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Chapter One
9 years ago
Theo
Poppy always told methat if you wanted something bad enough and worked hard enough, then it would come true. Oh, how wrong he’d been. I couldn’t fault him for being the loving and supportive man he was before he died. However, I could blame him for filling my head with nonsense, dreams, and an inflated sense of self. Those are the things my family called my ideas, anyway.
Not that I could have much of an inflated anything anymore. Since his passing, my life had been different. Masks fell away immediately after the funeral and were incinerated after the reading of the will, which I wasn’t allowed to attend, but I heard all about it later from the landing that night.
“I can’t believe it. I just can’t.” My mother could not hold her tears. For a split second, I felt her pain. It was her father that passed. For that moment, I thought maybe we could connect and bond over the loss of the one man we both loved and adored.“How could he? He left it all to that littlefreakupstairs. Nothing for me, his own goddess damned daughter.” Her voice growing louder and louder, choked with sobs. “I put up with so much from him. I watched him dote on that little shit and I smiled. I FUCKIN SMILED! I hoped he was just being nice because of the adoption and status. That when the time came, he would hand it all over to me, to us. We deserve it, not that little bastard.” Any belief or connection I felt was gone. She was not friendly towards me. I knew she only ‘liked’ me because it was what she felt she was supposed to do. I never dreamed there was outright hatred.
“Now dear. We have time to fix this. We have a few years. The boy is only 15. We have until he’s 25 to come up with a solution.” My father liked to think himself a voice of reason. The calm in the storm. He wasn’t even close. More vicious than any person I’d ever read about in history. “We’ll take care of the problem, not that it’s really a problem at this point.” The stopper on the crystal decanter clinked against the serving tray as he poured himself what I assumed was another scotch. His third in the last half hour since arriving home.
I watched from my bedroom window as the car drove up the drive and stopped. My parents exited the vehicle with my mother slumped over and my father’s arm around her as they headed towards the entryway. My brother jumped from the car and took off running without looking back. I knew then that it wasn’t good. Gavin was mad and when he got mad, he ran. I do not know where he went or what he did, but it usually involved him sneaking back into the house with blood on his clothing and his knuckles cut and bruised. At least this time he wasn’t headed to my room.
I waited the customary time for the servant’s greetings and platitudes to my family before easing the door to my room open and creeping across the hall to listen from the landing. There was more crystal being shuffled and clinked together beforeanyone spoke. Then it all came out. The anger, hatred and disgust. I listened to my mother speak of my grandfather as if he were nothing but a beggar on the street in need of a shower and asking for handouts instead of the ruthless business executive that I knew him to be. Well, ruthless with everyone but me. He loved me. I knew this without a doubt. He not only told me, but he also showed me, all the time. He was the only one. I missed him more than I knew how to express. There was a hole in my soul that would never be filled. He took that piece with him into the afterlife.
“How Grey? How are you going to fix this? We can’t contest, we’ll lose what little we got. We can’t marry him off. His new Alpha will get everything under the law, and we can’t control anything he does after he turns 25. He could take it and leave us high and dry. It’s our money, not his. Jesus, he’s not even related by blood to the old bastard, and he fucking got everything!” That’s when it hit me. Poppy told me once that I would never have to do anything I didn’t want to do after he was gone. No one could ever hurt or control me. I always wondered how an Omega could live like that under the laws we have now. Now I understood. He left it all to me. No one could touch an Omega that was worth over $5 million dollars. I could leave the country, find one of those small island nations where society really was equal. Alphas, betas and omegas lived in harmony with equal rights. Even women had rights under their laws. Yes, I could go away… forever.
“He won’t get anything until he’s 25 El. We have a few years; we can fix this. Gavin will help, I’m sure. He stands to gain as much as we do. He got the company and Theodore got the money. Gavin just turned 25 so it will go straight to him. We have time to work out the situation for the money.” A smile broke on my face for the first time in over a week. I wouldn’t sign anything; they wouldn’t take my future from me. The one Poppysecured for me. My smile faltered and panic set in with his next words. “We either break him or eliminate him.”
Crawling across the carpet back to my room was the longest journey I had ever taken in my life. My chest constricted and I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t want to pass out in the hallway where they would find me and think I had been eavesdropping. No, I had to make it back to my room, my sanctuary. Crawling across the threshold, I kicked out with my leg and pushed the door closed slowly. The last thing I heard was the soft ‘click’ of the latch. My world went black.
Chapter Two
Mako
The salty, dank smellof the cave always makes it feel so much smaller than it is. Water dripping from the stalactites on the ceiling lending an acoustic quality to the area. It always relaxes me, maybe that’s why it’s my favorite place for business meet ups like this. That and we’re able to have eyes on the comings and goings of every nook and cranny for half a mile. One way in, one way out. Even for the tide that filled the cave regularly.
“Jesus, Mako. Why in the fuck do we always use this place? Brother, every time we come here, I have to air out my cut for 2 days to get the smell of dank out of it.” Clipper, my enforcer, found one of the few dry areas of wall and leaned against it watching the opening.
“You know why, man.” I looked at the ceiling, rolling my eyes. Yeah, he knew. This wasn’t the first time we talked about it. The damp porous walls and ceiling didn’t allow any kind of echo and the constant dripping made a white noise quality that couldn’tbe permeated with any kind of recording equipment. We had Gates test it quite a few times to make sure. We even had to go outside the cave to use our phones because the density of the cave itself blocked signals. All signals.
“Yeah, I know. Still don’t like it.” Not the first time he voiced his opinion about it. He made it loud and clear in church how he felt about this endeavor and still got voted down. We could use the money and, in our world, money was everything. Well, it was now anyway. I used to think it was love and loyalty, but that shit got shot out of the water years ago. I don’t believe in love anymore and neither do most of the guys who were there when Pacey pulled his shit almost 10 years ago. Brotherhood mattered and to ensure that we needed money. We weren’t poor, but there was always room in the coffers for more.
“Yeah, well, you were voted down. We’re doing this. We’ve talked and planned; nothing can go wrong. Easy money brother.” I didn’t let him see the fingers I had crossed in the pocket of my jeans. I knew this could backfire on us in the worst way. It was looking more and more like we were going to have to take care of our town’s mayor before long. It was something I wasn’t looking forward to, but it was a necessary evil. Only my inner circle was aware of this option, and this job was going to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“Head’s up, Prez.” Clip raised himself from the wall and crossed his arms over his chest.
A portly Alpha slowly walked into the cave and spoke. “Mako?” I shook my head at him and placed a finger to my lips. He was too close to the mouth of the cave for me to feel safe to talk openly. I crooked my finger to draw him further in. He looked at the walls and ceiling, eying the dripping water as if it was going to burn his skin if it touched him. No chance of that, but I’d be willing to bet it would leave some nasty water stains on his expensive suit.
Once he was deep enough for comfort, I spoke. “Mr. Mayor? What can I do for you?”
“You know what you can do for me, Mako. I have a problem that I need taken care of?” Yep, I was going to make him spell it out for me loud and clear. Clip was here as a witness because God knows I wasn’t afraid of this man at all. I could take him out with one hand tied behind my back and both eyes closed.
“Yeah, man, I’m gonna need you to spell it out for me, Mr. Mayor. We don’t need any miscommunication mistakes on either of our parts.” I crossed my arms over my chest and waited.
“My youngest son. I need him taken care of. I need access to his money, and the best way for that to happen is for him to get gone.” Our man who put us in contact and set this meeting gave me the gist of what he wanted. It turned my stomach, but I was going to need him to spell it out for me loud and clear.
“So, you’re gonna need us to take your baby boy out, get his drink on, find him a bit of ass, maybe. Butter him up a bit and get him to sign over his inheritance? Not exactly something you’d need me and my club for there, Mr. Mayor. From what I’ve heard, you’ve got access to plenty of ass. Share the wealth, as they say.” I schooled my features, not letting him know just how much I wanted to punch him in the face. “Would be cheaper for you that way.”
His faced turned beet red and his hands curled into fists. I couldn’t decide if it would be more fun to antagonize him more or punch him in the mouth. “If I could sway him with ass, don’t you think I would have done it by now, you idiot? He’s a fucking Omega. We’ve kept that petty part of him hidden for years. Now that he’s come of age and gained access to his grandfather’s money, it’s time for him to go. I need him gone. Gone as in nite nite, buried 6 feet under, you get the meaning now, you gorilla?!” Ooh, the rage just poured off him. It was taking almost more than I had in me to not punch this guy in the mouth.
Clip spoke up before I could compose myself completely. “Now see here, Boss Hogg. There’s no need to turn this into a hate crime on top of the financial windfall you stand to collect. We got no hate towards anybody; we’d like to keep it that way.” I could see the butt of his gun under the edge of his cut. I knew by Clip’s eyes, this man’s words put him further in the “off him” pile than the act of wanting to kill his own kid did. Though I huffed a laugh at the Boss Hogg comment. Clip loved watching those old shows. I never really understood any of it, but it was sometimes funny the way he worked it into his language.
“Now see here. I wasn’t talking to you, boy. I was carrying on negotiations with your Alpha leader here. Kindly keep your mouth out of it or I’ll have to find someone else to take my 10 thousand dollars. By the way, I’m no Boss Hogg. I’m a damn sight slimmer than that bastard ever was.” He turned to me, obviously waiting for me to reprimand my man. Which I would not do. It took me a bit by surprise that he knew who Boss Hogg was.
I held up my hand in a stop motion, fingers wide. “One, we don’t give a shit who fucks who as long as it’s consensual.” One finger down, “Two, we’re here for nothing more than the money.” Two fingers down, “Three, never speak to another of my brothers in that way again if you wish to continue to walk this earth.” Three fingers down, “Four, yeah man, you have that redneck asshole Boss Hogg vibe floating around your head. You’re just missing the white suit.” Only my index finger remained. “Last but not least, your price just doubled. Want it done and done right? It’ll be 20K. 10 up front and 10 when he’s gone.” I dropped my last finger and formed a tight fist, stepping into his personal space. I took great pleasure in seeing his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he tried to swallow the fear that was leaking from his pores. Standing closer to him, Icaught a faint smell of fresh garden dirt and wildflowers. Hmm, how could this pig have an alluring scent? It was faint, but there.
