Page 26 of Toxic Revenge, Part Two (Mafia Omegas #2)

Chapter

Twenty-Four

TALIA

The curves and lines of the strange infinity symbol gave me a sense of deja vu. It was familiar, and from more than just spotting it on Benjamin’s documents. There was somewhere else I knew it from. Somewhere I couldn’t place.

Chewing on my bottom lip, I traced the curves of it on the painting, desperate to know what it could mean.

“I found a key beneath a false bottom in the drawer.” Mercer gently moved me away from the painting. “Whatever it unlocks could be hiding behind this painting—if we’re lucky, anyway.”

I stayed silent, wracking my brain.

Where had I seen that symbol before?

I needed to remember.

Mercer carefully lifted the painting off the wall. Behind it was a plain safe with a single keyhole. He retrieved the key he’d found, sliding it into the lock.

It turned smoothly; a perfect fit.

The door swung open. Mercer grabbed a folder from inside, but before he could open it, I snatched it for myself. The first thing I saw inside was a head shot of Benjamin in his typical style business suit.

Except, the name beside his picture wasn’t Benjamin Fryar.

It was Benji O’Connor.

That’s where I know the symbol from.

With the O’Connors vendetta against us, my fathers were always looking out for new schemes from them. They intercepted documents when they could, took copies so they could keep tabs on the competition while the originals stayed with the owners so they didn’t know we knew.

I wasn’t a part of that side of the business, but it was impossible to not see things every once in a while. While visiting Jurah in his office, I’d watched him close a folder with that very symbol on it. He’d mentioned casually that he’d been looking at the newest dealings from the O’Connors.

I’d never thought anything of it.

When I’d had a passing familiarity with the symbol on Benjamin’s folder, I hadn’t questioned it.

Slumping against the wall, I let the folder shut as tears beaded in the corners of my eyes. He’d been working for the enemy all along… because he was the enemy.

Benjamin was Benji O’Connor, and he’d been playing me from the start.

“Hey, hey. Sweetheart, calm down.” Mercer took the file from me, flicked it open, and cursed when he saw what I had.

He shoved the file into his bag, grabbing my hips and pulling me into a hug.

“We’ll get him back for this, but right now, we need to stay in the zone, OK?

Think we’ve found everything there is to find? ”

“I know everything I need to know,” I said faintly. “Let’s leave.”

“Got it.”

He said a few words to Lavinia over the earpiece, then ushered me toward the door. I followed his lead with my head feeling like it was somewhere else entirely, detached from my body.

The betrayal ran deeper and longer than I’d thought.

And somehow, despite everything Benjamin had done, I hadn’t been expecting it to get worse.

The name from the documents rattled around in my mind, refusing to leave me alone.

Benji O’Connor.

I’d scent matched to a low-level member of the O’Connor family, and he’d taken advantage. He’d lied to me for years, waiting for the perfect moment to use me to bring about the ruin of my family.

When Mercer had flipped open the file, I’d caught a glimpse of a picture. The building Jurah owned—the one I’d met Benjamin outside of. He’d scoped the place out and had obviously been there for a reason that day.

What reason? Those files might tell us.

Mercer would take them back to the Residence, and West and I would be right behind him.

Standing on the balcony of the room next door in my satin dress and strappy heels, I numbly watched as my pack did everything else around me.

West tossed a rope ladder up over the railing of the balcony and Mercer secured it.

Conrad watched the surroundings for any roaming guards or guests who might spot us.

When it was set up, Mercer took my hand and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Off you go, my princess. West is here to save you from your tower.”

Despite the sensation of feeling separated from the world and from them, that got a smile out of me. “I do kind of feel like Rapunzel right now. Without the hair.”

He chuckled, grabbing my hips and helping me climb over the railing and onto the flimsy ladder in my tight dress. “Well, Rapunzel, climb down to your Prince Charming.”

“Flynn Rider. Prince Charming is kind of boring, but Flynn Rider is rogueish and a lot more like West.”

Mercer rolled his eyes, holding the rope at the top to stop it from swaying. It still moved with every twitch I made, and climbing down a ladder in high heels wasn’t exactly easy in the first place. As soon as I was close enough to the ground, West lifted me down the rest of the way.

His scent blockers were beginning to wear off, and I inhaled deeply, trying to find more hints of his wool and smoke scent beneath the chemical nothingness.

It was barely there, but I would take what I could get. I needed comfort after learning how horribly I’d been fucking deceived.

“Come on, little omega.” West didn’t waste a second.

Giving me a jacket to fend off the cold, he led me toward a short wood fence that backed onto a neighbouring property.

I glanced back at Mercer, who was climbing down the ladder. “Aren’t we going to wait?”

“No. They manage themselves, I manage you. We’re getting out of here as quickly as fucking possible.”

Frowning, I almost complained. I didn’t need managing—didn’t need to be coddled. But I kept my mouth shut.

I should let them help me. Doing everything on my own had only gotten me into a huge mess before.

He helped me hoist myself over the fence and into the next yard.

We were surrounded by bushes and trees, the house this property belonged to barely visible in the distance.

The escape route had been chosen very intentionally.

Despite having no idea how to be a criminal, everyone I knew was exceptional at it.

Listening to West’s hushed orders, I let him lead me on a winding path. We went through backyards, around pools, and even crossed a bubbling stream at one point.

Every estate here had a ton of property, and we stayed away from the buildings until we got closer to the place where we would emerge back onto the road.

Picking our way across a large estate, between outbuildings and gardens, West suddenly stopped short in front of me and cursed under his breath. I froze too, adrenaline pumping through me, but I didn’t know what he’d spotted.

Were we about to be caught?

I stayed silent as he glanced around before ushering me toward a door.

It didn’t lead into the main house—we were still a few hundred feet from the mansion itself—but it was a huge building all the same.

He picked the lock with practiced ease, poking his head inside to look around before herding me through.

The room was humid and warm, a stark contrast to the crisp evening outside. A rectangular pool filled the space, with lounge chairs surrounding it. My heels clicked on the tiled floors, and I kept a hold of West’s arm in case there was water waiting to slip me on the pool deck.

“Why are we?—”

“I heard someone.” West answered my question as he rushed me through the wide-open room.

He hauled open the door to a small storage room, full of inflated pool floaties, towels, and lounge chair cushions. With us inside, he closed the door.

His scent blockers still masked most of his scent, but there was enough breaking through to comfort me as he pressed me up against the shelving, facing the storage room door. I rested my hands on his hips, calming my breathing and trying to hear what he heard.

There was nothing.

The night was silent—whoever had been out and about hadn’t realized we’d hidden in here.

West stayed tense, keeping his protective stance in front of me. I leaned forward, pressing my cheek to his back. My hands slid from his hips to his stomach, and I hugged him tightly.

He grabbed one of my hands in his, trying to unwind me from around him. “Talia, if someone comes in, I need to be able to protect you.”

“They didn’t follow us in here, though. Did they?”

He paused, then sighed. “I don’t hear anything. If they’re gone, we need to keep going.”

I didn’t want to keep going. The sooner we got back to the Residence, the sooner I’d have to face the reality that my cheating, lying scent match was an O’Connor.

Here, I could ignore it.

I could get caught up in the thrill of the moment.

My hand slid down his stomach to palm at the front of his pants. He hissed as his cock grew hard, but he grabbed my wrist roughly and stopped me.

“Fucking hell. We’re not safe here.”

He stomped out of the storage closet, leaving me behind. I followed out after him, grinning. His black jeans had a massive bulge in the front, which he adjusted in annoyance.

“Let’s keep going,” he said.

Ignoring him, I sat down on a poolside lounge chair and shrugged off my jacket. Next, I undid the straps on my heels and slipped them off. He finally noticed as I reached for the strap of my dress, pushing it off my shoulder.

“What are you doing?” he demanded. “There might be cameras in here, and this is no time to take a break.”

I let the strap fall down my other shoulder, then reached around to undo the zipper of my dress. “I don’t see any cameras. Do you?”

He cursed and darted forward, grabbing both my hands and lifting them above my head. My core tightened, slick pooling as he manhandled me.

“I don’t see any, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any,” he growled. “Can you stop being a brat?”

A brat, huh? Only with him. I loved to push and antagonize him, because I’d learned from experience that when he gave in, it made it all the more delicious.

“No one’s here. We could take a little break.”

He was never going to go for it. Unless…

I eyed up the pool behind him.

Releasing my wrists, he ran a hand through his hair. “No breaks. I’ll give you whatever you want once we get back, alright?”

I stood up, brushing off my dress and sliding one of the straps back up onto my shoulder. There was longing in the way he looked at the exposed skin. It wouldn’t take much more convincing for him to abandon his worries and indulge with me.

All I had to do was be so much of a brat, he had to punish me immediately.

And I knew exactly how to do it.

He reached out to lead me away from the pool, but I didn’t give him a chance.

“Come on, let’s— AH! ”

With one hard shove, my grumpy, protective alpha was making a giant splash and taking an unexpected swim in the pool.