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“Not everyone here needs to hear it, but I do if I’m to help you legally, and that family is connected,” Gerald said gently. “Does Alexis know?”

I sighed. “She knows enough, but not the dirty details.”

“Trust your gut on this, Ellie. I know you said you threw gas on it all, but I think just the opposite and you freed yourself,” Renee said gently. “You know the difference between now and fifty years ago.”

She was right and that helped. I gave her a grateful look because subconsciously I knew she was right.

Pompous families that still bought women like mares for their sons would care about me being a bastard, but the rest of the civilized world hadlongsince moved past that. That was the part my subconscious knew and I was missing because of the crazy.

“Strap on your daytime soaps hat,” I grumbled.

There was a knock at the door and one of my admins stuck her head in. “I apologize Ms. Reed, but there is a Mrs. Clark here and she is saying she’s here as the Alpha Mate because Dr. Clark’s life was threatened?”

“Oh shite,” Ha-joon said as he went to stand.

“Let her in,” I said at the same time. “I don’t actually know what happened when I went into shock. Let’s start there.”

Mrs. Clark breezed in with determination like she was ready to go into battle but also worry thick around her. Relief filled hereyes when she saw both of us. “Good, good, you are both fine. I apologize but when—”

“It’s fine, I’m not caught up either,” I forgave, gesturing for her to sit.

She gave a quick kiss to Ha-joon’s cheek first and then sat, still ready to battle from the determination in her eyes.

Even through my numbness, my heart hurt when Ha-joon looked at the door and back to his mother. “No Da?”

Surprise flashed in her eyes. “He said I was silly for coming and it was probably blown-up drama. If it wasn’t, you were more than capable to handle it, had good people at your back here, and were always smart enough to ask for help.”

He accepted that, knowing she wasn’t lying, and I squeezed his hand because I saw what was in her aura. I knew his father had said too much, but the man truly did love Ha-joon and I believed had faith in him.

We just weren’t perfect as people. I’d seen lots of parents be jealous of their children and vice versa. We were just people sometimes before our roles and relationships.

“It is a blowup,” Ha-joon accepted.

Alan snickered. “But like out of a damn comic or fucking clown car. I’m stealing your hidden liquor, Ellie.”

“Whichyouput there and I rarely touch,” I drawled.

“You’re welcome I get you the good stuff,” he teased bringing a bit of lightness to the conversation… For others. I wasn’t there yet.

Ha-joon said how the guy tried to punch him and he’d handled it but then vampires who knew that family were there visiting their sick patriarch and jumped in to help the guy. And that was the clown car jab because it was practically the whole fucking bloodline with extended family and more.

“He could have taken them all on,” Alanbitched, gesturing to Ha-joon as he handed out drinks. “Here I’m huffing and puffing—he really just makes me feel old and lazy. He’s an amazing doctor and I love that he’s kicking everyone up a few levels, but I didn’t need him to make me feel so lacking.”

“The new structure with the department heads as the board is doing wonders for all of us,” Carla cut in. “And I’ve seen you in actualbattle, Alan. You’re hot as fuck. I doubt the pup would know how not to cut himself with a sword and you’re badass.”

“Yeah, fair,” Ha-joon accepted, holding his hands up in surrender. “And I was huffing and puffing as well.” He nodded when his mother raised an eyebrow. “It wasridiculous, Mum. Like Monty Python ridiculous.”

Gerald snorted. “And apparently, they’re all bitching that it wasn’t battery and they don’t understand why they’re being arrested when they were ‘rescuing’ a friend. They’re not hearing that he threw the punch. Seriously, fucking entitled—and I say that as someone from a family with money. They’re in every species but—idiots.”

Yes, there were idiots in every species, race, and sex. That was for damn sure.

“Security was helping but mostly trying to block Ellie,” Alan explained. “Because it was clear you went into shock and that woman tried to grab back the information. Luckily, Gerald was there, and when he started to help Clark, I realized what she was doing and told him to get you out of there with the evidence before youbothdisappeared in the madness.”

“He explained you told him to,” I muttered. “Is the hospital like leveled?”

Ha-joon snorted. “We have more customers, and please bill some of them out the arse for taking cheap shots. Gits.”

“I’ll make it a priority,” I drawled before tossing back my drink. I focused on Mrs. Clark. “You weren’t there to hear what I revealed or—”