Peerless Perverted Actor Has a Celebrity Harem?!

The Chancellor started to speak, but Park shook his head before she could. He didn’t want her jumping in; for once, he wanted to finish something without Alexander immediately deciding his wife had put the words in Park’s mouth.

"Stop treating me like I somehow forced all of this to happen. You all act like I made Father cheat on you and I made myself get born and then personally showed up here because ruining everybody’s life sounded fun at the age of three. I didn’t exactly get a choice, you know?"

That quieted the table more effectively than yelling probably would’ve.

Park looked toward Alexander, and something ugly from the old memories surfaced before he could decide whether he wanted to use it.

"I was three years old when some chauffeur service driver dropped me at this estate with paternity documents. Three. And even after that you took me to private doctors because apparently the first tests weren’t enough and there was still a chance a toddler had designed some elaborate scheme to impersonate your son and "steal your riches"."

Emmie’s expression changed instantly.

Aveline looked down, even the Chancellor’s face lost some of its hardness.

Park hadn’t planned to say any of this. He’d barely even thought about that memory since waking up in this life, but once it came out, others followed far too easily. A little boy in an enormous house with adults looking at him strangely, doctors, needles after needles as if other DNA test option weren’t enough.

They’d asked him questions he didn’t understand, doctors confirming again and again that yes, unfortunately for everyone involved, Alexander Bennett really was his father.

"Ever since then, I’ve been treated like some stain everybody in this family has their own way of trying to wash out."

"Park," the Chancellor said softly.

He looked at her and shook his head.

"You being subtle or not in your schemes doesn’t really matter, Mother, it still fucking hurts."

She stopped.

Park wasn’t trying to make himself sound pitiful.

That was probably why the words felt worse when they came out. He wasn’t crying, or begging anyone to love him and neither was pretending the old Park had been some innocent little saint who’d never contributed to his own isolation.

He was simply tired enough that pretending the obvious didn’t exist suddenly felt ridiculous.

He turned toward Aveline and Evangeline.

"I actually thought maybe if I changed and gave this family thing a proper shot, we could eventually be something normal. Not immediately, I’m not stupid but maybe I stop acting like I don’t care, you stop acting like I’m some stranger who wandered in through the wrong gate, and we figure it out eventually."

Aveline stared at him, Evangeline had gone completely still while Emmie looked miserable.

Park gave a short, tired laugh. "I tried for one day. One fucking day, and apparently even that was ambitious."

He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Call me weak if you want. Father certainly has. But more than fifteen years of this shit can do that to somebody." He circled one finger around the table, encompassing all of them, the dinner, the house, the arguments and everything sitting beneath them.

For once, Alexander actually looked surprised.

Not really guilty or softened.

Park wasn’t delusional enough to expect a Christmas miracle like Santa.

The man was actually surprised.

Maybe because the old Park would’ve swallowed it, maybe because the boy Alexander had spent years assuming would retreat the moment his voice hardened had suddenly stood up in the middle of dinner and told all of them he was done being family ammunition.

Park took a step backward from the table.

"So don’t worry. This is my last family gathering. I’ll stay out of everybody’s hair as much as possible, and you can all argue about whatever the hell you want without dragging me into it, or you can drag me into it but just not with me there."

Emmeline sat forward immediately. "Park, no."

"Don’t be ridiculous, Park Bennett!" the Chancellor said at almost the same time.

Park looked at Emmeline and felt his resolve wobble in a way Alexander’s anger hadn’t managed.

That was the unfair part... Emmie had never been the problem.

The Chancellor had hugged him tonight, kissed his forehead and treated him with more affection; that was the first affection any parent figure had ever shown him both on his old life and this too. Aveline had been changing too, slowly and awkwardly, but enough that Park had noticed. Evangeline remained Evangeline, yet even she no longer felt quite as unreachable as she had before.

That was why this hurt.

If he hated all of them, leaving would have been easy.

He turned to walk away.

"STOP!"

Alexander’s voice caught him before he’d taken four steps.

Park closed his eyes briefly: "You don’t walk away from me while I’m speaking to you."

He stood there with his back to the table, tired enough to seriously consider pretending he hadn’t heard.

Then the information from earlier returned to him mind:

The Prime Minister had begun using intermediaries to influence entertainment-industry with the objective of preventing Park’s career from advancing beyond The City. Not to mention what he’d been doing before to make sure Park stayed a nobody.

Park had tried not to think too deeply about it mostly because the deeper he went, the uglier the questions became.

How long was Alexander going to keep doing this, huh?

How many auditions had the old Park actually failed because of his father?

How many times had the old Park gone home wondering whether he wasn’t talented enough, whether directors simply didn’t like him, whether his face really was some fucking curse that made powerful men reject him even when he performed well?

How many doors had been locked before he even reached them?

He didn’t know.

Park slowly turned around.

Alexander stood at the head of the table now, having risen from his chair.

For one second Park had the deeply inconvenient thought that his father was built like somebody who could pick him up and throw him into next week’s Chapter. Broad shoulders, heavy frame, that cold expression and the kind of physical presence that made Park’s sixty-three points of strength feel like decorative statistics.

Park was afraid of him.

There was no point lying to himself about that.

But being afraid suddenly didn’t feel like a good enough reason to keep quiet.

"Oh, one more thing, father."

Alexander’s eyes narrowed more in surprise than curious of what Park was saying... that stupid arrogant tone annoyed him. "What?"

Park looked straight at him.

"Stop threatening me, Dad. And call off whatever dogs you’ve sent after my career."

The change around the table was immediate... Aveline’s head snapped toward Alexander even the Chancellor’s eyes sharpened surprised Park would say that and how he knew.

Emmie looked between them.

Alexander himself went so still that Park briefly wondered whether he’d finally managed to say something genuinely dangerous.

"What did you just say?"

"You heard me."

"Nathaniel."

"Stop paying people to ruin my career, stop the intermediaries you just sent today to do your dirty work, if you want to stop me, do it yourself openly. Stop leaning on whoever you can reach in the industry and inside NX to make sure I don’t go beyond where I am."

The Prime Minister’s face became frighteningly blank.

Park’s heart was beating so hard now that pretending he was calm would’ve insulted everyone present, but he kept going.

"I don’t know why you’re doing it. Maybe you think my acting embarrasses you, maybe you’re terrified somebody will figure out who I am or perhaps you just don’t want me succeeding at something you told me not to do. Whatever. I’m done guessing."

Alexander stepped away from the table:

"Who told you this nonsense?"

Park almost smiled.

That was one question he definitely wasn’t answering.

Instead, he took another step toward the hallway:

"Just stop. Because if you keep trying to bury me, who knows what some desperate rookie starving for attention might decide is the fastest way to become famous? I can’t start to wonder what I might do to get famous."

Alexander’s stare became lethal: "What exactly are you threatening?"

Park paused, he genuinely hadn’t planned that far ahead.

"I don’t know yet." A tiny sound escaped Emmie before she covered her mouth. Park glanced toward her and nearly winked at her.

"I’m nineteen. Give me time. I’m creative."

That almost destroyed her despite the situation, but the Chancellor’s expression remained far too serious for Emmie to risk actually laughing.

Alexander moved around the table: "Park."

Park turned toward the door.

"Nathaniel Park Bennett."

His full name in that voice nearly stopped him again.

Nearly... Park kept walking.

"What did you just say to me? Get back here."

He reached the hallway and felt his shoulders tense at the sound of Alexander moving behind him.

Park didn’t turn around.

He didn’t know what happened after that. He didn’t want to know.

For once, whatever war erupted in the Bennett family could happen without everybody using his face as the battlefield.

He kept walking toward his room, heart still beating like he’d just escaped something considerably more dangerous than dinner, and only when the family room disappeared behind another corridor did Park finally let himself breathe properly.

More than fifteen years of their shit had been enough.

He’d lasted a few days.

Maybe the old Park had been stronger than anyone in that house ever gave him credit for.

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