11. Matts Finds the Culprit

Matts had called the tons of paper that had covered his desk months ago an infernal jigsaw puzzle, but it had been nothing compared to what he had in front of him now. He scowled while standing in front of a whiteboard filled with papers, photos, scribbles, and connecting lines. Dozens of photos of several suspects were pinned to the board, but every time they investigated one of them, someone ended up dead. And nearly every time, it was the suspect they were investigating. It had been months since the warehouse incident, but the image of the beta jumping to his death kept replaying in Matts's mind.

He had seen other people die in similar ways since then. Killing themselves in whatever way possible when they had been caught. Death made it impossible for Matts to look into their minds, so all their secrets died with them. He wondered who the fuck could inspire such loyalty that the fear of death left them. Or were they being compelled to die? Either way, it made catching the leader of this conspiracy nearly impossible. He hid himself too well, took no risks, and left a trail of death of his own followers to get what he wanted.

Matts studied the board, reviewing the various targets of this conspiracy. Medical equipment; new types of technology; weapons; cyberattacks of databases, including their own—the list went on. Small things that were getting bolder with each new attack. And they all connected to a central piece on the board by one factor.

Memory erasure.

He picked up the newest piece of information he had received from his spies and pinned it to the board, next to a photo of the former Portuguese First Chair, Bruno Ferro.

Matts felt a pang of sadness creep in unexpectedly. He talked to all the alphas mated with the omegas. He was the one responsible for their safety, and he did his best to work with their alphas. But each and every alpha so far was suspicious of him. They accepted his direction with distrust and were always hostile to his interference.

But not Bruno.

After his initial hostility five months ago, Bruno had come around and started to trust Matts. He even advocated for him with the other alphas and made his job somewhat easier. After some time, Matts could almost say that they had become friends.

The news of his death had been disheartening.

Although he had not been the first omega mate to die, something about his death had put a bad taste in Matts's mouth. Bruno's phone had pinged as online on the morning of his death. They weren't quite sure at what time Bruno had died, but the fact that he had connection at the time of the fire made it very odd that no calls were made by any of the victims. His last message had been that morning, for his mate, but his phone failed to receive all calls from her. His team tried to retrieve the message he had sent to her, but it was erased.

Matts looked at the paper he had pinned next to Bruno's photo. Two days ago, the phone pinged again—something that should be impossible. Unless, of course, the phone had not been destroyed in the fire. He put Georgie, his best hacker, in charge of finding it. She had dug through a string of fake IPs and endless mirrors until she found the original connection spot. An IP in Germany, in the exact same place where they had last tracked one of the suspects.

Matts took a deep breath and connected Bruno's death to the latest death on the board. This time it was an alpha who seemed to be responsible for maintaining a hideout of some sort in Germany.

He examined the items on the board around Bruno's photo. Several things there connected his death to the new Portuguese First Chair, Gabriel Taveira. And now, for the second time, he connected the note saying memory erasure to Taveira's photo.

It was too much of a coincidence that the man responsible for the failed fire system was also first on the list for the Portuguese omega.

There was no photo of her on the board. After the attack on their system, Matts had decided against keeping any information about the omegas on their network. The only photo they had of her was on his desk, and he liked it where it was.

His pocket started ringing. Fishing out his phone, he looked at the caller ID and stilled.

"Hello there, Jerome. What news?" he greeted the man politely.

"The hearing for the Portuguese omega has just ended."

Matts's hand instinctively went to his cigarette pack, and he quickly lit one.

"How did it go?" he asked, sitting on the table behind him.

"Terribly, I would say. I received a call from my subordinate during what should have been the judge's final decision."

"Oh?" Matts tried to keep his voice casual. "What happened?"

"Apparently one of the claimants had information about what happened in France," Jerome's voice sounded strained. "And made veiled threats to the judge. The judge in charge wanted to scrap the first list altogether."

"What was the final ruling?" Matts held on to the table's edge, trying to keep his covetousness out of his voice.

He heard Jerome take a deep breath. It must have been a tough decision.

"I am leaning towards agreeing with you," Jerome replied. "I wanted a smooth transition, like the one in Brazil, but this attitude from the alphas in the first list… I find it disagreeable."

Matts's heart skipped a beat. He looked up at the board, at Taveira's photo.

"And the Potentia ad Opus?"

"You already know what they want, Matts. They are practically salivating at the possibility of a bookkeeper bonding with an omega," Jerome ranted. "For such visionary people, it's extraordinary how they can be shortsighted."

Matts grimaced at the slight. "Thanks for that, Jerome."

"I apologize, but you know what I think, Matts. Omegas have a purpose, and to take one away from it doesn't sit right with me."

"I understand," Matts replied without elaborating. He had found that if he let Jerome run with his thoughts, he would share more than he should.

"But I am starting to agree with you that she might be safer in your hands than with these alphas," Jerome confessed, his voice filled with concern. "There is too much noise around this omega. Too many things happening to her to leave me at ease. And I'll be danged if I let another omega end up like the French one."

Matts gripped the table harder.

"I will make the final call next week, when we both check these two alphas ourselves. Until then, I would like for you to look into the hearing and bring me anything you find suspicious."

"Of course." Matts tried to keep his grin out of his voice. "I will put my team on it right away."

"I'll see you in Portugal, Matts." Jerome hung up.

Matts put his phone down and smiled to himself. Jerome was finally seeing things his way. One week. He had one week to investigate what had happened at the hearing. One week to prepare before bringing the omega to Norway with him.

When he looked back at the board, Bruno's eyes seemed to judge him, and Matts felt a pang of shame. The man had just died and already there were vultures around his wife. And Matts was ashamed to admit he was one of those vultures.

Still, he made a silent promise to Bruno. He would protect and cherish her. He would not be like the other men, who thought with their dicks first. He would do anything in his power to ensure her safety.

He picked up his phone and called Henryk.

"Drop everything you're doing. We're going to Portugal."