Chapter 9 #2
“Shh,” she says, waving her hand to stop his words.
Despite being hurt and half dressed, she still holds confidence in her voice.
I don’t think I would ever shush my brother like that.
“I mean that you saved me despite how complicated my existence is. That alone gives you a small amount of trust from me.”
“Thank you,” Nico says mildly. “Some of these things may not seem important, but they are. Rosa mentioned her father forces her to drink some kind of drink every day. Do you know anything about that?”
“They’re supposed to be vitamins. Sometimes, he gives her pills alongside the smoothie.
The pills started more recently, though.
Maybe as of eight months ago? I have no idea what they all are, but the smoothies started shortly after she turned eighteen and found out she was an omega.
Rosa actually tried to keep it quiet as long as possible by staying away from everyone who wasn’t me, but it was about a week later that Renzo figured it out.
She was in the kitchen grabbing herself a drink, and he cornered her,” Verona says.
“He was very excited about it, and called the entire family to celebrate the news. Honestly, I think he thought she was worth more as an omega.”
“Unfortunately, she probably was,” I admit.
“Has she ever had a heat before?” Nico asks.
Yeah, we’re definitely going all in. It’s a very sensitive topic for some people and Verona stiffens before she shakes her head.
“Never. I have wondered if Renzo was doing something to suppress it. Her entire life is run by him. What she wears, who she sees, everything. I was the only thing he couldn’t dictate, and that’s only because we snuck around.”
“I have a thought,” Dario says, leaning forward now that he’s returned to his seat.
“What if there’s something in the smoothie that is not only keeping Rosalia from having a heat, but also guards against her scent?
It could be alpha, heat, and scent blockers?
That can’t be healthy to be on them for so long, honestly. ”
“I wonder if there’s some kind of withdrawal on that shit,” I mumble, finding myself concerned. That doctor may be receiving another call from us soon. Fuck.
This also means that I was reacting to Pablo’s scent and not Rosalia’s. Double fuck. I feel an insane pull just sitting in the little omega’s presence which shows whatever she’s been taking isn’t foolproof.
Things just continue to get more and more entangled here, even as we learn new things about Rosalia and Verona.
“It would figure Renzo would throw everything but the kitchen sink at his daughter,” Verona says, ignoring me. “He will look for her. It’ll look bad on the family otherwise.”
“Rosa is married and no longer his responsibility. That doesn’t mean we’ll allow him to pick us off like sitting ducks, though. We plan to go into hiding and then kill them all off,” Nico says, almost sounding bored as he watches Verona.
Is he baiting her?
“What does that even mean? Are you saying that you plan to murder an entire family?” Verona’s chest heaves as she sits with the knowledge that’s exactly what he means as my brothers and I nod. “Even the children?”
“No kids,” Dario grunts. “Everyone else is fair game. They were all happy to watch you die in that pew. I believe they all knew you were there, and approved of Don Accetta’s actions.
We’re going to bring in some of our men to help.
Once we’re done, we need to get the fuck out of Savannah.
Too many people will remember a massacre of a family. ”
Verona looks over at Rosalia, and I can fucking feel the longing in that glance. My brothers and I shift uncomfortably at the unguarded emotion, but her next whispered question guts me the most.
“What happens to me after that?”
“Should I order something for dinner?” Pablo calls out from the kitchen nonchalantly. I’m confident he decided to enter the conversation to give us time to think of an answer for that.
“What’s Rosalia’s favorite food?” I ask.
“That’s a good question. She hasn’t been hungry lately,” Nico muses.
“This is bizarre,” Verona growls. Pablo freezes in the other room and shudders before walking out suddenly. It’s not until the scent of cinnamon and fresh sugared rolls comes strongly into the living room that I realize the growl made him perfume.
Poor little omega. I kind of like that he’s so responsive. My lips twitch as I inhale his scent deeply and Nico palms his cock unabashedly.
“What…no. That’s not possible.” Verona’s head whips toward the exit Pablo left through, her eyes wide.
“It’s raining scent matches,” I sing under my breath like a stronzo.
Dario looks like he wants to smack me again, his hands fisting at his sides.
“That’s another thing we are going to need to discuss,” he grits out. “When we leave Savannah, so will you, as you’re now part of our pack. Surprise?”
“Are you also kidnapping women?” Verona asks, now glaring at us. “I’ll go where Rosa goes, but I have a very hard time accepting anything else. I’ve always preferred women.”
“And Pablo and Nico have always preferred men,” I smirk. “Biology is wild, huh?”
“Food, Verona. Focus,” Nico says, glancing behind him toward the room he shares with Pablo. “I need to check on him. I know you’re having a bad fucking day, but until a few hours ago, he thought he was an alpha. Hearing you say the equivalent of not wanting him is not going to help his psyche.”
“It’s raining shit balls, not scent matches,” she mutters.
“Two things can be true,” Dario shrugs. “Spill. She needs to fucking eat before she wastes away. Food will help her bounce back from all of this stress. That is, if she can eat at all.”
“If we’re doing takeout, there’s a small Italian restaurant off Boughton Street.
It’s called Mama Caro’s Place. Rosa likes their carbonara.
I prefer their bolognese if you’re taking orders.
I usually make sure to do takeout there, and she never sets foot inside the restaurant. Renzo tracks her phone.”
“She told me she didn’t have one,” Nico growls.
“Rosa lies when it’s necessary, and they always are for life or death reasons,” Verona explains. “Don’t feel bad about it. She’s been lying to me for years. You can’t take it personally.”
“How do you have a relationship like that?” I ask. “I really want to know.”
“Very carefully,” Verona shrugs. “I’d rather have a small piece of her than have her buried under the rose bushes because she overstepped her father’s boundaries.”
“I fucking hate that goddamned rosebush,” Nico says. “Why does so much of her history surround it?”
“She killed my mother when she was sixteen,” she says mildly. “And then she had to cut her into pieces and bury her next to the rose bushes. I immediately forgave her for it. I don’t want to answer any more questions.”
“I’ll get the food ordered,” Dario says.
“I’ll get clothes ordered,” I add. “I’m sure Verona would like a shower too.”
“Please,” she says.
With that simple word, we get to work. I have a feeling Nico was right to remove Rosalia’s weapon from her. She’s going to have a lot to deal with when she wakes up, and I don’t envy her that.
Nico is a raging bubble of anger over each piece of information he uncovers about her, and he’s going to need to figure it out before he speaks to her. As Verona said, Rosalia is just trying to keep her head above water, and even that didn’t go very well for her.