Page 17 of Let It Snow (Eden’s Omegaverse #7)

The door slams, then the sounds of a struggle, heavy boots. Heart racing, I run to the top of the stairs and see a scene that fills me with dread.

Two men in suits are gripping my father by the arms. Across from him stand three others. One of them isn’t an alpha at all but a beta. Anzo Ferro. It’s the first time he shows up in my memory.

Beside him stands a man with an ugly scar on his cheek. Rocco. He looks up and spots me at the top of the stairs, and he sends me a dark, disgusting smile.

There’s one more, his brother, a purple alpha. Luca Ferro. His expression still.

Anzo levels an accusing stare at my father. "Where is Moon? Tell me! You’re hiding him—"

My father shouts back, "We don’t know what you’re talking about. We haven’t had contact with Moon in two months."

Anzo snarls, "If you don’t tell me right now what happened to him and where he is, every last one of you will lose your heads."

The intensity of the emotions in that memory fragments the scene.

It breaks apart, and the next image comes forward.

It's one where I'm already kidnapped.

…

I’m sitting in a car, Anzo Ferro on my left, Rocco and Luca, his two nephews, on my right. Rocco keeps looking at me with that same disgusting smile, while Luca stares out the window, his face clouded and grim.

Anzo’s expression is different now, a mix of anger, frustration, and some kind of pain.

"Your brother Moon did you no favors by running. Until he comes back, you will take his place. If you resist, your parents and your brother Ragnar will pay the price."

…

Another wave of emotion rips the memory apart, cutting me off from whatever follows.

But that’s not the end.

Another glimpse arrives!

…

I’m sitting next to another aquarium, a large one even bigger than the one in my house. It’s the tank Anzo bought for me.

A voice comes from outside my room. I know who it is. He comes here often, taunting me, messing with my head, whispering disgusting things under my door. Rocco. His dark gaze follows me everywhere in the fortress.

At meals, breakfast, lunch, whatever we sit down for, it’s always me and the Ferro family: Anzo and his five nephews, Mauro, Eliano, Luca, Rocco, and Ennio. Everyone ignores me except Rocco. He’s the only one who constantly has his eye on me.

A few memories play on repeat: Rocco following me down corridors, always there, always watching.

It’s shocking that he does it almost under Anzo’s nose, his own uncle and capo. After all, I am supposed to be Anzo’s husband now, but that doesn’t seem to bother Rocco in the slightest.

When he walks behind me, I feel his gaze on my body, on my ass, on my hair.

I hurry, and lock myself in my room. He stops at the door and whispers vile things through it.

Having an omega’s excellent hearing is a curse; I hear everything.

The disgusting lines he spits out: "One day you’ll be mine.

Anzo gets bored sooner or later and hands his boys to us to play with.

I’ll have your tight little ass, Summer.

A little patience and we’ll have so much fun. "

Sometimes he says nothing, and that is worse. He simply stands outside the door and I hear his deep breathing, the beat of his heart through the wood. Sometimes he’s jerking off.

I know he is waiting. Waiting for an opportunity.

So, I sit by the tank and stare at the fish until the world around me blurs.

That’s how I escape.

The flashback ends.

…

I open my eyes.

I’m still in the Nolan house.

My eyes are fixed on my new tank. It’s nothing like the ones from my past, but nevertheless, it triggered my memory. Wincing, I turn my head away from it.

Aquariums…

Fish trapped inside.

Me, trapped in my parents’ house.

Me, trapped in Anzo’s fortress.

And now here.

Isolation…

My life in a nutshell.

I clamp my eyes shut, fling myself out of bed, boot up my laptop, and check the news.

I already know Anzo has been arrested by the FBI. Now I’ve got to learn it was for organizing an assassination attempt on the CEO of a pharmaceutical corporation, Blue Lowen.

But… Rocco is still free.

He’s the new capo now.

His picture flashes on the screen from a charity event a few days ago. The mafia likes to show up, throw some money around, and make new ‘friends’, aka people grateful for their dirty gold.

I focus on Rocco’s scarred, disgusting face.

Next to him are two people I know as well: Luca and Ennio. They’re standing with local politicians, and in another shot, Rocco is shaking hands with a senate hopeful, Mark Ferguson.

Yup. He’s moving in all the right circles, gaining momentum, rising on his own now that Anzo is out of the picture.

He craves power.

The thought tightens my chest.

I have power too, though of a different kind. Anzo and Rocco were searching ways to use it.

Did Rocco give up on this?

Did he forget about me?

I hope he does. I really do hope for it.

◆◆◆

The next day brings a surprise.

I wake with the usual morning amnesia and a headache, but both fade relatively quickly after I let myself lie in the nest and relax for a few minutes.

An hour later, when Jordan brings me breakfast, I find out that Ragnar and Sun are… leaving.

A cold knot of worry tightens in my chest.

My brother is about to disappear from the Nolans’ mansion, and Sun is going with him…

Sun is the one I shared so much of my mafia fortress misery with.

I don’t remember much of our interactions from that time, but I know that if I want to understand what happened to me back then, the sexual abuse part, Sun is the only person who could give real insight.

Without him I’m left with nothing but my own fickle memory and its torn fragments that surface at random.

When I go downstairs, Ragnar is ready to ride, dressed in a black motorcycle jacket. He, Aiden and Lake go over something by the driveway.

Ragnar turns toward me, takes a step, and puts his hands on my shoulders. I flinch, but because he’s my brother I force myself to tolerate the touch.

"Summer, Summer," Ragnar says, looking me in the eyes.

"I know this isn’t the best time to go, given how you are, but Sun and I…

we desperately need to get away. We have to leave the fortress behind.

As for you—" He bites his lip. "Moon said you’ll find happiness here. That’s the right path, and I think we can trust him—"

A surge of anger shoots through me. I snatch my new phone from my pocket and type out a response before I can stop myself.

"Bullshit. He’s a clairvoyant, and he didn’t foresee any of this? The nightmare with the fortress we all went through, the kidnapping, the zapping, the abuse?"

I pull my T-shirt collar aside to show him the scars left by the electric collar.

Ragnar closes his eyes for a moment. "Summer… Moon saw it all and still chose this path, believing it was worthy. He knew we would suffer first, but that in the end we’d find our… fated mates."

I stare at him, unconvinced.

He sighs and straightens a little.

"Summer… I found my True Mate. Moon… did too."

My mouth falls open at that.

What did he say?

Ragnar wears a small smirk.

"Yes, yes," he murmurs, leaning closer. "Don’t tell anyone, but Moon’s True Mate is Luca Ferro. Moon didn’t just ‘disappear’. He ran from Anzo with his True Mate and is living in hiding."

I can’t believe it. I keep staring at him, speechless. Ragnar nods slowly.

"Yes, it’s all true. Moon was right. I believe you’ll find your fated mate soon too, don’t you already have a hunch who it might be?" he adds with a knowing wink.

Heat rushes to my face, but I say nothing. Silence hangs for a beat.

Ragnar tilts his head and adds, "Moon says that, in order to find happiness, you need to follow the sun. I believe Sun led you here, to his home. This is the place."

Then Ragnar pulls me into a short, firm hug and murmurs into my ear, "Watch yourself, Summer. The Ferros have FBI trouble now, but once it settles and Anzo gets sentenced, Rocco might remember us. Keep your eyes open."

I exhale, heavily. What can I say? Everything piles on too fast. I don’t want my brother to leave, but I can’t stop him. Of course, everyone has their own path.

A few minutes later, with my heart beating fast, I watch Ragnar and Sun ride away from the living room window.

Being left behind in the Nolans’ house feels complicated; the news Ragnar gave me churns a mixture of conflicting feelings inside me.

Really, I try to understand him, but… I’m his brother!

He should stay and make sure my mental state improves, that my memory heals.

Instead, he just runs off. And what about me?

Left behind with Moon’s vague prophecies.

And let’s remember, Moon spent a few years hooked on drugs.

Not exactly the most reliable source for probable divinations.

Then I sense someone looking at me. I turn and find Snow standing not far away.

Something is sitting on his forearm.

Wow. A beautiful white-yellow butterfly?

Quite stunning. A bit blankly, I stare at it for a moment, as it spreads its wings, then look up at Snow.

Red floods my cheeks.

Could he be… him?

My fated mate? He studies me as keenly as I study him, and there’s a tenderness in his face that can’t be denied.

But I lower my head without meeting his eyes and climb the stairs like a frightened little mouse. I need time to process my brother’s departure and the fact that Moon has found his True Mate.

So… He was hiding away for a year, safe and sound, while I suffered in the fortress, taken there in his place.

What the fuck?

And then Ragnar came for me, and he got his share of pain too. But at least Ragnar found his perfect mate there.

What about me? I’m the only one left in the unknown. The question that stubbornly rises in me is:

Is Snow my True Mate?