Violet Ashes: The Blood Ridge Alpha - Chapter 52: Chapter 52

Vincent
Violetta left without me being able to deny what she said. I conduct a walk-through of the packhouse to ensure the new recruits are settling in. I get to the quads with the betas, and we run a perimeter through the villas to see if the older ones need anything that can be provided.
I sign off on a few things and head home. I'd been staying in the alpha's quarters because there's no one at the house, and silence tends to drive me crazy. I don't expect my father to be there when I arrive. He's sitting beside his Jeep with a bottle in his hand as usual. As I get closer, it becomes obvious he's passed out. I crouch down in front of him and think back to what Vy said.
Maybe she's right. After all these years, I started believing the hateful shit he would spit in my face. How many times did I have to sleep out in the streets, injured, without being able to move a muscle, only to appease him and his need to be in control?
I take the bottle out of his hand and lift him over my shoulder to get him inside. The first thing I notice is that he's practically weightless to me now. I get him in his room and leave him on the bed the way he lands.
What am I supposed to do with him? There's nowhere on this earth we can put him where his nearly feral wolf can't escape. I can't send him away; it would only make it easier to kill him. Despite being the bastard that he is, he's still our father.
I clean up and find that I have nothing to do outside of running this pack. With Violetta here, the smaller tasks are all taken care of. She had Ramona Vivaldi digitize all of our paperwork, and now it's all done on an app. I have access to it on my phone. The debts and accounts were all cleared. The reports are all signed and sorted.
When my phone rings, I feel almost relieved, thinking that someone needs me to help them with something, but it's Matt.
"Hey," I answer.
"Is it cool if I stop by the house to pick up some things?" he asks.
"This is your home," I remind him.
"As long as Dad is there, none of us is going back."
"He has nowhere else to go. What do you think I should do with him?"
"It's up to you, Vince. You're the alpha," he hangs up.
"Yeah, you're the alpha, boy." My father is standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at me.
He's a mess. I doubt he's showered in the week he's been gone. His beard is a mess, his hair is sticking to his greasy forehead, and I'm sure he's pissed himself more than once. It's been a while since I've seen him this far gone. I'm willing to bet that it has to do with Vy being back in our lives.
Now that she's older, she looks a lot like Mom—more than my other sisters. The amount of power she harbored has pushed him back into the mindless violence he had once carried himself with. Together, he knows we're a threat even if she's not in the room with us.
I've watched this man destroy himself over and over, but I've always seen all the good he's tried to do. I've witnessed the man fight the beast inside of him and lose on more than one occasion. It would be too easy to kill him. To let Vy do it the way she's wanted to for years.
"You should get some rest. I'll make you something to eat."
He doesn't hesitate this time. He grips the veranda and pulls himself over, landing a few feet away from me. His neutral expression contorts with rage as he closes the gap between us. I don't stand, I don't have control over the strength I've gained since Violetta and I synced up again. But for once, I don't feel the surge of fear that I usually do when he comes at me this way.
"I can smell her on you," he growls, leaning in. He grips the front of my button-up and pulls me in to sniff me better. "Did she solve all your problems while I was away, Vincent?" he lifts me off the couch so we're eye to eye. "Hmm? You let her take the pups out of our home?"
"What do you want them here for? So you can beat them?" I ask calmly. His eyes flare red with anger.
"Oh," he chuckles darkly. "You get a little bit of power and you suddenly think you can talk back to me?" his ransid breath makes me grimace and for the first time in years, I begin to wonder why they fuck I ever feared him. Why have I let him push us around for so long? "You're forgetting yourself, Son. You owe everything to me. Not her."
"What exactly do I owe you for?" I place my hand on his wrist.
He shoves me hard enough that I fall back onto the couch. I'm able to block his first punch, but he keeps coming at me, and for a moment, everything goes eerily quiet. I feel my wolf surge forward, and I kick out. He staggers back and falls over the wooden coffee table in the center of the room. I stand watching him struggle to get back on his feet.
"Go get cleaned up, and I'll make you some dinner," I growl at him.
He laughs and stumbles up. He pushes off the armrest and rushes me. He shoulder hits my stomach, but I barely stagger back. He tries to push against me and starts to swing his arms wildly, trying to hit my back. I grip the back of his filthy jacket and lift him up to throw him across the room. He rolls until he hits the bottom of the stairs.
The front door opens. Matt and Roman Vivaldi are standing there, staring at the two of us. Dad tries to lift himself and barely manages to get on all fours. He spits a mouthful of blood on the floor in front of me and looks up with the same hatred he usually reserves for my sister.
"Go get cleaned up, and I'll make you some dinner," I repeat myself.
The awkward silence grows heavy as he uses the safety rail to pull himself up. He gags, and bile comes out of his mouth. I sigh, watching him throw up clear liquid that smells like vodka and death. When he's done, he slowly starts to make his way up to his room.
"You okay?" Matt asks.
"Go go get your shit. Don't come into my house, Rogue." I warn Vivaldi.
He doesn't say anything. Matt goes upstairs as I get what I need to clean this shit up. By the time Matt is done, I've cleaned up the mess my Dad made and started to take things out of the fridge to help my dad with his hangover.
"You don't have to be here, Vince," Matt says, standing in the archway. I don't answer him. I never do. I don't know how to explain to him that this man is my father and even if he is a massive piece of shit, I can't just turn my back on him. "Vince-"
"Did you get what you came for?" I cut him off. He tenses up and nods. "Don't keep your sisters waiting. Take care of them."
"I don't understand why you don't come with us." his voice breaks. "Just come with us. He doesn't care about us, Vince. He's not a person anymore."
"He's a person to me, Mathew. I'm all he's got left," I sigh. "So, if you have what you need, don't keep our sisters waiting."