Chapter 21

Matthew sat quietly, watching the monitor screens, not understanding the numbers or lines but needing something to focus on.

The room was both loud and quiet, with the machines beeping and ticking and suctioning, but no one else said a word or moved. The smell of medical cleaning and death were heavy in the air, and he resisted the urge to shudder as he took in another whiff in his search for Gabriella’s scent. It was still there, but the room was void of life and overpowered the sweetness of her Omega nature.

He wanted to reach out to her, to find comfort in her heartbeat and in her warmth and her touch. He couldn’t, however. Even with his struggle, he had to be the strong one.

A heart attack. A fucking heart attack. He had heard the uptick in her father’s heartbeat in the moments leading up to the event, but he hadn’t ever heard one before. He had thought the boss was just losing his mind at being outplayed and outmaneuvered and betrayed by the people under his thumb. But his heart had stopped , and Matthew had sprung into action.

The heart attack itself was enough to kill him, the doctors had said, if not for her immediate call for an ambulance and performing CPR.

But life had other plans because the stroke following was the final straw.

If Matthew believed in karmic justice, he would say it was that.

Gabriella had shown weakness in not allowing her father to die, but fate made the final call and struck the once imposing boss with two catastrophic hammers.

It was enough to make him want to laugh, but given how quiet Gabriella was as she held her father’s still hand, he sat silent.

Was she blaming herself? Was she replaying the confrontation in her head? Was she angry with him for forcing her hand? Was she regretting choosing him as her Alpha?

All things he wanted to ask but feared to voice.

Deep down, Matthew knew it wasn’t her fault. The problems had been building for years, according to his personal physician, which Matthew had sent Alessandro to question.

High cholesterol, high blood pressure, and a myriad of health issues had plagued Santorini, and he had often ignored the doctor’s warnings. The diet of alcohol, salt, and meat contributed to it, and the stress didn’t help either.

The boss was on borrowed time.

Maybe Gabriella had pushed him over the edge. Maybe not. There was no way to tell.

All Matthew knew, as explained to them by the doctors at the hospital, was that the boss was in a coma and that they would need more tests to find out if there was still any brain function.

Gabriella had nodded as if in a trance as they explained it all.

They sat in silence, as she had not said a word to even her mate. That hurt more than anything else. Not for his own sake—although he would be lying if he said he was fine without her talking to him, but he knew her. She would loathe letting down her walls and would rather wear a mask. She needed to talk about what she was feeling and whether she blamed herself.

If it were up to him, Matthew never would have made the call. Renaldo dying in his office of a medical condition would have solved a thousand problems and kept blood off Gabriella’s hands. She had never given him verbal confirmation to take that shot, only threatening to have Alessandro shoot him in a nonlethal spot if he lied. When he had asked her while still in the apartment, she had never answered. Never said no, sure, but never said yes.

He also understood why. In the end, this was her father, her only living parent, the person she had trusted and idolized for years.

Deep down, he suspected she had wanted his approval. That she had wanted to be seen as good enough. That she wanted her father to recognize her strength.

None of which she would have never received, or so Matthew suspected. Renaldo Santorini was never one to admit he was wrong. And none of them would have ever been safe so long as he lived.

It was better this way, to have the old man dead. And now he was, or as good as, unless by some fucking miracle.

Gabriella had to accept that. Had to process it. Had to move forward.

She was the boss. She had to make the next call. She had to make the right call.

He was her Alpha, and his position in life was to stand by her side, be her strength, and to be her sworn gun.

And maybe argue with her about her decisions in private.

But now wasn’t the time to argue with her about making the call because if old man Santorini was brain dead, it was over.

For now, they just had to wait.

But they couldn’t wait forever.

“Do you think he meant it?” Gabriella asked, jostling Matthew out of thought, still looking down at her father’s hand.

It had freaked him out when she first touched her father’s cold, stiff body. Matthew was used to dead or almost-dead bodies. Those, he touched without a second thought, rifling through pockets for other weapons, cell phones, whatever the boss wanted. Touching someone in a coma? Not for him.

“Meant what?”

“That I’m weak.”

The shitty part was, Matthew knew she knew the answer. Of course he did. Her father had spent years harping about how Omegas were weak and a weakness. Only a Beta, in Renaldo’s eyes, had any sort of humanity, and Alphas were nothing but a sword and shield to be wielded by intelligent Alphas. Omegas just got in the way.

Wrapping his arm around Gabriella’s shoulder, he moved his other hand to her chin to force her to look at him. “You are far from weak. What your father thinks in that regard, he’s a Beta. He could never comprehend the strengths and weaknesses and abilities of an Omega. But that’s not the only thing on your mind. Tell me everything, Gabriella. Tell me what’s bothering you.”

Her eyes closed, and he waited patiently for her to gather herself. Time had crawled in the ICU, but it had still been a while, given the nonstop buzzing in his pocket. If something was really fucking urgent, Alessandro would have busted into the room.

“I wanted his approval. I wanted him to recognize my strengths. My abilities. I wanted him to love me, as he once had... If he ever truly had.”

“What changed?” he asked, his voice gentle as he rubbed her cheek with his thumb.

Her eyes stared back at his for another moment before she took a deep breath and gazed straight forward.

He recognized the look. She was remembering the past and forcing her way through it.

“Too much and not enough,” Gabriella answered slowly before pursing her lips. “He kept a lot of secrets from me growing up but it wasn’t until I was in college that I learned he was involved with the mob. I was worried for him, of course but imagine my horror when I realized he was the mob. I was angry at him for keeping secrets. We fought about him keeping secrets but eventually. I don’t know. We stopped fighting. He let me ask questions and finally gave me answers. I wanted to get involved, and he let me in. We were closer than ever but then I started talking about grad school, and he put his foot down again. I knew I would be able to coax him into it eventually, show him that me studying business would only help the family and that I wasn’t a child anymore. But before I even started whittling away at him, he woke up one day and agreed to it. Said I should get out and see some of the world so long as I kept up with my doctors and my health. He made some phone calls and I had a place in a graduate program and was gone a week later, with the promise of me taking a place at his side when I returned. I thought things were good but... obviously, I was wrong.”

Matthew had listened to her explanation, nodding.

He had never known Gabriella before she went to graduate school and hadn’t even been an enforcer at that time. Really, he had only been a soldier, a hired gun, still training and growing used to the injections and tests. Until about three years earlier, when he had woken up in a cell and been forced to swear his allegiance to the Santorinis for life. After that, he had taken his place as Renaldo’s bodyguard and enforcer until, eventually, he was surrounded by Alphas he could control with a simple injection.

Gabriella laughed, pulling Matthew from his own memories as he noticed her scent rise, a welcome gift in contrast to the sharp pungency of medical-grade cleaners.

“What?” he asked, prodding her to share what had finally brought a smile to her face.

“It’s nothing.” She shrugged, shaking her head as a flush rose over her cheeks. “Just... remembering the dream I had, the night before he agreed to me going to school. It’s stupid but I call it the dream that changed my life. I must have been moaning or something and my father heard from outside my door because he was so ready to send me away after that night.”

Her scent rose, calling to him, and he took in another deep breath. It had been difficult to ignore the hospital scents around them, but all he could smell was Gabriella.

He shifted in his seat. “Tell me about it.”

“Matthew,” she hissed, her cheeks red. “No, it’s... not appropriate and it would make you jealous for no reason. It was just a dream, even if it keeps coming back. And besides, people say that even if you’re in a coma, people can hear what is said around them.”

“Just tell me.”

“Fine,” she giggled, looking at him as her voice dropped to a near whisper. Still, something told him she was also nervous. “It was... this man, calling to me, almost on... a spiritual level. Pulling me out of my bed and to him. I remember trying to reach him, and he promised me things. I can’t remember his face or anything else, but he kept telling me I was perfect, and he could taste my scent, and he would... sink his teeth... into...”

Matthew stiffened, as she stared at him, waiting for him to speak. “You went to graduate school about three years ago, didn’t you?”

Pressing her lips together, she darted her gaze at his eyes and nodded once.

Matthew swallowed hard as he shifted again, taking her hands in his.

Fuck... to know that his own memory was real, that the rut, the thing that changed his life, was because of Gabriella... The pieces were falling into place. Renaldo must have known years earlier that her medication was failing. Why would he assign Gabriella to do his detail if that had really happened in the past? To test her? To test him?

“Three years ago, I went into rut in your house. It slapped me out of nowhere. There was a scent, like it was made for me, that sent me spiraling. It fueled me, overpowered the injections, and I was ready to go on a rampage to find the source. Took four men to knock me out and drag me down to the cell in the basement and I can’t remember much after that but I called to the scent, and she came, this angel. I remember her touching me and it soothing the fire in me until she was dragged away and I was trapped, fighting to reach her. I thought it was more a dream than a memory something to take away the pain of being trapped but if you remember something similar, then...”

“It was real,” Gabriella whispered, shaking her head. “I think I can remember being pulled away but then I woke up and my father was agreeing to send me to school if I agreed to see more specialists for my heart. It was real. You and I met before I left for school and my father knew and...”

“And that’s why you and your father grew closer before that night.” Matthew chuckled, amused at how he had changed her life before they ever truly met. “He thought he had your Omega nature locked up. Then you came to an Alpha’s call and sent me into a rut, so he shoved you out the door and started planning to sell you to the best Alpha choice he could come up with when you return.”

Gabriella went silent, face lowered.

Fuck, to realize that even more of her life was a lie and for her to realize that her father had known all along that she was meant to be with him...

Matthew quietly ran through other things Renaldo had said during the confrontation, trying to place which ones had hurt the most.

You were meant to be an Alpha. I should have had a son and heir.

The old man was angry when he said those words, yet they were the truth.

He had called Matthew a son he had never had time and again. Back then, Matthew had always brushed it off. He felt like more of a science experiment or a project most of the time, but he wondered if Renaldo had wished Matthew was his child and not Gabriella.

He had pulled Matthew into his private detail. Gave him a place of honor, following the old man everywhere he went. It allowed him to wonder if Renaldo had ever considered letting Matthew be her Alpha. It would have made life simpler for them. They were already drawn together, a real match.

Why force a marriage game and having her go on dates? Why try to sell her to the highest bidder? Why give her to Petyr?

Had it never even occurred to the old man? Had he only seen what he could get with an Omega for a daughter?

Fuck him. He deserved worse than death. Renaldo Santorini had never cared about their happiness. Only their usefulness.

An Omega for a daughter was a bargaining chip to him and nothing more.

He was a fool. Gabriella was everything a father wished for.

“You are everything he could have wished for in an heir. Strong, confident, attractive, intelligent, diligent, determined. He saw you as weak because of your designation, a designation he could never understand, and he never bothered to look any deeper than that. That is his failure, not yours. Your father was a fool. He made rash decisions and stuck by them, even when evidence proved otherwise.”

Gabriella had tears in her eyes. She was letting her walls down and letting him in, allowing herself to be vulnerable. Matthew just had to push deeper to help her move forward with her progress.

“Your uncle believes in you. Marco, your father’s best friend, believes in you. All of the Alphas, who had fought for their lives in your father’s name over and over, they all believe in you. And soon, the rest of the family will as well.”

So did Matthew. He believed in her. Believed in her strength.

“I just wish I knew if he ever loved me. I guess I’ll never know.”

To that, Matthew didn’t have an answer.

What sort of parent didn’t love their child? If her father didn’t love her, then why had he put so much effort into protecting her and educating her? Surely, it hadn’t all been to use her as he had used the Alphas. At least some part of the old man had to love his daughter.

He wanted the answer for her, and maybe she would still get it, but the fact was, if Renaldo would never woke up and gave her the answers she craved, their lives and her future would be easier.

Not even as her mate, the person tasked with protecting her heart, wished for her father to wake up. Because if he did and Gabriella chose to let him live, they would never be safe.

Matthew was no longer convinced Gabriella would make the right decision.

“Why did you make the call?”

He needed to know what her decision would be before the doctors could conclude their tests. On the chance Renaldo would live, Matthew would need time to prepare himself and the other Alphas. He also wanted to know what had changed her mind. Because not until her father was in front of her had Matthew convinced himself that her silence was her acceptance of the inevitable. Now, he wasn’t so sure.

“My first instinct, when he collapsed, was to worry about my father. I couldn’t help it.” Of course she had. That didn’t surprise Matthew in the slightest. “But then, when I had to make the call, I was worried about what others would think of his death. I know you were thinking it would mean a peaceful takeover but I worried about the Alphas who were assigned to guard him. Would they be blamed for not making the call? Would the family question their loyalty to us? Would they question where I was, that I hadn’t realized he had collapsed? Or that the Alphas had asked me what to do and I had told them not to call? You have extra senses, senses that Betas don’t understand. They’ll ask why none of them knew it was happening before it happened.”

None of this was something he had even considered. While no one else knew Gabriella and Matthew and even her uncle and Marco were in the house, surely someone would have demanded to see the security feed. Nothing connected in Renaldo’s office, but cameras dotted the hallway, which could be doctored.

Shit. He would need to make some calls, to hide the arrival of Alessandro and the others. They needed a story, something about just the two of them, and then her father, and finally the ambulance drivers. Everything after them leaving had to be scrubbed as well, to hide the others once they left.

This was why she was the boss. He hadn’t even thought this far ahead, about what the rest of the bosses would think when their boss was found dead on the ground and when no Alphas were panicking. He had thought to question her decision while she had been concerned about his brothers taking the blame.

“Temporary anger and rage should not make a decision that has long-term effects,” Gabriella continued, clueing Matthew into just how deeply she had been thinking about this. “And one day, eventually, when I’m no longer angry, I would have regretted my father dying because of his anger at me. Regretted that he got to just drop dead, rather than knowing that I made the choice. He should have died by my command because I chose to not forgive him.”

Shit . She had never faltered in her verdict. She had simply wanted it to be her decision. Fuck. Temporary emotions shouldn’t make permanent decisions? His Omega was brilliant, and he would gladly follow her command any day.

Yet she also wasn’t ready for her father to die. The need for his approval and love were still there.

Matthew wanted her to have peace and time to process what was happening. Everything was moving in a whirlwind since they had woken up after her heat ended. They had slept one final time for hours, both too exhausted to even move from their nest.

She needed rest again, as did he, but they weren’t done. Sitting here was a waste of time and energy. They had to talk about what came next. About the next step on the list. About the changes that still had to be made.

About the changes happening in them as well.

Gabriella couldn’t sense it because they were not soul bound, but he was getting stronger. It was beyond the skipped injections, which he had missed her during her heat. He had grown weaker, probably from a combination of lack of sleep and sustenance.

Ever since his shower and his first full meal, he was changing. He was growing more powerful and more in control of his actions. Maybe having been in a haze for weeks from being around her made him stronger, but it was more than that.

They were changing because of each other and what had happened in that apartment. Her scent was stronger, her emotions more apparent in her scent when they shifted. When she appeared calm, he had known she was enraged. Her anger had put him on edge, as he was ready to lash out at any moment.

Other Alphas felt the same. They could only resist because of the injections, while he had to make a conscientious choice to ignore her fury and maintain control.

She needed to be prepared and to know that it wasn’t just the scent of her being horny that Alphas could sense. They were in tune to an Omega, unmated, in need.

She had missed when they first arrived that the first doctor they had spoken to was a mated Alpha. He had taken an almost fatherly tone with her, as though trying to guide and help her, seeing as she had no Alpha to protect her, despite Matthew at her side.

After he left the room, Matthew had followed him out, and the pair had stepped into a side room for a private chat. Matthew had had to fumble his way through an explanation, that they had tried only the day before, but something had happened.

That ended with the other Alpha offering to run tests on Matthew while also giving fatherly advice, which was far too personal, on how to mate an Omega. It had taken Matthew revealing her father’s name to shut the doctor up, and then he had paid the man for his silence.

The longer Gabriella remained out and about, shedding her scent as an unmated Omega, the more people would find out. They would talk without realizing who she actually was. Not everyone knew her face, but her last name was known throughout the city. They had a private room, with men in suits, Alphas, lingering in the hallway. With her hair pulled down, and her gland but Alphas and Omegas alike would know.

And while he suspected no mated Alpha would sell her out...

The inner circle needed to be handled. Now. Before word got out in the city and underbosses tried to call their bosses, only to find that no one could be reached while Renaldo Santorini lay dying in a hospital bed.

Gabriella controlled the narrative so long as she was the first one to speak. If they lost control of the story before could speak her piece, there would be no rest within the family.

“Am I a bad daughter?”

The question surprised him, the crack in her voice even more so.

He tightened his grip on her shoulder and turned her chin back toward him. “No. Don’t think that. You have never been a bad daughter.”

“I wasn’t what he wanted me to be, ever. And I don’t mean because I was born a girl or an Omega. I mean because if I was born a son and designation wasn’t part of this, my obedience and submission would have been expected all the same. And instead, I fought back every step of the way, demanding more until I was forced to take over to take control of my own life.”

Matthew thought about it as Gabriella looked back at her father, and he did the same. He didn’t know other bosses and how other families behaved. All he knew was Renaldo Santorini.

The man liked power. Too much power, and he wasn’t willing to share.

That was why idiots Gabriella could control and manipulate sat in the inner circle, while older family members had been returned to their wife’s side and sent out to the country for their final days. It was why businesses weren’t doing as well as they could have, having been mismanaged and underbosses taking too much for their own pockets. It was why he had pushed for the Alphas to be his strength, rather than relying on the Beta enforcers of the past, thinking he could control Alphas with the injections.

It was why, in the end, Renaldo had ignored the doctor’s warnings about his heart.

“Nothing you could have ever said or done would have been good enough. Your father was under a lot of pressure, pressure which his own rash decisions had caused for himself, between rivalries within the family and rivalries with other families and with his financials. He liked power too much to give up control, which meant everything fell to him in the end. He chose weak men to surround himself with, yes men because they were easy to control but that meant the only person he could rely on was himself. He was pushing Marco out the last few years, which was why Marco was pushing his nephew toward you, I could guess, hoping to step back into control.”

“He was pushing Marco out?” She gazed at him. “But they’ve been like brothers for years. My father was closer to him than his own uncles for years. Why would he—”

“Because Marco could see the drain on your father and for your father’s own good, was pushing him to share the tasks. Maybe some of it was selfish as well but it would have been for the good of both your father and the family. Your father wasn’t willing to admit that he was going to lose control of the city if he kept at it, which would have put everyone at risk, if not for the Alphas being stronger than any force another family could assemble. In the end, for the good of this family and for this city, you made the right call.”

Gabriella was quiet again, but he knew she was thinking. Her air of sadness was fading as his words sank in, and he waited, not knowing what her next question would be.

He was unprepared for her next question.

“Would you let me fuck up like that or would you keep me accountable? I’m not afraid of the pressure or making decisions but I am scared I’m going to miss something. That somehow, in my effort to fix the disaster my father created, people and businesses and connections will fall through the cracks.”

Matthew couldn’t help himself but chuckle and shake his head. Of all the things for her to worry about...

“So long as you are taking the advice of those around you, which you’re already doing and surround yourself with smart people and leave yourself open to the possibility that you might be wrong, you’ll never slip like that. You’re far more practical than your father already was. Refusing to make a permanent decision based on temporary emotions? Fuck, Gabriella. That’s... fucking smart in a way I can’t even put into words. But if you’re asking me if I’ll challenge you when you fuck up, then, yes. Never in front of others, but if you slip up, I’ll catch you, every time.”

Gabriella took a deep breath, her eyes still locked on his, while she returned her hand to her lap. She was still staring at him, studying him. Wishing their souls were bound, he stared back so she could know how true his words were.

“I love you. I don’t think I’ve said that yet, at least not while in my right mind but I do. I love you. I love your strength, yes, and your good looks but also the way you look at life and this family and the world. I love the way the way you see me and how you speak to me. I love that I can trust you and let my guard down with you. I love everything about you.”

No, she had never said the words, not even while in the throes of heat. She had said she needed him and wanted him. Fuck, he knew she did without saying the words, but hearing them...

Kissing Gabriella and sitting beside her father’s body was probably not the right thing to do. He had to resist the need. Fuck. It was hard to be in front of her and not pour his heart out. Fuck, but he had to say something.

“Maybe right now isn’t the time or place to talk about this—shit, I know it isn’t but I need to ask all the same. You told your father you chose a husband. Me.”

Gabriella smiled and looked away from him, blushing. “You’re right, this is not the place to talk about it, but, yes. Yes, Matthew. I... you’re my Alpha and I know that means more than the paltry labels Betas place on their unions but—”

She shook her head.

Right. Because this wasn’t the place to discuss their future.

“We have other things we need to discuss.”

Matthew nodded. “We have to talk about what you’re going to do with your father’s inner circle. I know we had plans, a list, but they were never supposed to be kept in the dark for so long. It’s been nearly a day. You had plans for new people, bringing in the families, all of that, removing people who couldn’t be trusted and those who were taking advantage of your father thinking he had total control. We can’t even blame this shit on Petyr like you originally planned.”

“I know,” Gabriella said with a sigh and shifted in her chair as she turned to look at him. “It would have been all too easy to label Petyr as crazy and blame his inability to accept the loss of me, if Marco had approved of it and pointed the fingers at other members who had encouraged him. We’re going to need to take a new approach.”

Matthew nodded and considered reaching for his phone.

“We need to bring the inner circle together. Tonight. All the men and their families. I want everyone together.”

He nodded again, not really knowing the plan but recognizing that she was always ten steps ahead of him. “Do you still plan to name traitors tonight or replace certain members?”

Gabriella groaned and shook her head. “Fuck. I’m going to need a new plan. We really can’t blame Petyr and label those we can’t trust as his conspirators, can we? Even though we know some of them are dipping their hands into the bank a little too heavily?”

Matthew shook his head. The shock of her father dying was enough news for one night, at least in this regard.

Gabriella let out another sigh and ran her hand into her hair. Without asking, he knew her unbroken glands were bothering her. He would have to figure out some way to soothe her until her next heat. “We can work with my father’s stress. The financial issues. Yes, we can work with this. State that my father had reason to suspect some within the circle and that was what he was working on. Tell them that I’m already aware of who we cannot trust.”

“They’ll demand to know who needs to go,” Matthew pointed out. “They won’t wait until morning for that.”

“I know, I know. Shit.”

“And some will protest you taking over, as your father always said you would have a husband at your side.”

“I know.”

“And those with Alpha sons know you’re an Omega so—”

“I know,” Gabriella snapped, but he couldn’t sense any anger. “I know. Change must be made, tonight, but how much is too much?”

It was time to pull out his phone.

“Call your uncle. He and Marco can meet us here. We’ll go over it together, who needs to go, who can be replaced, who even has a replacement chosen.”

It was time to see how willing she was to accept advice when put under pressure.

She met his gaze, and he waited until she took in a deep breath, her decision made.

Good. She had listened to his advice earlier.

“Alright.”

“The Alphas will get orders to meet at your father’s house in two hours. Is that enough time?”

“Four.”

“Four?”

“Four.” Gabriella nodded. “I want them tired. Off their guard. It will be late enough, what with them being locked down, that some may even be a little drunk. It’s dinnertime and, so they’ll be on their guard but what’s a few more hours after a day? They’ll think to settle in for another night, start drinking...”

“This is why you’re the boss,” Matthew confirmed, still not reaching for his phone.

“And we need to eat as well. Change. And get a ring.”

Matthew stared at her, trying to swallow the nerves building in his stomach. A ring. They weren’t going to talk about this—or so he thought...

“A ring?”

“For me. To announce my engagement.”

Their engagement. She wanted to announce their engagement.

“You want a ring?”

“Yes.”

“I now wasn’t the time to talk about us getting married.”

“It’s not. It’s really not.”

He stared at her, wanting to talk about it, about them, about the fact that she wanted him to marry her.

“Tell me you don’t want to marry me, and you’ll end up in a bed beside him,” Gabriella said, a smile curling over her lips.

He would be a bigger fool than her father, to not want to marry her.

“I want to marry you.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

She stared at him expectantly, and he grinned, unable to help himself. She wanted to wed him. Wanted him as her husband. Wanted to tell the whole family, tonight, that she was going to marry him, an Alpha and an enforcer. Yes, weak Beta terms for mating unions were not really as big and grand as things like soul bonding and mating bites but, fuck...

“A ring?”

“Yes.”

He couldn’t help it anymore. He had to kiss her.

Leaning forward, ignoring the stink of medicinal cleaners and whirring machines, Matthew forgot everything else and pressed his lips to hers, wanting only to hear her heartbeat and breathe in the sweet scent of his Omega.

His wife. She was going to be his wife. His wife, his mate, his soul bond, and his Omega.

Gabriella kissed him back, although neither deepened it, and when he pulled away, he saw her dazed smile.

His Gabriella. She was all his. Soon, everyone would know.

It was time to finally pull out his phone.

“I need to make a few phone calls.”