Married To The Mad Vampire Lord - Chapter 423

Chapter 423: The fight_Part 4
Evenly knew Angel too well. She could feel the way his body tensed, ready to act and attack Josh. She quickly tightened her hold around him and turned to give him a soft smile, her voice reassuring. “Don’t worry, I can handle this.”

That small act only made Josh and Cordelia even more convinced that the boy truly belonged to her, because he listened and only glared at them.

“I don’t know what gave you the audacity to think you can hit me the way you just did, or what you’re talking about, Josh, but I don’t want trouble and won’t fight you—” Evenly began with a collected voice.

“Enough of your nonsense,” Josh cut her off, spitting the words through clenched teeth. “You hid my son from me and thought I’d never find out?” His eyes flicked down to Angel, whose face had hardened, his tiny glare burning like he was trying to scare Josh away. But of course, Josh was too stupid and completely oblivious to the danger of claiming another man’s son. He didn’t notice that the look in the boy’s eyes was murderous. He was too busy fantasizing about having a son, a boy who could kill him in the blink of an eye.

Realization dawned not only on Evenly but also on Belle, who stood just a few steps away. Does Mr. Clifton think Angel is his? Belle thought in disbelief. What on earth gave him that idea or made him have the courage to confront Evenly? But then, wasn’t it better to let him believe the boy was Evenly’s child than to let him know the truth, that Angel belonged to her and Rohan? Especially with the poisonous snake Cordelia slithering behind him?

“What makes you think he’s your son?” Evenly scoffed coldly. She itched to slap him back, to return the hit with the full force of her vampire strength and knock him flat on his back. But Angel was in her arms, and he needed both hands to be held steady, or he’d cause a scene far worse than a slap.

“Then whose child is it?” Josh demanded, his voice loud enough to make Belle tense. She didn’t want any attention drawn to her son, and Josh’s loud question brought every eye in the crowd to her little boy.

“He is mine, but that doesn’t make you the father,” Evenly said calmly. Since he was foolish enough to believe she could actually give birth and hide his son, she’d claim him without hesitation.

“Then tell me, bitch, who the hell is his father? Did you spread your skirts for another man when you were married to me?” Josh sneered, his tone dripping with arrogance. In his mind, he imagined taking the boy to his father to boast and secure his rightful inheritance. And the more he looked, the more his twisted ego convinced him that Angel looked like him. The strands of dark hair beneath his cap, the beauty that ran in the Clifton genes, the boy has it and it all seemed to match in his deluded head. “Did any other man go through your—”

“I would watch my words closely if I were you, Sire,” came Rav’s calm but hard voice, cutting through the stirring murmurs of the curious crowd that had started with Josh’s accusations against his former wife in a public place.

Josh and Cordelia turned to see him walking toward them, his expression unreadable but his eyes carrying a quiet warning toward the nobleman to watch his words.

“And who do you think you are?” Josh barked with an arched brow, sizing Rav up from head to toe. Josh knew almost every nobleman in Nightbrook and instantly knew that this turned vampire wasn’t one of them, yet he still had the guts to interfere in a matter that didn’t concern him.

“The father of my son,” Evenly announced without hesitation as Rav reached her side. She moved closer to him and his arm slid naturally around her waist, a silent wall of protection against the man in front of her, even though she didn’t need it, she basked in the feeling. “He’s the father. And you have no right to walk up to me and insult me or accuse me when there’s no relationship between us anymore.”

Evenly had taken all his insults in the past. But those days were over. She no longer belonged to him, and she wouldn’t cower before him again. She didn’t care what he thought she had done during her marriage to him, as long as Angel’s identity remained unknown to the people of Nightbrook. She was already aware that the boy’s life would be in danger if it became known who his parents were.

Josh froze, momentarily thrown off by her words, then glared at Rav, studying him more closely now. The man’s black hair matched the boy’s. His eyes were the same color. It fit. But pride and denial wouldn’t let him retreat. He forced a harsh, humorless laugh. “I’ll be damned if I believe you.”

“Yes, don’t believe her, Joshy,” Cordelia interjected from behind, her lips twitching as she leaned closer to him. “This man is just a servant in the duke’s castle. I don’t even think he’s man enough to father that boy. And I can tell you he didn’t know your wife a year ago.” She didn’t care whose son the boy truly was. If Josh claimed the boy, they’d get their hands on the Clifton wealth without lifting a finger.

Rav’s fingers curled into tight fists as his eyes trailed to the vampiress he had known for years but never liked. Her words scraped against something buried deep in him. He said nothing, but the muscle in his jaw ticked as Josh let out another mocking laugh.

“A mere servant, you say?” Josh’s voice rose for all to hear. “If he’s the father, then you’re telling me you purposely killed my babies in the past and then went and opened your legs for a nobody like him? You little wench, with—”

Josh didn’t finish those sentences. Rav’s fist crashed into his face with a crack, sending him flying off his feet. Being a vampire while Josh was only human gave the punch the force of a hammer.

Rav had carried a strong bad feeling for this man ever since hearing how he’d beaten Evenly, how he’d taken her for granted during the time they were married. He had never hit another man in his life, but watching him insult her and remembering that slap he had walked out from the corner of the market to witness pushed him past the edge.

He didn’t give Josh time to recover. Rav grabbed him by the collar, yanked him up, and drove another punch straight into his face, then another, hitting him wherever his hand landed.

Around them, people began to gather even more, their voices rising in excited chatter. None of them intervened to stop the fight. They just watched, eager for a bit of chaos to liven their boring day, treating the fight as if it were some kind of entertainment, especially when many had been in a bad mood at the thought of war against humans with weapons to kill them. Furthermore, Mr. Clifton was human while Rav a vampire, and no matter the position of one in society, the vampires would stand by their kind, and so they didn’t interfere in the fight since the human was the one getting hit.