Please Divorce Me, Alpha! {BL}

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I stopped. I glanced toward the maze, then looked behind me, and then back to the maze, there weren’t supposed to be any children at the estate.

At least, not that I knew of. Servants weren’t allowed to bring kids onto the property without permission, and as far as I was aware, Lorenzo’s family didn’t have any young children living there.

The crying came again, soft but clear. My first thought was that someone had somehow snuck a child onto the estate.

My second thought was that I had finally gone crazy from boredom. Either option seemed equally plausible at that moment.

I moved closer to the entrance.

"Hello?" The crying continued. "Okay, that’s creepy."

I stepped inside the maze. The tall hedges surrounded me almost immediately, blocking any view of the estate.

The afternoon sun filtered through the leaves in thin, golden patches, and the air smelled of damp earth, grass, and the faint sweetness of flowers blooming somewhere beyond the walls.

I followed the sound without hesitation. Left. Right. Another right. Left again. At one point, I was pretty sure the maze was winning.

"Who designed this shit?" I muttered. "And why did they clearly hate people?"

The crying grew louder. I rounded another corner and finally spotted him. A tiny boy sat on the ground next to the hedge, tears staining his little face. He couldn’t have been older than three or four.

He had messy dark hair and a jacket that looked way too expensive for someone who was using it as a makeshift tissue.

He looked up at me, his lower lip quivering.

I stopped a few feet away. "Hey, little guy."

He sniffled as I crouched down slowly. "Are you lost?"

He stared at me, and I realized I had no clue what I was doing.

I’d never been good with kids. They were unpredictable, they cried over things that made no sense to adults, asked questions you weren’t ready for, and had an uncanny ability to say embarrassing things at the worst times.

I preferred adults, at least you could bribe adults to shut the fuck up with alcohol or money.

The boy sniffled again.

"Where’s your mommy?" His face crumpled. "Oh, no."

I instantly regretted asking. "Sorry, bad question."

He started crying harder and I panicked. "Whoa shit...okay, okay, don’t cry. I’m sure your mommy is looking for you. We’ll find her."

I edged closer. "What’s your name?" Nothing. "Can you tell me your name?"

The boy looked at me through his wet lashes and sniffed at me for a moment.

Then, out of nowhere, he scrambled to his feet and launched himself at me.

I barely had time to react before those tiny arms wrapped around my waist. I froze.

The child pressed his face into me and sobbed. "Mommy!"

I stared down at the top of his head, glancing around the maze as if an actual mother might show up and rescue us. No one came.

I slowly raised my hands. "Uh..."

The boy tightened his grip. "Mommy."

"I dunno little guy, but I’m definitely not your mommy." He didn’t care at all though, infact he buried his face deeper against my shirt.

I stood there, arms hovering uselessly at my sides, wondering how one goes about returning a lost child without traumatizing him further.

Eventually, instinct kicked in and I wrapped my arms around him.

"Okay," I whispered. "Fine. I’m your temporary mommy... But you should know, I’m not very good at this."

The boy sniffled against my chest.

"Also, I’m a man." Apparently, that didn’t matter to him. I sighed. "Right. We’re ignoring that."

I gently rubbed his back, and the crying gradually turned into little hiccups. I looked down at him as I wiped at his wet cheeks softly.

"There, that’s better." He still didn’t let go. I wasn’t sure if I should be offended or touched, maybe a bit of both.

"What’s your name?" I asked again. This time, after a moment, he mumbled something against my shirt. I had to lean in closer. "What?"

"Emil." He repeated it, and I finally understood.

"That’s a nice name."

He sniffed.

"Where’s your daddy?" I asked.

He pointed vaguely. I followed the direction of his tiny finger. "That is so not helpful."

He didn’t reply.

I sighed and adjusted him in my arms. "Alright, here’s the plan. We’re going to find your parents. Then I’m going to hand you over and pretend I knew exactly what I was doing."

The boy lifted his head, eyes still filled with tears.

"You understand?" He stared right at me. "I’ll take that as a yes."

I started walking. The boy refused to let go. Every time I tried to set him down so he could walk beside me, his little arms tightened around my neck.

"Seriously? You have legs." He buried his face against my scent gland. "Fine."

I kept carrying him.

As I maneuvered through the maze, I kept talking since the silence felt odd. "I don’t know where your parents are."

No response.

"And I also don’t know how to get out of here." The boy blinked up at me. "That’s becoming a problem."

I turned another corner. "Your family really needs to put up signs in this place. Something like, ’Exit this way, because your clueless mafia don designed the maze.’"

The boy made a tiny sound. I glanced down. He wasn’t crying anymore.

"Was that a laugh, Emil?" His mouth twitched. I smiled before I could stop myself. "There we go."

I kept walking. His small fists were still gripping my shirt, holding on to me like I was the only solid thing in the world. Eventually, I noticed him shifting against my shoulder.

He he continued rubbing his cheek near my neck, close to where my scent might comfort him, and relaxed.

I wasn’t sure why. Maybe my Omega scent reminded him of his mother.

That thought hit me in a strange way. This little boy didn’t know me and he had no clue about my life.

He didn’t know that I had spent years wondering if I was wanted. He didn’t know that the people who were supposed to love me had spent so long making me feel like I was just something they had to keep.

He simply saw someone who stopped. Someone who listened. Someone who picked him up. And that was enough for him.

I swallowed and looked away.

"Don’t get too comfortable," I murmured. "I’m still handing you back to your actual family."

The boy tightened his grip on my collar. I sighed. "Yes, yes, I heard you."

What I didn’t know was that I wasn’t truly alone.

High above the maze, beyond the thick green walls and partially hidden by the shadow of one of the estate’s upper windows, Lorenzo was watching.

He had been there long enough to witness my entry, long enough to see the moment the child rushed into my arms.

Long enough to observe my panic, my recovery, and then the way I carried the child I didn’t know was his nephew through the maze as if the tiny boy was now my responsibility.

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