Page 16 of Toxic Revenge, Part Two (Mafia Omegas #2)

Chapter

Fifteen

WEST

I stalked down the Residence halls, my scowl scaring off anyone who might have tried to speak with me.

I would have been better off staying in that meeting room, talking shop with Talia’s fathers. If she was having a hard time without us, I wasn’t the one who could comfort her. I’d told them all that when I refused to stay with her earlier.

Clenching my fists painfully at my sides, I glared ahead, no focus to my annoyance.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see Talia.

Every second apart from her had me more anxious about how she was doing and if she was comfortable. I was desperate to wrap her in my arms again and drench myself in her cranberry rose scent.

I just wasn’t what she needed. I didn’t deserve to see her when I couldn’t help or keep her safe.

And why had I fucking left her this morning? She’d wanted me, and I’d refused. Hell, I knew why I hadn’t stayed—I might have made things worse if I had—but my reasoning felt like an excuse.

Had leaving hurt her more than staying would have?

Guilt and shame ate at me, making fine friends for my annoyance at Mercer.

Trying to shake off my visible agitation, I pushed open the nesting room door. No omega waited in the nest for me to return, the door of the bathroom wide open and revealing no one inside.

Momentary panic kicked up my heart rate, but when I inhaled deeply, I caught the scents of magnolia, cherry blossoms, mint, and citrus. All fainter than Talia’s scent. Her sisters had come to spend time with her—they must have gone out.

I was half tempted to settle in and wait for Talia to come back, but I couldn’t. My task was to check on her, and if I couldn’t even do that without fucking it up, Mercer might as well just kick me out of the pack.

She could be in distress, and we wouldn’t know from a distance because she wasn’t technically our omega. She wasn’t connected to our pack bond.

I had to see her before I could trust that she was alright.

I rushed off down the hall to scour the common areas. The long hallways were familiar, but different. New paintings had been put up on the walls. A few areas had new paint colours.

Violet’s home had moved on without me, changing while I wasn’t here to see it. I tried to shove down those thoughts, but they ate at me.

What kind of brother was I?

What kind of mate was I?

I’d left my sister and I’d left my omega, and they’d both claimed to want me to stay.

I’d never deserved to have lights as bright as Talia or Violet in my life, because being near me only dimmed them. I had to pause in the entry hall to angrily rub the beginnings of tears from my eyes.

I was a curse on everyone I loved.

My mother had always said so, and I kept proving her right.

“West?” Violet’s voice hit me like a punch to the gut.

Hastily rubbing my eyes, I cleared my throat and tried not to fucking sniffle. If she saw that I’d been crying in the goddamn hallways, she’d try to comfort me. I didn’t deserve it.

When I turned to face her, I saw in her gentle expression that she already knew.

I did my best to brush it off anyway.

“Yeah? Need something?”

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with a sigh. “We should talk.”

There was so much talking to do, and fuck, did I ever want to avoid that. “Sorry, but later. I’m searching for Talia.”

“She’s on the roof with Mira,” Violet said. “And she’s doing well enough to wait thirty minutes. Come with me.”

“Um, I don’t think?—”

“Come with me,” Violet repeated more firmly.

I slumped. Yeah, I was defeated. There was no telling my little sister no when she decided she wanted something.

And this conversation was long overdue.

I trailed after her, hoping I’d be able to fall far enough behind that I would lose her. She didn’t let that happen, and the path to where we were going was branded into my mind anyway.

We headed outside and down winding paths through the garden, until we reached a long bench near the brick wall that kept the Omega Haven Residence completely closed off from the world outside.

We’d had a hundred chats here. Every time I visited, we would come out and sit on opposite sides of the bench, alternating between looking at each other and watching the birds enjoy the well-kept garden.

She sat on her end of the bench. I sat on mine. There was a chill in the windy air.

“Why haven’t you come to visit?”

She didn’t waste time before cutting to the chase.

I cleared my throat. “Been busy.”

“That’s a lie.”

“No, I had a lot going on with the club—Mercer was trying to make an impression so Grave would pass over control to him, and then there was some shady shit going on…”

I couldn’t look her in the eye. She would see my dishonesty if I did.

Violet shook her head. “Don’t treat me like an idiot, West. You’ve been busy with club business since we met, and it never stopped you from spending time with me. Why did you really stop coming here?”

My heart throbbed uncomfortably. I owed her an explanation.

“I’m like a curse for you, Vi,” I muttered. “When I’m in your life, it gets worse.”

“What the hell are you talking about? You saved me.”

“Saved you?” Guilt formed a roiling pit in my stomach. “Under my watch, you were attacked by those fucking animals. I dragged you here in the aftermath, kicking and screaming, and left you with a bunch of strangers.”

She slid over until her thigh pressed against mine. I wanted to retreat, but the only place to go was off the bench entirely.

Then she wrapped her arms around me, giving me a tight hug, and I couldn’t have moved if I wanted to.

I wasn’t really a hugger. Had I ever hugged my sister before? Maybe in the immediate aftermath of the incident, but I’d mostly blocked out those moments.

“It wasn’t your fault those guys hurt me,” she whispered.

“They were a rival club?—”

She cut me off. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. They didn’t target me because of you. I’m absolutely sure of it.”

But it didn’t make sense. The things they’d done to her were heinous and vile. They had to have had a reason. It must have been a desire for revenge for a deal gone wrong between us.

“West, when you’re a woman, sometimes there isn’t a reason. Sometimes it’s just bad luck and bad people,” Violet whispered. “I was with them for long enough that I think I would know if there were any motives to it. Believe me, please.”

I didn’t want to believe her.

If I couldn’t blame myself and my associations, I had to accept that my sister was just… unlucky. The bad side of a statistic.

That was worse. I didn’t know why, but it felt so much worse.

Maybe because it meant that no matter what I did, I could never protect her from everything. It made it impossible to be the big brother I’d sworn I would be when I found out I had a sister.

“Fine. I believe you,” I mumbled.

She knew that I was saying it to placate her. There was no way she didn’t, but she didn’t call me out. She planted a kiss on my cheek and pulled away.

“Good. And I’m sorry for being upset about being brought here. I know you wanted to help me, and back then I wasn’t ready to admit that I needed help.”

“You don’t need to apologize.”

“I do. Just accept the damn apology.”

I snorted. “I accept.”

“Perfect. Now you need to tell Talia what happened back then so she knows why you constantly push everyone away.”

Considering we hadn’t grown up together, Violet was uncannily good at calling me out. Had to be sisterly instincts or something. It would be nice if she would stop doing it.

The way I was living was working just fine, for the most part. I had my pack—I didn’t push them away. They were all I needed.

A little voice whispered that wasn’t the truth anymore.

“I didn’t keep her safe either, Vi.”

“Not everything is your fault. Do you think she blames you?”

I knew she didn’t. She should blame me—that was the problem.

If I’d never tried to steal the damn ammo, the entire chain of events could have been avoided. Conrad might feel guilty about going feral and nearly hurting her, but ultimately even his injury was my fault.

“Did you know you’re the most stubborn person I’ve met in my life?” Violet asked. I hadn’t answered her previous question yet, but my silence was apparently telling enough. “Talk to her, West. Just talk to her before you lose her. Ideally, right now.”

Standing up from the bench, I brushed the dust off the back of my sweats. I’d go find her, but only because that was what I was already doing. Not because we needed a conversation.

“You said she’s on the roof?” I confirmed.

“In the rooftop garden, yeah.”

“Thanks, Vi.”

She sighed as I walked away, my shoes crunching on the gravel.

I hated that she was getting through to me. It was safer to live in my bubble where I could keep everyone safe, where everything was my fault, and not out of my control.

But everyone kept saying I was wrong. That I shouldn’t blame myself.

And if everyone claimed I was wrong… how could I be right?