[BL]Hunted by the God of Destruction-Chapter 290: Extend the family

Uno’s smile didn’t falter at Elias’s accusation. If anything, it grew proud, the way an elder relative might look when blamed for traits he was secretly delighted to see passed on.

"I assure you," Uno said, "your daughter’s brilliance is entirely her own."

Aria preened at the word "brilliance" and immediately released another glittering pulse of ether that floated toward the ceiling tiles like a firefly made of pure hazard.

Elias pointed sharply. "That. That right there. She does that because of you."

Uno blinked. "Of course she does. I’m her uncle."

Victor nearly dropped Otis.

"You are NOT," Victor snapped on reflex. "You are not family. You are not a friend. You are not even... even..."

Uno raised a brow, entirely serene. "I attend every birthday."

Elias did not look up from his spreadsheet. "He does."

"I bring gifts," Uno added, his blue eyes shining with entertainment.

Victor glared. "You brought a meteor."

"A small one," Uno corrected gently. "Perfect for a child."

Elias closed his eyes. "It cracked the patio."

"Character building," Uno murmured.

Aria nodded as though Uno spoke gospel.

Otis bit Victor’s tie harder, in agreement.

Victor pinched the bridge of his nose. "You are NOT their uncle."

Uno tilted his head, unconcerned. "And yet, they call me Uncle Uno. Children are rarely wrong." He had the guts to reach for Aria and the child, traitorous to Victor, extended her hands to her uncle.

Victor looked genuinely betrayed when Aria leaned toward Uno with open arms. She was bright with excitement, little sparks lifting from her fingertips like celebratory confetti.

"Aria," Victor warned, but she ignored him completely and launched herself into Uno’s waiting hands.

Uno caught her with effortless grace, settling her against his hip as though she weighed nothing at all. Aria immediately burrowed against him and tugged playfully at the lapel of his coat, delighted to have acquired her cosmic uncle again. Uno smiled softly, pleased in a way that made Victor’s jaw clench.

"You see?" Uno said, stroking the child’s hair like a man who believed this was destiny. "She knows who her family is."

Uno’s smile didn’t budge, even as Victor looked ready to have an aneurysm. Aria clung to Uno’s coat like a happily sparking koala, utterly unbothered by the fatherly betrayal unfolding three feet away.

Victor, however, was staring at his daughter with the wounded dignity of a man who had survived corporate espionage, assassination attempts, and mergers with hostile competitors, yet somehow had not prepared for this.

"Aria," he said, voice tight, "you are supposed to be on my team."

Aria beamed at him and crackled brightly, which only seemed to confirm Victor’s worst fears.

Uno stroked her back with the ease of someone who believed this was perfectly natural. "Children drift," he said mildly. "It’s healthy."

Victor squared his shoulders, pride refusing to bend even as his eye twitched. He adjusted Otis in one arm and reached forward with the other, collecting Aria from Uno with all the grace of a dethroned monarch reclaiming his heir.

Aria went easily, cheerful and glowing, immediately wrapping her arms around Victor’s neck. "Daddy!" she chirped, sparks dancing over his collar.

Victor held her close, jaw set in firm defiance. "You see?" he said, gaze flicking sharply to Uno. "My children always come back to me."

Uno didn’t look remotely threatened. "Of course they do," he replied with the serene tone of a cosmic being who enjoyed poking bears. "They love you. And they love me. Families grow." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Victor blinked at him. "Stop calling yourself family."

Uno tilted his head. "Then stop acting like you’re jealous."

Elias choked on air. Otis gnawed harder on the dinosaur. Aria quietly combusted the corner of Victor’s tie.

Victor inhaled through his nose, steady and regal. "I am not jealous," he said, brushing a hand over Aria’s hair with the kind of devotion that made Uno smile. "I am a father. A responsible one. A guiding one. A stabilizing force..."

Uno nodded, amused. "A proud one."

Victor hesitated, then lifted his chin. "Yes. Obviously."

Elias didn’t look up from his spreadsheet. "You’re proud even when they vaporize furniture."

Victor sniffed. "That was advanced talent."

Uno hummed. "She did melt half a kiosk."

Victor brightened. "Exactly. See? Even he agrees."

"I’m not agreeing," Uno corrected, smiling again. "I’m observing."

Elias pointed his pen at him. "Observe from across the building next time."

Uno opened his mouth, no doubt to argue some cosmic principle, but didn’t get the chance.

The door swung open without knocking.

Connor strode in, tablet in one hand, coffee in the other, mid-sentence. "Victor, they’re asking whether the..."

He froze.

Aria glowing like a newborn sun on Victor’s shoulder.

Otis hanging off Victor’s other arm like a decorative gargoyle.

Uno standing in the middle of the office like he owned it.

Elias rubbing his temple like he was praying for either patience or the apocalypse.

Connor blinked once. Twice. "Oh no," he whispered. "Why does this feel like a warning?"

Victor didn’t miss a beat. "Perfect timing, Connor. Uno was just about to ask you for something."

Uno clasped his hands behind his back with gentle interest. "Was I?"

"Yes," Victor said, expression sharpening. "You were going to ask Connor to get a family."

The silence that followed was so profound that even Aria paused her sparking.

Connor placed his coffee down as if it might try to run away. "Victor," he said slowly, "why would you invoke my name in front of him? What did I ever do to deserve this level of cosmic harassment?"

Victor, still juggling two small disasters with regal composure, replied smoothly, "Uno thinks you should consider starting a family."

Uno folded his hands behind his back, looking very serene and very dangerous. "I do."

Connor stared at him. "I am a dominant alpha. I do not have a womb. I cannot have children."

Uno nodded, unconcerned. "Not currently. But conversion therapy exists."

Connor made a sound like a dying machine. "You did it." The reality of it hit Connor like a train wreck. "You guided the scientist only because I would refuse to have a child with you if YOU interfered with fate."

Connor made a sound like a dying machine. "You did it."

The words came out strangled, half disbelief and half the exhausted fury of a man who had already lived through too many prophecies, too many glowing ceilings, and too many sleepless nights with a cosmic being who thought "ethically neutral meddling" was a hobby.

Uno’s posture didn’t shift, not even a millimeter. Only his eyes softened, which somehow made it infinitely worse.

Connor stared at him, horror dawning slowly and then all at once. "You guided the scientists."

Uno didn’t answer immediately, which was an answer.

Victor blinked. "What scientists?"

Elias exhaled sharply. "Don’t ask. Just... don’t."

But Connor stepped forward, shoulders tight, jaw clenched, chest rising like he was holding back a volcanic scream. "You guided them," he repeated, voice lower, more personal now. "Not the world. Not the timeline. Them. You interfered only because you knew I would refuse... absolutely refuse to have a child with you if I ever suspected you were pulling cosmic strings."

Uno finally spoke, calm as starlight. "I didn’t interfere with the outcome."

Connor’s laugh was sharp, borderline hysterical. "You nudged the research team toward a breakthrough in viable alpha-to-omega conversion therapy!"

Uno nodded once, gently. "A theoretical breakthrough."

"THEORETICAL?" Connor threw both hands in the air. "You rewrote three biochemical equations in the margin of a researcher’s notebook!"

Uno lifted a gloved hand. "A suggestion."

"YOU PHYSICALLY REMODELED THE NOTEBOOK INTO A COSMIC BLUEPRINT!"

Uno tilted his head. "She asked for inspiration."

Victor’s brows shot up. "Was she aware she was asking?"

"No," Uno said pleasantly. "But inspiration rarely requires consent."

Elias’s head hit his desk with a dull thud. "By the stars. Someone sedate me."

Connor dragged both hands through his hair, pacing once, twice, then whirling back toward Uno with the intensity of a man betrayed by both his lover and basic causality. "You did all of that because you knew I’d never say yes if you asked."

Uno’s expression softened, a faint glow lining the edges of his irises like moonlight drawn across water. "I wanted the option available to you," he said quietly. "Not a demand. Not a fate. A choice."

Connor froze.

That tone, that impossibly soft one Uno rarely used, cut through every layer of outrage like a blade.

But then Connor’s practical side kicked back in. "You manipulated biology."

"I expanded possibility," Uno replied.

"You interfered."

"I loved," Uno said simply.

Connor’s mouth opened and then closed, because what the hell was he supposed to do with that?

Victor, unhelpfully, nodded in agreement. "Honestly, Connor, it sounds like commitment."

Otis burbled like this was the greatest drama he’d ever seen. Aria sparked approvingly, because explosions were her love language.

Connor groaned. "Stop encouraging him!"

Victor shrugged. "He’s your cosmic boyfriend. Not ours."

Uno stepped closer, not threatening, but steady, grounded, the way he only ever was around Connor. "I did not guide you," he said softly. "I guided a field of science. If you never choose that path, nothing changes. If you do... the world will not limit you."