Chapter 19 In which I get some answers, but none that I like

When Maddox suggested I come down to see what Swift was up to, I didn’t expect this. Even though I probably I should have.

Especially since, as he guided me into the elevator and into the garage, the prime alpha made a comment about me trying to keep Swift under control, to rein him in. On the heels of the earlier revelations, of course, Swift went to find my mother. Of course, he kidnapped her. He’s a few screws short of a set… No, that’s not the saying.

But you get what I mean, right?

He probably expects me to be grateful for this.

Wait. Holy shit. Am I grateful for this?

My earlier conversation with my mother had been frustrating as hell, full of non-answers and gaslighting. I don’t think she’ll be capable of that here.

I think I might be glad for this opportunity to get some actual answer from her.

Swift whips his head in my direction, and a wild, feral grin spreads over his face. “Cherrybomb,” his voice sounds chiding even though he grinning like a loon. “You’re spoiling the surprise.”

I take a shaky step into the room, my stomach churning. “My surprise is my mother tied up to a chair?”

My mom’s blue eyes latch onto me, pleading with me to help her. But even though she looks like she’s about to be tortured, I can tell she’s fine. In fact, she looks… great, considering the circumstances, hardly a hair out of place.

Her nostrils flare as I get closer and her gaze narrows. Well, I guess she’s scented my omega perfume. She says something, but a gag muffles her voice and I can’t make it out.

“Why is she here?” I ask as Swift moves toward me, his bottom lip pushed out into a slight pout.

“Don’t be mad.”

I blink at him. “You have my mother tied to a chair. How can I not be mad about that?”

“She has answers for us, Cherrybomb,” he murmurs, sliding his hand into the dip of my waist. “Answers she should have given you years ago, but didn’t. We need them now.”

He dips his head and brushes his lips over mine. I hear my mother make a choked noise, like she can’t believe I’m kissing the man that kidnapped her, and If I’m honest, I really can’t either, But then some part of me knows he’s not going to actually hurt her.

He’s just going to scare her a little.

Or maybe a lot, knowing what I do about Swift.

I mean, the man fucked me with the handle of his knife the second time he saw me.

His teeth catch my bottom lip, scraping over it before he lets it go and then runs his tongue over the abused flesh. “You can’t hurt her,” I whisper, so only he can hear it.

One of his hands drifts up and presses my palm over his heart, letting me feel its steady beat. “I promise.”

“Let me talk to her first?”

He nods, a lock of his white blond hair flopping over his forehead. “Of course, Cherrybomb.”

Letting out a breath, I move away from Swift, leaving him by the door, where he crosses his arms and leans against the wall, watching me, watching her. I give her a smile as I approach, and I can tell she’s pissed as hell. I don’t blame her, I would be too.

I think she expects me to untie her, to drop to my knees and tackle the ropes on her wrists and ankles. But I don’t. Instead, I just reach around her head and undo the knot of the gag Swift tied in her mouth.

“Sadie, what are you doing with this madman?” she asks immediately, her voice harsh, sharp enough to cut.

I glance over at him to gauge his reaction to her insult, but he just grins at me. “Swift is one of my alphas,” I say softly, keeping my eyes on him and the smile blooms into something even better.

“Your alphas? You have a pack and you didn’t tell me?”

I straighten and fold my arms over my chest, looking down at her. “I don’t really think you have the right to be upset about me keeping secrets, mom. Seeing as you’ve spent most of my life lying to me.”

She sniffs like she’s the queen of England and I’m a lowly servant, looking away from me with her chin tipped up. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. But whatever it is, it can’t be worse than you not telling me about being an omega and having a pack.”

I almost laugh at her. Almost. But I’m also pissed as hell that she’s kept this from me, that she refuses to tell me what was done to me. “Oh, well, that happened in the last three days, so I haven’t had the time to tell you. If you’d spoken to me on the phone earlier instead of berating me, I might have told you then.”

Her brows arch. “Three days? What changed? What triggered it?”

I frown at her eagerness. It reminds me uncomfortably of Dr. Schwab’s… well, the fake Dr. Schwab. I ignore it. I’ll deal with it later.

“What did you let him do to me?”

She stares at me, faded blue eyes shrewd, no doubt trying to figure out the best way to handle me when I’m like this. The problem is she has years’ worth of knowing how to manipulate me under her belt. She spent years lying to my face, patting my hand and telling me not to worry about it. Every time I told her I wanted to know, she told me I really didn’t, that it was better for the adults to handle it. And after enough time passed, I believed her.

What difference did it make?

Only now I’m suddenly an omega and bonded. And I need to know what the hell is wrong with me. I need to know if it’s hereditary, if there’s a chance I could pass it on to any children we might have. If we have them. If we stay together.

I glance over at Swift while she deliberates and then up to the camera blinking in the corner. Maddox, at least, is watching. Maybe the rest of the pack as well. I kind of wish they were all with me, with us, down here. But I understand why they’re not.

When I look back at my mother, her eyes are brimming with tears. “After everything I’ve done for you. After how I raised you alone, with no support. With no help from anyone. This is how you repay me, Sadie? By letting a psychopath tie me to a chair and threaten me?”

I lift a shoulder and harden my heart against the guilt that wants to rear its head. She doesn’t get my guilt, not about this. “If you’d told me about Dr. Schwab when I called, you wouldn’t be here. Swift is just trying to find answers for me. Answers that you have. Now, what did you let that man do to me?”

She blinks at me, all innocence. “What man?”

“Dr. Schwab, though we know that’s not his real name.” Her teeth sink into her bottom lip and I can tell she won’t tell me. “Okay, how about I tell you what we already know and you can just fill in the blanks? If you still feel like keeping secrets, I will leave and you will be alone with Swift. I’m pretty sure he’s not going to just… calmly ask you questions.”

Her face blanches. “You’d let him torture your mother?”

“I’d let him try to figure out what was done to me,” I concede. “His methods are his own.”

I hope like hell she can’t see the lie in my face, because she needs to believe me. She needs to think I might actually leave her here alone with Swift. That I might actually let him hurt her.

“When I was eight, you took me to a doctor, not Dr. Schwab, and he told you I was sick with something and referred you to Dr. Schwab. After that, I went to him twice a month for twelve years, until I was twenty, almost to the day. During that time, a battery of tests were run on me. I was given blood transfusions and never once did you tell me what was wrong with me…” I glance at Swift again to find him staring at me, his gold eyes piercing. “It took me a while to realize why that was. Why you wouldn’t tell me what I was sick with, but now I know it’s because I was never sick to begin with.”

Swift’s brows crunch down over his eyes, and a wave of smoky, burnt coconut hits me. “What was that, Cherrybomb?”

“I was never sick,” I repeat, keeping my gaze on my mother. “I didn’t feel sick. Not before you took me to the doctor. I felt fine. Totally normal. I only started feeling ill after they gave me whatever medication they were pumping into my veins. ”

“Don’t be ridiculous Sadie. Of course you were sick.” Her blue eyes run over me. “You’re still sick, sweetheart. You should go to see Dr. Schwab. Let him check you out and make sure you presenting as an omega so late in life hasn’t brought on another round of your illness.”

Anger boils in my stomach, making my scent just as smoky and sharp as Swift’s, a cherry pie that’s bubbled over in the oven, the sugar burning. “You mean the man you told me is Dr. Schwab, but is actually someone else? Some lying asshole who spent years running experiments on me? I should go see him?”

My mother lets out a weary breath. “Such an imagination on you.”

“I’m not imagining things,” I hiss, anger swelling before it crumbles. “Please, just tell me what I need to know. Tell me so I don’t have to let him hurt you. Please.”

A warm hand settles at the base of my spine. Swift leans into me and presses a soft kiss to my temple. “She’s not going to talk to you, Cherrybomb. Let me do what I do, okay? Let me figure this out for you.”

I swallow thickly, tears in my eyes. “At least tell us where Dr. Schwab is. We can have him tell us instead.”

“You mean you’ll torture your doctor instead of me?”

“Yes,” I hiss out. “Yes, that is what I mean. Please.”

She shakes her head. “I can’t, Sadie. I can’t. They’ll… they’ll kill me. Kill you. Kill everyone we love.” Next to me, Swift tenses at her dire prediction, but a second later he’s gone liquid again, pure feral grace..

“We’re going to find out,” he assures her. “Its only a matter of time. And when we do, no one will lay a finger on Cherrybomb. You, on the other hand.” He grins at her wickedly. “You, I’ll leave to the wolves. Might as well tell us what we want to know. And maybe you’ll have a chance of surviving. Maybe we’ll find it in our hearts to protect you, too.”

I crouch down in front of her, resting my hands on her pajama cover thighs. “Please, mom.”

She looks at me, and it’s like a mask slips over her face. I always knew my mother resented me to some extent. She got pregnant with me at seventeen, had me when she was eighteen. I’m not sure how that’s my fault and not her own, but in her eyes, I fucked up her life. I’m the unwanted burden.

She’s always been good at hiding it. At pretending that she cared about me, actually gave a shit… At least in front of other people. Maybe she doesn’t feel like she needs to in front of Swift. He’s all but told her he’s going to hurt her, torture her.

But if she knew anything at all about my psycho of an alpha, it’s that hurting me is a surefire way to bring out the monster in him. I’ve seen flashes of it, even against his own pack. The knife pressed to Luca’s throat when Luca demanded I would have his babies. The low, vicious growl of his voice when he thought a member of his pack caused the bruise on my temple.

I know Swift will sink deep into his monstrous side in order to get my revenge. Even against my own mother.

“You ruined my life,” she whispers at me. “I went from being a teenager with no fucking responsibilities to a mother with one stupid mistake. I knew I should have aborted you.” Swift lets out a snarl vicious enough that my mother flinches away from him, but she keeps her steely eyes on me. “You’re such a disappointment, Sadie. Look at you. Letting this psycho tie me to a chair. Letting him threaten to torture me. I don’t know why I’d expect anything different from you.”

“Okay,” Swift says, sounding cheery as hell, and not at all like my mother just told me she wishes I’d never existed. “I think that’s enough. You’re stressing out my omega, and that’s not something I can allow.”

Swift’s fingers hook under my armpits and haul me to my feet easily. My legs dangle in the air as he turns me toward his body, hugging me into his chest. One arm hooks under my butt, holding me up and the other cups the back of my head, pressing my nose into his neck. I take a deep inhale of his boozy beach scent, letting it soothe me. My arms creep around his shoulders and my legs part around his hips as he walks me over to the table covered with… Tools. It looks like a worktable in a garage. Though everything is so clean they shine, and they’re laid out in some form of organization that I can’t quite understand, but I’m sure Swift does.

He slides me onto the only clear part of the table, staying pressed against me. “It’s okay, Cherrybomb,” he murmurs into my hair. “I promise everything’s gonna be okay.” He pulls back just enough to look down at me. “I’m gonna go to work now. Do you want to stay? Or should I call Luca and have him come down and get you?”

I swallow thickly, my eyes trying to dart over to my mother, but Swift shifts, keeping my gaze on his gold eyes, his beautiful face. “Tell me, omega.”

I lick my lips and shake my head. “I don’t want you to hurt her.”

I half expect him to scoff at my pronouncement, but his face goes soft, and he leans forward to brush his lips to mine. “I know, baby. But you need answers. We need to know who’s coming after you so we can protect you. She can tell us that.”

I have a feeling even if I say not to do it, he’s going to. Sure, he’ll call one of the pack down to take me back to the penthouse, but he’ll stay here and hurt her until she gives us the answers we need.

What will be worse? Sitting here and watching what he does, knowing exactly how hard he had to push her to get answers? Or going upstairs and imagining it? I glance down at the tools on the table next to me.

Imagining it, right?

Thinking of all the damage he could do with any of these weapons.

I let out a slow breath that ghosts over Swift’s lips, he’s so close to me. “Okay. Do what you need to do. But don’t… Don’t kill her.”

He beams at me like I’ve given him the best gift in the world. He leans forward and presses his mouth to mine neck murmuring, “no killing. Not permanent injuries, but she might have a few scars when we’re done.”

My mother will hate that.

She prides herself on her looks. They are the most important thing to her. In fact, every two weeks, while I was being pumped full of god knows what, she was at a spa, getting facials and mud wraps and anything else she could think of in her bid to remain looking young. Which is ridiculous because she was still in her twenties when we started this whole song and dance.

“Okay,” I whisper, nodding.

Swift pulls back, dragging his smooth cheek along mine, scent marking me. Leaving me with his coconut, rum and sunshine scent to help keep me calm during what comes next.

He cups the other side of my face, thumb brushing my bottom lip. “If you need a break at any time, Cherrybomb, if you need to tap out, you tell me.”

I nod. He kisses me again. My mother scoffs.

“Always such a little whore,” she mutters TO HERSELF. “Can’t keep her damn legs closed. None of this would have happened if she’d just not fucked around.”

I frown at the words, battling the familiar hurt, but Swift’s eyes darken. They go to cold shivery gold and any trace of my alpha, the one who is so gentle with me, vanishes.

He leaves me, striding over to my mother. It happens so fast I don’t catch it. The most my eyes see is his hand twitching. Then my mother shrieks and the scent of coppery blood hits the air.

I didn’t even see him palm the knife in his hand, but it’s there. And there’s a line of red across my mother’s chest. “Fuck!” she screeches as he lifts the knife again and slashes at her. “Sadie! Please!”

I curl my fingers around the edge of the table and try like hell to keep my resolve. Though it’s difficult.

Swift glances over his shoulder to check on me, and I give him what I hope is a steely nod. It must convince him, because he turns back to my mother. “Danielle,” his voice is perfectly pleasant. “Are you familiar with the concept of death by a thousand cuts?”

My mother glares up at him. “Isn’t everyone?”

Swift smiles at her, all teeth. “You’d be surprised.” He flips the knife in his hand causally, his deft fingers missing the blade. “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to ask you a question and you are going to answer. If you don’t answer, I’m going to cut you. Twenty-five times. You will count each one. We’re going to do that until we get to one thousand cuts. If you lose count, we’ll start over. You understand?”

Some of the tension drains out of me. He’s just going to cut her, not stab her, or cut off fingers. He’s just going to slowly drain her. She’ll tell us what we want to know before it gets to that point. I can’t imagine she’s going to last very long, anyway.

My mother nods, but her jaw is tight with stubborn energy.

Swift beams at her. “Excellent. Now, what did that fuckface do to my Cherrybomb?”

My mother’s brows lower. “What?”

She gasps when the knife slices across her chest again. “ Count !” Swift barks at her and she does, her voice shaking as she counts up to twenty-five. Each cut is shallow and small, maybe an inch to an inch and a half in length, no worse than an accidental slice with a kitchen knife

When he’s done, my mother is sobbing, big tears streaming down her face. Swift leans over her. “Now you understand how this is going to go, don’t you, Danielle? You don’t ask questions. The only thing you do is answer mine. And you better do it fucking quick.” He lifts the bloody knife, pressing the flat side of it against her cheek. “Next time, I’m going to start on your face. You understand?”

She doesn’t dare nod. The point of the knife is just under her eye, pressing into her skin, but she gasps out. “Yes.”

“Good. Now what did Dr. Schwab do to Sadie?”

She swallows thickly, then says, “I don’t know.” Swift growls. But she rushes to continue. “I don’t! There was an add posting that said I could make some quick money for just donating my kid’s blood. I was desperate. I needed some cash. And-and whatever they found in her blood, they liked. Offered me more money to keep bringing her back.”

I frown, shifting forward, knuckles white where my fingers grip the edge of the table? “You never thought to ask? To press for answers about what they were doing to me?”

She shakes her head. “You were fine! Perfectly healthy. I’m sure you don’t remember this, but after the first few sessions, I took you to a different doctor to have them check you out to make sure it wasn’t hurting you. They told me everything was normal.”

Swift tilts his head. “I’m not sure I believe you.” The knife presses into her cheek, blood wells around it as my mother wails. “You must have had some idea.”

She lets out a shuddering breath. “I don’t know. I-I suspect.”

“Suspect what?”

Her frantic eyes meet mine. “I think they were trying to turn her into an omega.”

“What makes you say that?”

My mother’s jaw clenches and Swift swipes his knife across her other cheek. “Ow, fuck! Okay. Sometimes, her scent would… waffle. Especially after she turned sixteen. But it never fully emerged.”

I frown, trying to think back. Did my scent switch back and forth between cucumber and mint and cherry pie? Why don’t I remember that? But then… I’d been so freaking depressed, wrapped up in my inability to do anything because they lied to me and told me I was sick, dying.

But… I think about the blood transfusions. Maybe they had some unsuspecting omega hooked up to a blood bag, just like they had with me. Maybe she was drained repeatedly, and they put her blood into my veins, hoping to figure out how to make omegas.

God, the thought makes me sick.

But what makes me even sicker?

If I’m supposed to be a beta, and whatever Dr. Schwab did to me turned me into an omega… does that mean this pack, the one I thought was my scent match, is actually theirs ? This faceless, nameless omega that I feel a kinship with should be here. With the Falcone pack. They should have Luca’s bite on their neck and Swift’s obsessively adoring gaze on their face.

This pack isn’t mine.

And it’s fucking devastating.

“Sadie,” my mother says, drawing my attention back to her. “If you presented as an omega, you should go talk to Dr. Schwab. It means whatever he did to you, it worked! You could be the answer to the omega crisis!”

I stare at her for a moment, not entirely sure I heard her correctly. But I definitely did. I laugh, completely humorless and rusty with hurt. “Right. I should go see the man who used me like a lab rat, so you can get another payout. Am I right?”

Swift’s gold eyes narrow on my mother, just before his knife flashes again, slicing over the arch of her eyebrow. She shrieks and tries to arch away from him, but it’s too late. “I’m answering your questions!” She wails. “You said you wouldn’t hurt me if I answered them!”

Swift shrugs. “Never said that. I said I would hurt you if you didn’t answer them. That doesn’t mean I can’t hurt you just for the fuck of it.” He glances over at me. “You okay, Cherrybomb?”

I’m surprisingly okay, actually. I’d thought this would be harder, but then, I guess finding out that your mother let you be tortured by a mad scientist for fucking years for money will change a girl. It fucking hurts. And now I want her to hurt, too.

I nod. “I’m good. Can you have Ethan come down and meet us?”

Swifts by my side in an instant. The knife clatters to the table as he cups my face. “You need to call it?”

I shake my head. “No, I just think he can help us really hurt her.”

My mother lets out a sound that’s half wail, half pleading. We both ignore her. “You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Swift stays close to me as he pulls out his phone and texts Ethan. A few minutes later, the door opens, and Ethan strolls in, looking as fine as ever in a pair of maroon joggers and a tight black tank top. He pauses just on the other side of the door and takes in the scene.

“You know,” he says casually, sauntering over to me. “I rarely help with this kind of thing, but I’m happy to make an exception for her.”

His hand slides into the hair at the base of my neck and he kisses me slowly, softly. “You okay, heartbreaker?”

My fingers curl around his wrist, keeping him close, right where I need him. “I’m okay.”

Swift frowns. “She keeps saying that, but I’m not sure I buy it.”

Ethan hums, scanning my face, trying to get a read on me. “I think you should. Our girl is stronger than she looks.”

“Hey!” I protest. “Are you saying I look weak, asshole?”

He chuckles, kisses my nose and then my mouth. “Not at all. You look like you’ve got a core of steel running through you, and you’re stronger than that. You’re practically titanium.”

I hum, even as I grudgingly accept the compliment. Ethan looks over at my mother with hard eyes. “You tried to break her, to whittle her down to nothing, but our girl is too fucking strong for you. You’re a shit mother and a crap human being. I hope she lets Swift kill you.”

I blink at his tone, at his vitriolic words. Ethan has never been like this with me. He’s always soft and sweet and kinda nerdy with his computer hacking skills. I mean, sure, he held my head in place and fucked my mouth like a demon, but that was a good kind of rough.

I guess this is too, if the way my pussy flutters at his words is any indication.

I hop off the table and look at Ethan. “Can you drain her accounts?”

Ethan’s brow furrows. “I mean, yeah, I can do that no problem. Where should I send it?”

I wave a hand. “I don’t fucking care… give it to a charity that helps children of shitty parents or something.”

“You can’t do that!” My mother wails. “I’ll have nothing.”

Swift grins. “Guess you’ll have to get a genuine job then, huh? Actually, have to work for a day in your fucking life?” He’s enjoying this too much.

“You didn’t earn that money. I did,” I say, stalking over to her, not flinching away from the blood slowly dripping onto the floor. “I earned it with fevers and body aches and nausea so bad I couldn’t keep anything down for days. I earned it with countless hours spent in a doctor’s office. I earned it by having someone else’s blood pumped into me repeatedly. I fucking earned it with pain so goddamn intense that what Swift has done to you here is like being tickled. The only thing you did was sign away your daughter’s body, her health, her hormones, her scent. You picked up a pen and signed on the dotted line with a fucking flourish. I paid in blood and sweat, tears and bile. I paid with my hormones. That money is mine, and I’m going to take it from you.”

Swift’s staring at me with a hungry glint in his eyes. “Fuck, Cherrybomb, you’re so damn sexy when you’re laying down the law like that. I think I want you to use that exact tone on me while you order me to fuck you.”

I arch a brow at him while Ethan cocks his head. “What about the house? Should we take that too?”

I’m tempted to say yes. I want her to be desperate and alone and afraid of what might happen to her, but also, she’s my mother. The only one I’ve got. I shake my head. “Let’s give her until the end of the month.”

Swift laughs. “You giving her an eviction notice, Cherrybomb?“

I shrug. “Yep. At the end of the month, let’s sell the place and the proceeds can go to the same charity.”

Ethan’s nodding while he types on his phone. “This is a lot of money, heartbreaker. You sure you don’t want to keep it?”

“So sure. It feels like dirty money. Like it’s tainted.”

Swift tilts his head at me, white blond hair glinting in the harsh overhead lights. “I hate to break it to you, Cherrybomb, but our money’s not exactly clean either.”

“Doesn’t mean we’re not going to use the fuck out of it to take care of you,” Ethan adds.

I hesitate. I know they’re right to some extent. Having extra money wouldn’t be a bad thing. Especially if this goes the way I’m worried it’s going to. Where they realize that I’m not their omega and they want to find their true scent match.

“Maybe half?” I say hesitantly.

“You can always donate it later if you decide that’s what you want to do.,” Ethan’s already making adjustments.

After a couple of minutes, he beams up at me. “There. Done!” He holds out his phone to me and I see it’s on a screen showing a donation to a charity that helps omegas who have been abused by their families or packs. It helps them get to safe places and legally separate from their abusers, though with bonded omegas there is no true escape.

The donation amount is nearly seven figures. And that’s half of what she had.

Half of what she thought I was worth. Actually, it’s probably more… seeing as she’s been living off this for years.

Nausea sweeps my stomach. I shove Ethan’s phone back at him. “I need to go,” I mumble, already heading toward the door. My chest is tight and so is my throat and my eyes are pricking.

Ethan’s warm hand curls around my elbow, supporting me as I leave Swift’s work room. The alpha I leave behind growls in his throat and snarls something at my mother.

No. Not my mother. She lost the right to be called that when I was eight years old. When she signed away my body for testing. My beta guides me out of the hidey-hole door and over to the elevator, hovering close by in case I need him, but letting me move on my own. Like he really thinks I’m as strong and indestructible as titanium.

I nuzzle into him when we’re in the elevator, taking big gulps of his soothing spring rain scent. His arms band around me, holding me tight. But he doesn’t offer words of comfort. I’m not sure anything he says would help.

When we reach the penthouse, he draws back, ignoring the opening doors to gaze at me. “What do you need, heartbreaker? What can I do for you?”

The omega in me whines that she wants a nest and blankets and pillows and clothing that smells like her pack and lots and lots of cuddles. She doesn’t want to be alone with her thoughts. She wants to soak up the nearness of her pack and forget any of this happened.

But they aren’t your pack.

That reminder has me dropping my arms from Ethan, stepping back and away from him. He follows, his brow furrowed, concern clear in his features. “Heartbreaker-”

I shake my head and give him a wobbly smile. “Ethan, I’m fine. I’m just going to go and… clean up. I feel gross after watching that.”

His gaze narrows, but he doesn’t stop me from fleeing down the hall into the bathroom, where I can put a locked door between us.

I spend at least an hour in the shower, and somehow the water never runs cold. It feels like magic. I wash my hair and body three times. But never really feel clean. I’m pruny and bright red by the time I step out from under the spray. I take my time drying myself off, using a blow dryer on my hair, lotioning up my skin, hoping like hell something will help me come to grips with what happened to me.

News flash: it doesn’t.

When I step out of the bathroom, Luca’s waiting for me in the hall, his beautiful face worried as he sweeps his gray eyes over me. “You okay, vixen?”

It’s tempting to lie, but I’m pretty sure he can feel how not okay I am through our bond, so I shake my head. “Not even close.”

“Oh, baby,” he whispers, tugging me into his chest. I let him, breathing his spiced pear scent into my lungs, letting his rumbling purr vibrate through me. One of his hands slips under my wet hair to cup the back of my neck. “I’m so sorry.”

I shake my head, making my face rub against his soft t-shirt. “Not your fault. I knew-I knew it was going to be bad. I knew she did something awful… because what kid of a mother takes their daughter to a doctor that doesn’t exist and doesn’t know there’s something really wrong? You know?”

His fingers dig into my neck, carefully working out the tension there. “I know.”

“Its just hard that I guess she never really saw me as anything more than… a cash cow. A way to keep them giving her money.” A humorless laugh falls from my lips. “Fuck. I never even questioned why she didn’t work. Why she never had a job. I just assumed it was an inheritance from my grandparents. I never asked questions. God, I feel so stupid.”

“Hey,” Luca’s voice is gentle, but firm. “You are not stupid, Sadie. You were lied to and manipulated over fucking years by the person who was supposed to do everything in her power to take care of you. None of this is your fault.”

Logically, I know he’s right. But I’m also a fully grown woman and I should have had more questions. I should have pressed them to tell me what the hell was wrong with me. I should have followed my instincts. But I didn’t.

Now I’m in this mess, a fake omega bonded to an alpha that was never supposed to be mine.

“Maybe this isn’t the right time,” Luca says, looking sheepish. “I mean with your mother and all.” My eyes flutter closed as I wince at the memory of terrorizing my mom. I never thought I would be capable of something like that, and yet, I stood by and let Swift hurt her, all just so I could find out she all but sold me to be tested on as a child.

That reminder has me hardening my heart against her.

“It’s fine, Luca. What’s up?”

He reaches out and takes my hand in his, tugging me down the hall and into the living room, where I’m greeted by the sight of countless boxes.

Too many to count.

I arch a brow when I realize that most of them are from clothing stores, but there’s a few from Heats, Nests and Beyond, and one giant one from IndulgScents. I don’t know why the sight of it makes my heart clench up and my feet stall out.

Ethan and Logan are standing next to the deliveries. They look nervous and excited, anxious about my reaction. It makes my stomach flip with butterflies.

But suddenly I’m finding it hard to breathe. “You bought me gifts?” I whisper, feeling like this is important. Really freaking important.

Luca tugs me closer to him, presses his lips against my temple. “You deserve them, vixen.”

His words are simple. Hardly anything at all, and yet, tears well in my eyes as the Falcone pack watches in horror.