Page 37 of The Forgotten

I want to gut myself, however, we started this runaway train. There’s no way off, right?

“Leave her, Dad,” Maddox says cooly. “She’s made an attachment to Gareth. He’ll help her come to terms with what needs to happen.”

“Is that true, son?” he asks, releasing Olivia finally. He’s been trying to get her to scream for him again, groping her roughly, but she hasn’t made a single sound. Holding the knife to her throat, Dad presses against her skin until a bead of blood wells up.

“I kidnapped her for a reason,” is all Gareth allows stiffly.

“Then get her in line,” he says, slapping Olivia. Her gaze fills with fury, and he chuckles under his breath. “There’s fire in you. It’ll be a pleasure to break you. It’s adorable that you believe you have any kind of choice.”

Dad removes the knife, and Olivia steps back, pushing Gareth away before she kicks off her shoes.

“There’s always a choice,” she rasps, turning and running away.

She won’t get far, and I relax as I hear her run up the stairs. The windows don’t open in any of those rooms, so she won’t be able to throw herself out of one either.

“Four days,” Dad reminds us with a grunt. “Gareth, no offense, but you may want to keep your dick in your pants for a while. I need your mind sharp for what’s to come.”

Whistling as if he doesn’t have a care in the world, he strolls out of the room.

“I need?—”

Maddox holds his hand up to silence Gareth, getting up to listen for the front door to open and shut. It takes much longer than it should, making me suspicious of our father’s intentions.

“Go check on Olivia, I need to find any surveillance devices he may have put in here,” Maddox says, pulling out his phone.

We all have the same app downloaded onto our phones, and Aled moves to the front of the house while we look in our living room. Gareth shakes his head as he jogs out of the room, muttering about blood and knives. I have no idea what he’s talking about, not until I hear a shout from upstairs.

In the time he left, we found seven different devices. Our father is clearly trying to keep us on our toes.

“What’s wrong—” Aled calls from the base of the stairs, where we’re now standing.

Gareth runs downstairs with towels pressed against Olivia’s arms, and I stumble against the wall as I watch him. She didn’t…

“Call the doctor!” he screams, falling on his ass on the stairs as his dress shoe slides off one. He’s moving too quickly, and tumbles down several of them before he jumps off the last several stairs.

Dropping to his knees, he lays Olivia on the ground, blood soaking his clothes as he continues to press the towels into her arms.

“Now,” Gareth snarls.

Maddox quickly calls Dr. Royal, even as I wonder if there’s simply too much blood. The doctor and his pack only live a few houses down from us, which means he typically gets here quickly unless he’s at the hospital.

“Dr. Royal, we have an attempted suicide we need help with,” Maddox reports, his scent worried and sour as he speaks. His typical calm lavender scent feels wrong, and I realize he may just care what happens to this woman.

We are so fucking fucked.

“Yes, it’s our omega,” Maddox says. “No, I will not explain, and yes I understand that there will be an extra fee attached to this service. Get your ass over here.Please.”

Aled drops to his ass on the stairs as he watches Gareth attempt to slow the flow of blood.

“I armed her,” he rasps, tears flowing down his face. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my adopted brother cry. Not once. “I caught her making the second cut, and wrestled the knife away from her. She… Olivia cut straight up her arms. She will find a way to die if we continue this.”

“What else can we do?” I ask, desperate for a way out.

“Dad will kill us all and start over,” Maddox says, hanging up. “He’ll marry Olivia for himself, keep her as his fuck toy, and impregnate her to force her to birth new heirs. It’ll be her living nightmare.”

“Remember what her daughter’s mate said,” I remind them. “She’s already lived through that once. I don’t think her mind will be able to survive it again.”

“This can’t happen!” Gareth screams. “I’m the one who does all the dirty work in this family, yet I’m the one with agoddamned soul? She’s supposed to be your omega. What do you think you should be doing?”