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“You weren’t signing up for this. It’s too complicated. You can’t even get to your company because you’re so busy dealing with my issues.”
None of them look like they’re about to back down.
“It doesn’t matter what you say, angel,” Tristan says. “We love you. So you’re stuck with us.”
“What?” My mouth drops open a little. “What did you say?”
“I can’t speak for the others,” Tristan says. “But I love you too much to care about the mess. Or anything else. I want you in my life, and at this point, I need you, too.”
My lower lip trembles at the sincerity of his words.
Dominic moves in next, kneeling down next to my chair. “He’s right. I love you too. You’ve made our lives so much better, little bird. I don’t know why you can’t see that. With you, we’re complete. We’re not letting that go.”
Xavier drapes an arm around me and pulls me into his side. “We had that brief connection on the first day we met, and it’s only grown since then. I knew you were important then, and you’re so important now. I love you just as much, and I’m not letting you go. This might have started out fake, but it’s real to us.”
“It always has been, if we’re being honest,” Dominic adds.
I don’t have any more arguments in the face of their devotion. All I can do is stare at them, overcome by warmth and emotion.
“I love you too,” I whisper, crying even harder now. “I love you all so much. I don’t want to lose you.”
“You’re not going to,” Tristan vows. “Never.” He’s the first to kiss me, a deep, intense kiss that has my heart racing. Xavier and Dominic follow suit, each of them taking their time to make sure I can feel their emotions through their lips on mine.
My heart is racing, and I cling to them, trying to pull myself together.
The three of them hold me, keeping me grounded between them.
“We’ll do whatever it takes, angel,” Tristan promise. “Whatever we have to do to keep these assholes from harassing you. They’re not going to win.”
Chapter 46
Dominic
I can see from the look in her eyes that she wants to believe us. Penelope is clinging to the hope that we’re right and we can protect her from these men who have made her life hell. But there’s lingering fear there too, and that makes sense. These other Alphas clearly seem prepared to do whatever it takes to get what they want, not caring what they destroy in the process.
More than anything, I want to make that fear go away for her.
“Okay,” I say, snapping into management mode. “We need to get to work on this. We have lawyers and resources, and we need to use them. Call in whatever favors we have to so we can figure out a way to stop these fuckers. They don’t have the reach that we do, and we need to use that to our advantage, since they want to play blackmail games.”
Tristan and Xavier nod in agreement.
Instead of going to the office, we head back home together. Penelope looks miserable to be leaving her bakery behind in such a state, but it’s not safe for her to stay there by herself right now. And shitty as it is, she’s not going to have any customers like this.
“We’re not letting you out of our sight,” Xavier says, leaning into her when we leave. He’s trying to make her feel better, but it’s not really working.
We settle in the living room with our laptops and phones, and Penelope curls up on the couch. The TV is on low, and she stares at it, but probably isn’t really paying attention to anything that’s happening on the screen.
Over the years, between the three of us, we’ve amassed a lot of contacts. People in cyber tracking, surveillance, and hacking. Working in the tech industry is good for that.
We place calls and send secure messages, not leaving any stone unturned.
It takes hours to get through it all, and we wait to hear back.
Tristan paces, picking up his phone every now and then to answer a call. Whenever it’s bad news, his brow wrinkles and he curses under his breath.
“Either these men are experts at flying under the radar, or there’s not much to turn up on them.”
“Bullshit,” I fire back. “You don’t just wake up one day and decide to be a piece of shit. If they’re as horrible as Penelope says they are, they’ve had their fingers in something before. We just have to find it.”