Page 13 of Secure Touch (Her Vicious Pack #8)

Luca

I try to smile, I try to keep my voice light. Mum said that Erika offered to take them with her, so they could start a new life somewhere the Hearts didn’t have as much control, where it was less likely that someone would be looking for them.

It’s good news, happy news. I should be excited about it.

But I only just got them back, so to lose them again so quickly, it hurts. At least, this time, I know that they’ll be safe and they’ll know that I’m alive and well too. So that’s an improvement.

At the same time, I don’t want my family to stay here longer than strictly needed.

I don’t want them to get involved with anything to do with the world that Mathew, the Hearts and any of us are connected to.

The sooner they leave, the better the chance that they stay as ignorant of it all as possible.

The better the chance that they’ll be able to get normal jobs again, go to normal schools, and things like that. That they can go back to a normal life.

After I found out that Mathew was my scent match, all those years ago, I knew that my life was never going to be normal.

No matter if I’d stayed with the Hearts, under their control, or if I managed to get out and find Mathew.

I was never going to have a ‘normal’ life, because someone like Mathew doesn’t get out of a situation like that and then not somehow stay involved with that world, in whatever way.

I was right, even if I didn’t want to be.

Though, I never guessed how Mathew would still be connected to that world.

“Luca? You still there?” Mum sounds worried.

“Yes, still here. Just thinking.”

“I asked if you’ll be able to see us off.” Her voice sounds so hopeful, I don’t want to break her heart.

“I’ll try. I don’t know exactly how everything will be in a couple of days.

But I’ll try to make it.” It’s the best I can give her right now.

I want to see them off, give them a hug before I won’t be able to see them again for a while.

But I also don’t want to see them off. I don’t want to see them cry, I don’t want them to see me cry.

I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of crying. ..

“Thanks.” There are voices on her side. “I’ll call you soon. Erika is here. Talk to you later.”

“Later,” is all I manage, before the line is disconnected.

My heart is heavy.

Just because my family will live somewhere else, somewhere safe , doesn’t mean that I won’t be able to speak to them. I’ll still be able to call them every day, just like we’re doing now. But knowing that they’ll be hours away, no longer in the same city, still makes me sad.

With everything finally starting to settle down, it’s apparently also time to pull together all the information that’s been gathered since I got here.

While they didn’t let me near the training complex when they were ‘getting information’ from the three Hearts guys, I was asked to look some of the things over after the fact —and I’m very sure that what I saw was only a fraction of the information, not anywhere near all of it.

Outside of that, I could help by confirming or rejecting any of the information Mathew’s organisation had on the Hearts, like the locations of some of their buildings in the city, locations of buildings in other cities, people in charge, things like that.

The Hearts mostly kept me at the same place after they found out I was Mathew’s scent match, but not all the time.

I’m good with kids, kids trust me, so they would often use me to look after the kids they were transporting.

It still makes me sick, thinking of what might have happened to so many of them, but I was in no position to do something about it back then.

Now, I do have the resources to start helping those kids. To try to make sure that no other kids will ever be harmed like that again.

While it would be great if we could get rid of the whole damn Suits Syndicate, that’s not realistic, not at the scale of organisation that Mathew has. But that doesn’t mean we can’t chip away at them, that we can’t chip away and make them just that little bit smaller.

I was impressed by the map that Mathew had of the inside of the brothel he’d been kept in.

It was hand-drawn, not from any official source, but it was very accurate.

The only notes I had on it were from some renovations the Hearts had done on the place in the decade since he left, but from what I could see, not much else had changed in that time.

There were a few other things I had knowledge of, like who was in control of what part of the business model the Hearts run, or who was in charge of which buildings, but Mathew was already largely aware of them, so all I had to do was confirm that what he had was correct.

“We can’t go in without a plan.” Mathew’s voice is quiet, though with a note of frustration. We’re sitting at his temporary desk, looking at files on his laptop. “We need to do this right. We can’t take those kids out and not have a place for them to go.”

“Can’t Erika help?” I thought that was part of the reason why they were going to work together.

“She will. But we’re going to have to start setting up our own system too.

We can’t just go in, take those kids and ship them off to Erika when she’s already using her system for the people her own organisation rescues.

” He sighs. “Setting up a system like that is going to take time, too much time.”

“Do you have people you trust?” Because it’s no use getting the kids out of one bad situation and straight into another one.

He snorts, looking sad. “Were you aware that ‘Michael, King of Hearts’ was also Mathew Page, before you got here?”

I shake my head, not sure where he’s going with this.

“The only people who are aware of that connection, who are aware that I’m an Omega, are those who work in my organisation and those who first met me through the brothel.

” He pulls up a shoulder. “Oh, and Erika and her pack and organisation, of course, but they don’t count if we’re trying to find allies to help us without relying on her.

So, no, to answer your question. I don’t trust anyone. ”

I stare at him, my heart aching. That must be so hard, not being able to trust anyone. Not being able to be yourself, always having to hide part of yourself.

Then something comes to mind. “Wait, outside of your organisation, only the Hearts know that you’re an Omega?”

He nods. “The Hearts and any ‘clients’ that came to the brothel, of course.”

“But that’s still quite a lot of people, why don’t others know about it? The Hearts could just tell people, why don’t they?”

He smiles, but it’s one without joy, filled with menace. “Because they know what happens when someone tries to out me. Let’s just say that their business is generally very short-lived afterwards.”

A shiver goes through me at his cold tone, at the ice in his eyes.

I’m immediately reminded that no matter how sweet he is with his pack, this is a man who should not be crossed, not ever. He’s full of danger and very fucking scary if he ever got really angry.

Then he leans back in his chair, looking at the screen in front of him, though his mind clearly elsewhere, his voice determined.

“I want to take the brothel down, hopefully before our kids are born. It would be nice if we could do more, especially in the coming years, but for now, my focus is on the brothel.”

He stands up, going over to the window that looks out over the dark fields outside. “I want to take it down, destroy the building and put a park or something else back that will actually help people. Will you help me?” He meets my gaze in the reflection of the window.

I stand up, joining him. “Yes. It would be my pleasure.”

Break the building down, make it disappear, and then create a place where good memories can be made, not trauma and pain.

Create a better future.