Page 95 of Love Me Knot, Part One (Knotty Omegas #1)

“It’s only a day.,” I promise, scratching his scalp the way he likes. “Just get your part and come home to me.”

“Love when you call it that.”

I almost do it. Almost utter those three precious words that’ve been eating at me for weeks. But I don’t. Something like that deserves celebration and we certainly don’t have time for that right now.

When they get home, I’ll paint my declarations across their skin.

As always, Nate knows exactly what I’m thinking. He brushes our lips together. “Tell me later, kitten.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

His eyes twinkle as he kisses me again. “Of course not.”

Dez has to forcibly remove him from the bed, but I get it.

My chest feels like it’s caving in at the idea of most of my pack heading out.

Especially when I’m already stressed. Rather than worry them, I kept my midnight news to myself.

My heart is begging me to spill so they can hold me up when all I want to do is fall apart.

Waiting a day won’t kill you.

“You going to be okay, little muse?” Dez watches me a little too closely, like he’s got that direct line to my feelings the way Nate does. “You seem off today.”

“Just nervous for you to go, but I’ll be fine.” It’s not a lie; it’s just not the full truth either. Pulling Dez into my grasp, I kiss away his worries and a few of my own. “I’ll miss you while you’re gone.”

“Miss you already. We’ll be back tomorrow night at the latest, but Connor’s here and available. Don’t be afraid to ask him for what you need, okay?” When I swear I will, he gives me another kiss. “If you’re good, we’ll bring you home a present.”

Damn these men and their gifts. I blame the omega genes, but also, who doesn’t enjoy getting things from people they love?

“Fly safe, alpha.”

When I hear them leave, I focus on how good they make me feel instead of the anxiety swarming like their presence was the only thing keeping it at bay.

Nothing’s going to go wrong , I reassure myself. Connor will fix the pipe, and we’ll make a plan for the rest. The others will get home safely tomorrow and all will be right with the world.

But the strange feeling in my gut never goes away .

Nate and Dez text they make it to the airport, then again when they board the plane. I get more than one selfie of Nate pouting and save them all before finally forcing myself out of bed and into the shower.

Thirty minutes and a text from Mark later, I show up to absolute chaos at Nymph. Industrial fans blowing across the soaked floors and the December chill doesn’t help. Water even swirls in the light fixtures, which is concerning. I’m not interested in being electrocuted.

Taking pictures, I carefully send a few to girls, updating them with the progress, then dial my alpha. The ringtone goes forever and then his voice hits the line. “You’ve reached Connor. Sorry I can’t talk but leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

Beep.

“Hey, Con. Just wanted to let you know there’s water in the lights too. I’m going to shut the electricity off. We’ll need to fix the pipe early or we’ll be stuck doing it in the cold with flashlights. See you when you get here.”

After some careful poking around the space, I find the electric panel and shut the power off. The girls check in here and there, offering assistance, but I decline. My pack lead said he’d help me and I’m trusting that he will.

I’m on my hands and knees with too many shop towels around me when my phone goes off. Thinking it’s Connor, I nearly faceplant trying to reach it, only to see Sasha’s name.

Fuck. Things have been quiet on that side of things.

Mother’s still texting, but Kai muting the message thread has done wonders for my mental health.

I don’t even read them anymore. Sasha’s gotten some unhinged emails from the pack on my behalf, but I’ve asked her to delete them without forwarding.

I’m not interested in anything they have to say.

With nearly two months to go before the case resumes, I’m hopeful my lawyer’s finally found the smoking gun we need to get rid of my exes once and for all.

Rushing outside to avoid all the noise, I shiver when cold air hits my wet knees and fingers. Mental note, bring a change of clothes next time I come. “Hey, Sasha.”

“Morning, Daphne. How goes it?”

“Terrible,” I laugh, filling her in on the shop. When I’m done, there’s a somber silence on the other end. “Still there?”

“Yeah, I was just thinking, maybe this is a good thing.” I don’t like how defeated she sounds. Sasha Knight doesn’t give up . So why do I get the feeling she is now? “Look, there’s no easy way to say this, but I think we need to consider settling with Pack Parker.”

For the second time today, I drop to my ass. I’m already soaked from head to toe, but the water feels like lead holding me to this place. This moment in time where everything went wrong. “You said we had a chance.”

“We did, but that was when I was hoping some of the other lawyers in town would help.”

“They haven’t?” I know she mentioned asking for consults, but that’s the last update I heard.

“They won’t even read the files. I’ve tried every lawyer in the state, and no one will consult, either because they aren’t interested, or they were warned off.”

“What about Taylorson?”

“Still on extended leave with no service. I’ve tried to hire ten PIs to find him and not one of them will take us on, Daph.”

I’m not a mathematician, but it doesn’t seem normal that there’s not one person in the city who’ll help. Sounds a lot like someone with deeper pockets than me paid them to look the other way. Just like they did to everyone who could’ve helped me before.

Sasha sighs. “Without the documentation, you’re more likely to lose Nymph in its entirety unless we make some calculated moves before our next hearing. You can’t even sell the business to someone else or the judge would be pissed. ”

“Why the timeline?”

“If we settle out of court, your exes will let you keep half. If you continue ‘dragging our good name,’ that’s a direct quote, they intend to take the three-quarters they’ve already asked for and sell it to a fast fashion brand.”

No.

I remember sitting at dinner one night three years ago, Corey, Jacob and Lance on their phones ignoring me as usual.

A popular fast fashion brand stole my design, and their product was shitty and lacked the respectful design elements I’d worked so hard on for my consumers.

It was a fucking travesty, and I spewed venom the entire meal.

Apparently, the one time I wish they’d ignored me was the moment they tuned in. Why am I not surprised?

Sasha outlines buying my exes out of the business, but that’s not really an option when I have to pay the contract back as soon as the dissolution is over.

Knowing Pack Parker, they’ll make the price for Nymph high enough that I either can’t afford it or it’ll take every penny I have. All to turn the knife a bit more.

They’re not trying to get my business; they’re trying to destroy my life.

To make me crawl back to them on trembling knees.

I’d rather die, but I can still admit I’m worried.

Not about me, but about my friends. My alphas.

Pack Morgan may have signed a pre-bond but if Jacob finds out I’m seeing another pack seriously, he’ll go after them to spite me.

He will destroy their reputations and future just to prove there’s nowhere he can’t reach and no one he won’t mow down to make me pay.

So, the real question becomes how far am I willing to let this go? How much damage do I continue to let the Parkers do before I just give up?

Maybe losing Nymph is the best route to minimize the damage. If I get Pack Parker to sign quickly, I can protect Nate, Dez and Connor’s future, even if it means demolishing my own. They didn’t ask for the drama when they helped me with my heat.

Anger and grief war together with an unending sadness. This business was my home and safety when I had none. I don’t want to give it up to men who will do their utmost to disrespect it. I want the future I planned. The one I was promised so many years ago.

Sasha clears her throat like it’s not the first time she’s tried to get my attention. “Pack Parker is offering you an out on the contract repayment if you hand over the store willingly.”

What the fuck?

“It’s not worth that much,” I say dumbly. No doubt it’s another of their ploys, but I really can’t see why they’d walk away from that much money just to screw me over.

“We both know they don’t care. If I were you, I’d let them torch it. At least you won’t be stuck repaying them for the rest of your life.”

“Nymph is my baby, Sasha. I started the business from the ground up. Spent every moment I had to grow it, nurture it, turn it into something I could be proud of. I am not going to throw it all away because some chucklefucks can’t stand that I left them.”

“You may not have a choice,” she says carefully. “I know this hurts, Daph, but you can start something new, something their hands have never touched.”

But I don’t want to.

“How do we stop this?” I ask through numb lips.

Her sigh is so sympathetic I want to curl into a ball and die. “If we can find the contract, it would change things, but we can’t hinge our entire approach on something we may never get.”

Sasha pauses, obviously waiting for me to offer a suggestion, but what else is there? I either find that fucking contract, sign over my company and watch them burn it down or fight them in court and probably lose, anyway.

“I’m sorry, Daphne. I hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but you need to be prepared in case things don’t go our way.

I’m still trying to find Taylorson and we’ve started rereading pack law while we’re at it.

Hopefully, we can find something that makes all of this moot.

I’m sending over the offer now. Take a few weeks to think it through, but it’s your best shot at getting out of this relatively unscathed. ”

My mind floats above my body, so disconnected they don’t even feel like we’re connected.

I hear myself say, “I understand,” but I don’t feel it.

I don’t feel the phone slipping into my pocket, the cold sinking in my body as I walk back into the chaos of the storefront.

All I know is the breath sawing through my lungs.

In. Out. In. Out.

I look at the warping floors, the bare walls, the home that my dream was supposed to become and all I see is destruction. All I see is the end.

I’ve lost.

But it doesn’t feel world-destroying this time. Unlike every other time they’ve broken me, I already have things Pack Parker hasn’t touched.

My friends. The duplex. Pack Morgan.

Losing this place will hurt, but it doesn’t have to be the final blow.

If leaving taught me anything, it’s that I can rebuild my life without toxic influences dragging me down.

I can get through this. Shore myself up to the hurt that will come as the Parkers rip my dreams apart for fun and then figure out my next steps.

Right now, I need to do what it takes to end this.

I pull up my mother’s unopened thread and start reading through her messages.

Mother

Mechanics. You left your stable pack for mechanics? That’s embarrassing, Daphne.

Corey is absolutely distraught over you not returning his messages. He’s barely left the house. The boy looks like he hasn’t slept in days.

She sends a picture that I immediately delete, though I notice the alpha’s just as messy as last time. Bet she took that photo the day of the court case to use against me later.

Mother

Your father’s birthday is coming up. It would be nice for you to apologize for ruining the arrangement he so carefully made for you before that happens.

This little stunt of yours has made us the laughingstock of the country club, Daphne. I will never forgive you for it.

The rest are more of the same, but I don’t need to read anything else. My hands shake the entire time I compose the text, but I send it anyway.

Me

Seriously, Mom. I need the paperwork you signed with the Parkers.

She responds instantly.

Mother

You mean your alphas, and I have no idea what paperwork you’re referring to.

Me

I’m asking you one last time to help me. Don’t let them destroy the one thing I’ve built for myself.

Mother

They wouldn’t have to if you would come home. Stop being stubborn and honor your responsibilities. Your pack deserves their omega.

I knew this would happen, but it was a last-ditch effort to see if she would ever choose me.

Now I know she won’t. Mother cares too much about her country club frenemies and the way other people think to put her child first. Instead of the usual frustration and anger contact with my mother usually brings me, I’m just sad .

Family dinner with the Barretts was eye-opening in so many ways.

Good parents love their children with every ounce of their body.

They don’t coddle them or clean up their messes as adults, and they have no problem admitting when their child is wrong.

They hold space for everyone’s feelings, and they love unconditionally. No payment required.

For the first time, I see Mother’s manipulations for what they are.

A life raft to hold her rickety existence together.

She used me to get further in her circles because she has no skills of her own.

It took whoring her teenage daughter out to get her to where she sits, and she doesn’t care what it takes to stay there.

Fine. If that’s the type of person she really is, I don’t need her in my life, and I certainly don’t want her.

Me

In that case, don’t contact me again.

My finger hovers over the block button for the millionth time and this time I press it. I expect relief, but all I feel is an unwavering sadness that I wasn’t enough to make her be the mother I deserve.

My emotions bubble until I want to scream. Want to lose my shit and break something in this already destroyed place.

I want my alphas.

The urge to go home and curl up in my nest, warm and safe in their scents, sounds heavenly, but it won’t feel the same. Nate and Dez are gone, and Connor’s at work.

Connor.

He’ll be here soon. All I have to do is wait until he arrives.

Once we’ve done what we need to, I’ll explain what happened.

If he knows how shitty my day was, maybe he’ll come home early with me.

We can order in and watch movies on the couch or maybe we’ll spend the entire night in the nest wrapped up together, but either way, I’ll have him with me.

Because even if I have nothing, I have them .