

However, whenever he looked at her, she'd remind him of Cornelia.

Emilio reckoned it was normal when she reminded him of Cornelia, except for the fact that it wasn't a good thing as much as it was a painful reminder of the woman he rather not think about.

Strangely, he felt betrayed by her. From what she did, she made it clear that she didn't want anything to do with him at all. 

Why else would she never have bothered to visit him? 

She was able to freely pop in and out of the cave without any effort.

And yet, she never once did. 

Whilst Emilio had lied to himself by constantly making up excuses for Cornelia's actions, he could sense that she was perfectly fine. 

Perhaps she had moved on and found another love interest that wasn't confined to a cave for eternity. 

Perhaps she never wanted to see him again because she lost interest in him. 

Or perhaps she couldn't bear to look him in the eye knowing what she did and how she hid their lovechild.

Who knew, other than Cornelia and her alone?

Albeit… Had he defeated Xavier and wasn't sentenced to life in that cave… What would the present be?

For one, Xavier and Madeline wouldn't be mates.

Madeline wouldn't have grown up completely surrounded by humans. 

She likely would've never met Briar and the two of them would be complete strangers. 

And last but not least, had he known, Madeline would've been able to have at least one parent in her life growing up. 

As cruel as a person Emilio was, he wouldn't have abandoned his daughter had he known he had one. 

As far as he knew, he didn't have any other children. There was just Madeline. 

He remembered what Xavier had said to him - how the other werewolves discovered Madeline was his daughter. 

They'd use it against her, that was definite. 

Madeline was in a whole lot of trouble, all because she was someone's daughter. 

Be it hypocritical, Emilio found it unfair. 

He had done much worse to people for lesser reasons… Was this how they felt?

It was unjust and uncalled for.

"We should talk somewhere else," Madeline said. 

Whilst Emilio was busy thinking of what could've been, Madeline and Adrian had been chatting about something else. 

Adrian nodded.

"That would be best," he agreed with her. 

Emilio looked at the two of them, wondering what happened before he noticed Madeline gesturing for him to leave with her. 

"Goodbye," Emilio said to Adrian, snarling at him quietly. 

'Thanks for nothing,' Emilio told his pack's current beta using their shared mindlink.

Adrian wanted to strike Emilio, but refrained from doing so.

'I can't do anything to him without Xavier hearing of it.' 

'Madeline's here too so I shouldn't do anything rash,' Adrian reminded himself.

Xavier had once told him to keep the violence to a minimum when Madeline was around.

Perhaps he was trying to keep the violent nature of werewolves strictly confidential from Madeline, or he was simply trying to do something else. 

'You're lucky you get away unscathed this time,' Adrian said to Emilio.

'Don't think all your sins have been forgotten so easily, you still have a lot to pay for, and I'll make sure of that.'