I Owe the Tyrant Four Little Heirs novel Chapter 48

“Keir, don’t be ridiculous. Mommy said our daddy is dead,” Jove hissed back.

Jareth’s amusement faded, replaced by a flicker of sympathy.

So Niamh was a widow in her twenties. He had assumed she was an unwed mother. Maybe he should ease up on her a bit. He didn’t want to get a reputation for bullying a grieving widow.

“But I still think he looks like you, and a little like me, and even a little like Phaedra and Aurelia,” Keir muttered.

Phaedra and Aurelia? There are two more? That means… there are four of them?

Internally, he was thinking, “Damn, Niamh. You look so delicate, but you’ve had this many kids. So young and already obsessed with having babies, one after another… four of them…”

His shock quickly turned to disdain.

Suddenly, the screen lit up again, with both monkey masks in full view.

“Mr. Bragg, hello. I am Jove, Niamh’s eldest son,” the first one said, his tone polite and serious.

“And I’m the second son, Keir,” the other one grumbled, rolling his eyes dramatically under the mask.

“I’m Jareth,” he replied, feeling a strange mix of excitement and the tension of a long-awaited confrontation.

He had never liked children, but for some reason, he didn’t mind these two at all. He even found himself wanting to play along.

“Mr. Bragg, why are you bullying my mommy?” Keir suddenly burst out.

Jareth was momentarily stunned.

“As a grown man, don’t you feel ashamed for picking on a woman?” Jove pressed on before he could answer. “My mommy is hardworking, kind, beautiful, generous, and ambitious. Everyone loves her. Flowers bloom when she walks by. So why are you bullying her? Can you give me one good reason?”

Jove delivered the two long sentences with surprising eloquence. Keir was a little shocked himself; his usually quiet brother was a master orator when it counted.

Keir echoed his brother’s words. “Yeah! My mommy is hardworking and kind and beautiful! Flowers bloom when she walks by! Why are you bullying her?”

“Pfft—”

Jareth tried to hold it in, but he couldn’t help but burst out laughing. It was the first time he had laughed so freely since his parents’ accident.