Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Dough Knot Bakery, Haven
“ U p,” Dad commands like the slash of a knife. His voice is smooth, sharp, and deadly. “The Snake pack don’t laze around, holding hands. You look like prey, when we’re the predators. Don’t tell me that you’ve forgotten that? What is this shameful display?”
Dad swaggers into the kitchen of my bakery like he owns it.
Unfortunately, if you’re a member of the Snake pack, everything is owned by the Head Alpha.
Dad demanded a key to the property when Vito and I moved in. Vito scowled but he had no choice but to hand one over.
My chest tightens.
I’m struggling to breathe in my panic.
The burned coffee stench of angry Alpha, even with my scent patch, is overwhelming.
I whimper, scrambling to huddle under the counter.
The purple floor is cold underneath me. The shadows curl around me.
But I’m not safe.
No one’s safe once Cesare Snake is in a room with you.
You’re not safe once you’ve gained his attention.
Once you’ve made him angry.
Since Vito and I are his son and daughter who rejected the Snake family, legacy, and business and have been trying to make our own way outside his influence, we have no choice in that.
From being kids, we never had any choice.
I’m shaking.
I wrap my arms around my knees. I slam my hand over my mouth and nose, trying to block out Dad’s smell.
Dad’s dressed in a navy suit with a wide belt, which has a snake’s fanged head as a buckle. He looks slick and well fed with severe gunmetal gray hair and a thick beard.
I hate that his dangerously narrowed eyes are the same blue as my own.
Wide-eyed, I watch in horror, as Vito pushes himself to his feet and straightens to his full height. He throws back his shoulders.
He doesn’t bare his neck in submission, as Dad viciously expects, but instead, tilts up his chin in clear defiance.
Vito always stood up to Dad, when he should have meekly obeyed.
It’s what I admire most about Vito.
It’s a characteristic that I respect in Alphas.
Having an Alpha like Vito around me has stopped me from judging them all to be as terrifying and abusive as Dad and the rest of the Snakes are.
Plus, Dad did say that he wanted Vito to act like a predator.
And he fucking looks like one now.
For a moment, Dad’s step falters.
Then his burned coffee stench begins to settle, and he laughs.
“There it is: The Snake spirit. You spend too much time around Omegas. You should be challenged more often. It’s good to bring out your primal, Alpha side.” Dad gives a nasty smile, closing the gap between us across the kitchen.
His footsteps on the hard floor sound too loud in the silence.
I bite my lip.
“Why are you here, Dad?” Vito’s gaze is hard.
Dad slaps Vito across the face.
The crack is so loud that I jump.
Vito is knocked across the counter, catching himself with his hands but knocking his hip on the metal side.
He lets out a pained gasp.
Dad towers over Vito, pinning him down by the back of his neck. “I like spirit but not insolence. I’m the Head Alpha and I go where I fucking like. I don’t care whether your name is on the deed, son. I own this building. I fucking own you .”
“Shit.” My own panic forgotten, I scramble out from underneath the counter. Fury surges through me. I forget my own fear in my protectiveness for my brother. “Let him go.”
“Dy, b-b-be q-quiet,” Vito struggles to gasp out.
My knees feel like buckling. Dad’s calculating gaze slides to me, where I’m standing at Vito’s side.
Vito’s still shoved face down across the counter.
Vito’s shaking. I know that it’s not from fear but rather, frustration that he can’t fight back. He’s wanted to since we were kids.
Yet a Head Alpha both by law, tradition, and in society’s eyes has the ultimate authority.
Dad could send Vito to the Alpha Center to be conditioned on training courses or force him into matching with an Omega, if he disobeys.
He could separate us forever.
Dad’s behavior crosses the line of what would be considered abusive in most packs.
Perhaps, we could legally get emancipated from him.
But who would care about what happened to someone in the Snake pack?
We’re criminals.
Kids of mafia.
Trash.
At the same time, Dad has wealth, influence, and power that winds like strangling ivy all the way up American elite society — including politicians, bankers, and movie producers.
People are terrified of him.
Nobody would stand with us against him.
Who would be brave enough?
Vito and I are alone. We have been since we were five years old.
But Vito isn’t alone.
He has me.
I clench my hands at my sides to hide their trembling. “Let. My. Brother. Go.”
Instead of letting up on his hold, Dad tightens it.
I flinch, when Vito bites back a cry.
“I thought that I heard something just then but I must have been mistaken.” Dad strokes over his beard, never dropping his gaze from mine. “Because no Omega would talk, when two Alphas are sorting out their differences. Surely, a Snake pack Omega has learned that they have no voice.”
I grit my teeth, struggling to hold my ground.
I won’t back down.
I learned the lesson that I had no voice from Dad all right. But Vito and my best friend, Lincoln, showed me every day that I did .
I do.
I fucking do.
Dad pulls Vito up, only to slam him back into the counter.
Vito’s head slams into the metal with an agonizing clang.
I startle, crying out in horror.
Dad’s eyes are as cold as a python’s. “You don’t keep your sister properly in line.”
“I don’t,” Vito manages to wheeze, grasping onto the sides of the counter with white knuckles.
When Dad raises Vito up like he intends to slam him down again, I can see that his cheek is swollen and purple and his lip is split. Blood drips down to mix with the white of the flour.
And that does it.
Adrenaline surges through me. My heart feels like it’s going to break out of my chest — thump , thump , thump .
I don’t feel in control of myself any longer.
I growl, surging forward and snatching a bread knife from the side.
With shaking hands, I lunge at Dad.
He stills without trying to move away from the blade, allowing it to rest against his side.
His gaze darts to mine, which is blown wide with adrenaline and terror.
I’m giving quick, panicked breaths.
Dad laughs. “I could give you an Alpha Command and drop you to your knees in a split second. I don’t even need to draw my gun or tear out your throat with my fangs. I simply need to say one word…”
Please, no.
I’m dead.
I’m fucking dead.
No Omega can resist the deep biological control of an Alpha Command. I love being an Omega but I hate how vulnerable it makes me. Plus, with my weakened nervous system, I don’t know if I’d survive it.
“Please.” Vito’s begging Dad, but his gaze is locked on mine. I’m shocked by the tears in the corners of his bruised eyes. “Punish me. Don’t use an Alpha Command on Candy.”
I don’t drop the knife. It’s slicing into Dad’s expensive suit.
But my hand is shaking. Tears wet my cheeks.
I want to beg too. But I won’t.
I hate this man. I’ve spent my entire life trying to escape him.
I thought that Vito and I had, but this new life that we’re building is only an illusion of freedom, while Dad can still find us.
I understand that now.
It’s merely a prettier birdcage.
“Punish?” Dad laughs, letting go of Vito with a shove. “Why would I? Your sister has made me proud, finally. At least one of you have. I knew that she had the killer spirit in her. The Snake spirit . I’m impressed. I thought that you two were a lost cause. You didn’t have to be a soldier, Vito, in our pack but you’re smart. You could have been an associate and trained to be something like a lawyer or a banker. Instead, you go off and become a baker. A waste of a knot. A disgrace to our name. Now, it’s your Reject Omega sister who’s standing there with a knife like a real snake with fangs. Aren’t you ashamed?”
Vito wipes the blood off his lip. “I’m proud.”
When I meet Vito’s gaze, my heart clenches.
To my shock, Dad pushes harder into the jagged point of the bread knife. “Come on, put some effort into it. It’s not often that the boss of the Snakes allows someone to pull a knife on him. Anyone who does gets their throat torn out.”
“I d-d-don’t…” My palms are damp around the handle of the knife.
I’ve never hurt anyone before.
I don’t want to now.
I only wanted Dad to stop hurting Vito.
“Don’t do this,” Vito says in a low voice to Dad. “Leave her alone.”
Dad’s mocking gaze is fixed cruelly on me. “ D-d-don’t ? Aren’t you feeling powerful with that knife in your hand? Or are you just an Omega who thought that she could stick her nose into Alpha business? Who forgot her place? Like your mother? ”
Impossibly fast, Dad lets go of Vito and moves to snatch the handle of the knife, twisting it out of my grasp.
Shit, no wonder he’s known as the best fighter in the pack.
He’d never been in danger.
He could have disarmed me and kicked both our asses at any moment.
He was playing with us.
He always has been.
This — our lives — is a big game to him.
He hurls the knife across the kitchen with a clatter, and I jump.
Vito immediately wraps his arms around me protectively. I nuzzle against his neck.
Dad adjusts his tie. “Don’t let someone see you pointing the knife at them, unless you intend to use it. That’s a basic rule within the Snakes. You know how to cut bread but not throats.”
I feel sick.
Vito tightens his arm around me. “She’s not the triplets.”
My stomach swoops.
The triplets, our Alpha sisters.
Enforcers, illegal fighting ring champions, and fucking psychopaths .
Dad’s eyes light in a way that doesn’t promise anything good.
He reaches to slap Vito’s bruised cheek; the gesture should be friendly but is calculatingly patronizing. “I’m glad that you’ve mentioned your sisters. They’re with me on this trip and have been asking after you. They did help raise you both, right? We have other business here, and I thought that it’d be nice to drop in. I didn’t think that I’d be faced with such disrespect. Perhaps, I should reward them and punish you at the same time. It’s Friday, I could give you to them for the evening. You know that they’ve always enjoyed playing with their precious baby brother.”
I freeze in horror.
The triplets have been kind to me in the past but have always been cruel to their Alpha younger brother.
Maybe out of a sense that he’s their competition? That he’s not a tough enough Alpha? Sibling rivalry?
“No,” I whisper.
Next to me, Vito’s breathing is shallow. I can feel him trembling.
I don’t blame him.
The triplets would take him apart. They’re more terrifying than Dad.
Unpredictable, volatile, and sadistic.
Dad holds them over our head as a threat.
Yet Vito’s voice is level. “Why did you decide to visit us today?”
In a sudden, vicious movement, Dad sweeps our carefully boxed up cupcakes and treats for the poor Omegas and Omega Society off the counter and scattering to the floor.
Vito takes a furious step forward, before stopping himself with difficulty. I drag him back into my hold by the back of his t-shirt.
My heart sinks, as I watch the iced Candy and Viper cupcakes tumbling out and being smashed into the floor’s tiles. The iced twin snakes are crushed and broken, smearing like blue blood in trails.
My eyes prick with tears.
When Dad leans over to smell the apple pie, I stiffen.
“Delicious,” he murmurs.
“Don’t,” I beg.
When Dad smiles, showing his canines, I know that it was a mistake to show my weakness.
With a flick of his wrist, he shoves the pie onto the floor. It lands on its top with a wet sound.
This time, I force myself not to flinch.
I won’t give him the satisfaction.
“It’s wasteful not selling this food.” Dad nudges the ruined pie that was meant for our dessert with his shiny black shoe. “You must be doing well, if you can give this away to trash, Rejects, and orphans. Did you think that I wouldn’t hear about this charity?”
“They’d only be thrown away if we didn’t,” Vito replies, stiffly. “And we were going to eat that pie ourselves.”
“Then get down on your knees and eat it.”
“Hard pass.”
My pulse is rushing in my ears, however, because I heard what Dad was saying underneath everything else: must be doing well .
He’s here to bleed us of more money tonight. He thinks that we’re deliberately holding takings back from him.
Except, we’re not.
The bakery will fold, if we give him any more money.
We’ll go bankrupt.
We’ll lose everything and be forced onto the streets…or worse, back into the snake pit.
And tonight has made clear that nothing awaits us there but the cruelty of the triplets and Dad.
“Well, I’m dining out at the hotel’s restaurant with the triplets later,” Dad says. “So, if you could pay me your takings since the start of the month — along with the extra that you’ve been holding out on — then we can all get on with our evenings.”
“There isn’t any extra,” Vito protests, desperately. “Things have been tough. We’re barely holding on in this economy. Plus, it doesn’t help that Mayor St Clair in the last few months has been trying to get us shut down. He’s practically blacklisted us.”
Dad tilts his head, and for the first time since he swaggered in here, I can tell that he’s truly listened. “The mayor, huh? He’s causing you problems…? He’s the one with the pretty son who’s about your age, Thomas?”
Dad’s blue eyes glitter with something too much like violent desire.
Suddenly, a chilling cold grips me.
Thomas was in my class at high school.
He may be my enemy now. He may be the son of a man who’s trying to ruin me.
But I’d never — ever — intentionally set my own Dad on him.
I wouldn’t set Dad on anyone.
And definitely not the most beautiful Alpha in Haven, who’s been creeping into my dreams for years, no matter how hard I’ve tried to keep him out.
An Alpha who’s always been forbidden to me.
“Thomas is only following orders,” Vito says hurriedly, looking as pale as me. He must have caught Dad’s look as well . I reach for Vito’s hand, squeezing hard. He appears to understand. “He’s not behind our problems.”
“Are you sure about that? He was always a smart one, at least, smarter than his bastard of a father appreciated. His kids were simply pretty baubles to him. The Alpha son, on the other hand, has a cold, dominance radiating off him. He’ll be delicious to break.”
“Break?” I gasp.
“This is the sort of thing that you should bring to me.” Dad gives a thin smile. “You’re both too soft. I look out for my pack against outsiders. You don’t need to hear the details. But kidnapping Thomas will be a pleasant mix of business and pleasure for me. I’ll solve this problem for you with the mayor. I’ll get to it tomorrow and then return to Washington. The triplets can have their fun with Thomas, rather than you.”
He turns to leave, looking pleased.
Shit.
I remember Thomas: tall with copper hair and milk white skin.
I remember how his aquamarine eyes look prettier against the coldness of his expression like he’s hiding behind a mask.
I remember the way that he’d watch me across the classroom in high school with a smoldering intensity.
“Don’t,” I cry.
At the same time, Vito yells, “Stop.”
We both leap forward, snatching Dad’s sleeves.
Dad arches his brow, staring down at us. “That’s it. I’m calling the triplets in here.”
I frantically wring Dad’s sleeve between my floury fingers, marking it. I know that I’m making things worse. I can’t think of the right words.
I’m not even meant to have a voice.
“Just listen.” Vito looks like he’s struggling as much as I am. His voice is raspy, as if it’s paining him to talk with his split lip. “Thomas is an entitled asshole but he hasn’t got any real power within the Saint pack. In fact, I hear that he’s spent time in the Alpha Center. The mayor has been punishing him for not following orders. So, he’s not some loyal, well-behaved deputy mayor. He won’t know anything recent that’ll be helpful. Plus, I don’t think that his dad’s ever cared much for him. He’s treated as expendable. Kidnapping him won’t help.”
Dad’s gaze darts between us in a way that makes my skin crawl.
He can always see too much.
“You really don’t want me to take Thomas, do you?” He growls.
Mutely, we shake our heads.
“How much is he worth to you?” Dad demands. “You can choose. Either pay me from the bakery everything that you have in your account, or I’ll take Thomas as payment just because he has pretty aquamarine eyes. I always did fancy redheads.”
My stomach is tied in knots.
I either lose the business that I’ve built with blood, sweat, and tears.
My home.
My dream.
Future.
Or I give up a man who probably doesn’t even remember that I exist to Dad.
It’s not a choice.
Helplessly, Vito’s gaze meets mine. “We’ll do whatever you want, Dy. You’ll always be heard by me.”
Fuck, that’s why I love my brother.
“We’ll pay.” My voice is raspy with tears. “Please, don’t hurt Tom.”
I bet that the Saint pack would be laughing if they could see this: Snakes choosing to secretly suffer for them.
I’m a dumbass.
Yet I could never live with myself, if Thomas was forcibly taken into the pack against his will. Some of the Snake Betas are members through kidnap and coercion.
I hate it.
It’s another reason that Vito has been fighting to get us out.
Dad’s lips purse in disappointment, but then, he shrugs. “Hand me your phone, son.”
Reluctantly, Vito pulls his phone out of his pocket, swiping it on, before holding it out to Dad.
“Open up your account first,” Dad orders. My heart is in my stomach, as I watch Vito slowly tap on the screen, before passing over the phone. “There, all transferred. Have a good evening. I’ll say hello to the triplets for you.”
Numbly, I watch Dad stride out of the devastated kitchen.
My life is devastated too.
“How much did he leave us with?” I ask in a flat voice.
“Enough for…I mean…if we’re careful…maybe until the middle of next week.”
“Fuck!” I explode, dragging at my hair. “How are we going to pay the bills? Buy ingredients? We have nothing.”
“Hey, hey.” Vito catches my hands, stopping me from pulling at my hair. I can hardly see him through the blur of my tears. “We’ve had nothing before and we’ll probably have nothing again.” He makes his tattoo hiss next to mine, and despite myself, I laugh, returning the gesture. “We’re the snake siblings. We always pick ourselves up, right?”
“Right.” I swallow. I don’t know that I believe it, not this time. In a way, I wish that Thomas knew what we were sacrificing for him. On the other hand, I hope that he never finds out. But then, my expression brightens. “The Saints are trying to increase the power of Haven by holding the town’s first food festival on their estate in a couple of weeks. Angel was talking about it. If we can find a way to hold on until then, we can enter. There’s going to be a special cake contest with celebrities and bakeries entering from across the state. Even if we don’t win, it’ll bring attention to the bakery.”
“What’s the prize if we do win?” For the first time, Vito’s looking hopeful.
“That’s the awesome part. The local billionaire Knight pack are offering a quarter of a million dollars as first prize.”