Fated to the Alpha–And His Triplet Brothers - Chapter 202

Chapter 202: Father or failure?
*~Hazel’s POV~*

“What are you doing here, you bastard?!” Klaus roared, his voice shaking the walls.

Marcus threw both hands up immediately. “I can explain—”

But Klaus was already advancing. I quickly grabbed his wrist, tugging him back. He stopped, breathing hard, but his eyes stayed locked on Marcus with fury. I could feel his thoughts—he was holding back only for me.

Earlier, I had begged Klaus to let Marcus stay in my room while he was unconscious. I told him we’d figure out what to do once he woke up. But now that he was awake… I had no idea what to feel. Or what to do.

Klaus stepped closer, towering over him.

“You dare come back into the High House… and touch my grandchildren?” he growled.

Marcus stood shakily. “Alpha, I’m sorry, but… they’re my grandchildren too.”

Klaus narrowed his eyes. “The same grandchildren you tried to kill the moment they were born?”

“That…wasn’t me,” Marcus said quickly, desperately. “I didn’t know who I was. I had lost my memory. I swear it. I didn’t even know they were mine…”

He looked around helplessly. “It seems I have… a lot of apologies to make. To my daughter. To the pack. Even to those babies.”

Klaus scoffed. “Your entire Gilbert family is banned—from this house, from this land, from all of New Orleans. And I’m no longer your Alpha. She is now the Alpha.”

He pointed to me.

Marcus’s eyes shifted to mine. His face fell. I saw it—the regret flickering behind his eyes. I stepped forward slightly, swallowing hard.

“Father,” I said quietly. “You’re back.”

He opened his mouth but said nothing. His lips trembled. His hands were shaking.

Those same hands that once struck me. That mouth that once shouted for Natasha and my stepmother to silence me. To mock me. To hurt me.

Now they shook in front of me like a weak breeze could break him.

I should’ve felt proud. But all I felt was… empty.

Yes, I knew Mother wiped his memory. I knew he truly didn’t know who I was for a time. But still. That didn’t excuse the way he treated me—before or after. That didn’t excuse trying to kill my children.

“I’m the one who brought you to the High House,” I said, voice tight. “Not because I forgave you. Not because I missed you.”

I looked him in the eyes. “Actually… maybe I have forgiven you. I don’t feel that anger anymore. But that doesn’t mean there’s a relationship between us.”

Marcus’s knees buckled. He dropped to the ground. “Hazel, please. Please… I want to be part of your life. I’ve lost everything. My wife. My daughters. I just want—”

“Enjoy your daughters,” I snapped, cutting him off. “Because I am not one of them.”

“You are! You’re my firstborn daughter!”

“No, I’m not,” I said, stepping forward. “You’ve never treated me like your daughter. Not even now. Your brain hasn’t registered that I exist. That’s why it was so easy for you to raise your hands to me. To try to kill my babies.”

I trembled. “You only came back because you think you’re on the winning side now. That Nature’s on our side. So now you want in. You want to sit beside my children. Hold their hands. Poke their cheeks like none of this happened.”

He didn’t respond. He just looked at the ground, ashamed.

I exhaled sharply. “So please… just leave.”

He looked up, stunned.

“I brought you back alive. I tended to you. I gave you a place to recover. That’s already more than you deserve.”

I crossed my arms. “As far as I know, your wife and your other daughters are still rotting in prison. And I don’t even care if they are or not.”

Silence.

“I don’t want revenge. I don’t want reconciliation. I don’t want anything. I just want peace for me… and for my babies.”

Marcus’s lips quivered. “Hazel…”

But I shook my head. “No. That’s all I have to say.”

Klaus stepped beside me, eyes hard again. “You heard her. Leave. Now.”

“Please, hazel. Don’t make me leave,” my father pleaded, his voice strained. “Where’s your mother? Where’s Lilith? I heard she’s around—”

“You have no right to see my mother,” I cut him off sharply. “And especially not Lilith.”

“She’s the one who caused all of this!” he burst out. “She’s the one who wiped my memories—after I begged her not to!”

His voice cracked, eyes glistening.

“I wanted to start a family… with you, Hazel. With you as a baby, and with Lilith as my wife. I wanted to run away—start fresh. But she refused. She erased everything. She left me hollow. She placed you beside me and made me think I’d had some dirty affair with a low-life human. That I had dishonored myself. That I had birthed a bastard child of some meaningless fling.”

“You did birth a bastard,” I said coldly. “Because I wasn’t the child of your married wife. And you know what? I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” I pinched the bridge of my nose.

I folded my arms, guarding myself.

“Just… go.”

His gaze shifted down to my daughter–Heather. As usual, she smiled at him. That little girl smiled at everyone. And somehow, even knowing none of this, she gave him a soft, innocent grin.

He managed a small, broken smile back. Then, defeated, he turned to leave.

But something suddenly struck me.

Wait.

He had been part of Dahlia’s crew… right? He must know something. Maybe not everything, but something. He was a Crescent now, too—and Dahlia didn’t make Crescents carelessly.

What if he had intel about the vampires? About the sacrifice? About how they could be controlled?

I turned quickly to Klaus and leaned in.

“What if he knows something about the vampire ritual?” I whispered. “Something useful?”

Klaus’s eyes narrowed slightly, but he nodded. He understood.

And then he straightened, raising his voice. “Marcus!”

My father froze at the doorway.

He turned back slowly, eyes guarded, hope barely flickering behind the pain.

“You wait…” I said softly, stepping forward.