Page 4 of Toxic Revenge, Part Two (Mafia Omegas #2)

Chapter

Four

WEST

From that first hiccuping sob, I knew who was on the phone with me.

I hadn’t checked the number before answering. It could only be one of very few people. But I hadn’t expected it to be her after she’d been silent for so long.

“Little omega, are you OK?”

She sniffled, and I listened hard to the sounds on the other end of the line. There were faint traffic noises. Was she in a car? Where was she going, and what was the fastest way for me to get to her?

I wanted to bombard her with questions, but I waited for her to collect herself. Overwhelming her wouldn’t make her feel any better.

“I’m in heat; Benjamin found me and completed the bond and left me on the side of the road.” She blurted out everything in one breath.

“He did what? ” I moved the phone away from my ear, hoping it made it less obvious that I was shouting.

The city was waking up, and I was only a few blocks from the hospital—the place where I’d been planning to start my search for my omega and packmates. I wasn’t the most approachable guy to begin with, but people were giving me an especially wide berth today.

Stepping off the sidewalk and into a small, empty park, I paced on the gravel walkway. “Tell me where you are. I’ll come get you right now.”

There was another sniffle, and the rev of an engine. “We’re here,” a male voice said from far too close to her.

“Who the fuck is that?”

Damn it, I was probably scaring her. I had to treat her delicately, like I’d treated Violet. No shouting or raising my voice, no sudden outbursts. I’d been bad at it when my sister had lived with us, and I was out of practice.

So I had to be even worse at it now.

“Sorry, little omega. Can you answer my questions, please? I need to start heading to you,” I said.

It almost sounded civil.

“I’m at the Omega Haven Residence,” she whispered. “Guinn brought me here. Technically, he kidnapped me to bring me here, but it was better than leaving me out on the street after Benjamin attacked and abandoned me, so I guess I can forgive him.”

“That’s good to hear.” I heard Guinn’s voice again. His tone irritated the fuck out of me, but I couldn’t focus on it.

Hearing she was at the Residence was too much of a gut punch.

Another omega had ended up there on my watch. How fucking useless could I possibly be? Talia had needed me and I hadn’t been there.

Just like Violet.

“I’m getting a cab right now,” I said. “They’ll take good care of you there, I promise. And I’ll be there soon.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ve got to make another call, but I’ll call you back when I’m done, alright? We can talk while I’m heading over.”

She hesitated. “Are you sure you can’t just... No, never mind. Make your call.”

“The call is important for you. Five minutes and you’ll be talking to me again, I promise.”

“OK. Please be fast.”

I smashed the end call button, ignoring the instinct to end the call with an ‘I love you.’

I was slowly realizing that I loved her more than I’d ever loved anyone who wasn’t family or pack, but whether I deserved her was another story. Until I deserved her, those words couldn’t pass my lips.

I managed to flag down a cab, hopping in the back and tossing $40 at the driver. “Omega Haven Residence. As fast as you possibly can, and there’ll be a good tip in it for you.”

We flew off down the street, and I tapped in another number I had memorized. Despite the ungodly hour of the morning, she answered immediately. “West?” Violet’s voice was slurred by sleep. “That you?”

“Yeah.”

“You never call.”

Guilt pierced my heart. Fuck. I avoided that place like the plague; avoided her, and now I was only headed there because of Talia. What kind of brother did that make me?

Not a good one, but I’d resigned myself to that fact a long time ago.

“I know, Vi. I’m sorry.” I ran a hand through my hair, watching out the window.

The cab driver was taking my offer of a good tip seriously, and we were zipping through town.

“I need a favour. My omega—well, fuck, not really. It’s complicated.

But she’s the closest thing to an omega I’ll ever have, and she just arrived at the Residence.

Can you make sure they make her comfortable?

I’m going to be there soon, but you’re closer. ”

“Oh my gosh. Yes, of course. I’ll head to the front desk right now.”

“Her name is Talia. I don’t know the details, but her asshole scent match bonded her and left her out on the street in heat.” I growled at the end, unable to restrain myself.

Violet didn’t react to the growl, surprisingly. Last time I saw her, she’d always let out this little frightened squeak if I slipped up and got upset about something around her.

Then again, we were on the phone. Maybe she’d flinched and I just couldn’t see it.

“That’s horrible,” Violet said. “Do you want me to give her my phone so you can talk to her?”

“No need. I’m calling her back as soon as we’re done.”

“I bet she needs you, and I’m already heading downstairs. Bye, West. See you soon.”

She hung up on me, and I redialled Talia immediately.

“Can you just... talk to me?” she asked.

“‘Course. I’ll tell you all about some of Conrad’s lucky breaks, how about that?”

She managed a small laugh and agreed, and I launched into a set of tales worthy of an author, for how much I embellished them

I buzzed Violet to let me onto the Omega Haven Residence property after the taxi dropped me off beside the imposing front gate. As I sprinted down the winding garden pathways to the front desk, I registered how much things had changed.

The gardens were different colours. Last time I’d been here, it had been spring—everything in full bloom. Now there were only muted shades of green and brown, the property was still damp from the recent rains, and a thin layer of frost dusted the grass.

They’d even repaved one of the pathways. It was wider and smoother than the old cobblestone I was used to.

It was a reminder that I was a terrible brother. Violet hadn’t had a visit from me in ages, and she deserved better.

The glass door was locked, but Violet saw me pulling on the handle. She came over and pushed it open for me, letting me into the warm floral-scented lobby.

“Where’s Talia?” I demanded.

“Take a breath. Not going to be much help to her like that,” Violet said.

She retreated a few steps away from me. She looked... good. Healthy. Nothing like the shell of a person she’d been when I’d first dropped her off here, pleading for them to help her recover from the hell she’d been through.

Every time I’d visited, she’d had more life to her. More energy to her smile and her steps. More colour to her skin and shine to her hair.

It had never been like this, though.

She was worried, of course, her lips tucked into a frown.

But beneath the concerns of the moment, she was... relaxed.

Shit . I hadn’t seen her relaxed since before the incident.

That’s what months without seeing me had helped her accomplish. Maybe I’d been right to stay away after all. Coming here today could set her back by months or years...

“Sorry, Vi,” I whispered. “It was better when I didn’t visit, I know. Talia needed me, and I just thought... Thank you, for making sure they knew how to care for her.”

Violet crossed her arms over her chest. “Better when you didn’t visit? What the hell are you talking about, West?”

“You’ve improved so much.”

“And I would have improved faster if I’d had my brother’s goddamn support,” she snapped.

Then, she sighed. “Clearly, we have to talk, but that can wait until later. They’re checking over Talia’s wounds and getting her settled into a nesting room.

You’ll have to check in with Dr. Jalisco before they let you in.

I would hug you, but she wouldn’t appreciate my scent on you, especially because I doubt she knows you have a sister. ”

I blinked dumbly at her.

She wanted... to hug me? She’d wanted my support? What support? I’d only ever made her condition worse. I was so sure of that, despite my packmates trying to insist that she would want to see me.

My chest tightened uncomfortably.

Glaring at me, Violet made a grand sweeping gesture to the staircase. “Second floor. Third door on the right is the nesting room lobby.”

“Violet...”

“After, dumbass. Go get your omega.”

I couldn’t say no to that. Taking the stairs two at a time, I raced through the heritage building, ignoring all the soft, antique finishings. The door to the nesting room lobby creaked when I shoved at it, spilling me out into a small group of nurses and doctors.

All eyes turned to me.

“I’m here for Talia. She was just brought in. Violet said she would be getting settled into a nesting room?”

Dr. Jalisco waved the others off. “Yes, West. Come to my office.”

“Can’t I just see her? Do we really need to waste time with the formalities?” I demanded.

“You know very well that formalities are important. She’s still having her wounds cleaned, and we certainly don’t allow that to happen while alphas are in the vicinity. Employee safety. You understand.”

I grit my teeth, but nodded. “Fine. Office.”

The small omega woman gestured for me to go back out the door I’d come through. Then she took the lead, taking me further down the hall until we reached a small office with huge windows on two walls.

I’d been in it a hundred times.

She tried to make it comfortable, but I hated this place with a fiery passion. It was where she’d give me updates on Violet’s condition, and the progress had always been far slower than I’d wanted.

I sat down in the bulky armchair in front of her desk, tapping my foot on the ground as she made her way around to sit in her ergonomic desk chair. She took a folder out of a drawer, flipping through the pages without a word.

“Get the paperwork over with, doc. What do you need to know?” I asked, leaning forward.

“Why haven’t you visited Violet?”

My heart kicked. “That has nothing to do with Talia.”

“I wasn’t lying when I said her wounds were still being tended. You can’t see her yet, so I’d like to talk about your sister.”

Dr. Jalisco tapped the end of a pen against her paperwork, peering at me with kind brown eyes. The way she looked at me… It was unnerving as fuck. Like she could see inside my soul. Knew what I was thinking.

I broke eye contact before answering. “Violet does better when I don’t visit.”

“That statement is inherently false. My data says the opposite, both for your sister and for omegas in general. Those with positive family support always show greater signs of psychological recovery than those who are alone here.”

She didn’t understand.

I wasn’t positive family support. My sister had come to me for help and ended up here because I couldn’t protect her—I was only a reminder of what happened.

“How does Violet’s data say she does better when I visit? Can you really measure that sort of thing?” I asked.

“It’s in her assessment results. When you were visiting on a regular basis, we saw more consistent improvements on anxiety and depression screenings, as well as the omega-specific wellness screenings.

Once you stopped visiting, she regressed for a while before those scores started to climb again.

Even then, the scores didn’t improve as quickly as when she had you around. ”

It sounded like a lot of psycho jargon to me.

But I’d trusted Dr. Jalisco with so much already—with my sister’s care, with Talia’s—it didn’t make sense to brush her off completely.

Could she be right about Violet needing me?

Violet’s words in the lobby hit me again, like a freight train to the stomach.

‘I would have improved faster if I’d had my brother’s goddamn support.’

“Are they done tending to Talia’s wounds yet?” I grunted instead of acknowledging any of that. “I’d like to see her.”

Dr. Jalisco sighed, dropping her pen. “They should be. Head back to the nesting lobby. I’ll call ahead that you’re good to go in with her.”

“Thanks.”

I fled her office like I had hellhounds on my heels, desperate to see Talia and put at least one of my worries to rest.