Page 52 of Toxic Revenge, Part Two (Mafia Omegas #2)

Chapter

Forty-Seven

TALIA

I exited the way I came in, offering the guards another smile.

All I had to do was go back down the hall to the lobby and take a right toward the bathrooms. There was a door there that should lead into a back alley, where my mates would be close at hand.

Simple.

Efficient.

If I could stop hyperventilating and rushing. Benjamin was going to guess something was off if I didn’t get myself under control. He could be watching me right now.

I slowed down, walking normally and clutching my purse. I went to turn toward the bathrooms, but a shout set my heart racing.

“You bitch!” A woman tumbled out of the ladies’ room, another woman following her out and using a purse as a weapon.

Security guards rushed past me, their radios crackling. I paused at the mouth of the hall, but another guard came to stand in front of me.

“Sorry, Miss, these bathrooms are currently closed.” He spoke calmly, as if I couldn’t see the two other guards each holding a screaming, angry woman. “Take the elevators up to the second floor, and there are bathrooms to your right.”

“Thank you,” I said instinctively.

He turned to another woman who’d come up, and I walked on, my mind reeling.

This wasn’t the plan.

I needed that hallway. That specific hallway.

Did I take a walk through the hotel and circle back, hoping they’d cleared out the disruption and would let me through? We had a plan B route, but it wasn’t ideal. I would spend more time in back hallways before getting outside that way.

What if the whole commotion had been pre-planned by Benjamin to throw me off?

No, there was no way he could have known where I was going. It was purely bad luck. Plan B it was.

Fumbling to get my phone out of my purse, I typed out a quick text to Lavinia.

Talia: Going with plan B.

I shoved it back in and set on my new path. A bit further down, into a side hallway, and through an employee only door.

There was no one in sight, only single doors lining one side of the hallway. I broke into a jog, heading for the light at the end of the hall—windows in the double doors that would lead me out to the back alley.

I was close to the end when a hint of cucumber scent tickled my nose.

I didn’t dare look around. My jog became a sprint as adrenaline rushed through me, my vision blurring at the edges.

All I had to do was get to the beam of light. Then my mates would carry out the plan, and Benjamin would be ours.

A hand grabbed my arm in a bruising grip as I careened past the last interior door. I gasped, sucking in a breath of cucumber and moss.

No. He can’t be here.

I barely kept my balance when he used my momentum against me, swinging me into the room.

The door slammed closed behind him, leaving us in the dark. I fumbled for my phone, desperate to call for help and gain a source of light, but he smacked it from my hand.

“We don’t need anyone crashing our reunion, mate .”

It was him.

There was no mistaking Benjamin’s voice combined with that sickening scent.

With him so close, my mental walls threatened to shatter, but I clenched my teeth and held on. He wouldn’t get the better of me. Not when my mates were right outside the building, waiting for me. I had to fight back.

I crouched down, feeling across the dirty concrete for my phone until he grabbed a handful of my hair and hauled me upright. Alpha senses would make it easy to see, even in here, but I was still adjusting to the darkness.

“Let go of me.” I grabbed his wrist and squeezed, trying to force him into letting go of my hair.

Benjamin only laughed.

His cucumber moss scent choked me in the small space, and he pushed me further and further away from the door that would set me free. If I kept backing up, the only exit was into a different back hallway where no one would hear me scream.

I fought against his advance, thrashing, but it all felt hopeless. He’d caught me. My bondmate had made his move, and our plan to draw him out had gone completely off the rails.

There was no way he was letting me go easily.

My only chance at escaping him was if my pack realized something was wrong; if they managed to find me before I vanished forever.

“So feisty,” Benjamin chuckled. “You were never like this when we were dating.”

I screamed as a response.

My face stung as his hand slapped over my mouth, muffling the noise before it could fully form. I sank my teeth into his hand, and he cursed, but didn’t jerk away.

“Clearly, you’re not going to come easily.”

I glared. He manhandled me until I faced away from him, still stopping me from screaming. He’d abandoned his grip on my hair and my arms were free to move, so for a second I thought I could get enough leverage to shove him away.

But I didn’t see the blow coming.

With an explosion of pain on the side of my head, everything went black.