Chapter 128: ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT

Author’s POV

Nicholas stared at Blackthorne, unable to understand what he meant. He had expected anger, maybe another attempt to intimidate him, but the man’s strange confidence made no sense.

Nicholas still had the gun in his hand, Blackthorne was standing several feet away with his hands raised, and yet he was acting as though the situation had gone exactly the way he wanted.

"What are you talking about?" Nicholas demanded. "I’m the one holding the gun now, and you’re the one standing there with your hands up. So explain what exactly makes you think I’m stupid."

Blackthorne opened his mouth to answer, but before he could say anything, movement behind Nicholas caught his attention. Nicholas turned his head and froze.

His mother was being brought into the warehouse.

One of the men behind her had a gun pressed against her head, and the sight of it immediately wiped away every thought Nicholas had been having.

His mother looked frightened and completely confused as she was forced farther into the room. She hadn’t expected to see Nicholas there, and the moment her eyes landed on him, the shock on her face deepened.

"Nicholas?" Her voice shook.

Nicholas stared at her, then at the gun beside her head. "Mom?"

She looked from Nicholas to Blackthorne and then back again, clearly trying to understand what she had walked into. "What is happening? Why are you here? Nicholas, what’s going on? Why are you holding that gun?"

Nicholas couldn’t answer.

There were too many things happening at once, and he knew immediately why Blackthorne had laughed. He had never needed to overpower Nicholas directly. He had simply made sure there was something Nicholas cared about more than escaping.

Blackthorne slowly lowered his hands. "Now you understand."

Nicholas turned toward him, anger replacing the shock in his face. "Leave her out of this."

Blackthorne walked toward Nicholas’s mother without any hurry. She instinctively stepped back, but the man holding the gun kept her in place. Blackthorne stopped in front of her and looked at her for a long moment before reaching out and grabbing a handful of her hair, making her wince.

"Gareth, what are you doing? I don’t understand what’s happening. Why did you bring me here? Why are you doing this to Nicholas?" Her voice was shaky.

Blackthorne looked at Nicholas. "Do you know how long I had to put up with this woman calling me ’Honey’ every day?"

Nicholas’s mother stared at him in disbelief. "What are you talking about?"

He glared down at her. "You’d come home, smile at me, ask how my day was and call me Honey as if we were some happy little family." His grip tightened slightly on her hair as he spoke. "You had no idea what was happening around you. You never questioned why I married you, why I chose you or what I actually wanted from that marriage."

She looked horrified.. "I loved you."

Blackthorne laughed. "It was never about love."

Nicholas’s mother stared at him as though she was seeing a stranger standing in front of her.. "What was it, then?"

"A game.". The word left his mouth casually.

She shook her head. "No."

"Yes." He released her hair and stepped around her.. "You think I married you because I wanted a family? Because I saw some great future with you? I married you because you were an Omega, and there were other Alphas who thought exactly the way I did. They hated Omegas. They hated what Omegas were becoming, and they wanted to prove that they could still control them whenever they wanted. Your marriage was part of that."

Her face went pale and Nicholas could barely breathe.

Blackthorne continued, speaking as though he were explaining something that had never been important enough to hide. "We wanted to prove that Omegas could still be brought into our homes, made dependent on us and kept completely unaware of what was happening around them. You were perfect for it because you trusted me. You never imagined that the man sleeping beside you was one of the people responsible for destroying your family."

Nicholas’s mother shook her head repeatedly.. "You murdered him."

Blackthorne looked at her. "Yes."

The woman stared at him. "You killed my husband?"

Blackthorne didn’t seem repentant. "I did."

Her eyes filled with tears, and she looked toward Nicholas as though she suddenly understood why he had been acting strangely, why he had been asking questions and why he had been so afraid to tell her everything. "Oh God." Her voice broke. "Nicholas, I’m sorry."

Nicholas tightened his grip around the gun. "Mom, don’t."

"I brought you into this." She looked at him with tears running down her face. "I brought you into this house. I trusted him. I let you grow up around him. I thought he was protecting us after your father died. I thought—"

Nicholas felt tears prick his eyes. "Mom, stop blaming yourself."

"I should have known." She shook her head.

Blackthorne watched them without interrupting and Nicholas looked back at him.. "If you wanted me, why did you bring her here?"

The man crossed his arms. "Because you needed a reason to put that gun down."

Nicholas’s eyes hardened. "You think I’d surrender for her?"

"I knew you would choose your mother over yourself."

He was right.. His mother looked around the warehouse again, still struggling to understand how she had ended up there.

"But how did you get me here?" she asked. "I was at home."

Blackthorne didn’t answer and Nicholas looked at her.. "Where were my brothers?"

His mother looked confused by the question. "They were downstairs."

"Then why weren’t they with you?"

She hesitated. "I went back upstairs after breakfast. I was in my room when someone called me."

Nicholas stared at her. "Who?"

"It was your stepfather’s assistant. I recognized her voice. She told me Blackthorne needed me at the company and that he had already sent a car to pick me up because it was urgent." She looked toward Blackthorne, her expression filled with disbelief. "I didn’t think anything of it. I thought perhaps there was some problem at the company, so I left without telling anyone where I was going. I thought I’d be back soon."

Her voice trembled as she continued. "The moment I got into the car, I realized something was wrong. The driver wouldn’t answer any of my questions. I asked where we were going, and he ignored me. By the time we arrived here, there were already men waiting. I barely stepped inside before someone put a gun against my head."

Nicholas closed his eyes briefly.

That was why no one had been with her. She had been tricked into leaving the house.

His brothers had no reason to suspect anything because she had believed she was going to see Blackthorne at the company.

When Nicholas opened his eyes again, his mother was still looking at him. "Please don’t do anything reckless."

Nicholas looked down at the gun in his hand and Blackthorne watched him carefully.

"Nicholas."

He looked at his mother. Then at the man standing beside her with the gun pressed against her head.

His fingers slowly loosened around the weapon. "I’ll do whatever you want."

Blackthorne said nothing as Nicholas lowered the gun completely. "Just don’t hurt her.*

His mother shook her head immediately. "Nicholas, no."

He placed the gun on the floor. "I’m serious. You want me? Fine. You want me to stop fighting you? I’ll stop. You want me to do whatever you tell me to do? I’ll do it. Just let her go."

He raised his hands slowly, showing Blackthorne that he had surrendered. "Please. Don’t hurt my mother."