Page 15 of Toxic Revenge, Part Two (Mafia Omegas #2)

Chapter

Fourteen

TALIA

Mira perched on the edge of the bed, a pillow clutched to her chest. I’d expected Lavinia to be at the meeting with the guys and our fathers, getting information about the feral alpha bullets, but she leaned against the wall in my nesting room instead.

“Wonder how terrified your alphas are, all alone in a meeting room with our fathers?” Mira grinned, a glint in her eye.

“I’m sure they’ve got nothing to worry about,” Lavinia said. “Presuming their intentions are pure.”

That second part read like a threat.

What had I gotten those men into?

Shifting in the blankets, I moved to the edge of the bed. “Maybe I should go see them after all.”

“No way.” Mira shook her head. “They’ve gotta make their own bed. Besides, we have something to talk to you about. Without our fathers around.”

But what if my alphas ended up scared for their lives and never came back? It was already hard enough being away from them all. I half wished I’d accepted Conrad staying behind, but I couldn’t just allow West to believe he was replaceable.

Benjamin’s emotions were stronger without them here, though. The man was trying to drive me insane; it was obvious from how strongly his hate-filled feelings assaulted me. He wasn’t blocking off the bond even a little bit.

He was doing the opposite, trying to increase the connection between us. All so he could torment me more.

“What did you want to talk about?” I slumped back onto my pile of pillows.

“Benjamin.”

His hate pierced my heart, my body breaking out in a cold sweat at the mere sound of someone else saying his name. I grabbed a glass of water from the bedside table, trying to soothe my bone dry throat.

“He ruined my life, what is there to talk about?”

“Emilia is trying to find him,” Lavinia explained. “She’s looking into why he might have done this to you.”

“He did this because he’s vile. A fucking psychopath. I can tell because he’s in my head now.”

My older sister cringed.

Mira crawled onto the bed fully, sitting close beside me. “There must be something he gains out of this.”

“He gains my torment for the rest of my life,” I muttered.

“Something tangible.” Lavinia ran a hand through her hair. “If he only wanted your torment, he would have kidnapped you and kept you with him, don’t you think? He had the opportunity to take you, but he didn’t.”

She had a point.

“And while you were missing, Emilia found something else.” She spoke quietly, like she wanted her words to be gentle enough to not hurt. “He was stalking you, Tal. She traced his steps around town and there were pieces missing, but he was never far from you for long.”

My bondmark throbbed intensely, my head swimming.

“No, there’s no way. Wouldn’t I have noticed? I was looking for him.”

How could he have possibly avoided my attention when I was so focused on finding him? Our fathers had taught us to see signs of things like that, yet I’d missed it entirely?

“He stayed a safe distance away. Since he knew your patterns, he didn’t have to get close enough for you to notice him.”

“What about when I was in Villem?” I demanded. “That wasn’t part of my pattern.”

Had he been watching me while I spent time with the alphas I truly wanted? I wanted those memories to be sacred; not to forever know that I was being watched from afar.

“Hard to tell. He went to a cafe close to their house, but he might have lost track of you and not known exactly where you were.”

Great.

I didn’t want to talk about this anymore.

All I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and ignore everything going on around me until my alphas came back and reminded me that they loved me despite my crazy stalker bondmate.

“What’s even the point?” I asked, rubbing my neck. “He’s my forever. There’s no way to break the bond unless I want to risk my life.”

“We want to find him before he can hurt you more—” Lav started.

Mira cut her off. “And who fucking says he’s your forever? There are ways around that when you have alphas as devoted as yours.”

Wishful thinking. “They can be as devoted as they want, and it doesn’t change anything.”

“No, it does. We find Benjamin, they torture him until he accepts them as packmates, they all form complete bonds with you, and then we kill the asshole. You’ll have three alphas to help you through the loss of one.

” Barrelling ahead with an explanation despite my skepticism, Mira’s plan was kind of insane.

It also made a lot of sense.

For the first time, I felt a spark of hope sizzling inside me. I might not have to settle for a half life, living with my alphas but never able to bond them. Constantly worried about Benjamin doing something to hurt me through the bond.

I could live the life I’d wanted.

Benjamin would have to die for it, but now I could say he deserved every second of agony we could put him through.

“Is there research about this?” I asked.

“Not exactly,” Mira admitted. “Your situation is… unique. But there have been studies done on omegas who lost only one of their alphas. If they had at least two remaining alphas supporting them through the breaking of the bond, the omegas survived in ninety percent of cases.”

In other words, studies showed I had a ten percent chance to die anyway.

But if I lucked out and ended up in the ninety percent who lived, I’d be free of him forever.

I could have my happily ever after that I’d stupidly thrown away without even realizing it.

My pack would be my second chance, just like Felicity Jones had gotten—although we’d never know now if I would have scent matched to Mercer, Conrad, and West. We would already be bonded by the time my first scent match died.

I would always believe they should have been my fated mates.

“Our fathers are never going to agree to a ten percent chance of death.” I realized the largest flaw in the plan with a frown. “No matter how much I beg, they’d rather keep him locked away forever than have me risk my life to get free from him.”

“That’s why we needed to have this conversation in private, away from our fathers,” Lavinia provided. “If you and your pack want to try it, we’ll all help you.”

“Just be certain you want to risk it first, OK?” Mira placed a hand on my forearm. “Once we find Benjamin, we could also get him to pack up with your guys and then keep him alive in some prison cell. Then you have the mates you want, but you don’t have to risk your life.”

I would also have to deal with Benjamin’s black hole in my head, forever.

Taking the ninety percent chance of complete freedom was a better option.

If my alphas would agree to this … Being in a pack with someone so horrible wouldn’t be pleasant. They’d feel his emotions almost as much as I did, because god knew he wouldn’t let them have any peace either.

Would I be worth that much to them?

I thought about how West and Conrad were blaming themselves for everything that had happened, despite none of it being their fault. I’d thought they wouldn’t want me after this, but ultimately they did.

Maybe I should stop doubting them. Regain some of that optimism I’d had when I read the articles about second chance scent matches.

“What’s the plan to find Benjamin?” I asked. “I’m assuming he hasn’t been easy to track.”

“Emilia is looking into his associates and tracking his movements through town after he left you. It’s a process, but she’ll find something.” Lavinia’s words were full of confidence.

“If he has some nefarious associates, wouldn’t our fathers have dug that up ages ago?”

Mira shrugged. “Maybe he’s been extra discreet about it. And the guys they had looking into him can’t be as good as Emilia. She’s the best.”

We’d never had any reason to be suspicious of my scent match. Benjamin was a lawyer, and we’d met by chance. The background checks could have been surface level enough to miss things.

Although… we’d met by chance directly outside of Jurah’s office.

“Why was Benjamin walking by Jurah’s office the day we met?” I asked out loud.

Mira and Lavinia blinked at me, confused.

“I was visiting our father, but what was he doing there? His office isn’t close to that street. Can you have Emilia look into it?”

“Of course, but why?” Lavinia asked. “He can’t have manufactured the scent match.”

“No, but if he’d been outside that office in an attempt to get close to our family, he might have just gotten really fucking lucky.”

And I might have been the unluckiest girl in the world for meeting him; for having the worst possible scent match lock into place.

Mom might have a really solid point about scent matches being fated to have an impact on your life. Benjamin’s impact wasn’t at all what I’d expected or hoped for, but it was certainly large.

“I’ll get her on it right now.” Lavinia stepped out of the room to make the call.

With Mira and I alone in the nesting room, I slumped over and rested my head on her shoulder. Her sweet scent of magnolias and cherry blossoms tickled my nose, bringing some of the comforts of home to this unfamiliar place.

She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and loosed a huge sigh. “I hope I’m not this unlucky when I meet my scent match. No offence.”

I laughed. “I’m not sure how much of it was luck and how much of it was me being stupid. A mix of both, for sure.”

“Luckily, I’m not stupid. Won’t have that problem.”

Snorting, I punched her lightly in the arm. “Talk to me again when you meet your scent match. All those pheromones in the air sure as fuck don’t have you making smart decisions. You’re not an exception.”

“Nah, I’m exceptional.” She giggled. “I hope I match a pack, though. Even if it’s a pack of asshats like Benjamin, there’s no way three or four alphas are all going to be successful pathological liars and master manipulators. I’d be able to see the flaws.”

I wouldn’t tell her that I wasn’t super confident in that strategy. My faith in alphas was… well, severely shaken.

Before, I’d felt lucky to have found Benjamin. A stand up alpha. A fated scent match.

Now, I was hoping I hadn’t misjudged Conrad, Mercer, and West. Would they continue to stand by me when things were hard? They could use me for their own gain, since they knew my family name. It had never been like that between us, though.

We’d been drawn together time and time again when we’d all thought it was impossible.

It had to be meant to be.

Grabbing a pillow and hugging it to my chest, I sighed. “At this point, I just have to hope my pack isn’t being torn to shreds by Nico.”

“If they were, you would know. We’d be able to hear the screaming.”

She was joking, but I took a second to listen intently anyway.

No screaming.

Regardless, maybe it was time to go peek in the meeting room and check on them?