Chapter 13 #2
Elena realized her mistake too late. She’d overplayed her hand, made them feel slighted. Linda did that often, and the guards despised her for it. Cursing herself for a fool, Elena turned on her heel and stomped into the shop, waving away the woman who came rushing towards her to offer assistance.
Snatching up nothing more than the absolute essentials, she slapped her purchases down on the counter.
Livid over the fact she was using his money and not her own, she took her anger out on the fine silk and satins with their pretty lace.
She thrust the gleaming black card towards the woman behind the counter.
Purchase made in half the time the man had allotted her, Elena stalked out of the store.
She didn’t wait for one of them to open the door for her, wrenching it open so that she could climb up onto the seat.
Each location would take her even further away and she had no recourse to get to Lamberti’s now.
Except maybe she did…
“Wait,” Elena shouted, jumping down from the SUV before the Beta could slam the door in her face. Holding her ground on the sidewalk, she looked between them all and decided it was worth a shot. “I still need to go to one more place. It’s not far from here.”
“I already told you—”
“If you won’t drive me, then I’ll walk. What’s a few city blocks?”
The leader of this band of disgruntled guards turned bright red, the tips of his ears bloody as he leaned down to bring his face even with Elena’s. “You’re not going anywhere but home.”
“I most certainly am not,” Elena said with a toss of her head, acting the part of spoiled debutante with an ease that disturbed her. “Either you drive me, or I walk.”
They stared each other down for what felt like hours but was nothing more than a mere moment at best before he stood tall and swept his arm out in a grand gesture. Inviting her to begin on a journey he didn’t think her brave enough to take.
Foolish of him, really. Elena rolled her shoulders in a shrug and set off down the sidewalk towards the part of town where the law offices were.
She hadn’t lied. It was only eight, maybe ten blocks away.
Not far at all really, and she’d done far more walking in recent days than was good for her reputation.
“Get back in the car,” the leader snapped, moving to block Elena’s path.
They wouldn’t touch her. Not if they valued their lives. Oh, Leon might not care if they disrespected her as they had been, but to touch a man’s mate, his prized Omega, was anathema. Their lives would be forfeit. They all knew it.
“Not until I go to one more stop,” Elena said, veering around his bulk to continue on.
“Then get in the car,” the man said, pitching his voice low as a group of women crossed the street in front of them, passing Elena with long looks and raised brows.
She didn’t know any of them, but that didn’t mean they didn’t recognize her. Elena hadn’t had many friends in school, and far too many enemies to keep track of. They could be anyone.
“I don’t believe you’ll take me where I want to go,” Elena said, pausing to cross her arms high on her chest as she craned her head back to look at the guard dead in the eyes. Knew it was true by the flicker of unease in his flat, brown gaze.
“If I take you anywhere but where he’s allowed me to, it’ll be my head,” the man bit out, conceding a small step away from Elena to give her space. No longer looming over her, trying to intimidate her response.
“Then I’ll take myself there,” Elena said, giving another abbreviated shrug as she let her arms drop. Steps quick and light, she began heading down the street again.
The surge of elation at her victory was short lived as they fell into step around her.
She knew they’d get into trouble over this.
It’s not as if she gave them any choice, but that wouldn’t matter.
Leon would punish them all for her transgressions, though she doubted the Beta guards would receive the full brunt of his anger.
That would be saved for the small Omega under his thumb.
Elena’s steps tried to falter, to swing her back around as she thought of the many ways Leon might punish her. She still bore the wounds of his last “lesson.” What damage could he do now that no one would say a word otherwise?
Ducking her head with her resolve, she was more determined now than ever to not be so wholly dependent upon him.
She would have to turn to him for so many things now, but her upkeep wouldn’t be one of them.
A small, paltry thing to let her pride get snagged upon, but it was the only thing left to her.
Perhaps she could be braver still and hide the money away for some escape. Elena could get word to Jamie somehow, plead for his help. He’d always been there for her. Jamie would never deny her.
Breaths coming fast and hard as this new plan began to unfold in all its brilliant insanity, Elena almost passed the office of her father’s lawyer entirely.
She executed a tight turn, nearly barreling into one of the guards trailing her before she slid through the heavy doors into the musty coolness of the law offices.
She knew this route by heart, though she’d only been there the once. The day so fateful it’d been ingrained in her memory. She went to the elevators, pushed the button, and emerged exhausted and wrung out.
Her nerves frayed, sizzling and popping just under her skin until she scratched at her arms to rid them of the sensation.
“I’m here to see Mr. Lamberti,” Elena said to the secretary sitting behind a wide oak desk.
“He’s otherwise engaged, ma’am,” the woman said, giving Elena a long once over before her gaze flicked to the guards. “If you’d like to leave your name and information he’ll—”
“No, I want to see him now. Tell him it’s Miss Costanzo—I mean, Mrs. Marchetti to see him.”
It was only a tiny stretching of the truth. Omegas were never married as Betas were, but they did take the name of their Alpha when claimed. This woman would have no idea that Leon had yet to fully claim her and that their binding was strictly on paper.
The woman’s eyes widened a fraction. She picked up the phone, punching a number in before a dull tone sounded through the speaker. “A Mrs. Marchetti to see you, sir.”
The secretary murmured something Elena couldn’t quite catch before she smiled wide and gestured at the closed office door. “He’ll see you now.”
“I believe congratulations are in order,” Mr. Lamberti crowed as Elena slipped into his office, leaving the guards behind for the moment. “To what do I owe this honor? I can’t believe Mr. Marchetti would be looking for a new lawyer…?”
“No,” Elena said with a shake of her head. “Nothing like that.”
“Ah.” Mr. Lamberti fell into his chair, the seat groaning under his considerable weight as he leaned forward to press steepled fingers against his chin. “Then what do you want, Miss Costanzo?”
“It’s Mrs. Marchetti now,” Elena said coolly as she took the chair before the desk. “And you said that the remainder of my father’s estate would be mine when I was mated.”
“Of course, of course.”
“Well? I’m mated now, when will I receive the money?”
“I can have it wired this very afternoon.”
“Good. And you have all the information you need for that to be done?”
“Yes, indeed,” Lamberti said, his gaze sliding over Elena in a way she found decidedly uncomfortable. “You can of course come to me for anything, Miss Costanzo. Day or night.”
“I believe this will be the last of the services my family needs from you, sir,” Elena said, rising from the chair. She smoothed the lines of her dress, stepping behind the chair to hide a good portion of her body from Lamberti’s lurid gaze.
What on earth was that about?
“Perhaps, but perhaps not.” Lamberti stood tall, coming around the desk with his bulging gut preceding him. Closing in on Elena as she made her way backwards towards the door.
“Good day, Mr. Lamberti,” Elena said all in a rush as she swung the door open and staggered back out into the lobby. Only two of her guards remained and she beelined for their safety as Lamberti continued his lumbering chase.
She breathed a sigh of real relief as they closed in around her, their cold glares driving Lamberti back. The confusion on his face was comical as he looked from the guards to Elena and back again. Had he thought her alone and unguarded? Or perhaps only with Jamie to help her still.
Had Leon been right all along?
Lamberti had been nothing but callous and cold at her one and only meeting with him.
He’d offered no recourse for her dilemmas and shrugged away all her problems. Now that she was to be mated to Leon Marchetti, it seemed his tune had changed, but she didn’t understand why.
He should be more afraid of Leon than he’d ever been of Valente Costanzo.
“Car’s downstairs, ma’am,” the leader murmured to her as he held his arm out for her to precede him out of the office doors.
“Day or night, Miss Costanzo,” Lamberti called after them.
The guards said nothing, keeping close to Elena even after they’d entered the elevator. Their presence had everyone giving her a wide berth, not a soul daring to impede their exit as she hurried towards the waiting SUV.
Clambering up into the seat, Elena latched her belt with a shuddering exhale. Her nerves still wouldn’t stop, fingers trembling as she shoved the lock down on her door.
“I still have to get clothes,” she whispered into the tense stillness of the car as the one driving pulled away from the curb.
“One stop,” the leader grumbled.
Elena agreed with a slow nod, huddling around her middle as her mind replayed this visit with Lamberti.
He’d acted like a man obsessed, and with no reason she could discern.
She’d made no comment or move to attract his attentions.
He’d been the aggressor from the moment she’d walked into the office.
Dragging in a long breath, Elena startled. Bringing her arm up to her nose, she took another sniff.
“No,” she said, so loud it scared her even though it was her own voice. “Home. Take me home.”
“Finally,” the one driving muttered, tires squealing as he veered into the next lane and executed a tight turn.
Gods, but she had been so stupid! She’d forgotten that she’d had to use Leon’s soap the night before when he’d bathed her, the flat herbal scent she was so used to nowhere to be found on her skin.
Elena walked blocks, exerting herself so that a layer of fine perspiration decorated her skin.
Amplifying her scent and broadcasting it to anyone who had a nose to smell it.
More important, she hadn’t taken a suppressant in days.
She’d been so eager to enact her plan and get her money from Lamberti, she’d forgotten them in her haste.
No wonder she’d felt as if she’d come alive under Leon’s touch. Why he’d even kissed her in the first place.
Panic settled deep into her bones as she wished the car to go faster. To get her to their destination so she could rectify the situation at once.
As soon as the vehicle slowed at the top of the drive, Elena sprung out. Dashing inside of the house, she rushed up the stairs and into the bedroom. Falling to her knees in the closet, she dug through her bags for the small yellow bottles holding her prescription.
She couldn’t find them.
Dumping out the meager belongings, Elena riffled through the few contents.
Turning pockets inside out, ripping open zippers, they were nowhere to be found.
She left everything on the ground as she ran to the bathroom, dumping the contents of the drawers she’d hidden her things away in.
No innocuous amber plastic came under her searching fingers.
Without them she’d go into heat. He’d be able to claim her in every meaning of the word. She would be helpless against him. A pawn in his game.
Elena sobbed as she crumpled to the floor, clutching the empty toiletries bag to her chest as she realized he must have taken them just for that reason.
He wouldn’t have to go through the time and expense of supplying her with hormones as was normally done.
Her body would lapse into instinct in a matter of days, maybe a week at most. Elena would beg him to sate her body’s hunger by the end of it.
Bowing over her legs, she muffled her tears.