48. Monkshood – Meaning Beware Danger is near Deceit Gallantry Knight Poisonous words Treachery
48
MONKSHOOD
(BEAR’S FOOT, CUPID’S CAR, HELMET FLOWER, LEOPARD’S BANE, THOR’S HAT, WOLF’S BANE)
MEANING: BEWARE; DANGER IS NEAR; DECEIT; GALLANTRY; KNIGHT; POISONOUS WORDS; TREACHERY
OCEAN
________
B eing here was the last thing I wanted, but I figured it was better to get it out of the way. My guess was that Frank was going to ask about the information he’d demanded I get for him. Which I wasn’t going to do. And I would tell him so.
I was jetlagged and a little worse for wear, but I felt good. When we arrived home yesterday, we did nothing. Absolutely nothing but turn on a movie and create a giant nest of blankets in the television room. I woke up in Everett’s bed, though they’d already left with a note and a rose on the bedside table.
A red rose.
You didn’t need to be an expert in Floriography to know what that meant.
They hadn’t said those words to me, and I hadn’t either. But I felt them in the way they looked at me and in every touch. More than that, I believed it.
And I was falling for them too.
There was no point in denying it or trying to hold myself back.
I was falling in love with my husbands. If I was really honest with myself, I was already there.
It was that realization that kept the smile on my face all day. While I worked in the new greenhouse and made a note of the flowers that still needed to be transferred from the Caldwell Estate, catching up with Sally, and generally making sure nothing was on fire.
Now, though, my smile fortified me as I walked into the house. I’d noticed it before when I visited, but the big house felt dark . It never felt that way before my mother died. Proof enough that people could influence the energy of a place. It wasn’t inherently dark, it just felt that way.
Isabel let me in, and she was in shock. “Ocean, you look wonderful .”
I paused. “Thank you?”
She laughed softly and placed a hand on my shoulder. “I meant you seem well. You’re brighter, and It’s been years since I’ve seen you smile like that.”
It was sad that it was the truth. “I’m happy.”
“Good. I’m glad.”
“Is Frank in his study?”
She nodded. “Go on in.”
I’d worn a bottle green dress today. Straps that clung to my shoulders but exposed some skin. It flounced around my knees. I mainly chose it because it was comfortable and pretty, but also because I knew it would drive my husbands wild as soon as they saw it. I looked forward to that part.
“Ocean?”
I turned and found my aunt staring at me from the entrance to the living room where she spent most of her time. Her face was frozen, like she didn’t quite know what to do with me. “Hello.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Frank wanted to talk to me, so I’m here.”
Her nose turned up. “Well, it’s about time we have some progress on that front. I see the only real thing you’ve been doing is making progress on your waistline.”
I rolled my eyes. “Is that really what you’re going with? It’s getting boring.”
“I can’t help it if it’s the truth.”
“If you don’t have anything else to say, I’m not speaking to you.”
I turned, and she grabbed me by the arm and turned me back. “Just because you got married to Alphas desperate enough to take you doesn’t mean you get to be rude to me. And you’ve never once wanted to hear the hard things, Ocean. Believe it or not, I’ve always tried to help you.”
“Yeah. Okay.”
“Most people go on vacation to Europa and lose weight .”
“Most people give a shit when you talk. I guess we’ll both have to be disappointed.”
I looked at her, not feeling anything. The words simply fell to the wayside without digging their claws into me. Because I knew better now. I had Alphas who craved me just the way I was and never let me forget it. They didn’t reduce my value to numbers on a scale or the circumference of my waist.
She was still gaping at me when I turned and left her there, continuing to my uncle’s office. My foolish heart hoped I’d stunned her enough that she wouldn’t follow. Or she would, and I would give her more.
Fuck, this felt incredible. Freeing . More like myself than I’d been in this house since…
Since mom died.
I knocked softly on the door before opening it. “Frank?”
He sat behind his desk, glasses on his face, glancing between the papers on his desk and whatever was on his monitor. I couldn’t remember a time when I’d come to this office and found him actually working. Most of the time he preferred the illusion that he didn’t need to work. Fake it till you make it. Pretend everything was light and easy.
But he still hadn’t noticed my presence.
“You wanted to talk to me?”
Frank looked up, startled. “Oh. Yes. Come in, Ocean.”
I closed the door gently behind me.
“I need those numbers.”
Walking over to where his fireplace was lit despite the summer heat, I looked around his study with fresh eyes. There were papers spread around one of the armchairs, like he was splitting his time between there and his desk. It was messy. Like he’d been in here for days.
I crossed my arms and gave him a look. “We had a discussion before I left on my honeymoon where I said I wouldn’t be doing that.”
“Now is not the time to toy with me or be a brat. I need those numbers, and you fucking agreed to get them for me. So you’re going to follow through. I specifically told you I needed them when you returned .”
“I never agreed to that.”
Rage contorted his features. “Don’t fucking play with me.”
“I’m not. I never agreed to get anything for you. You informed me that you needed the numbers, and I walked out without saying anything. When you told me that I would have to get information for you the first time and I said ‘sure,’ I only said that to get the fuck out of your office. No papers had been signed, and I knew that whoever you’d set me up with wouldn’t be dumb enough to let their fake wife near any confidential information.”
He opened his mouth, and I surged ahead. “And if you’re about to tell me that I signed a contract that agreed to it, check what you actually had me sign. Because it says fuck all about whatever corporate espionage bullshit you’re trying to pull off on my husbands. It says I had to stay married for a year to get my trust. No more and no less.”
Based on what my husbands had said about him, it seemed like Frank wasn’t in the habit of fully reading and comprehending his contracts.
I thought he might pass out with the color he was turning. The drawer he ripped open nearly fell out of his desk. I’d never seen him so angry, and my gut twisted. My uncle wasn’t a violent man that I knew of. But I’d also never pushed him this far.
Enough was enough.
Frank’s hands shook as he looked at the contract we’d signed. A shiver of fear went through me and I forced it down.
“If, for some reason, you thought I would do it out of the kindness of my heart and because I’m your niece, I have some news for you. You and Laura have never treated me as anything more than a rock stuck in your shoe. So if you want me to help you, invent a fucking time machine.”
He looked at me smoothly, anger cooling down into something harder and darker. “You think I couldn’t do more? I could ruin whatever fantasy life you’ve created for yourself with the DuPonts and have you back here under my thumb in ten seconds.”
“Then do it.” I dared him. “Do it. Because I don’t think it’s true. You might have my money and my home by the balls, but you do not have me. You will never have me again, and my husbands will tell you that themselves.”
“Are you so sure?” From that same drawer, he pulled a large envelope and tossed it to me. “The DuPonts married you to solve their image problem. What do you think happens when a wave of press hits you like you’ve never seen? Feel free to keep them. I have copies.”
My heart dropped. Inside the envelope were pictures, and I immediately knew who had taken them. The asshole photographer who wouldn’t stop following us.
The picture on top was from that brunch with Trinity and Isolde, me taking a bite of cake. It was taken at an unflattering angle, almost intentionally.
The rest of the pictures were the same. From all over our honeymoon, all the photos bad. Taken from angles intended to make my body look horrific. Playing into every stereotype and harmful idea that clung to fat people—fat women —like glue.
I swallowed.
Knowing that I was worthy of living my life and finding love and being free despite the size of my body didn’t erase the pain of these. Too many years of brainwashing and media telling me that I was wrong had done their damage. And yes. It would hurt to see these go to the media. But it wouldn’t do anything to me or my husbands. I believed that now.
The fact that they were waiting for me and would be overjoyed to see me was the thing that allowed me to slip the photos back into the envelope and meet my uncle’s eyes. “Go ahead. Do your worst. It’s not anything I haven’t already dealt with.”
“Those aren’t everything. I have more. I promise, Ocean, I can ruin you.”
My body shook with adrenaline, but I held my ground. “The answer is still no.”
Frank strode toward me. Pain cracked through my face, the force of the blow sending me reeling. The second blow was excruciating. I lost my balance and fell, photos flying out of the envelope in a twisted kind of rain.
He loomed over me, face poison. I’d never seen him like this. It was both rage and desperation. A dangerous combination. Terror clutched me with black claws. If he was willing to hit me now, when he never had before, I didn’t know what he’d do or how far he’d go.
“I hope that got through to you, and you better fucking listen, Ocean. You are going to go home, you are going to fuck them into a coma, and you are going to get the information I need. Understood? I have made promises based on this information, and you. Will. Fucking. Get. It . Whether it’s before or after I destroy your life is up to you.” He straightened, looking down at me and straightening his shirt like the way he’d struck me had released what he needed. “I expect it in less than forty-eight hours, or all of you will pay the price.”
Pain throbbed in my head and my cheek.
I wouldn’t do that. Even if our marriage ended up being temporary, I wouldn’t. I was falling in love with them, and I could take the punishment. I’d been taking it my whole fucking life. I wouldn’t betray them. “No.”
“No?” His voice was as cold as I’d ever heard it, and fear dropped through me. Frank was coming toward me again with his hand raised, and all I could do was panic. There was nowhere for me to go as I scrambled backward. If I could make it to my feet, maybe I could run?—
The door flew open and Everett came striding through. His fist connected with Frank’s jaw with a sickening thud. It knocked him away from me.
Micah was there, scooping me up and pulling me close, hands tracing my face where I’d been hit.
The growl in Everett’s throat was feral. “If you ever lay a hand on my wife—my Omega —ever again, I will rip your tongue out of your fucking skull and make you choke on it before I kill you. Slowly.”
Frank sneered. “You think you have any right?—”
His back hit the mantle so fast it was a blur. “We have every right, you piece of fucking shit.”
Cameron stood back with hands in the pockets of his slacks, his stillness terrifying. Rage pulsed off the three of them like a living thing.
But Everett was still the one speaking. His tone belonged to the Alpha who inspired fear, and I’d never been more grateful. “You will never speak to Ocean again. You will never look at her. You will never contact her in anyway unless she chooses to do so first. If I hear that you’ve mentioned her to anyone, they’ll find your body beyond Clarity’s coastal waters. In pieces. I’ll do the chopping myself, and your hands will go first. They’ll never know who did it. Do you understand me?”
I didn’t even realize I was crying until Micah gently swiped the tears away, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Everett and Frank.
My uncle was as pale as death. Micah turned and kept me behind him. His hand grasped mine. An Anchor. “We will be sending a team to gather every single thing of Ocean’s left in this house. To dismantle the greenhouse and move it to our home. You won’t resist this. Got it?”
“You can’t just threaten me and think it will stand.” Frank wiped blood from his lip where Everett split it.
“You want to test that theory?” Cameron snarled. “We know how many cameras you have in this house. We’ll be taking this footage, including the footage of you assaulting our wife, with us when we go. Everett?”
One punch later, Frank was unconscious on the floor. My breath hiccupped, tears and panic flooding to the surface. My entire body shook despite Micah holding me once more.
“I told him no,” I said, my voice breaking. “I wasn’t going to do it. I told him no. I told him no .”
“Shh,” Micah breathed the sound into my hair. “We know, sweet girl. It never even crossed our minds.”
All the fear I pressed down came up and burst out. The relief of them coming to save me, even when I hadn’t known I needed it.
Micah kissed my forehead, clutching me to his chest before gently letting the others hold me. I needed all of them and couldn’t stop holding on. Because if I let them go, I was afraid I’d melt.
Everett lifted my chin with a single finger. I didn’t look at him, but he didn’t let me look away. “We got here as soon as we could. Frank deserves everything that’s coming to him and more. We’ll explain once we’re home and you feel safer. But you don’t ever have to see him again.” He kissed me once, and then again, harder. “We’ll always protect you, Ocean. I’m sorry we didn’t get here sooner.”
I let my forehead fall to his chest and basked in the feeling of safety they gave me. Cameron lifted me off my feet. I went to protest, but he gave me a look that silenced me. “If you say anything about your body right now, on my ability to carry my Omega, I’ll punish you.” He winked as he said it, though there was still anger in his eyes. Directed elsewhere. Not at me.
Tucking my face closer to him, I fought against the throbbing pain and tried to breathe. Tears still leaked from my eyes, and I hurt, but they had me.
They came for me.