Page 7 of Toxic Revenge, Part Two (Mafia Omegas #2)

“You seem very convinced you’re going to die, considering I haven’t said anything of the sort.”

“I know what we’ve done.”

I knew what we’d been framed for, anyway.

Taking her phone out of her trouser pocket, Lavinia unlocked it while stopped at a red light and handed it to me. “Fine. Go ahead and make your call.”

I held the phone and stared at it for a second, hesitating. When the screen darkened, threatening to go black, I tapped it and keyed in Talia’s number.

The number was in the phone. A contact.

Why?

I pushed down thoughts of dread as we grew closer to the border between Villem and Seamouth. I only had a few minutes before my chance was lost. Ignoring the contact, I hit call.

Someone actually picked up.

But it wasn’t Talia.

“Hello?”

I recognized the voice immediately, despite how unexpected it was.

“Violet?” I asked. “How do you have Talia’s phone?”

“Mercer?” Violet sounded confused. “The contact said Lavinia. Who’s Lavinia?”

“She’s...” I trailed off, because I had no fucking idea. If this woman was a contact in Talia’s phone too, then they must know each other. Why did Talia know an Alfieri woman?

Lavinia veered off to the side of the road, putting the car in park. “Someone answered?” she demanded. “Give me the phone.”

“Vi, I’m putting you on speaker.” Instead of handing the phone over, I placed it on my thigh. “Who wants to start explaining what the fuck is going on?”

“This woman answering my sister’s cell phone should start,” Lavinia said, leaving no room for complaint.

My gaze snapped to hers. “Sister? Talia is your sister?”

“Yes. Surprise. Now, Violet, or whoever the fuck you are, tell me where my sister is.”

Her tone was surprisingly close to a bark for an omega. I cringed. Poor Violet was a bit too delicate to be spoken to like that, although not nearly as delicate as West pretended she was.

With an awkward clearing of her throat, Violet explained.

“She was brought to the Residence because she was... in distress. West was on his way already by the time she got here, and now she’s in a nesting room with him.

They requested she not keep her phone with her.

She was in bad enough shape without having to field phone calls.

I took it to make sure I could update any family that was looking for her—or you guys. ”

“The Residence?” Lavinia grabbed the phone, opening the maps app with the call still running in the background. “Where is that?”

“Just search for Omega Haven Residence,” I said. “It’s outside of town.”

Lavinia’s eyebrows rose as she recognized the location. She glanced at me with narrowed eyes, then passed the phone back to me with the GPS navigating us to our new destination.

“Violet, is she alright? Is West?”

“My brother is fine,” she said. “Talia is... Well, it’s better if Dr. Jalisco explains when you get here. I don’t know what happened to her, but she was dropped off by some random guy. She’s in bad shape.”

“Did the guy have brown hair, wear a suit, and have a haughty, holier-than-thou look to him? About six feet tall?” Lavinia asked.

“Um, no. Should he have? This guy had slate grey hair, was a bit shorter than six feet, and was wearing jeans with the legs covered in mud. Seemed nice, too. He was really worried about her—at least until he fled as soon as she was taken to another room. Oh, and he drove a yellow sports car.”

“Do you have any idea who that is?” Lavinia asked me.

“Not a clue. Was the guy you described Benjamin? Her scent match?”

“Yes.”

Maybe it was a good sign her asshole match didn’t drop her off there. It meant he probably hadn’t run into her at any point during the time she’d been alone. Right?

I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. If she’d ended up at the Residence, something had to have gone horribly wrong.

“Mercer, is Conrad with you? Is he OK too?” Violet asked.

I glanced into the backseat. He was sprawled out, chest rising and falling slowly. It would be a while before he woke up, but he’d survived the night.

That was more than we’d been certain of when he first got shot.

“He’s not in the best shape, but he’ll be fine.” Assuming he didn’t wake up feral again. The drug had to have left his system by then.

“Thank goodness. West didn’t give me many details. He did take the time to mention that he thought my condition was improving because he wasn’t visiting, though.” She scoffed. “Do you just let him believe that? Seriously?”

I sighed. “You know how fucking stubborn he is. We’ve all tried to tell him he’s wrong.”

“I’ll have to talk some sense into him while he’s here.”

“He’s going to love that, I’m sure.”

She laughed. “How long will it take you to get here? I’ll tell the front desk to expect you.”

“Fifteen minutes.”

“Got it.” Violet hung up the phone, leaving me in awkward silence with Lavinia.

She drove aggressively, cutting people off to pass and revving the engine like it was a threat to those around her. It wasn’t until we were taking the highway exit that she spoke.

“So Violet is... West’s sister?”

“Biologically, yeah. His half-sister. She’s like a sister to all of us.”

“And she lives at the Omega Haven Residence.”

“Yes.” I didn’t elaborate further.

“Well, it’s good to know you’re not cheating on Talia with some other omega.”

I almost growled at the accusation. We could fucking never. We weren’t like her asshole scent match—all three of us were obsessed with her for real. Conrad loved her, no question, and West and I… We were pretty damn close. “We absolutely are not.”

“I tend to be somewhat... overprotective of my sisters,” Lavinia admitted. “But not anywhere near as protective as our fathers are over all of us.”

Since she was an Alfieri, that made her fathers one of the most brutal and powerful mafia packs in the city. No wonder they were protective. If we’d known about Talia’s heritage, we wouldn’t have dared to go anywhere near her.

Well, that might be a lie.

There was something about her that drew us all in, and I wasn’t sure we would have been able to avoid it. Putting our lives on the line for a chance to have her didn’t sound like the worst risk in the world.

“It’s nice to meet you, despite the overprotectiveness,” I said. “I’m sure your fathers will love us.”

She didn’t say anything, but she did bark out a laugh.

Yeah, that might be wishful thinking.