Chapter 377 - Why? (5)

9 May, Rong Family Villa, City K

As he walked into the casual lounge, Phillip observed Matthew slumped down, a glass of alcohol in his hand, swinging beside the arm of the chair that he was sitting on.

"Feeling sorry for yourself?"

"Shut up, Phillip. You helped keep the truth from me. My son could have died, and I would never have known the truth." Matthew then pulled the glass up and drank the remainder of his drink.

"You my think that you hate me, let alone my husband, our brother-in-law and most importantly your wife but we need to have a honest discussion, and I suspect that I am the only person in the world that you can have this with." Moving over Phillip swiped the glass from Matthew's hand and then said, "And you are drinking…?"

"Whiskey."

Phillip moved over to the buffet that had alcohol bottles and poured himself a glass, while pouring Matthew another, before moving back and handing Matthew his glass and sitting down and quietly adding "Talk to me."

"Talk to you, I ought to kill you. You were complicit in me missing over eight years of my son's life, Lexi going through hell, and cheating Dominic of having the life he really should have had…"

Phillip shook his head and said "You cannot change the past Matthew, but the future is what you make of it. Think of this. If you had married Lexi and had been there for Dominic his whole life, would you have had the opportunities you have pursued in the military and would Lexi have found and pursued a career she loves while building a successful business."

With Phillip holding up his hand, Matthew realised should remain quiet. He took a sip of Whiskey.

Phillip noticing Matthew had finally gotten the message to listen to him, continued "The answer that you are looking for is no. You would have resented the situation you were forced into and made you and Lexi miserable. Dominic would have suffered in that environment. The past has given you the opportunities for you both to be where you are…"

"But…"

"No buts Matthew. You would not be where you are, and I suspect that is somewhere I really do not want to know and that conversation we will have another day. But Chester was right. You need to look to Lexi's parents. You remember their reaction when you joined the military…?"

Scrunching his face Matthew thought for a few seconds in the silence, and quietly said "They were as bad as our parents."

"To your face, they tempered their reaction because, for some reason, they had a modic.u.m of respect for me. They knew, despite me being p*ssed off at you at the time, I loved you and they did not want to jeopardise you saying something to me that would hurt them economically. But away from you they had no boundaries. Saying they detested you is putting it mildly. I could never work out while they hated the military, and it was simply because they were away when Lexi graduated and became pregnant, that you had the ability to spend time with her. Had they been around, there is no chance you would have spent even a minute with her, let alone having the time together for her to get pregnant. Then you would not have had Dominic at all."

"So…"

"So, baby brother, none of us would have had Dominic in our lives, let alone you having a son had they been around. But that attitude would have impacted Lexi when she found out she was pregnant."

Phillip looked at Matthew, and it was as if a switch had been flicked. "And they would have done everything to prevent Lexi and I from being able to marry."

"To Chester and I, that is the one thing that makes logical sense. And the other thing we worked through and confirmed is what they could have done when Lexi gave birth."

Phillip paused and could see the confused look on Matthew's face. "We had to research it, and that was only because Chester remembered a passing comment from Lexi about her parents if she refused an abortion sending her away and forcing her to give the baby away. Under a now abandoned, but still on the books then, law as she was under eighteen at the time they could have forced her into an institution for unwed mothers and agreed on her behalf, despite that she would have turned eighteen before giving birth, for the child to been given up for adoption."

"F*ck!"

"That is what we thought. Lexi had no options. Other than refusing to consent to medical procedures, and from what I understand agreeing to enter a military marriage with you, until she turned eighteen our in-laws legally could make all decisions, including entering into a marriage on her behalf. Archaic I know, but we know they wanted total control of their children, hence Chester's living hell for years with the witch of an ex-wife, because they signed all the doc.u.ments for that marriage to happen before he turned eighteen. Even our parents with their attitude were never that abusive and controlling of their children."

Phillip, after taking a sip of his whiskey, continued "In the end, Lexi did the best thing that she could. She thought to keep your child. If she did not, none of us would have him in our lives, and that would be a pity."

"Phillip, …"

"Matthew," interrupted Phillip. "Let me put it another way. Our parents came to either of us, and said that the only way we could save a child a woman said was our child was to marry her as otherwise she would have an abortion, would either of us not do that?"

Matthew pondered the question for a few seconds, while he took another sip, before quietly saying "No, and point taken. Of course, we would have a watertight pre-nuptial agreement to protect assets, but the child would be innocent, and we would want it to have a chance to live."

"Then why, have you reacted like this?"

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