Elliott #2
Inside, I barely had time to take in the lavish entrance hall with its marble floor before Harry dragged me to a closed door and knocked twice, paused, then knocked once more.
Like a signal. The door was opened by a maid with a real black and white maid’s uniform like on TV.
Behind her, a well-dressed, portly older man sat smoking a cigar.
His head was nearly bald except for some trimmed gray hair around the edges.
He had loose jowls. My nerves calmed a little when I realized he was a beta, but I was still scared.
Who was this man? Why had they taken me to his house?
Harry shoved me into a chair and announced, “Elliott Rittenhouse III, Boss.”
The man took the cigar out of his mouth and held it between fat, beringed fingers. The longer he stared at me with his hooded dark eyes, the more my heartrate sped up. I told myself to calm down or I would pass out.
Then, in a low, raspy voice, the man said to me, “Your grandfather is very wealthy.”
I didn’t say anything until Harry pushed the back of my head so hard, I almost fell out of the chair.
“I-I’ve heard he is,” I said. “Or w-was. I’ve never met him.”
“You’ve never met him?” The man raised a bushy gray brow.
“He disowned my sire when he mated my birth father.” Was this guy looking for a ransom? Boy, was he going to be disappointed.
“Where is your birth father?” the man asked before taking another drag off his cigar.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I haven’t seen him in six years.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“When I was kidnapped.” I was sweating even though the air conditioning in the house was very cold. This man was obviously not with the government. Was he an omega trafficker?
Fear really gripped me then. Why hadn’t I considered that this could happen? Government guys bringing unregistered omegas to traffickers would make big money with little risk.
You are so stupid, Elliott!
“Your sire was killed,” the man said.
“Yes.” How did he know that? And if he knew, why did he keep asking me questions?
I was doing everything I could to keep it together. I tried not to think about the day my father was killed. I’d seen it all. I’d barely spoken to Gail about it, despite her questioning.
“You’re trembling.”
“I’m terrified.”
“Of me?”
I nodded.
“At least you aren’t stupid,” the big man said, crushing out his cigar in the crystal ashtray on the table beside him.
“Why am I here?” I asked.
“Just answer my questions.”
My stomach cramped with fear. Maybe it would just stop completely and put me out of my misery.
“Answer truthfully. It might save your life. Your birth father—he could do special things?”
What? Could this man know that my birth father was an omega x? Maybe my name was on some list. Since they weren’t searching me for the star freckle, they still must not know about it.
“What do you mean by special?“ I asked, trying to buy some time. He said telling the truth might save my life—but I had no idea whether I’d end up sold to the government or some mad scientist.
“Could he heal people?” the big man asked, staring at me while lighting a new cigar. It was easy to see that he liked that I was visibly afraid of him. I clasped my hands together in an attempt to stop their shaking.
Doing my best to appear clueless, I repeated, “Heal them?”
“Yes. Like, make them better when they were sick.”
Frowning, I said, “Oh, you mean a doctor.” I shook my head. “No. Dad wasn’t a doctor. He stayed at home with me. He liked to paint.”
The big man sighed. “Did he ever tell you he had dreams that came true?”
“You mean, like his dream to be a famous artist?”
“No, that’s not what I mean. Did he ever dream something while sleeping and then that dream actually happened?”
I frowned. “How could he do that? Dreams are dreams.”
The man’s nostrils flared. “Why don’t you have any siblings?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you lying to me?” the man suddenly yelled, making me jump in the chair.
“N-no, sir. I really don’t know.” I didn’t have to try to cry, tears ran down my cheeks and dripped onto my shirt.
I couldn’t help it. The man pointed the red tip of his cigar at me like he wanted to burn me with it.
“I swear, if I knew, I’d tell you. M-my fathers never t-talked about having more children.
M-maybe because we didn’t have a l-lot of m-money.
” I wiped my face with trembling fingers.
After watching me cry for a few more minutes while licking his thick lips, the man asked, “What happened to the other omegas who were kidnapped with you?”
What should I say? How much did he already know? He knew there were others. Best to tell the truth if possible.
“I-I was separated from them for a while. After being rescued by the SOS, I was put with them again in a facility. But I ran away.”
“Why did you do that”
Sobbing raggedly, I thought, Why? Why?
“B-because they bullied me. I’m small, and they said I wasn’t very b-bright.” It was all I could think of, but the man also seemed to think I wasn’t very bright.
“And you’ve been on the run ever since? How long?”
“Over a y-year. What are y-you going to d-do with me?” I asked through hiccupping tears. I wasn’t faking the hysteria that was taking over.
The man snapped, “Listen, kid, if you have any unusual abilities, spit it out. I’m telling you right now, the government won’t deal with you as kindly as I am.”
Blinking, I acted like I was trying hard to think. “Unusual abilities. W-well, I can juggle,” I finally said.
With a growl, the man stood up and yelled for Harry to take me away.
Once back in the car, Harry slid in after me and brought his face close to mine.
“One word of this little stop-off to anyone, and we’ll find your ass and make you pay,” he said. When I nodded, he handed me a bottle of water and said, “You’re sweating buckets, kid. Have a drink.”
That was the last thing I remembered.