Chapter 1
One
Ten years later
HOLLIS
Pushing back from my desk, I sigh under my breath as I look at the chaos currently on it. Business is doing really well, I’m helping people find love, security, and happiness, but at the end of the day I always feel a little hollow.
Everyone else gets to have this, but I know it’s not in the cards for me.
I don’t deserve it, I’m too broken to know what to do with it if I got it, which is why I work so hard to provide a safe environment for omegas to meet packs.
While I do have my online dating app, I am currently setting up an in person mixer which is more difficult than you’d think.
A knock on my office door pulls my attention up toward it, and my lips curl a little with affection as I see my visitor. I wasn’t expecting him. Hopefully, he’ll provide a good distraction.
Standing, I walk over to the glass door and unlock it. The downfall of being on a busy street and having all glass windows is that there is no privacy, and you can’t be closed unless you’re gone for the day.
“Hello, Cian,” I say, opening the door for him.
“Were you on your way home yet?” he asks, hesitating.
My home is a lonely loft apartment that’s a hell of an upgrade from my first one with no one waiting for me. It doesn’t matter if I was planning to leave yet or not.
“Not yet,” I say with a smile. “Come in, tell me why you’re stopping by.”
Part of me hopes that one day he’ll come through my door for himself. He’s been single for over two years, and seems to always be busy. I know what that’s like though, always helpful, and willing to have my ear bent. It’s a sign of loneliness.
“I told the Senior Members Committee that I would check in on how the dating mixer is going,” he says formally as I relock the door behind him.
An unladylike snort escapes as I hold my hand out for him to follow me to the couches I have set up for meetings and consultations. His words tickle me because these senior members are the heads of the mafia families. It’s not a club or a board committee.
“Yes, I know exactly how that sounds but the door was open,” he grunts.
“I’m sorry, it isn’t you,” I giggle. “I’ll be good, I promise. Please tell them that it’s going well. I’ve pooled my most eligible packs from my clientele as well as personally sent invitations around the city.”
“Well, what did you tell them? You’re a professional matchmaker, Hollis. Cold messaging people seems a bit below you,” Cian scoffs.
Sitting down I shake my head as he joins me.
“I have connections in this city, and my name still means something,” I remind him, pushing my hair over my shoulder. I just pulled it out of the claw clip I’ve had it up in all day, hoping that I was nearing the end of my long hours. My head is starting to hurt.
I changed my last name when I turned eighteen, but that doesn’t matter. Once a mafia daughter, always one. It’s why my business sometimes becomes a revolving door of mafia politics. The bottom line is that I’m a safe person for everyone’s romantic needs, and that’s important to me.
“I doubt anyone would say differently,” Cian agrees. “It just feels like a bold move for a dating mixer.”
“You know it’s more than just that,” I reply.
“Emilia Richardson thinks she can fuck with the very reason we’re sitting here.
Love shouldn’t be a business transaction or manipulated the way she is.
It’s exactly the reason I started my business.
My mixers are open to all vetted packs, meaning they aren’t rapists, pedophiles, sex traffickers, or anything of the like. ”
“Killers are perfectly acceptable,” Cian chuckles.
“I think so. No one is perfect,” I shrug with a smirk. “People are starting to worry about her and her damn podcast. The idea that omegas should only join a pack for safety purposes keeps them small, malleable, and easily manipulated. It goes against everything I stand for.”
“I know. I really didn’t mean it the way it came out,” he says with a wince. “Please forgive me for sticking my foot in my mouth.”
“It’s a sensitive subject,” I say, waving my hand to dispel his words.
“You’re perfectly fine. I sent out engraved invitations to packs in Minneapolis that I know are single, and may have an interest in finding their omega through the mixer.
It was tasteful and discreet. I keep my ear to the ground for updates in people’s dating statuses, and I also used the Healthy Packs Registry to help. ”
“I stand corrected,” he mutters. “You’re an evil match making genius, Hollis.”
Taking a mock bow, I shrug. “I’ve made a name for myself here, even if my surname is fake. I needed to separate myself from my family, Cian. You know how they are.”
“I do,” he admits. “I don’t see Annabelle and Paul very often, but I know they’re proud of you. You represent your family very well in your own way, and are always willing to help.”
“Are you here to kiss my ass, or is there a purpose for this visit?” I tease him. “If we’re going to be here a bit, I’m going to pour myself a drink. Would you like one?”
“God, yes,” he says. “I’m used to politely beating around the bush.”
“Don’t do that with me,” I mutter, standing and moving over to my portable bar.
Pulling it out, I open the ice box that I make at the beginning of the day for my water and manages to stay cold all day.
This is where my omega traits lie. I need flexibility, function, and luxury in the small things in my life.
Ice and whiskey makes itself into two glasses, and I pick them up to walk back over to Cian.
“Aisling has a short list of omegas that she’d like to be invited to the mixer if possible,” he says. “They’re at Omega’s Haven until the transitional housing is completed, and would like to begin looking for a pack.”
“That’s not a problem,” I say. “Do you have the list?”
Cian pulls out his phone and taps it. The buzz of my phone in my pocket tells me that he’s sent it to me and I nod in thanks.
“I’ll go through it and add their names to my list. They’ll have their own invitations as well,” I say. “Now, what else is weighing on your mind?”
“Life has just been hectic,” he grunts. “There’s always something new, and the closing of that sex club has made some waves. Aisling is struggling to ensure there’s enough room for the influx of new people, which means I get grumpy when I don’t get to see my daughter.”
“I heard about that,” I say. “A mobile sex club is ingeniously evil. I’m glad it’s been dismantled, even if it means that our city is going to have an influx of new people, it’s not a bad thing. There are plenty of jobs to accommodate them once they’re ready for that step.”
“Yes, but that’s not the real issue,” he says. “I need you to keep your ear to the ground, Hollis. You hear things, whether it be on the dark web or through your clients.”
“Dark…” I trail off as I let his words flow over me.
It’s not a secret to certain people in the mafia that I am a very good hacker, but in return they keep my abilities under wraps.
It’s how I was able to afford my business, and what is funding this mixer so I don’t have to reach out to donors and sponsors.
I’m just too busy to go through the usual channels.
I suppose you can’t take the illegal activities out of me.
“Why do you think I would hear something about freed ex sex workers on the dark web, Cian? What don’t I know?”
About a month ago, a club called Slick Dreams was raided by a group of mafia packs.
The men who ran it were killed, and the omegas who were being forced to work there as sex slaves were freed.
I’ve been listening to the trickle of news that comes through, but I haven’t seen Aisling recently to ask her about it.
I may need to insist on a coffee date soon.
“Not everyone who should have come back with the packs did,” Cian says, taking a large sip of his drink. “One of our drivers was killed and replaced, and we have no idea where that van of omegas is.”
“Fuck,” I whisper. “They went through so much, and they’re lost in the wind.”
“Hollis, it gets worse,” he says. “Caleb and Lars Finnegan’s sister may have been in that van.”
Slumping against the soft pillows of my couch, I shake my head.
It’s both a blessing and a curse to straddle the line between two worlds.
Caleb, Lars, and I all grew up in the same circles, even though they’re older than I am.
Their sister went missing when she was fourteen, and we bonded over the loss of siblings.
Just because mine was kidnapped when she was an infant doesn't necessarily change how much I miss her. She was my twin, my other half.
Fuck, I need to call the Finnegan boys too.
“Cian,” I rasp. “Respectfully, how the fuck did that happen?”
“I asked, in fact the group was interrogated when the Finnegan brothers asked Aisling if she could ask Alisa to meet with them and she said there was no one by that name at the shelter,” he says. “Before you tell me that she shouldn’t have answered?—”
“Again, you’re putting words in my mouth,” I reprimand. “I know Aisling is good friends with them. Do I have to remind you that your daughter and I are friends, Cian? She wasn’t breaking Alisa’s confidentiality. Aisling helped uncover a huge fuck up. How did you know the driver was killed?”
“I sent people up there to search for Hilson, one of the men we had helping us with transportation after everything was over,” he says.
“He’s the only driver that we can’t get in contact with.
He’s not at his apartment, hasn’t been to work since the raid, and no one has heard from him.
It seems that the warehouse hasn’t been rented out since Bret used it for Slick Dreams, and it’s been abandoned.
There was no one to find Hilson. He was stuffed in a room in the warehouse and forgotten. ”
“Did he have any family?” I ask. I have a feeling he didn’t, or Cian would have found out sooner than this.