Page 88 of Knot So Damaged

The moment Valentina Rossi caught the eye of the Duran Alphas, she was never going to escape without us.

Now, all I need to do is convince her to take my claiming bite.

One step at a time, Conall.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Ilose track of time as I sit in front of the headstone that I haven’t visited in years.

I could say that I have been busy. That the Syndicate has taken up all of my time. That I have been busy trying to educate my sons, preparing for them to take over so that I can finally retire.

But they would all be lies. Ridiculous excuses that I use instead of admitting that I couldn’t come here.

The idea of seeing the place that my dead mate would rest for the rest of my life has haunted me.

At the start, I told myself that I would come and see her everyday. To remind her that I never would forget the love that we shared.

But after the first visit, I knew that I would break my promise. Because I haven’t been here since that day.

Her headstone still looks the same as it did all those years ago. Her flowers are fresh, no doubt having recently been changed out. The grass around her gravesite is kept short and tidy, something I demanded when we chose this particular cemetery.

It looks peaceful. A complete polar opposite to how I am currently feeling.

Because Valentina is an Omega.

The revelation has rocked me to my core to say the least.

I was none the wiser that she would lie to me like this.

Not that I have deserved any kind of heads up from her.

But fuck. I had let her into my life. Let her into my home. I had begun to show her the deepest and darkest past of not only my life, but myself.

Was it all just a lie?

Some kind of cruel ploy into getting us to protect her? To get us to fall in love with her just so her and her daughter can be protected?

What's worse is I wouldn’t have ever turned her away if she had come to me with the truth at the start.

I would have protected her andpiccolowith my dying breath.

But now, it just feels like it was all a smoke screen.

It makes me think that maybe she just doesn’t want me because I am the wrong twin. It wouldn’t be the first time that Conall has been picked over me. I know he would see it the other way but that is only because I am feared. Not because I am actually liked.

I know that I am hard to love.

That was something that was always written in black and white to me when Gwen was still alive. She despised the side of me that demanded I be the Don. She could never accept that blood thirsty side of us. She would always shy away from that ruthlessness.

Is that what Valentina is doing right now?

I would have thought differently based on the way that she has handled the situation with the Omegas.

But I have been wrong before.

It also doesn’t escape me that the signs that point towards Valley being part of these murders somehow is far from being a coincidence.

At the time, I just didn’t want to admit it to myself. I was also under the belief that Valentina was a Beta.