Page 40 of Toxic Revenge, Part Two (Mafia Omegas #2)

Chapter

Thirty-Six

TALIA

Mercer and West rushed over the second Conrad slammed open my bedroom door. West lifted me from Conrad’s arms, carrying me over to my bed and sitting down with me on his lap. My other two mates sat on the edge of the bed, surrounding me in warmth and comforting scents.

“He taunted her,” Conrad growled, his fists clenched.

“But he’s not here now, so none of his words matter.” Mercer cupped my chin as he spoke, staring into my eyes.

My watery gaze met his, and I managed a small smile. Sandalwood and brown sugar soothed the gaping hole Benjamin’s bond left behind.

“Mercer, he knew we were here. At the Alfieri Estate. On a garden path. There’s someone here who’s working for him,” Conrad said.

Closing his eyes, Mercer took a few deep breaths. I followed his example and did the same. Each inhale helped.

West’s stuttering purr at my back helped too, and his wool and smoke scent. I had my mates to help me through this. I wasn’t alone.

“We’ll deal with that later,” Mercer muttered. “No one can get to her while we’re with her. Talia is all that matters right now.”

My cheeks flushed. The amount of devotion they had for me was like nothing I’d ever dared to hope for. “I’m fine,” I whispered.

“I believe you,” he said. “Fine enough that you don’t want cuddles?”

I grabbed his arm, fingers digging into his bicep. “Cuddles are an important part of omega care.”

He chuckled, hauling himself up onto the bed. Conrad pulled off his shoes first, then mine, and followed suit. The chill from outside gave way to sweltering heat, my mates’ bodies warming me up as they all pressed in around me.

I took deep breaths, filling myself with their scents.

If only it was their emotions knocking around in my head instead of Benjamin’s.

I’d been burned before by trusting him, but I was confident with my pack it would be different. Their emotions wouldn’t drain me; they would infuse me with energy and positivity. I wouldn’t have to work so hard to keep up a barrier 24/7.

A knock on the door broke the quiet, and I sat up from my spot on West’s chest.

“Talia?” Lavinia called out, her voice muffled. “Odetta said she thought something bad had happened.”

“Come in,” I said.

Tears had dried on my cheeks, my eyes still burning and feeling puffy. I wanted to hide against West’s chest and not emerge until I could put on a mask of confidence again, but I also didn’t.

My family wanted me to lean on them when I needed support. Maybe it was time to do it instead of keeping everything close to my chest.

At least a little bit.

She opened the door, eyes widening when she saw me. “What happened?”

“Benjamin called me.”

She cursed and whipped out her phone. “Just now? I’ll see if Emilia can track him by the call.”

“I doubt it,” I mumbled. “He was probably smart about it. The more important thing is… he knew where Conrad and I were.”

Lavinia froze in place, phone halfway to her ear. All the colour drained from her cheeks like she’d seen a ghost. “What do you mean?”

“He mentioned the garden paths, and that was exactly where we were,” Conrad explained.

She broke the pause, her hand trembling as she continued to lift the phone. “Emmy, I need you to do a background check on every single person who’s set foot on this property in the last 24 hours,” she said quietly. “And Benjamin called Talia—see if you can figure out where he called her from.”

I didn’t hear Emilia’s response, but it must have been satisfactory because Lav hung up. She wrapped her arms around herself in a hug and cleared her throat. Her voice wobbled. “I’m going to go help her. Don’t leave this room.”

“Lav, I don’t think?—”

“ Don’t leave this room,” she reiterated firmly. “If he knew where you were, what else does he know?”

My heart skipped a beat as she voiced the concern I’d been doing my best not to think about. She was right, though. It was safer if I stayed put until we found whoever was leaking information to my bondmate.

It just made me feel weak. Like I was hiding instead of facing him head on.

And I couldn’t hide forever.

“Fine. I’ll stay in here until tomorrow afternoon.” I’d need that long to gather myself again, anyway.

“You should stay until we find?—”

“No. What’s the point of living like a prisoner in my own bedroom? I’m already confined to the estate.”

Lavinia hugged herself tighter, fingers digging into her biceps. I’d never seen her so… scared. Terrified was what her body language was giving.

“Only go out if you have one of your alphas with you, then,” she said. “Please.”

That was as close to begging as Lavinia got. This was important to her—and I would have followed that advice regardless. I nodded. “Agreed.”

She nodded in return, spinning around to leave without another word.

I collapsed back down onto West’s chest, snuggling against him. Part of me wanted to ask what their thoughts were, if Emilia would find anything valuable on who was reporting to my bondmate.

A larger part of me wanted to curl up and forget about all that for now.

Benjamin’s emotions were still battering me, my rebuilt walls not keeping all of him out. The dam threatened to break from any small crack. If he called again, I would fall to pieces.

I needed cuddles, and comfort, and maybe to call Dr. Jalisco to talk about this.

First, cuddles.

“Do you want a snack, princess?” Conrad asked. “I can get you something from the kitchen.”

My stomach growled. I’d only had the scone for breakfast, and I hadn’t gotten lunch yet.

“I want soup, please.” I picked something basic on purpose, not knowing what my stomach could handle right now. “Chicken noodle soup and toast.”

He leaned in and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Coming right up.”

Mercer wrapped himself around me as Conrad left the room. Relaxing into my alpha cuddle sandwich, I let the tears fall again until my eyes were finally dry.

After soup, more crying, and a shower, someone else pounded on my door. They didn’t wait for a response before turning the knob and pushing inside.

“Are you alright, darling?” Jurah asked, rushing over to the nest where I was laying between Conrad and Mercer.

There’s truly no privacy whatsoever in this place.

What if we were having sex?

Then again, the door hadn’t been locked, so being caught would have been partially our fault. Only partially. Something to keep in mind the next time they ravished me in my nest.

I nodded, going up on my knees and hugging him tightly. “Yes, fine.”

I hadn’t visited him since arriving home. My fathers knew by now that we’d performed a heist without their knowledge or approval, and at first I’d been avoiding their chastisement. Then, my plans to see them had been derailed by Benjamin’s call.

Mom had probably told all my fathers not to harass me on my first day home, or I would have been caught in a conversation the second I walked in the front door.

With how worried Jurah was about me, I felt bad for not seeking him out sooner.

“We’re going to find the traitor who is giving information to that bastard,” Jurah promised in a low growl. “They’ll suffer severe consequences for their actions.”

With a mafia family, ‘severe consequences’ meant torture followed by cement shoes and a trip to the bottom of the bay. Maybe if I’d been less broken, I would have requested something on the softer side of punishments.

As it was, I was starting to acknowledge that this was the world I lived in. Benjamin had pulled me into it whether I wanted to be or not, and if I tried to play clean…

We couldn’t win.

“Make sure to ask them why they’re doing it, when you find them,” I requested quietly. “Are they being paid? Do they actually support the O’Connors? I want to know.”

Jurah sighed, patting down my hair. “I’ll ask, but sometimes there isn’t much of a reason.”

“Thank you.”

Mercer cleared his throat behind me. “While you’re here, Sir, can I ask about the relationship you have with the O’Connor family?”

Sitting down on the bed, Jurah scanned Mercer. Conrad had retreated to the far end of the bed, half hiding in the pillows and blankets, and West was acting disinterested in the conversation. But Mercer was sitting right behind me, clearly paying total attention to what we said to each other.

“There’s a long-standing feud.” Jurah sighed. “It dates back before us, but in current times they hate us for being alphas and omegas, and we hate them for being cruel, manipulative bastards.”

“Have they made any attempts to come at you like this before?” Mercer asked.

Jurah’s expression hardened. “Yes. But not in a while. Their new leader, Brooks O’Connor, seemed to want to broker a tentative peace.”

I’d heard them talking about the new O’Connor leader a few times. They said he was reasonable, that he responded to conflicts with a firm hand, but he wasn’t cruel. Was that all a front he put up, knowing Benjamin was coming at us from the inside?

Or did the leader have nothing to do with my bondmate’s plan at all?

“I’m assuming that didn’t go over well with the extended family,” Mercer muttered.

Snorting, Jurah shook his head. “Kid’s been putting out fires since he took over.

Plenty of people want him dead. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had nothing to do with Benji—in fact, everyone I’ve spoken to thinks Benji O’Connor is dead.

Willard O’Connor, Benji’s father, is a distant relative of Brooks with no sway whatsoever. ”

Benjamin would be dead for real, soon.

Or at least imprisoned, never to be seen again.

“I’ve heard there are only two alphas in the O’Connor family,” Mercer said. “Any idea who the other one is?”

“Rumour has it, it’s Brooks himself.”

The plot thickens.

The designation-hating crime syndicate had an alpha for a leader?

No wonder he wasn’t well-liked.

I scooted back on the bed, leaning into Mercer’s side.

“This is nothing you have to worry about, though,” Jurah continued. “You three focus on caring for my daughter. My pack will deal with the O’Connors and finding Benjamin.”

I chewed my bottom lip. Yeah, we weren’t going to be listening to his advice to stay away. Lavinia had told them about the call and the traitor because it was a household problem, but I trusted her to stick with the plan when the moment came.

We’d get Benjamin ourselves so I could make my choice.

The more he taunted me, the more I was willing to risk death to make sure I never had to face his vitriol again.

“Thanks, Jurah,” I said.

“We’ll do anything to make sure you’re safe, darling. And we’re all very happy to have you home.” He placed a hand on my knee, then took a second to glare at each of my mates. “Keep her happy.”

There was bound to be a threat eventually.

I laughed. “They’re good at that, don’t worry.”

“Better be.”

He stood up and stretched, then left my bedroom with one final wave.