Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Jack
Iwas beyond livid. It didn’t matter that Quincy had been the one to disrupt Monk’s presentation or that German had failed to stand up for us when he’d said he would.
At the end of the day, neither of them was responsible for the anguish tearing my omega apart or the suffocating sense that I was trapped in a life I didn’t choose.
There were only two people to blame for everything destroying my life and Quincy’s, and they were standing casually by the side of the stage as the audience broke up and moved on to the next scheduled event.
My dad and Chester Monk were the root of all evil, and they would pay for what they had done.
That was a nice sentiment, but all the righteous anger in the world wasn’t enough to cause me to be rude to the eager group of young people who had gathered around Monk, presumably to ask questions about his shady app.
I came to a stop several feet away from him and my father, shifting restlessly with all the built-up energy inside me.
I glanced over my shoulder, checking for Quincy, but my sweet, wronged omega was nowhere to be seen.
I had thought he was behind me, but apparently he’d never stepped back into the conference room.
Without a bond, I didn’t have any sense of where he was, whether he was still out in the hall or if he’d sprinted out of the hotel and into the ocean.
I was about to give up on confronting my father and go after him when my dad’s voice right beside me said, “I hope you’re proud of what you’ve done here today.”
I whipped back around, eyes wide, to find him glaring at me with utter disgust.
“I’m very proud of what I’ve done,” I told him, keeping my voice lower than I wanted it to be, since there were still other people in the room. “I’ve stood up for my omega and fought for him.”
My dad made a sound that was something between a dismissive sniff and revulsion. “That omega is beyond damaged goods. I’ve learned all about him from Monk. He is a piece of refuse that should be in an institution.”
“Quincy is a good, brilliant man who was forced to undergo a procedure with catastrophic consequences,” I told my dad. “Forced to undergo it by that man there.”
Monk had finished his chat with his eager fans and glanced up as I pointed at him.
He turned downright green for a moment, looked around as if wishing more people would come talk to him as a shield or that he could make a run for it.
He was out of luck, though, and moved cautiously forward when my dad stared at him like a master telling his dog to heel.
“What this man did was unconscionable,” I said, glaring at Monk. “And if everything I have learned in the past few days is true, he is an unscrupulous bastard who would do anything for money and power.”
“And you wouldn’t?” Monk threw at me.
I pulled myself to my full height and said, “No, I wouldn’t,” with all the certainty in the world.
I focused on my dad and said, “I’m not like you and I never have been.
I don’t care about fortune and position.
I hate the world I was raised in and all the stupid, vapid rules and standards that our people have.
I don’t care about status or who outranks who in the social order.
I only care about helping people, helping my omega. ”
“Oh, you don’t care, do you?” Dad balked, eyes going wide.
“You don’t care about the fact that you’ve never wanted for anything in your life?
That you were raised in comfort and safety?
That you attended the finest university in the country on my dollar and were given a high-ranking position in an established law firm immediately upon graduating? ”
I winced, my heart racing and my stomach turning. “I couldn’t help any of those things. I had no choice in who I was born to or how you chose to raise me.”
“I raised you to be a better alpha than this,” Dad hissed.
“What better sort of alpha could I be than one who helps the less fortunate and champions the man I love?” I demanded.
Dad snorted. “You don’t love him. You’re hot for him. There’s a difference.”
“I love him,” I insisted.
Dad brushed my heartfelt words away. “He’s the sort you keep in an apartment somewhere for occasional use. But no,” he countered himself at once, “he’s not even worthy of that. He’s a contaminate, and he’s infected you.”
“The only thing Quincy has infected me with is hope in a better world and the inspiration to reach for a better future, for myself and him,” I said, clenching my hands into fists. “Quincy is the best man I’ve ever known, and I will do whatever it takes to be with him.”
“What, like hiring a reporter to threaten us with some sort of scandalous story about our partnership?” Monk interjected.
I hated the man and thought he was miles beneath Quincy and me, but his question had my stomach turning.
“You thought bringing German into this little drama would work to your advantage?” Dad said with a wry look. “Men like German are easy to pay off. The second I saw him loitering in the hall, I knew why he was here. I had a lot of zeroes in his bank account before he could introduce himself.”
My heart started to wither as panic rushed in to take the place of all the righteous confidence I’d thought I had.
“I just want you to let me go,” I said, hating how feeble my voice sounded. “I don’t want to be a part of your world anymore. I want out, out of it all.”
“Out of the job you love?” my dad asked, finding a weak spot and driving a knife into it.
“What do you think will happen to that youth shelter you’re representing if I remove you from the case?
It would be terrible if they ended up shut down and all those at-risk young people were turned out on the streets.
It would be terrible if the small business you championed last month lost their license and all their profits.
In fact, it would be a horrific thing if your entire client list for the last two years suddenly met with tragedy. ”
I thought I was going to puke.
“You wouldn’t do that,” I whispered.
“To preserve my family image? I’d do anything,” Dad said, eyes narrowed.
I couldn’t draw a full breath. My palms started to go sweaty and my head spun. He would do it. My dad was cruel and ambitious enough to harm dozens of people he didn’t know just to keep me in line.
How could I sleep at night, even if I had Quincy in my arms, knowing that I’d been the ruination of everyone I’d thought I’d helped?
“He’s got you there,” Monk said, smearing salt in my wounds. “You’re not so self-righteous now, are you.” He laughed.
I glanced between him and my dad, having a hard time deciding which of them was the more disgusting of the two.
“This is what’s going to happen,” Dad said, squaring his shoulders and looking down his nose at me.
“You will never see that omega again. You’ll go home, take a shower, eat something healthy, and spend the rest of the weekend thinking about what you’ve done.
Sure, you can take that new bank account I know you have and run away with your omega. ”
I flushed, filled with dread that he knew about my new bank account. Even if he was just guessing and bluffing, he knew me well enough to know what I’d had planned.
“But if you run, I will personally see to it that every client you’ve ever worked with is decimated. I will ensure that your omega’s family loses everything and ends up on the street, too.”
Monk looked warily at my dad. I doubted he actually had a shred of decency in him, but he had known Quincy’s family since he was a child.
“If you show up at the office on Monday, bright and early, suit pressed and smile in place, and never mention any of this or that vile omega again,” Dad went on, “then we’ll pretend the whole thing didn’t happen.
Your clients will be safe and happy, your bank accounts will all be restored, and nothing at all will change. ”
It was that last sentence that killed me. Nothing would change. I would still be a prisoner in my own life. My father would continue to be the bastard he’d always been. My mom would remain aloof and uncaring. And Quincy would still be broken and alone.
But what choice did I have? I was being given a choice between bad and worse.
It all boiled down to one thing. I couldn’t let my former clients suffer for my own tentative chance to maybe be happy.
Without a word, I turned to march back through the conference room, which was already filling for the next presentation. I needed to find Quincy and tell him…everything.
“If you see Quincy,” Monk called after me. “Tell him to give me a call. I’m sure he’ll want to know all about Bangers & Mash Lab’s ReBond procedure.”
That was it. That was the crushing blow that ended me. If I gave him up, Monk would make sure that Quincy got to be part of the trial for ReBond. He could be healed after all.
Just not with me.
Quincy wasn’t in the hallway beside the conference room anymore. I walked all the way to the end, where a door opened out into the lobby, then on to the elevators. His boss had told him to go upstairs and to clear out his desk, so that was probably where he was.
Everything felt wrong when I reached the fourteenth floor and The Grand’s offices.
The place was mostly silent, which was an eerie contrast to the noise on the floors below.
It made sense that most of the hotel’s events staff was working the event, but overall, I was glad that I wouldn’t have to have witnesses to what would probably be the most cowardly act of my life.
Quincy was alone in a shared office, putting stuff from a desk into a standard file box. His face was red, wet, and puffy, and tears continued to stream down his cheeks as he worked. When he looked up as I entered the room, he burst into fresh sobs.
“Sweetheart,” I said, unable to stop myself from crying as well.