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“No.” She leaned forward on the couch, dragging a shaking hand down her face. “I’m sorry, too. That part about gangs and the youth center wasn’t the whole truth. It’s just... there are other people whose privacy I need to consider.”
I made myself move past my feelings of frustration and worry, in order to properly take that information on board. The implication was that someone in Mia’s orbit had more direct knowledge of the gang that was purportedly running the Bella Vita, and what they were capable of.
Mia’s new alphas were financially well off. On the few occasions I’d seen them in person, they’d always been professionally dressed, and she’d said herself that they worked with young people. I could understand that having a background tied in with gang life might be considered sensitive information—not the kind of thing they’d want someone randomly blabbing about to a virtual stranger.
“Okay,” I said. “So, this gang is running the Bella Vita, and we have reason to believe they’ll go to dangerous lengths to put us out of business—” I caught my breath as a fresh realization hit me.
“What?” Mia asked, alarmed.
“Something else just occurred to me.” My voice sounded hoarse. I paused and cleared my throat before continuing. “Joe’s a beta, but some of the staff are omegas.”
She frowned. “And?”
“The mail theft,” I said.
She looked blank.
I shook my head sharply, trying to get my thoughts organized. “The omegas would have been able to smell it when your heat got close. If any of them gossiped with Joe, he would have known, too. It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that you might have a blocker pill coming in the mail. He could have passed the information on to this gang—”
“And they could have sent some goons to trash all our mail in hopes of stopping me getting it, and putting me out of commission for almost a week,” she finished faintly. “Which, in the end, they did.”
“No Michelin star chef, no draw for the Michelin star restaurant,” I said, my tone grim.
She gave an ugly, choked laugh. “Could’ve saved themselves the trouble and just waited a few months for the new guide to publish.”
I didn’t bother to point out that at this rate, the Elderflower Inn would be lucky to stillexistin a few months’ time.
Instead, I said, “You’re right. We should go to the police. The problem is, beyond grainy video footage of an employee dumping something out of a container, this is all speculation. I’m not sure how far we’re likely to get with the law.”
“Yeah.” Mia looked ill again. She swallowed and lifted her chin, squaring her shoulders with the air of a condemned prisoner about to walk to the gallows. “I, um... I think maybe you should come talk to my housemates in person. It’s possible they might be able to... provide more information, or suggest a better plan of action.”
I flashed back to the impassive face of the massive alpha who’d brought Mia down to see me when I’d showed up at their door last week. There were very few things I wanted to do less than take her up on that offer. She was also absolutely right that it was the next logical step for us to take.
“All right,” I told her. “Assuming they’re okay with it, of course. Let me know where and when.” I hesitated, having to force the next words past my lips. “Also... there’s something else we need to talk about soon. When the immediate crisis with the restaurant is past, I mean.”
Her gaze flew to mine, and I got the feeling she knew exactly what subject I was referring to. We’d only been separated for a few weeks, but seeing her cradled in an alpha’s arms, blissed out from being fucked by other men, had brought home to me that she’d moved on, even if I hadn’t. Continuing as we were, in this undefined limbo, wasn’t fair to her.
“Yes,” she breathed. “When the current mess is under control, like you said.”
Three days later, I pulled up to the posh Ladue mansion with its neat circle drive, fighting a crippling sense of déjà vu.
Mia had begged a few extra days for everyone to recover from her recent heat. I’d assumed it was proof that she was putting the meeting off... that despite being the one to suggest it in the first place, she didn’t really want me here. Which was more than fair, since I didn’t particularly want to be here either.
But, with the restaurant still closed after multiple expensive rounds of pest control treatments that we couldn’t actually afford, I didn’t have a good excuse not to come. The passage of time only made the whole theory about the Bella Vita feel even more unlikely. And yet, it fit the facts. If this houseful of alphas could shed additional light on the subject, I needed to be open to it.
I parked the Jeep and got out, walking up to the front door. The doorbell buzzed beneath my finger.
Thirty seconds passed.
Forty-five.
I heard the click of a lock disengaging, and the door swung open, revealing a painfully handsome blond alpha with sharp gray eyes and tattoos twining up his exposed neck above an unbuttoned collar. The scent of aniseed and fennel wafted around him in a cloud. We stared at each other, both of us frozen on opposite sides of the doorway for a long, terrible moment.
“Oh,fuck, no,” said my secret gay hookup from the nightclub.