Chapter 29 #2
Serena’s head snapped toward me for half a second, then back to the screen.
“If she’s such a shitty omega, let me take her off your hands,” Vinny argued.
Logan clicked his tongue. “That’s not how this works.”
“You said she can’t carry, she’s useless to you. So let her go.”
Gunfire echoed from deeper in the house, but Logan ignored it.
“She is mine,” he repeated. “I don’t give a shit if she’s broken. All I need is a baby to carry the family name, and a pretty little omega to carry on my arm.”
Vinny’s jaw tensed. “She’s not property.”
“Everything in this house is property,” Logan laughed. “Vincent, your family deals in the same business as mine, everything has a price, omegas included.”
Through the bond, Violet’s fear twisted into something painful. Old wounds reopening. Old lies trying to root again.
“She chose me,” Vinny said.
Logan’s head tilted slightly.
“She doesn’t get to.” Logan lifted his gun and aimed it directly at Vinny’s chest. “Thanks for the kid.”
Serena’s knuckles went white on the edge of the desk, and I forgot how to breathe. But, just as Logan’s finger tightened around the trigger, Reed moved.
He closed the distance in a single step and brought the butt of his pistol down across Logan’s temple with bone-cracking force just as the gun went off.
The shot tore into the ceiling, causing plaster to rain down as the light flickered.
Logan staggered, but Reed didn’t stop.
“You don’t talk about her like that,” Reed snarled before hitting him again, this time harder.
Logan dropped to one knee, gun slipping from his hand. Reed kicked it toward Vinny before grabbing Logan by the suit and slamming him into the floor.
“You don’t call her broken,” Reed growled. “You don’t call her property, or your wife, and you sure as hell don’t thank anyone for her child.”
Logan tried to roll over and swing, but Reed caught the punch and smashed his forehead into Logan’s face instead.
Blood splattered across the polished floor.
“You don’t get to stand in front of her,” Reed said, voice shaking with fury. “You don’t get to breathe near her.”
Logan lay dazed beneath Reed’s grip, blood running from his brow.
But that didn’t stop Reed. He drew his fist back again, and again, seemingly not caring if he killed Logan.
Or maybe that was his goal.
“Reed,” Vinny warned. “He’s had enough.”
“He hurt my sister.” Reed’s voice cracked as he lifted his arm again. “He took her from me.”
Before he could slam his fist down again, Violet moved. Benji reached for her instinctively, but she slipped out of his hold. Vinny tried to grab her but she stomped her foot and flipped him off before swaying slightly.
Vinny moved to catch her, but she was independent and braced herself on the wall.
At first, Reed didn’t notice. He was too busy straddling Logan.
Then Violet crossed the last few steps.
Her fingers barely wrapped around his forearm.
But they stopped him.
Reed froze, his fist hovered inches above Logan’s face.
Reed looked over his shoulder at Violet, and she tightened her grip before shaking her head once.
No.
Reed’s breathing was ragged.
“He hurt you,” he said, voice breaking. “He hurt you for years.”
Violet’s hand left his arm just long enough for her to sign.
Stop.
Then she leaned forward and hugged her brother as tight as she could. Which, considering the beachball strapped to her belly, wasn’t very tight.
But it was enough.
Reed stood and stepped away from Logan. His hands were still shaking, and his knuckles were bloody. But he moved because she asked.
Logan coughed on the floor, rolling onto his side, trying to gather what little dignity he had left.
Violet shifted behind Reed instinctively, one hand fisting into the back of his shirt. And Vinny took this opportunity to grab Logan by the collar and haul him away from Reed.
Logan, who looked barely conscious, resisted to the best of his ability, which wasn’t well. Blood ran from his brow into his eye, and his suit was completely ruined.
Vinny dragged him across the hardwood and dropped him near the center of the room like discarded trash.
“You don’t get to stand near her,” Vinny said flatly
My stomach flipped and Serena went very still beside me.
“Don’t,” she murmured as if Vinny could hear her.
If Violet wanted Logan dead, she would have let Reed do it. But, Vinny was likely too angry to care.
Thankfully, before the weapon could reach his hand, two men stepped into the doorway. They seemed completely unphased by the chaos that unfolded around them, their orange and green suits were immaculate.
I had no idea who the fuck they were, but the sight of them caused Serena to grimace.
“Oh no,” she whispered.
“What?”
On-screen, the man in green surveyed the room like he was appraising artwork and the man in orange’s gaze settled briefly on Violet.
Then on Logan.
Vinny followed their line of sight, and for the first time since Logan had raised that gun, he hesitated.
Serena swallowed.
“They’re the Devereaux,” she said quietly.
“Okay?” I scoffed. “And I am the Skye.”
Her ponytail swayed. “No, they are actual fucking basket cases.”
My eyes widened. “Is our pack in trouble?”
“Ah, well–” Serena bleated out a nervous laugh. “No, they’re not.”
That laugh did not comfort me.
On-screen, the man in orange crouched beside Logan. Logan tried to sit up, but Vinny pressed harder on his neck.
“This is fascinating,” the orange man said. “So the omega abuser becomes the abused, how does it feel?”
Logan bared his teeth. “Go to hell.”
“Not right now, Emmet.” The green one softly patted his partner’s back. “Mr. Stellar is hardly able to hold a conversation right now.”
On-screen, Emmet smiled down at Logan like he’d just found the world's most interesting pet.
“You’ve built quite the brand around dominance,” he continued conversationally. “You even went as far as to force Mr. Rossi’s poor omega to be a test subject.”
Logan tried to spit at him but missed, and Vinny kept his foot anchored in place.
Emmet looked up, making direct eye contact with Vinny.
“Vincent, I understand that you’d like to kill Mr. Stellar, and that is an appropriate reaction.”
Vinny kept his eyes locked on the man.
Emmet continued, voice smooth and clinical. “However, death would deprive him of perspective.”
The man in green folded his hands behind his back. “And we are very invested in perspective.”
Vinny’s nostrils flared and I could feel him warring against the urge to just end it. Then, he looked over at Violet, now limp in Reed’s arms.
“As long as it’s worse than death,” Vinny said quietly, “you can have him.”
Emmet’s smile deepened just slightly.
“Oh,” he assured him. “It is.”
The two men moved in and forced Logan upright. For the first time, Logan didn’t snarl, instead he looked afraid.
“You can’t,” Logan said hoarsely.
Emmet adjusted Logan’s shirt, doing his best to salvage the mess of a man.
“Watch us.”
The man in green paused briefly in front of Vinny.
“She will require medical attention,” he said calmly, nodding toward Violet. “Take her to Saint Lawrence Teaching Hospital, mention me by name, they’ll get her taken care of.”
Vinny didn’t ask questions, or thank them, or even tell them to fuck off. He simply nodded as Reed shifted Violet higher in his arms.
Vinny gestured for Benji to follow, and they left the room without another word. I leaned in a little, suddenly very interested in what the Devereaux had planned for Logan, but Serena slammed the laptop shut.
“Get your shoes,” she ordered. “We have an omega to go see.”