Chapter 3

For the first time in her life, Gabriella understood why Betas were uncomfortable around Alphas. Sitting in a car with two in the front seat and the windows up was stifling. How her father could sit so relaxed, she didn’t know.

The pheromones rolling off them was supposed to be a warning, like in nature. It hadn’t bothered her before. She had never really noticed it. Maybe it was because, most of her life, any Alpha she had ever interacted with was older, settled, and mated. Everyone her age had always been too young to present as their designation and the older unmarried men were always Betas. But this?

It looked like she would have to get used to the presence of unmated Alphas. Whatever her father was doing with the Alpha Program was obviously working if these men were truly loyal to him and not an Omega.

Something was still off. Maybe it was the pheromones making her feel unsettled but it was more the caution of something else. The fear of the unknown. Her father had told her many times that an unmated Alpha, at least before his program, was violent and unpredictable upon entering their rut. They would destroy anything in their path, even themselves until they had to be put down or put away. The fear of something she didn’t know nor understand.

That was why Alphas and Omegas kept to themselves, while Betas ran the world.

She understood why her father wanted to harness the powers of the Alphas to his own benefit but it made her nervous. Made her wonder how much she could trust them. The project was a decade old, although she suspected older, given the number of Alphas in the family. The question wasn’t if the Alphas would lose control even under the injections but a matter of when.

She was about to enter an entire building filled with Alphas, all juiced up on whatever her father’s doctors shot them up with. She would hate to be an Omega entering their space. The Alphas within would surely rip that poor Omega apart, trying to lay claim to them, wanting a piece, a taste.

Poor weak Omegas, unable to do anything but take the brunt of an Alpha’s violence...

“Two minutes out, Boss, Miss,” Alessandro, their driver, announced.

Beside him, in the front seat, was Matty—or Matthew in her own mind—who was focused out the side window.

He hadn’t glanced back at her the entire drive and barely even lifted his head when he opened the door for her, and her father.

She had been hoping to speak to him again, although privately would likely be impossible.

Yes, poor weak Omegas, unless it was an Alpha like Matthew they were laying under. She tried to not think about that, knowing Alphas had more sensitive senses because the very thought of Matty had her blushing and thinking about her dream from the night before.

She wasn’t going to think about that stupid dream again. Nope. Because that dream always turned into a nightmare, even if it had started out as promising.

“Are you well, Gabriella?” her father asked, his hand settling on her knee.

Shifting in her seat to look at her father, she forced a smile onto her lips. She needed to be poised, collected, unafraid, even if the Alphas made her nervous. Well, less nervous than her nightmare made her. She needed to stop thinking about that and hated that Matthew had her mind even drifting in that direction.

“There is nothing to fear.”

“I’m not afraid,” Gabriella lied as she lifted her chin. She needed to put on a brave face and convince herself of it at the same time. “Why would I be afraid?”

The Alphas in the front seat may have known she was lying from whatever weird abilities they had, not that she understood, but her father would not.

“Every Alpha is loyal to us,” her father insisted, although she did note the way he squeezed her knee. “There is nothing to be afraid of.”

He did that when he himself was nervous. Why would he be nervous?

“If you say they’re loyal, then they’re loyal,” Gabriella agreed and ran her hand through her hair casually as though utterly relaxed. “I just need to use the bathroom.”

“Ahh—”

“You kept refilling my glass with wine at dinner, Papa, and you know I shouldn’t drink so much alcohol with my medications. I had to drink at least a liter of water before I took them. Next time, can we try to keep from having so many toasts?”

Her casual nature and joking seemed to have worked because her father laughed and slapped his knee.

He nodded as he looked out his window, and she rolled her eyes while shifting uncomfortably as if needing to use the restroom.

It was a good lie because that would give her a moment to check herself in the mirror and remind herself to breathe. Maybe spray herself with the perfume in her bag as well so as to cover up the Alpha scents that would surely fill the space and would quickly flood her nose.

Like they were right then. Absolutely flooding them.

“Here we are,” the driver announced, pulling the car to a stop.

Announcements were for her benefit, as her father had visited the complex many times before. She had noted, along the drive, that the building was far closer to her father’s estate than she would have guessed. In fact, it would take an Alpha team less than ten minutes to run all that way. She had thought it farther, although they had been coming from dinner at a restaurant in town, so perhaps she was simply turned backward.

No, no. She had driven by this house before. She knew this place. Somehow. She just wasn’t sure how.

Matty jumped out of the passenger seat as the car rolled to a halt and had Gabriella’s door open.

Gabriella couldn’t even reach for the door handle and noted to not try it again. The time of driving herself and opening her own door was a thing of the past. She was about to become a Mob Boss. She needed to act like one.

“Thank you, Matty,” she said as she moved to step out and took his hand.

It was warm—hot, really—and she shuddered, warmth flooding through her.

“It’s Matthew, actually,” he said, his voice low—so low, in fact, that she doubted her father had even heard him. “The boss calls me Matty but it’s actually Matthew.”

Blinking, Gabriella looked upward to meet his eyes.

Matthew. Matthew the Alpha enforcer. The name fit so much better than Matty, and she loved the confirmation that she was right. Of course, leave it to her father to call his enforcer a childish nickname. “Matthew.”

He nodded but his eyes did not leave hers. He also didn’t let her hands go as they continued staring at one another, sizing each other up, perhaps. Memories of the night before, of her dreams, of what she had imagined, of—

“I must apologize, Gabriella, as this will not entirely be a social event,” her father said as he walked around the car.

His voice had her jerking her hand from Matthew’s, perhaps too quickly, and she turned to look at her father, exposing her back to the Alpha.

Another thing she would need to stop doing, exposing her back to people, although, given that the Alphas were meant to be quite literally protection for her, perhaps this one man was an exception.

“Your first task begins tonight.”

“What do you mean?” she questioned, taking her father’s offered arm, walking beside him. “I hadn’t considered this to be a social event to begin with. These are your enforcers, not your clients, and certainly not family.”

“Ahh, do not be so careless about these enforcers,” her father chastised, making her stiffen. “They are as much family as many others. Enforcers can be dispensable, yes, but the loyalty of my Alphas is like nothing else. They have no plans that are not my own, no affiliation or self-serving motives. They exist to serve this family and in turn, have become part of it.”

The way her father spoke of the Alphas was almost as though he trusted them more than he trusted anyone else in the family, which was absurd.

Everyone had their own self-serving desires. Even Alphas. That was what made her so nervous about them because, while they might rely on her father, their true loyalty would always be to an Omega or at least finding themselves one.

“What do you mean by my first task? Do you mean a job? I thought you wouldn’t allow me to get my hands dirty like that?”

She wanted to keep her father on track and would think about her father’s thoughts on Alphas later, perhaps after speaking to them.

“Ahh, no but yes. Your hands will stay clean, but your conscience will suffer, should you make the wrong choice. You must learn to trust not only your instincts but also your own mind. Ahh, you have your mother’s wisdom, but you are also cursed with my gut instinct and the two will war within you on the paths you must take. A blessing and a curse... so much like your mother...”

Nothing was making any sense, and his thoughts trailed as they always did when he mentioned her mother.

“The job, Papa. Tell me more about the job.”

Gathering himself, he resumed walking, leading them up the path toward the front door, where she noted Matthew —not Matty —had been waiting for them. “One of the hardest things to do, once your anger has settled, is to send men out, knowing what must be done and knowing that they risk their lives. The only way to maintain control in this world is with a show of force and if anyone tests your control, well. You can pay people off, pay for silence, or pay for answers but force, to show that you have the upper hand, is the true show of power. And sometimes, that force must be deadly. Absolute. Particularly when a betrayal is at hand.”

And there it was, the truth of the matter. Someone had betrayed her father, and she would choose who would silence the traitor.

“Very well then,” Gabriella answered as a weight settled onto her shoulders. “Who is it that needs to be removed?”

That night, she would give the word for a man to die. But the hard part would be making the right choice that would result in a successful operation and risking the lives of her father’s Alpha enforcers if she chose incorrectly.

“A Fed. Thought he could double dip. Tried sticking his hands into the Marino pockets. Can’t have that.”

Matthew opened the door for them as they stepped up and Gabriella locked eyes with him. Somehow, she knew he had overheard her father.

He gave her a single nod, confirmation, but she looked away.

No. That was—no. Instinct and intelligence had to go into her decision. Both.

“He’ll have extra protection, then and likely expecting us to act,” Gabriella said. “Even if he doesn’t know we know, he’ll have extra protections in place, both in case he’s found out to be in our pockets and if our family moves against him.”

“A number of electronic security layers but no extra guards,” her father confirmed. “But it was another Fed who tipped us off. It won’t be long before he’s found out by his employers, who will place him in custody.”

“So fast, accurate, and able to make him think his security hasn’t gone dark. Bathroom?”

She could do this. Instinct and intelligence.

“Right this way, Miss Santorini,” Matthew said from behind them as he stepped around. “Boss, I can show her to it.”

“Good, good.” Her father released her arm, leaving her to hold her clutch in front of her.

She was trying to keep from taking a deep breath and didn’t want to look around, as the building would stink of Alpha pheromones. It wouldn’t do to gawk, even if the place looked nothing as she expected. This was more a manor home than barracks, which was what she had imagined. Or perhaps that was simply the entryway, appearing to be something it was not.

Because who would expect a crime boss to have a whole collection of Alphas serving him as his enforcers? Who would expect Alphas to be something more than violent, brutal beasts controlled by their hormones and emotions?

“Answer me this, Matthew,” Gabriella asked as she followed the Alpha, only to pause when he opened for her to a small powder room, tastefully decorated. Interesting. “How strong are an Alpha’s senses?”

“Strong enough to know when you lie, Miss Santorini,” he answered, his gaze downcast.

“My father doesn’t need to know everything,” she blurted. “Are they strong enough to hear every word he said?”

She didn’t owe this Alpha any sort of explanation or excuse.

“They are and—”

“No. The answer is no.”

“But—”

“No.”

When his gaze met hers, his eyes were narrow, as though he was glaring at her. Finally, it softened as he looked away. He backed down.

Which was strange. An Alpha should never back down.

Gabriella took a deep breath, only to be slapped across the face with a wave of pleasure. Tingles shot down her spine and goose bumps covered her skin.

In horror, she realized what it was.

Matthew had released more of those pheromones, the ones that drove Betas to shudder and pull away and, often, even move in the other direction.

Gabriella, she enjoyed it.

What the hell was wrong with her?

Stepping into the bathroom and flicking on the light, she quickly shut the door—or perhaps slammed was a better word. No, she didn’t need to explain herself. She had closed it efficiently . With shaky hands, she opened her small clutch and pulled out the perfume. Without a need for things like identification, a wallet, or even keys, she had been uncertain of what to put in her clutch. The perfume was a last-minute thought in case she would sweat at dinner. She spritzed herself on her wrists and underneath her ears, then one more time in her hair, needing to smell that and only that and not...

Not whatever was coming off of Matthew.

Attracted to an Alpha’s scent? That was absurd. That was asking for death, and heartbreak. Because, no matter how strong her father thought his program was, an Alpha would always give his allegiance to his Omega.

Not to her.

Wait, heartbreak? Where had that thought even come from?

Her heart skipped a beat, making her nearly drop her bag. Looking inside, she decided taking an emergency anxiety pill would be a good idea. It was something she hadn’t told her father about—meds she had received while in graduate school. It was a risk to take them, given she wasn’t too sure what was in her heart medications. Sometimes, her anxiety would skyrocket and with her heart doing that weird thing again, she didn’t want to tell her doctors, since they would tell her father.

Pill swallowed and perfume sprayed, Gabriella stepped out of the bathroom, pleased to see that Matthew did not look at her. If he would’ve looked at her, she probably would’ve just opened her mouth to speak and had she done that, it would’ve thrown her off track. She needed to concentrate and be alert. No showing fear. Instinct and intelligence needed to work together.

A room full of Alphas was not a place where she could show any weakness.

Matthew led the way through the hallway, back toward the front door, then around a stairwell. She made no comment about the number of closed doors and would ask her father about it later. If she were to spend time in the building, she would need to know the layout, but she refused to gawk. Another turn took her to a doorway behind a stairwell and Matthew paused when he reached the doorknob.

She waited for him to speak because, of course, he would want to get in one last word.

“You have no reason to fear these Alphas. Every single one would die for you in an instant. Simply speak the word and they would all obey.” He opened the door.

Frozen, she processed his words.

They would die for her, as they were trained to—and also trained to protect her father and herself, even putting themselves in the line of fire to do so. But loyalty like that, from those who had, only years before, been strangers, seemed impossible. And the devotion, the way Matthew had spoken? That was a level of dedication and trust she expected from no one.

What power did her father have that he could control so much? This Alpha Program, which she thought she had understood, was a compromise. They served as mercenaries, more or less, in exchange for keeping their sanity. But what Matthew was speaking of was so much deeper.

Gabriella walked down the steps slowly, noting as she reached the third one that the room, which had already been quiet, went deadly still. It took a few more paces before she could look into the room and nothing but her clicking heels followed. Every eye was on her as she made her way all the way to the bottom and stepped into the open space.

This was what she had expected. The room was militaristic, with tile floor, unlike upstairs, and metal walls. Although it had no seating, there was a podium, which her father stood beside. In front of him were six different groups of Alphas. Within each, one Alpha seemed to be at the forefront, likely the one in charge of that team. Only one was missing—their leader—and she suspected he was steps behind her.

Gabriella crossed the room, forcing her gaze on her father. They were all still looking at her, studying her, seemingly holding their breaths. Almost as one, their regard shifted from her to the man behind her. Matthew walked in front of her, toward the team she had guessed was his, but he paused, as though standing between her and the rest of the Alphas.

Almost as one, every Alpha in the room straightened up and their gaze slid back from Matthew to her.

Not to her father, who was now clearing his throat.

Her.

She stared back across the room, fixing her gaze on the wall behind them above their heads. A professor for her public speaking class had once told her it would give the impression that she was looking at everyone, without having to move her eyes from person to person.

Why were they all staring at her and not her father?

And why was her father not speaking?

Gabriella turned her head just in time, as her father looked at her a second later. His eyebrow was raised, and she wracked her brain, trying to figure out if she had missed something. He was looking at her oddly, as though waiting for a response.

After a moment, her father nodded, then looked toward the Alphas. It was as though the moment between them hadn’t happened, but she kept her face blank, looking at the front row of Alphas, starting with Matthew.

Something about seeing him standing with other Alphas made it terribly apparent that his size was not simply due to the fact he was an Alpha. He was the biggest. The tallest. The widest. And his hands looked like they could do delicious, deadly things.

“Well, boys, I warned you that things were about to change around here but unfortunately something has happened that forces my hand. As you all know, my Gabriella has returned from her years of study. Some of you may remember seeing her from a distance, in the early years of the program but for many of you, you were brought in after she began her travels. In that time, I’ve grown to know each of you, your skills, your assets. I had thought we would have time for Gabriella to learn them as well but the first lesson about being the boss is making the hard decisions, and she has to make one tonight. Delgado has sold us out, so he needs to be taken out. And Gabriella is going to pick the team to do it.”

Every eye in the room had already been on her, but they were fixated, all shifting in place, as though ready to step forward. A few had hissed at the announcement of who had betrayed the family, and they all wanted to act. They all wanted it, and she had to choose who would go.

“One at a time, step forward, introduce yourself and your team. No begging for the job—my girl has a hard heart and won’t be won over with your pleading. Yes, I’m talking to you, Smitty. Keep it clean. Names, what you do, your skills. Let’s hear it.”

Finally, they all looked away from her and instead glanced to one another. She could sense the silent communication between them, and after a moment, an Alpha stepped forward, introducing himself and then his team. One after the other, all with military precision, giving their name, their skills, what they did for the family and for some of them even what they did before they presented. A former line cook who was good with knives, a once-was car salesman who was good finagling answers out of informants, a former college tech whiz who was good with breaking into security... on and on it went, down the line.

It was interesting to see how their former occupations all seemed to line up somehow, with how they excelled as an Alpha enforcer. Had their past influenced their future, or had they simply always had the skills, which were encouraged and expanded once they joined the family?

In the end, the only team left to step forward was Matthew’s, and as the other Alphas turned to look at them, she suddenly realized why. There was a reason Matthew was trusted most of all, why he and a member of his team had driven them today, a reason the others seemed to show deference. And as she looked over their faces, it was impossible to not realize.

They were the biggest. The strongest. And if she had to put money on it, given the shadow on their shaved faces, she would even guess they were the oldest members of the family and the Alpha Program.

“Ricky. He does security. Can break into any system, take it dark, loop it, whatever you need. Tommy. He can break into anything. Break open anyone while you’re at it. Be in and out and no one knows. Alessandro. Good driver, good runner. Can get away from or catch anyone or anything.” One by one, Matthew introduced them, his eyes locked on her. “And me. I’ve never met a face I can’t break with my fist and I never miss a shot.”

Gabriella let out the breath she hadn’t even noticed she was holding as realization settled onto her like a heavy weight. It was obvious, without question, who she needed to choose. There was a reason every other Alpha had been looking to Matthew with deference—his team was the best selection.

What concerned her, however, was why her father had even asked her. There was no other choice, obviously, so why had he ever posed it as such? And why was he acting as though Gabriella would struggle to make it?

Was this an easy-answer test, to make her feel better, or was she simply missing something obvious in front of her, an added layer to add context?

“Gabriella,” her father said, pulling her attention to the podium.

Right. Time for her to speak.

“Thank you.” Gabriella stepped behind the podium and placed her fingertips on the edge to ground her, to lock her in place, as she contemplated just why her father was doing this. “I promise to learn all of your names and skills with time. Every single one of you is a valued member of this organization and we could not function without you. I know that, as my father trusts you all, I too can trust you.”

A few nodded but looked wary, shifting in place, as though uncomfortable. What would make them respond like that?

“While I know each of you could easily rise to the occasion and do so without issue, my father has always taught me to act on both instinct and intelligence and to trust myself. I know that I am new to this position and, so I will always defer to experience, which is what I shall also do on this first mission, in choosing the team with the most experience. Matthew’s team will be moving tonight to remove our problem.”

The Alphas all nodded, as though having known her decision, and she looked toward Matthew, waiting for fear or guilt to settle over her. After all, she might have just killed every man on his team with her decision. Might have doomed him as well.

Instead, the way he stared back at her told her that not only had she made the best choice but also the only correct one.

The question, then, was why her father had asked her to make it.

“A fine selection,” her father agreed as he rested his hand on her arm. “Come, Gabriella. We need to fill in your selection with the last of the details, and you can see more of the compound while we talk.”

The rest of the Alphas filed out through a back door, while a side one revealed a smaller room. Matthew’s team streamed in, with the leader being the last, but her father did not follow. Not yet. Instead, he looked at her, and Gabriella did the same, waiting for an explanation.

What sort of game was he playing now?

“You are aware, are you not, that you may have just sentenced your best team to death?”

Gabriella was more than aware, but she didn’t doubt the team’s ability. Not in the slightest.

“If his team is unable to complete the mission, Papa, then his team isn’t the best we have or, we are not as strong as we think yourselves to be. Which is it?”

Her father’s lips quirked into a smile, as though approving her statement. Still not moving, he glanced toward the open doorway, then looked at her once more. “Matthew is as dangerous as an Alpha can be, Gabriella. They are obedient, loyal, and they train well but I need you to remember that at the end of the day, an Alpha is nothing more than a dog. Just because they follow orders, that doesn’t mean they can’t go rabid. You must always be ready to put them down, if need be. Always ready to remove any who bark back, for even an instant.” With that, he pulled away and walked into the side room.

The weight from earlier, from the realization that this was not the test she had expected from her father, doubled. Because questions were piling up.

Why had the Alphas looked to Matthew as though he was their leader and not her father? And why were the Alphas so blindingly loyal? And why had her father even made her make a decision that yielded only one choice?

And why would he say they could trust the Alphas implicitly, then warn her about putting them down?