Chapter 20: LISTEN TO ME VERY CAREFULLY
Chapter 20
Ren
Every single cell in my body wanted to rip Callum’s heart right out of his ribs.
The air in my lungs felt like pure fire. I could feel the raw, heavy thud of my own heartbeat shaking my chest, and my vision went totally dark around the edges.
Nobody talked to her like that. Nobody took the deepest, most painful secrets of her soul and used them to crush her into the dirt while she stood there defenceless.
My right hand, wrapped tight in the gauze Lumi had just put on me, clenched into a hard fist.
The fresh cuts underneath the cloth tore wide open again, and I could feel the warm dampness of my own blood soaking straight into the white fabric.
I didn’t care about the pain. I didn’t care about the skin tearing. I wanted to smash my fist into Callum’s face until his perfect, rich teeth were sitting at the back of his throat.
I wanted to break his nose, shatter his jaw, and watch him choke on his own arrogant words.
But I couldn’t move.
I stood there, my whole body locked up and rigid as iron, because a cold piece of logic suddenly smacked me right in the face.
The lawyer.
I remembered exactly what Eleanor Vance had said back in that office just an hour ago.
She had looked Lumi dead in the eye and told her that if she wanted to win custody of Theo, she had to prove to the court that she could provide a better, more stable, and safer life for the boy.
Callum was the biological father, and his name was already on those adoption papers. To beat him, Lumi’s record had to be completely clean. She couldn’t have a single spot on her name.
If I lost my mind right here, if I broke Callum’s jaw in the middle of a public park in London, I wouldn’t be helping her at all.
I would be destroying her chances. Callum would take the police report straight to the judge. He would tell the court that Lumi was running around with a violent, dangerous street guy, and that her new environment wasn’t safe for a three-year-old child. He would paint her as unstable, reckless, and unfit.
If I wanted to be a stepping stone for her, then I couldn’t be her stumbling block.
I forced myself to take a long, slow breath, pushing the black rage down into the deep pit of my stomach.
It took every single ounce of my strength to keep my feet planted on the dirt path. I looked down at Lumi. Her face was completely white, her eyes wide and blank as she stared into nothing.
Callum’s nasty words had frozen her solid, hitting her right where it hurt the most. She looked so small, so totally crushed by the weight of his cruelty, that it nearly broke my heart right then and there. She didn’t deserve this. She had never deserved any of it.
I stepped forward, moving right past her. I put my massive body directly between her and the piece of trash standing in front of her, cutting off Callum’s view of her completely. I became her wall, shielding her from his hateful eyes.
Callum took a small step back, his eyes darting to my chest, his mouth tightening as he realized just how much I towered over him.
He was a rich man who thought his money and his title made him big, but standing next to me, he looked like a boy trying to play a man’s game.
I wasn’t just a big man, I was sure richer and had more tittles than him but those titles couldn’t count right now.
What count right now was my intention of protecting one of the people that matter to me.
"The only reason I am not bursting your brain onto this gravel right now," I said, my voice dropping into a low, quiet rumble that sounded like a storm rolling over the hills, "is because I respect Lumi too much to ruin her day. I respect her too much to ruin what she is fighting for."
Callum tried to mock me, his lip curling up as he tried to regain his footing. "You’re a nobody. You don’t know anything about her, and you don’t know anything about our pack. She’s a wolfless failure. I lived with her for years, I know exactly what she is. She’s broken."
I let out a short, mean laugh that didn’t hold an ounce of real humor. It was a cold, dark sound.
"Who told you she’s wolfless? You think because her wolf doesn’t answer you, she doesn’t have one? Her wolf didn’t disappear, you idiot. It only quieted down because she’s spent the last seven years surrounded by wolves who aren’t even up to her level.
Her wolf went to sleep because it couldn’t stand being near someone as weak and pathetic as you. It refused to acknowledge a boy who plays at being a man."
I leaned down just an inch, getting right into his face, making sure he could see the absolute truth and promise of death in my eyes.
"You call yourself an alpha? You’re a weak alpha, Callum. You’re small, you’re insecure, and you’re a coward. And if you think otherwise, name a place. Name a time. We can meet up whenever you want, without the women, without the child, and I will gladly show you exactly how weak you really are."
Callum’s face turned an ugly, dark red. The skin on his neck got tight, and he threw his shoulders back, trying to look big in front of Sienna.
"You’re talking big for someone who isn’t even on his own turf. Look around you, street rat. You’re in my territory right now. You have no idea who you’re messing with or what my pack can do to you."
"I don’t care about your territory," I spat, my voice deadpan, steady, and completely unbothered by his threats.
"Your territory means nothing to me. And even in your own territory, surrounded by your own people, you are absolutely nothing. You are a shadow of a man."
I shifted my stance slightly, blocking him even more so Lumi didn’t have to see a single glance of his face. I wanted him to feel completely eclipsed by me.
"You think you can come here and call her broken?" I asked, and the pure disgust in my voice was heavy enough to weigh down the air between us.
"Lumi is the furthest thing from broken. She is smart. She is reliable, she is efficient, and she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.
She has more strength in her little finger than you have in your entire body. And you want to talk about her not giving birth? You think that means she’s broken? You think that means she’s barren?" I shook my head, a cold, mocking smile touching my lips.
"It doesn’t mean she’s broken, Callum. It just means the moon goddess loved her too much to ever let her beautiful bloodline be linked to a piece of trash like you.
The goddess wasn’t going to waste a child on a man who doesn’t even know how to treat a woman, let alone how to be a real human being. You weren’t worthy of her child, and you never will be."
Behind me, I heard Lumi catch her breath. It was a tiny, ragged, gasping sound that made my chest tighten.
I wanted to reach back right then, pull her against me, and never let her go. I wanted to shield her ears from ever hearing a bad word again. But I kept my eyes locked on Callum, letting every single word I said sink deep into his thick, arrogant skull.
"I adore her," I said, stating it like a simple, undeniable fact of life. "I see exactly what she is, and I treasure it. And honestly, I am so damn happy she is no longer with you.
Leaving you is the best thing that could have ever happened to her life. Now that she’s away from your pathetic, small-minded control, she’s going to see just how strong she really is.
She’s going to exceed every single limit you ever tried to put on her. She’s going to fly, Callum, and you’re going to be stuck in the dirt where you belong.
She deserves a real man...someone who will actually look at her and bring out the absolute best version of her, instead of trying to drag her down into the mud just to make himself feel big."
Callum stared at me, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. The rich, untouchable guy was completely gone.
He looked shocked, his mind unable to process the fact that someone was standing here talking about his quiet, submissive wife as if she were a queen, a prize, something to be worshipped.
He had spent years been above all and having no one to talk back or call him out on his bullshit and in less than five minutes, I had stripped that power right out of his hands.
Beside him, Sienna was still clutching her red, stinging cheek where Lumi had smacked her. Her eyes were wide with total disbelief, her mouth hanging open as she looked at me and then at the back of Lumi.
I took one last step closer to Callum, looming over him so hard he had to tilt his head way back just to keep looking me in the eye. I made sure my shadow completely covered him, blocking out the pale afternoon sun.
"Listen to me very carefully, and remember my face," I growled, my voice leaving absolutely no room for doubt or argument.
"Don’t you ever come close to her again. Don’t you dare even look in her direction. If you do, I will completely forget about the court, I will look right past the fact that this is your territory, and I will disgrace you right in front of your entire pack.
I will walk right into your home and show every single one of your people what a weak, cowardly little man their leader really is. Try me, Callum. See what happens."
Callum didn’t say a single word. The arrogance was completely gone from his face, replaced by a pale, shaking fear that made his hands tremble inside his coat pockets. He knew I meant every single word. He knew I was the kind of man who would do exactly what he promised.
I didn’t give him another second of my time. He wasn’t worth the air I was using. I turned around, my heavy boots crunching firmly on the gravel path.
Lumi was standing there, her eyes shiny with tears, but the blank, frozen look was completely gone.
The color was coming back into her cheeks, and she was looking at me like I had just given her the exact air she needed to keep breathing. She looked alive again.
Without saying a word, I reached out with my left hand and wrapped my thick fingers securely around hers.
Her hand was so small, so cold against mine, but the second my skin touched hers, she immediately squeezed back with everything she had. She held onto me like I was the only solid thing left in a world that was spinning out of control.
"Let’s go," I whispered softly, my voice completely changing, turning gentle and smooth as I spoke to her.
I led her down the path, walking with slow, heavy strides, pulling her right along with me. We walked away from the ugly lies, and away from the people who had spent years trying to make her feel like she was broken and small.
Behind us, Callum and Sienna just stood there on the dirt path, their mouths open, completely speechless and defeated as they watched us walk away together into the crisp afternoon air.
They looked small in the distance, while Lumi and I walked toward the car, her hand locked tightly in mine.
That is where they belong, behind her.
And I made a promise right there that, I wasn’t going to stop until I made sure she took everything from her.
They were going to come crawling and begging in the next six months. It is a promise.
