Chapter 43
Sitting in the backseat of the car I’d ordered, I swiped through my messages.
My Alphas had been quick to replace my cheaper cell phone with a needlessly expensive one and put me on their unlimited plan.
I hadn’t had much of a choice. I tapped the screen to send my response to a commission request on the new art account I’d made.
The driver rolled up to the dilapidated building. “Are you sure this is the spot?” she murmured, eyeing the sprawling structure.
I wanted to see where they’d grown up. The place that had hidden so much pain in my Scent Matches.
“Yes.” I pushed open the car door. “Thank you.” I shut the door, ended the car service via my phone, and tipped the driver. Then I shoved it back in my pocket.
Overgrown foliage sprouted from the dirt. Dry leaves crunched on my way up the stone path to the wooden door. I climbed the stairs and stopped, eyeing the looming structure that my Alphas had grown up in. The only place they ever remembered living in as children.
I yanked the yellow caution tape, ripping it off the door, and nudged open the door as wide as it could go so sunlight spilled inside.
An old grandfather clock lay on its side with glass shattered around it.
Spiderwebs clung to almost every surface, and a tree seemed to be growing through a large shattered window. I rubbed my arms.
It was everything I would expect an abandoned place to look like.
The same floorboard that I’d stepped on upon entering creaked. I closed my eyes and sighed. Of course they’d called my bluff when I told them I was going to visit Sonia to thank her for her help.
They were going to be so pissed.
I didn’t turn around.
“I know, I know, I should have told you I was coming,” I grumbled. “But I knew you’d tell me no.” I stopped talking. There was a creak, then the sound of the door slamming shut, which cut off most of the light source.
Familiar cloying cologne reached my nose. I whirled, but I was too late. Father gripped the back of my hair. I yelped, grabbing his wrist as if I could force him to soften himself.
Father squeezed even harder, and I stopped fighting to get free.
My breath sawed from my lips with painful gasps. “Let me go,” I cried out.
Father looked at me with disappointed eyes. “They let you have such freedom,” he tsked. “You have those fools wrapped around your finger.”
“You’ve been watching me?” The words were all I could force out of my too tight throat.
“Watch you?” he retorted with a sneer. “As if I have nothing better to do.”
“I’ve been the one watching you.”
A second person was here. My stomach dropped. If I could somehow manage to escape Father, now that was null.
“Roberto?” I whispered, disbelieving.
“They never leave you alone,” Roberto griped.
Father’s eyes widened. “You’re bonded.” His fingertips dug into the side of my neck, and I held back my flinch. “She’s worthless now.”
“Unless she’s no longer bonded,” Roberto added.
I gawked at him. The only way my bond-marks would disappear was if they died, right? I rued my lack of knowledge of that topic.
“No,” I gasped and shoved out of the painful grip. “No!” I shouted.
Father slapped me across the face, sending me to the ground. I let myself fall to the floor and remained still. An element of surprise was my only chance.
“What the fuck, Alfonso?” Roberto bit out with a growl. He sounded closer than before. “Eva?”
He rolled me onto my side, and I lunged, sinking my nails into his face. Lines of red opened across his eyebrow and down to his mouth. He growled, and his fist flew at my face.
The impact rocked me back, making my head slam into the floor. I groaned, clasping my nose. The taste of copper coated my tongue and every breath I took.
Who was this Alpha in front of me? There was no sign of the man I’d gotten to know. The one I’d made out with.
It hit me then. He was never my friend.
I blinked my teary eyes, and blood slicked my palm. “Why?” I whispered.
He crouched and pinched my chin to lift my face. “Why what?” His eyebrows raised.
“Why act like you were my friend? Why act like you were helping me?” I breathed harshly. “Did you even open the bank account for me?”
“No,” he said with the same bland look he had when he punched me. “Just had everything routed to your father. But imagine how surprised I was when you called me.” The pressure of his fingers on my chin became harsher.
“Why help me get the supp pills then?” My mind was going crazy.
I’d begged him for suppressants after I’d Awakened at twenty-one when my scent would have reached full maturation and Omegas had their first heat.
It wasn’t until then that it was possible for Alphas to recognize an Omega as their Scent Match.
“It was a benefit to me,” Father interjected, an almost drawl to his tone. The reason how it would be beneficial hit me across the face—a benefit to him because it meant I wouldn’t find my Alphas. While I hadn’t wanted to find my Alphas because they’d be connected to him, he’d wanted the same.
So many lies. I narrowed my eyes at Roberto. “Perro mentiroso.”
Roberto smiled. “Let’s get you back home. You’ve gotten too mouthy.” He gripped my arm and yanked me until it felt like my arm was being ripped out of its socket.
“They paid you already,” I hissed, staring into Alfonso De La Cruz’s dead eyes. There had always been an eeriness to them, like something was off.
“They paid to be your masters, not your Alphas.”
His mind was twisted. That didn’t even make sense.
“Why do you hate me so much?” I cried, tears trickling free.
“You killed your mother,” he spat, madness in his eyes. She’d passed of medical complications when she’d given birth to me. I’d always known that, but he never spoke of her. To the point that I doubted he’d even cared about her.
Father stepped forward, his strides wide as he barreled toward me. I pushed back against the floor, sliding backward with quick scoots. My head thudded into the wall.
He gripped my hair in his fist. “You don’t deserve to be happy.”
Uninhibited rage coursed toward me, but the emotion was not mine.
I panted, staring into his feverish eyes. My Alphas were here. The door creaking forced me to turn my head. Pinpricks from his grip in it assaulted my scalp, but it was worth it.
Rafe was already behind Roberto, hands bracing his head and twisting with a hard yank. After a loud snap, Roberto thumped onto the floor, lifeless. Rafe’s gaze raised to Father, still not looking at me.
“Stay back,” he snapped and shook me. I yelped from the pinch. “Stand up.” I followed the order, my knees shaking. “If you let me leave, I’ll let her—”
Everything happened so quickly. Cade barreled into Father, Rafe bolted forward, and Dorian was suddenly sweeping me into his arms so my face didn’t meet the floor.
I grunted from the force of his hug, pulling back in time to watch Cade ram his fist into Father’s nose.
Blood sprayed in an arc. Cade stood and stomped on his stomach, forcing him into a curl.
While Cade caught his breath, Rafe rolled Father onto his stomach and put a boot in the middle of his shoulders, pinning him.
“Can you stand, Eva?” Dorian’s gentle voice made tears well, and a purr vibrated from him. My shoulders incrementally relaxed from the calming sounds. He cupped my jaw and swiped his thumb under my nose. I could only nod because of the thick emotion in my throat. “Good.”
He let me go, rubbing my blood between his thumb and other fingers. He strode over to Father and crushed his ankle with a well-placed kick.
Father screamed, thrashing under his boot. Stepping back, Dorian nonchalantly reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter as Rafe stood behind Father, blocking him from escape.
Dorian lit a cigarette, dangling between his lips.
I hadn’t seen him smoke since that time in the car.
Smoke plumed from between his lips, and he crouched and gripped Father’s hair, making sure he couldn’t move.
He pressed the lit side against my father’s cheek.
This time, the scream turned into a sob.
“Doesn’t feel so good, does it?”
I backed up, stumbled, and banged the wall with my elbow. Dorian straightened, striding to Cade who wore a smile as he watched my father writhe.
“Wait for us in the car, baby,” Dorian drawled. I numbly nodded, giving Alfonso a final look, the terror on his face evident. The same fear that had haunted me at his hand.
I managed to walk a few steps, then my legs gave out like strings had been snipped, and I thudded onto the floor.
“Eva!” Cade was suddenly at my side, cradling me in his arms. I blinked up at his worried face. I couldn’t feel their emotions, which meant they were likely shielding me from them.
Dorian approached and placed the keys on my stomach. “Go,” Dorian ordered. “She doesn’t need to be here for this.”
“What are you going to do?” I croaked, my throat still raw. He leaned down and kissed my mouth.
“Get home and rest,” he murmured. He eyed my face, and the anger in his eyes only became worse.
Cade strode away, holding me in his arms as he kicked open the front door.
Screams echoed behind me. Then repeated hard thuds that faded with each step Cade made.
I let my head drop onto his chest against the rumble soothing my unsettled stomach. After this, I had no doubt they’d had their abusers killed.
Good.