The Day I Married His Uncle

Chapter 7 The Lowell Judgment

" Will you never agree to this?" Evelyn looked at Damian, her fingertip brushing the blood staining her sleeve.

"On what grounds?"

Damian pushed himself up off the floor. The lash marks on his back pulled with the movement, and his face went another shade paler.

"My engagement to you hasn't been formally dissolved."

"You spoke the words yourself." Alfred's voice cut through the room. "Now you want to take them back?"

"Grandfather, I only—"

"Quiet."

Alfred raised his hand, and the weight of an Alpha's command pressed through the air. Damian stumbled, his shoulder catching the chair behind him, blood sliding past his jaw.

"You already have Bianca, and you still want to keep hold of Evelyn's engagement. What gives you the right?"

"Bianca was an accident," Damian's words came fast. "There's still something between me and Evelyn. She can't marry into another family."

"Something?" Evelyn laughed. "You carry her scent on your skin. Did you think of me at all?"

"I'll make it up to you."

"With what? Let her become your Chosen Mate, and keep me around for show?"

Damian's lips went bloodless. He turned to Alfred, searching for a way out of the pressure bearing down on him.

"Grandfather, the partnership between the Stone Family and Lowell Pack can't collapse over a private matter."

"You still think you have standing to talk about partnerships?"

Alfred crossed the room, his cane striking the floor.

"You marked another wolf in secret at your own engagement dinner, and then tried to keep your fiancée as well. You broke your honor and proved yourself worthless, and you still dare mention family interests."

Damian's face reddened.

"I am not worthless."

"Then name one thing you've accomplished, besides handing two women your mistakes to carry."

The room went still.

Victoria caught her son's arm. "Father, this has gone far enough. Ending an engagement needs proper handling. You should think of Lowell Pack's name."

Alfred turned to her.

"Who tore that name apart?"

Victoria's mouth opened. Nothing came out.

Alfred looked away from her, toward Adrian.

"What do you think of this?"

Adrian lifted his eyes. His gaze crossed the room and stopped on Evelyn.

She stood straight, gold hair falling past her shoulders, blood still marking her sleeve. His hand flattened against the table edge, and the wood creaked under it.

"Since you're looking for a new match for Evelyn," Adrian set down his glass, "why not consider me?"

Alfred froze.

Damian's head snapped up.

"What did you say?"

Adrian didn't look at him. He spoke only to Alfred.

"Let me be the one to bond with her."

Evelyn's eyes lifted to his face.

Alfred stared at his nephew, trying twice before he found his voice. "Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"She's still Damian's fiancée."

"She won't be, soon."

Adrian's voice stayed level. His eyes never left her.

Alfred understood, then. His nephew had loved her for a long time. Every quiet act of protection, every well-timed appearance, finally made sense.

He looked at Evelyn and thought the match he'd been about to propose belonged to another life entirely.

"Very well," Alfred raised his voice. "As of today, the engagement between Evelyn and Damian ends."

"Grandfather!" Damian's voice cracked.

"I'm not finished."

Alfred lifted the documents from the table and handed them to the housekeeper.

"Ten percent of Lowell Group transfers to Evelyn's name. Compensation for the broken engagement, and security for whatever bond she forms next."

"I refuse," Evelyn said at once.

"You'll accept it."

"It's too much."

"It's what you're owed," Alfred looked at her. "Don't call it charity. You held up the dignity of two families for years. You've earned it."

Victoria's voice rose. "Father, ten percent affects control of the group. You can't decide this alone."

"I hold these shares. I decide what happens to them."

Alfred's stare turned cold.

"Your son turned an engagement into a scandal, and you want to fight for him now?"

"This affects the whole family—"

"What affects this family is the son you raised."

Alfred turned to Damian, his words landing like a blow. "You lost her because you destroyed the engagement with your own hands. Know where you stand. Stop chasing after her."

Damian's chest rose and fell hard.

"Evelyn. Are you really going to marry him?"

Evelyn picked up the agreement without looking at him.

"My marriage is no longer your concern."

She bowed slightly toward Alfred. "Thank you for today. I'll take my leave."

Adrian stood.

"I'll walk her out."

"Adrian, you—"

"This is my decision."

He moved to her side, his arm a wall against the stares following them, and they left the room together.

---

Damian watched the door close behind them, his hand pressed to his chest.

She thought walking away ended it clean.

Silvercrest City would call her the one who got left behind. Every wolf in her circle would wait for her to come apart in public.

"Get your eyes off her."

Alfred's voice came from behind him.

Damian's teeth locked together.

"I only—"

"Stay out of her sight from now on." Alfred's stare didn't waver. "You asked for this. Live with it."

Victoria caught her son's arm and told the housekeeper to bring the car around.

"Silver Spring Medical Center, first." She studied the marks across his back. "No more of this. I'll find you someone from a real house. Ashcroft Family, Dawnridge Pack, one of them will suit you."

"Enough, Mother."

Damian pulled free, and the motion tore at his wounds. His face went darker.

"Let me have some quiet."

---

The black car rolled through the manor gates.

Evelyn pulled out her phone and typed a message to Victor.

*I've ended my engagement with Damian.*

The call came through before she could put the phone down.

"What did you say?" Victor's voice carried through the line, edged with temper. "Something this large, and you tell me now?"

"You seemed occupied. I didn't want to interrupt."

"Don't be smart with me."

Evelyn turned toward the window, watching the manor shrink behind them.

"Would you have preferred I stayed engaged to a man who marked another woman during our dinner?"

"That isn't the point—"

"It's exactly the point." Her voice stayed even. "You wanted my consent when it suited your alliance. You never asked for it when you married Linda."

Silence stretched across the line.

"Watch your tone with me."

"I've watched it my whole life." Evelyn ended the call and lowered the phone into her lap.

---

Adrian said nothing for the rest of the drive.

He watched her turn the phone face down against her knee, watched her fingers stay steady while everything else in the car went quiet around her.

Damian would come back. Men like him always circled once, twice, before they understood a door had closed for good. Victor would keep pulling at her from the other side, using her mother's name, her family's debts, whatever leverage he could still claim.

None of it would reach her again.

He turned his gaze to the window, and the decision settled into him without a single word spoken aloud.

Whatever came for her next would have to come through him first.