Marabella's next birthday banquet finally began, just like the previous year, everyone came to the event to enliven the luxurious and expensive banquet.
Especially after Marabella experienced a tremendous increase in sales since Ivan was announced to be the CEO's trusted manager. They started talking about it, saying that Ivan had the potential to become the new face of Marabella.
And Barney does plan to do so, he intends to adopt Ivan as his son so that he can pass the company on to him.
But what he didn't know was that he had made a big mistake in doing so.
"This banquet will be a bigger party because I'm going to announce Ivan as our adopted son," Barney said as he straightened his suit.
But of course, Viona didn't agree with that. "Our son? You mean your son. Don't bring the word 'we' into this. I will never recognize him as my son," she said while wearing earrings in her ears.
"Heh come on, he's much more useful than that kid you gave birth to. Omega is useless, I'm sure he's dead now since he hasn't come back for almost two months." Barney continued to look down on his own son, thinking that there was no way Daren could survive.
"Don't speak carelessly, after all he is your own flesh and blood. Your blood is in his body, remember that!" She stared intently at her husband through her vanity mirror.
Until now, Viona believed that Daren was still alive. She was sure that her son was a strong man and knew what he would do out there. Viona just had to wait until Daren came home and they saw each other again.
"You trusted that boy too much, didn't you see what happened to Hendrick when he trusted you too much? Maybe then you could have brought him down by betraying him. But things could have turned around, you could have gotten your karma for what you did in the past," she continued.
"Shut up! You talk too much and comment on what I do. What does an Omega like you know about that? You're just lowly creatures who can only crawl under the feet of the Alphas! Without the Alpha, you are nothing!"
He pointed at the front of Viona's face while looking at her sharply.
"It's easy for you to say that, as if you earned everything on your own. Even you used to be an unemployed man with nothing to do. You can have money because you married me," Viona said and then turned to Barney.
"If I want, I can ask my family to cut off the company's relationship with Marabella. That way Marabella will be short of funds, don't forget that you also owe my family."
Barney gritted his teeth, he had never seen Viona be so rebellious. She used to submit to him and keep quiet without saying anything threatening, but ever since Viona got fed up with how her husband treated their son.
She couldn't just stand by and watch everything.
"You and that useless kid are both driving me crazy. It's lucky I kept you alive! Now get ready or I'll leave you here!" Resentfully, he left the room.
Viona sighed and powdered her face. Although she looked very strong, she was actually crying inside.
Crying for her son who had not returned. She looked at herself in the mirror, looking at the Omega inside her. She used to be able to keep quiet whenever Barney monopolized her as an Alpha.
She had given birth to the two sons her husband had hoped for. She still remembered how much Barney loved Aldrich and Daren. However, when he found out about Daren being an Omega, Barney treated him badly and considered her a failure to give birth to an Alpha.
"It's enough for me to lose Aldrich, Daren please come back to me... I miss you so much," she murmured while covering her face with her palms.
On the other hand, Daren and Axel were already preparing to enter the hall where the banquet was taking place. They would mingle among the guests until his family and Ivan arrived at the party.
"Do you think Ivan is planning anything else at this party? I mean... He could be thinking of killing my father here after he gets what he wants," asked a suspicious Daren.
"You mean there's a hitman among the guests? It could happen. Moreover, they will be highly trained and planned to be able to escape without anyone knowing who they are," Axel replied while looking around them.
He deliberately stood in front of Daren to cover the man from the people, because he was sure they recognized his face and it would be another ruckus if they saw Daren who suddenly appeared after being reported missing for almost two months.
Axel saw the hands of people around him, in the past a hitman could be distinguished by the shape of his fingers which had small depressions from holding a gun too often. But only someone who was very meticulous could realize that.
'Now it is very difficult to do so. The only thing to do is to be careful and stay alert,' he thought.
After waiting for almost 45 minutes, a man approached the two of them and it was Mike who had just arrived. Behind him, a beautiful woman who had the same looks as Daren, walked up to them.
She was surprised to see Axel in front of her and immediately asked about her son's whereabouts.
"Where's Daren? Where is he! Please tell me. I'll pay you whatever you want, but please give me back my Daren..." she asked with tears in her eyes.
"Mom," called Daren who appeared from behind his lover's body.
"Daren!" Viona immediately embraced her son, feeling very relieved that he was still alive. "Oh Daren, I was so afraid of losing you..."
"I'm here, mom. But... Can you not hug me too tightly?" He slightly released his mother's embrace and unbuttoned his shirt slightly, revealing the bandages on his chest.
"What happened to you!?"
"It's a very long story, I'll explain later. Now mom come with Mike to Axel's car, we're leaving here. We're getting away from dad. You want to, right?"
Hearing that, of course Viona agreed. She kissed his forehead and followed Mike to the car.
Daren looked at the stage, where the party had started and saw Barney busy talking about Ivan in front of everyone.
Seeing Ivan again after so long, Daren's hands clenched into tight fists from the resentment he had. He had trusted Ivan with everything he had, but the man had betrayed him.
"Let's go before they realize it," Axel said, wrapping his arms around Daren's body.
He could see the hatred in his Omega's eyes, making Axel feel that that was exactly what Daren should have done in the first place.
Hating Ivan with everything he had, that way Daren would have a strong reason to stop the Beta.