Oh come on. They hadn't beaten the boy in the street. They had had the decency of blindfolding him and taking him to someone's home. And they had been polite enough to drop him off at the doctor's afterwards and pay the bill. They weren't ordinary street thugs.

Ben glared. "Don't mention that boy's name in the presence of my daughter."

"Noah?" Alice looked at Elijah confused, but hopeful.

"Noah had a short-lived change of heart, and he will have a change of heart tomorrow." Ben said.

"Noah is... the father?" Tobias asked uncomfortably.

The other children all looked on in silent horror.