49. Penelope
Chapter 49
Penelope
I wake up in the morning the way I always want to wake up—surrounded by my men. Their scents are heavy in the air, mingled with my own, and that’s becoming the scent of love and safety to me.
I yawn, stretching in bed, and an arm tightens around me, pulling me close to a strong, warm chest. Xavier’s.
“It’s too early to be wiggling around,” he murmurs into my hair. “Go back to sleep.”
“I’m awake now,” I whisper back. “Can’t help it.”
He hums under his breath, nuzzling against me. His hand wanders a bit, going from being splayed over my stomach to curving over my hip and down the side of my thigh.
“This is how I want to wake up every morning,” he says.
I smile, amused and touched in equal measure. “Funny. I was just thinking the same thing.”
“Great minds and all that,” he mumbles back with a yawn.
I’m considering drifting back off despite what I just said, when the insistent buzzing of a phone on the nightstand shatters the peace of the morning.
“Fuck’s sake,” Xavier mutters. He leans over me to pat at the nightstand, snatching up the phone. “Dom. It’s you.” He pokes his fellow Alpha until Dominic groans and takes the phone from him.
“Hello?” he answers, sounding annoyed already. He listens for a moment, and then his face falls into serious lines. “And you’re sure about that?” he asks.
Everyone is awake now, watching Dominic’s conversation. Whatever’s happening, it’s clearly important.
“Yes,” he says. “Yes, we definitely will do that. Okay. Thanks for the call.”
He finally hangs up, and we’re all but hanging on by a thread, waiting for him to explain. We don’t have to wait long.
“So it turns out Isaac and his pack aren’t as squeaky clean as they wanted us to think they were,” he says.
“What do you mean?” I ask him. We already knew that, but it was impossible to find anything on them that would stick.
“Your press conference threw the pack into a spotlight,” he explains. “You told the truth and that made the authorities start digging more seriously. And they managed to find evidence that Isaac and his pack were involved in a lot of shit. Not just abusing Omegas but also shit like extortion and money laundering. With a side of smuggling and illegal possession.”
My eyes widen. It’s not surprising, but I never thought they’d be caught for anything they did.
“And they have proof of all that?” Tristan asks.
Dominic nods. “Basically, by coming forward, little bird, and letting the world know the truth about those fuckers, you’ve made sure they’re going to be brough to justice.”
My brain feels like it’s still processing everything, churning through the information at a mile a minute. All I can really feel is overjoyed. I hoped the press conference would be enough to make a difference, but I never imagined it would be on this level.
Xavier pokes me a little, looking at me with concerned eyes. “You okay?” he asks.
I nod, finally letting the big smile spread over my face. “More than okay,” I tell him. “It’s just… a lot to take in, you know? I knew they weren’t good people, but I didn’t know just how deep it went. And now they’ll have to face justice. They won’t be able to hurt me or you guys or anyone else again.”
Tristan lets out a rough exhale. “Thank fuck for that,” he says quietly.
Dominic and Xavier nod their agreement. “We were going to do whatever it took to get them off your back,” Dominic says. “But this worked out better than we could have hoped for.”
I collapse back onto the bed, and the three of them surround me again. We’re in a what is basically a big cuddle pile, and I feel so warm and safe like this. Knowing that everything is going to be okay just makes it even better.
“Thank you,” I murmur, looking at each of them in turn. “I know it would have been easier for you to just wash your hands of this whole thing, but you didn’t. You fought for me. No one’s ever fought for me before.”
“Then everyone else you’ve had in your life are stupid,” Xavier declares. “Because you’re worth fighting for.”
His words make me blush, and each of them kisses me, one right after the other.
It’s like a weight has been taken off my shoulders, and I know they have to be feeling the same way. Not having to worry about what Isaac and his pack are going to do next will free up so much time for living our lives.
After a moment, Dominic stretches and sits up. “We have to go into the office today,” he says. “A board meeting has been called.”
That puts a bit of a damper on the good mood, and I wrinkle my nose.
“That doesn’t sound fun.”
“The major investors will be there too,” Tristan says. “So even less fun.”
“But we have to do it. After everything came out, there’s no way we can get away with not addressing it.” Xavier makes a face and sighs. “We better get ready to face the music.”
“I should come with you,” I tell them, sitting up as well. “It involves me too, after all.”
“You won’t be allowed in the meeting,” Dom says. “Especially after the way things came out, but you can come to the office with us.”
“I’ll be moral support,” I promise.
We all get up and shower and get dressed, meeting Jonas at the car to head to the office. My stomach is in knots the whole drive there and the whole elevator ride up to the conference room they’re meeting in.
Things worked out for the best, but will any of that matter if the damage is already done? Hopefully Xavier, Dominic, and Tristan can manage to salvage this, but it’s hard to know how it’s going to work out.
They leave me sitting outside the board room, and I wish I had brought something to occupy myself with so I’m not just alone with my thoughts. It would be so helpful to have something to do with my hands right now.
But I am, so I try to keep them positive, at least. The three of them have been so much better at getting along lately, and hopefully that will count for something. The company hasn’t suffered for the lie of our marriage, and it’s not like anyone really got hurt because of it. Maybe they’ll be able to convince everyone that it’s not a big deal.
I cross my fingers and chew on my lip, waiting for them to come out.
It’s hard to say how long I sit there, and I can’t hear anything through the thick wooden door that separates the hall from the board room. So when the door clicks open and someone comes out, I jolt in surprise, jumping to my feet anxiously.
I don’t recognize the people filing out, but most of them cast curious glances at me as they go. Several of them smile at me even, and that makes me tentatively hopeful. They must know who I am, so maybe they approve?
My men are the last to come out, and I go to them, heart pounding.
“How did it go?”
Tristan smiles. “We took a page out of your book and told them the truth. All of it.”
“What?” I stare between them.
Dominic shrugs. “There was no point in hiding anything anymore. We admitted that the marriage was more about appeasing the board than anything else, but that it became so much more.”
“It helped that it did what they wanted it to do. We’re fully bonded as a pack,” Xavier points out. “And no matter whether it was meant to be fake or not, that’s because of you. Because we picked you.”
“And now you are what they wanted you to be to us. You are our Omega, our love, our everything,” Tristan says. “And the board couldn’t argue with that. The proof of it working was pretty clear for everyone to see. There haven’t been any screaming matches in public places in a long time.”
“They got what they wanted, and they couldn’t really argue. The investors didn’t care too much because it means their investments are safe. Especially since nothing about the marriage being fake is going to the press. No scandal, no problem.” Dominic grins, and it’s sharp and primal. “We won.”
I laugh, relief bubbling up out of me. “You won!” I echo, throwing my arms around him.
Xavier joins in for a group hug, and even Tristan does as well. We share kisses that are a little less than chaste for the hallway of the office, but we’re all so happy in the moment that we can’t be bothered to care that much.
“I’m so happy for you,” I tell them. “And I’m so happy this is over.” I take a deep breath and then step back. “I guess you need to get back to work now that things can go back to normal. You’ve been away from the office a lot lately.”
“Hm, not quite,” Xavier says, grinning. “There’s one thing we need to do first.”
They herd me out of the office and down to the car, and we end up at my bakery. It’s still like a knife between the ribs to see it in such a state, and with everything going on, I haven’t had a chance to start the process of cleaning up yet.
To my utter surprise, all three of them roll up their sleeves and start working on it. Xavier finds a broom and a dustpan and starts sweeping up broken glass. Tristan gets a sponge and a bucket of soapy water and scrubs at the graffiti. Dominic fetches a trash bag and starts throwing out anything old and broken. And I… I just stand there, watching them in shock.
“You don’t have to do this,” I tell them. “I know you want to help, but… you’re billionaires. You could hire people for this so you could go back to work.”
“We could,” Dominic agrees. “But we won’t. We don’t want to. We want to do this ourselves. This place deserves a personal touch.” He smiles at me, and my eyes fill with happy tears.
Not only do they help me, but they listen to me too.
I jump in to help with the work, and all the while, I can’t stop smiling.