Page 58

A chill races down my spine as my father echoes the same words Camden threatened me with. How can two people from entirely different gene pools be the mirror image of each other’s evil?

The Dean sighs as he fixes the lapels of his suit coat. “Do you need more explanation than that, or was that sufficient enough to sink in?”

Tears well along my lower lashes but I don’t let them fall as I shake my head and say, “You made yourself clear.”

”Good.” He pulls his phone from his pocket, swiping and tapping away as he speaks.

“As I was saying, Camden has been gracious enough to take you back despite the way you’ve embarrassed him.

I’m not sure why he’s so willing but I am grateful for the chance to set things right.

His only request was that we move the wedding up again, and based on my schedule, the earliest opening I have is…

” I watch him scroll through his phone, almost as if he’s annoyed, like this is somehow putting him out. “This Saturday.”

“That’s in less than a week,” I blurt, knowing damn well I’m going to regret it.

“Very good, Magnolia,” he says as snidely as possible. “It’s nice to see all that money we spent on private schooling and tutors hasn’t gone to waste.”

I snap my mouth shut and fight the urge to argue.

Normally I can get through this kind of confrontation without making it harder on myself but not this time.

He showed up at Evie’s apartment, he invaded one of my safe spaces, and I’m not sure how much more I can take before I get to my breaking point.

The Dean keeps staring at his phone while he continues to poke the bear.

“With the wedding on Saturday, that means we’ll have the rehearsal Friday, and since we’ll have to drop the shower and parties, that can double for both.

That should cut back on some of the rush orders and juggling locations.

You’ll need to go shopping on Wednesday, for both the wedding and formal party the night before, Thursday can be a failsafe in case we need to go elsewhere.

” My father sighs and looks up at me with a frown before he goes back to his calendar.

“We have no choice but to announce the wedding this evening. It’s not exactly how I wanted to do it but we need to give people enough time to get things in order before Saturday. ”

A tear slides down my cheek as I clench my fists at my sides, my anger unable to stay buried any longer. “I’m not marrying Camden.”

My father lifts his head slowly, his tone even despite the shift in his energy. “What was that?”

“I’m not going to marry Camden. I won’t.”

“Is that so?”

I nod and lift my chin, trying to hang onto the hurt and fury instead of slipping back into our normal exchange. “I won’t marry that monster and I don’t?—“

“Monster?” He scoffs. “You think he’s a monster?”

My heart starts pounding in my chest as my father starts to laugh, the sound strange and unnatural coming from him. I take a step back in confusion, fear starting to replace what little strength I had.

I don’t know what’s happening right now but I’m sure it isn’t going to bode well for me.

“Oh, Magnolia.” He claps his hands together once and that’s when his laughter stops, his face quickly morphing into a mask of cruelty I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before.

“I had no idea you could be so funny. Calling Camden a monster when you’ve been whoring yourself out to an entire floor full of them for months. ”

“What… What are you talking about?” There were probably a hundred other things to say in response but that was the only thing I could force out of my mouth. “I don’t?—“

“Enough!” He barks as he shoots to his feet, coming at me so quickly that I didn’t realize it happened until he has me cornered.

“I am sick of the lies, I am sick of the bullshit. I know everything, Magnolia. Every sick and depraved thing you’ve done since you’ve been working at that sorry excuse for an institution, so spare me the act. ”

“They’re my mates.”

“And I don’t give a flying fuck. They could be the goddamn second coming of Christ and I still wouldn’t let you be with them. You are marrying Camden Blackhurst this Saturday or else.”

He turns on his heel, leaving me shaking and panicked against the wall, my head fuzzy while spots dance across my vision.

The room is spinning.

I’m definitely going to blackout.

My stomach rolls and I have to focus on my breathing so I don’t throw up but as I do that, what he said sinks in, and the new form of terror those words carry digs its claws deep. “Or else what?”

The Dean pauses as he goes for his coat and he turns to face me slowly.

But I don’t back down, not when I have to know what he means.

“They’re my mates, my scent matches. We share fate bonds.

I have their marks on my skin and they have mine.

I love them, and I don’t trust you. Knowing what they mean to me, knowing what I’ve already risked by being with them, how can you be so confident I won’t leave Camden at the altar and run away with them or something? ”

My father grins, every one of his blinding white teeth on display as he proceeds to ruin my life once and for all.

“Isaak Lowe will be fired, he’ll lose his license to practice, and I will destroy his reputation so thoroughly he won’t even be able to get a job flipping burgers.

As for those deviants, those cold blooded killers you’re so fond of?

They’ll be transferred out of here and sent directly into their own personal hells. ”

I shake my head as I wrap my arms around my waist. “Isaak is a good doctor, he cares about his work, he doesn’t deserve that. He’s a good man.”

He waves me off dismissively and starts bundling up, putting on his winter items as if he isn’t killing me with every word he speaks.

“Desmond Hawthorne will find himself at a prison that doesn’t believe in psychiatric treatment unless it involves some sort of cruel and unusual punishment.

That beta, Calix St. James? He’s never been anywhere outside these walls, I’m sure I can find him a nice little cot in Colorado’s maximum security facility.

They’ll be eager to bring him home, might even try him as an adult now that his file’s a little thicker. ”

“No, please, Calix wouldn’t make it somewhere else and Des, he needs treatment. He does better with treatment, he isn’t a threat.” The tears flow freely as I watch him in disbelief. How could I be related to him? How could someone be so cold and unfeeling to their own flesh and blood?

“As for Korvin Severe,” my father says as he wraps his scarf around his neck. “He’ll be walking the green mile upstate within forty eight hours of his transfer. They don’t take kindly to an alpha that doesn’t think twice about using a shotgun on a pregnant mother and her two small daughters.”

“He didn’t do that,” I sob, my words full of the truth I feel down to my bones.

Truth that’s confirmed by the devil himself.

“No, but his file says otherwise, and as long as Bryce Harden is alive, Severe will carry the weight of those crimes on his shoulders right along with the rest of them.” Byron Reynolds smiles wider than before as he pulls his phone from his pocket.

“You don’t go through with this marriage, all it takes is one phone call from me and I will destroy those men you love before you take your next breath.

You want to spare your mates? Quit your job, marry Camden, and never set foot in one of those three buildings again. The choice is yours.”

It’s a choice that is going to kill me either way but I don’t hesitate to make it.

“What do you need me to do?”

He nods toward my phone on the coffee table.

“Call Dr. Lowe now. Tell him you resign effective immediately. Send him a text that reiterates the same thing but you must include a permanent end to your relationship with all four of them. Quit, cut them off, then erase his number. You do all of that in front of me right now, and you have my word I will let those four parasites live out the rest of their lives, unharmed and right there on Ward C.”

So, I do.

I make the phone call, I send the text. I break my own heart into a thousand pieces, I end my life in a matter of minutes, and I would do it over and over if it meant saving theirs.