Chapter 20

Chapter

Twenty

The omega was pacing again.

I tried to giveherspace. My alpha, however, wanted none of it.

I let her go until around lunch. I was walking around the house on my duty to make sure that shedidn'trun when she passed me wearing the loose, comfortable clothes we got her the other day so that she had more options than our clothes that hung far too big on her. Eventhough they looked amazing.Madeher smell amazing.

Then, she passed me again.

I huffed out a sigh as I made my way to the kitchen. I caught her attentioneasilyenough."Let'sgo, omega."

She stopped in her tracks.There was a moment of silence as if shewasn'tsure what she should say or whatwas going to happen when she did answerme."Where?"

"University."

"I thought…" Her brow creased. "Aren't you supposed to be off today?"

"IdidbutI want togostop in my office to pick up a few things I left."

"Oh," she said. "I'm not sure I should."

"Why not?"

"Demetri is supposed to take me to see my friend today,"she said, looking down at her feet.

"Hewon'tbe home for a while.Let'sgo before you pace a hole into the basement."

"But I'm not supposed to go anywhere," she said. "What if someone sees me?"

"Thenthey'llsee an omega and her alpha."

She hesitated.

Did she think that I would let something happen to her? Sure, it was safer to be here in the house, but…there was another part of me that wanted to take her out, not necessarily to show off but alsoexactlyfor that reason.

"I'llkeep you safe, Ella."

"What if I go into a heat again?" she asked.

Another valid question.

I forced myself not to chuckle, but Ididn'tsuppress the smirkIleaned in close to her."Thenwe'llbe in for one exciting afternoon."

"This what you wanted to come back to your office for?"Ella asked me after staring down at the mess of my desk.

I sorted through all the papers."We'vebeen working ona lot ofthings in the city that Demetri has been taking over. There are businesses, properties, funds."

"Like the omega funds,"she broached.

I paused my paper flipping and blinked up at her."Yes."

"Cal told me."

"Ah."That made more sense."Because he wanted you to know that you had options.The fundsare meantfor omegas whodon'thave any other meansin many cases.Like scholarships, housing, and board."

A crease formed between her brows.

"Before that. On our first date, I think it was.Heknew that I worked in the archives."Her head nodded towards the one side of the room as ifin the direction ofwhere the library on campus would be."A lot of the papers here were the ones I found."

She had to be kidding.

There was tons of information here thatwe'dgotten a hold of in the past few weeks.

Cal saidthat hefound a sourcebutI had no idea what it was.I figured maybe he was digging stuff up in the library with all the time hewas spending there with Ella at the time.

"Youdidn'tknow?" She asked, narrowing her eyes as if she truly thought I was lying to her.

"Ididn't."Another thing Cal was hiding or just not saying. He was quite the secret keeper lately.

Honestly, though, it made a lot more sense.

"There was a lot more information than I thought, and what Icouldn'tfindI looked further into until…"She paused, eyes widening as if she was remembering something before curling back up in the seat in the corner of the office. She looked comfortable, but Icouldn'tstop staring at her.

"You found something?" I asked.

Shedidn'tanswer, looking down at the seams of the chair.

I almostcouldn"tbelieve it."Ella, was there something that youdidn'tmanage to print before for Cal?"

Slowly, she shook her head."Probably not. I mean…"

"Tell me," I said. "Show me."

She hesitated.

"Whatever you are nervous to tell me, Ella.It'ssafe with us. We are the good guys."

"Are you? Isn't that what everyone says? That's what everyone wants everyone else to believe? That you're the good guys?"

"Maybe. But I try to mean it."

Iwasn'tsure what was going through her mind. Itcould'vebeen anything, but Ella studied me. She looked for something, anything that could tell her I was lying. Maybe I was. But also, I sure as hell hoped that after all mylifeIwouldn'tdo that. Iwouldn'tend up the bad guy.

Once, Demetri and I both promised that when we went away to school together and away from our corrupt families.

"Ifound something.About a name,before I left the archives at school…"she hesitated."It was about omega funds."

"Omega funds?"

She nodded."Cal mentioned that his pack was looking into them and might need past information if the library had any or a database somewhere did. I did a little digging online andjust abouteverywhere else I could think of. For him."

The little omega loved my little beta.

I smirked as I listened."Keep going.

"It was omega funds, but howit was donateddidn'tseem right. They were to specific placesandthe reasoning for donationwasn'tlisted anywhere else but through the city,it was placed. No other names. Just the donation receipt like…"

I wasn"t sure I was following. "Like what?"

"Like they were purchasing something instead of donating. Like an exchange wasbeing placed."

I blinked a few times like Iwasn'tquite comprehending. Iwasn't. It was everything wehad been thinkingwas happening–in a way, but to hear it."Buying what?"

"I don't know. I hope I don't know," she said. But we both clearly did.

"You think they are buying omegas."

"Or funding only specific ones. Like they are breeding themto eventually bond or take–"

"Exactly," I said. it was all coming together now. "Can I get Demetri? He'll need to know this."

She paused.

For some reason, I thought the two of them had become close since she found the nest.Helet her sleep insideofitwhichwas huge, but maybe I was wrong.

After a moment, she nodded."Yes."

Good. This was good.

I couldn't believe that somehow this omega managed to hold the information that we had been looking for. Even if we hoped we would never find it. "Hold on."

"Liam."

I turned back. "Yes?"

She paused. Then, she shook her head."Nothing."

I narrowed my eyes. Was she about to say something else? She pushed a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, but she shook her head again.

Demetri got to the office in record time."What were the names?"

The omega swallowed as if she were trying to choke down something painful.

"You can help a lot of people, Ella."

"Davinson," she whispered.

"What was that?"

"Davinson was the last name. There were a few moretoo. I could probably find them if I could look through all the documents again."She bit her lip as if tears were starting to rim her eyes.

"It's okay, smart girl."

"Very smart,"Demetri agreed."Do you have anything else you can tell me?"

She shook her head. "It's all just speculation. Isn't it?"

They looked at each other.

"What?" she asked.

"We'vebeen on this trail for a little while now,"admitted Liam.

"You have?"

"Ever since I started to take over more of the Prestford business I inherited from my father."Demetri rubbed the back of his neck.

"That's been a while?"

Hope and nerves were static in the bond between us.

"Do you still want to go and see your friend today?"Demetri asked, not quite answering her question.

I watched the exchange between the two of them. Easy, yetstillstiffasif Ellawasn'tsure exactly where she stood with him. It was always hard to tell. Demetri was strong and charismatic in a meeting or business setting. But with people? With women?

Well, he usually had one of us with him for the rest of that time.

I was starting tobe remindedas to why.

Ella nodded. "Now?"

Demetri dipped his head at me."We'llmeet you back at the house. Make sure you collect all this up. Youshouldn'thave left it here to begin with."

Rolling my eyes, I nodded towards him."Have fun."

Hopefully, he took the time to get the stick out of his ass and decide to take a chance on her too. Even with this new information coming to light. Even if we all knew how badly the odds always seemed to slidenotin our favor.