Page 50 of Toxic Revenge, Part Two (Mafia Omegas #2)

Chapter

Forty-Five

TALIA

Conrad and I were splayed on the bed in the spare room, curled up together with a large amount of paint dotting our nude bodies, when someone knocked on the door.

Without waiting to hear who it was, Conrad shouted out, “We’re naked!”

I covered my face with my hand. I swear, if that was one of my sisters. Or, shit, my fathers…

The door opened and then closed quickly. Mercer stood with crossed arms and a smile just inside the room. Conrad cursed. “Fuck, it’s your turn now, isn’t it?”

At least we weren’t knotted together like West and I had been earlier.

He’d knotted me in round one, before we’d finger painted on each other and gone for round two.

Conrad hauled himself up from the bed, finding his clothes from all around the room where they’d landed. His jeans had ended up on the white paint I’d tried to flick at him, leaving a big white circle on the side of his ass when he put them back on.

I laughed as he saluted Mercer and clapped him on the shoulder. “She’s all yours,” he proclaimed. “Enjoy your mini date with her, but just know—you can’t beat my painting date.”

He rolled his eyes, wandering further into the room as Conrad left us alone.

I sat up on the bed, snagging my shirt from the floor and putting it on, even though I wasn’t wearing anything else.

It just felt strange being stark naked when he was fully clothed, and he had a bit too serious of an expression for me to try and start stripping him down.

Mercer stopped in front of me and caressed my cheek, which was still covered in dried paint. “I had something planned, but you look tired, and we still have to go over the plan for tomorrow. Rain check on the date?”

I nodded, smiling back at him. My mates had kept me distracted all day, but there were serious matters to address. Typical of Mercer to sacrifice his one-on-one time with me in favour of making sure I was fully prepared.

“We’ll go over the plan with Lavinia, but before that I do have something I want to give you tonight.”

He pulled a familiar style of velvet box out of his pocket. Another piece of jewellery? They were going all out. It was way too much.

“You didn’t each need to get me jewellery,” I said. “One from all of you would have been plenty.”

Mercer shrugged, popping the top open and revealing the contents. This one… It was a ring.

A gorgeous ring with a gold band, a central diamond, and small red stones surrounding it. It matched the bracelet and necklace I’d gotten from the others, making the perfect set.

I reached out to touch it, fighting back happy tears.

“This isn’t a proposal, exactly,” Mercer admitted. “But it is meant for your ring finger. Will you wear it?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

He pulled it out of the box, then grabbed my paint-covered left hand. Wiping some of the dried paint off with the hem of his shirt, he slid the ring on.

It was a perfect fit.

They must have had help to set this up. No way this man just randomly guessed my ring size successfully. And how had they gotten this jewellery when we hadn’t gone out anywhere? My sisters played a part in this, maybe Mom too.

And I was thankful for them, because I loved my gifts, as unnecessarily extravagant as they were.

“You look great wearing all these things from us,” he admired. “Can’t wait until the others see you.”

“Thank you.” I wrapped my arms around his neck in a hug, hoping he didn’t mind if I got paint on his clothes. It should be dry by now. Probably. “I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetheart. Let’s go meet Lavinia and the guys, alright?”

I hugged him tighter, taking a deep breath.

They could give me all the distractions in the world, but I would have to face reality eventually.

Tomorrow, we would make our move, and Benjamin would show his final cards. We just had to hope they weren’t stronger than ours.