In Ian's fourth year, Anna's father insisted on a celebration, and Ian himself asked his parents to have a celebration that day. He had started attending nursery school a few months earlier, and all his friends had parties.
Anna and Maxwell talked it over, and even though they understood that it must have been the children's parents who had instructed them to ask Ian to have a party, they decided to agree to the celebration, on the condition that only the nursery school children and their parents were invited. Anna's father tried to argue, as he wanted to invite his friends with their children, but she was firm and he gave in.
Helen took the opportunity to tell Maxwell and Anna that she would be leaving after Ian's party. She said she had been asked to work in a hospital and didn't want to miss the opportunity.
She and Anna hugged, both with tears in their eyes, because over time, they had become like sisters. Anna thought of her as family.
Beth, with Maxwell's help, had brought her sister to this country. All those years, he had sent her money to take a course to learn the language, and when he talked to her and felt she was able to talk like a native, he got her a job in a clinic and she came to live with him.
Anna was happy with her decision to leave school, as she was able to spend more time with her children and family. She also joined a gym and went every day, knowing that she would be closely followed by the bodyguards.
Before Beth finished her studies, Maxwell invited her to work with him and as soon as she proved her competence, Maxwell gave her an apartment and her own office in the building where his own office was located.
...
A few days later, Maxwell waited until Anna was asleep and got up and went to the boys' room. He approached Ian's bed and pushed his hair away from his forehead, thinking it needed cutting, and then he looked at his other two children and went into the nanny's bedroom and touched Helen's face. She had regained the voluptuous body he liked.
She opened her eyes and felt afraid when she saw him standing there. He was only looking for one thing, and she didn't want it anymore. She decided to leave the house because of this, but she took a resigned breath and got up to follow him to an empty room, where they were used to staying. However, she crossed her arms when he opened them, expecting her to snuggle in.
"No, Mr. Lens!" She said boldly and contemptuously. "This is over. I'm out of here."
Maxwell lowered his arms and smiled.
"You're not going, Helen."
"You can't bind me to stay here. Your wife would think it strange if you tried." That was a threat, but Maxwell dismissed it.
"Ian is an independent boy and since he turned two years old, your position here in this house has become obsolete. You're like the furniture in the house, Helen. We don't look at it, most of it is useless, but we like to know that it's there in case we need it one day."
"You can replace me."
"So you're really going to insist on leaving?"
"You've given me no reason to stay, Mr. Lens."
Maxwell was thoughtful.
"You want... I ask you to marry me, Helen. I ask you to be the mother of my children, and to choose the house you want for us to live out our love." Maxwell said everything suddenly and quickly.
Helen stared at him, trying to understand if he had really offered her that, or if it was a figment of her imagination, and was about to ask him, when another voice intervened.
"How many times do I have to teach you not to play with your food?"
Maxwell's birth mother was sitting on the floor, and stood up, moving towards Helen.
...
Adam was wearing sunglasses, leaning against his car, while some of his werewolves drove around. The cars were parked, forming a large caravan of black cars that drew the attention of passers-by. He walked off with his cell phone to his ear.
"Boss, really, all I got was this. Your brother is a powerful man, and I didn't know that he was also watching me. The girl I've been following all these years wasn't Anna, but her double."
"And you only find out about this after I get here? You're incompetent, I'm going to..." Adam, for the first time, felt his whole body freeze and stop. The other man's voice was still speaking, but he couldn't hear it anymore.
He had absent-mindedly walked into a street and seen her. Anna was wearing a pink dress and a little boy was running around her. He dropped his cell phone.
The boy quickly looked away from him. Adam denied the truth with his head. She didn't do it! Anna couldn't! He recognized himself in that child. More than that. The boy was his portrait from when he was younger. He closed his eyes. He had to be sure. He saw in front of him, very close, the hem of Anna's pink dress. He saw his small hand grasping and pulling at her dress.
"Stop it, Ian." She said, trying to make it sound like she was angry, but he realized that she wasn't angry, and stuck out his tongue at her. Adam saw those lips he had missed so much come up and kiss the boy's cheeks.
"You deserve to be grounded!" She said, trying to reprimand the child without smiling. "Or maybe I'll tell your father about your inappropriate behavior and he'll put pepper on your tongue." She stood up and taking the child's hand, walked with him into Maxwel's building.
Adam abandoned his vision. That boy, Ian, was his son. Maxwell couldn't have a werewolf son.
Everyone had deceived him. Everyone hid the truth from him. Everyone had known all along. Now, he could remember confusing visions that he hadn't cared about. Visions of Genevieve's and Jenna's eyes.
He didn't know what to allow himself to feel. Hate or happiness. He was a father.