Chapter 34: #THIRTY-FOUR

Nicholas’s POV

I stared at her in absolute shock and confusion, unable to speak for a long time. Did she really just refer to me as a slut? A whore?

I mean I knew all that. I didn’t need her rubbing it all over my face because she was jealous...

It was every omega’s dream to have an alpha who would wreck the living shit out of them. And I ended up having not just one but four. Four alphas! I would be mad too so I could say I understood their anger.

"You don’t have any right to call me that." I managed to mutter, trying not to show how timid I felt right now. Where was all that rage and fury I had earlier? Now would be a good time to use it.

"You are but a whore after all—"

"If you forgot, my mom is married to the owner of this mansion, so whether you like it or not, I am a part of the Blackthornes. You have no right to call me that, no matter what you think." I replied, my voice calmer than I expected and I almost gave myself a pat on the back.

"Let’s just go, don’t let it get into your head." The timid one said as she tried to drag the feisty one away but she refused to budge, her eyes glaring daggers at me.

"We know what you are. Everyone knows what you are. Omegas should be slaves just like us." She spat and for a moment, I panicked. If everyone knew what I was, wasn’t I destroying everything I was desperately trying to build?

"What makes you decide I’m an omega like you?" I asked with folded arms and she scoffed, her gaze raking over my body for a second.

"Would alphas make such horrible sounds you make? Besides, only omegas attract alphas—"

"If that is true, then why haven’t you attracted any alphas yourself?" I asked with raised brows and her face turned red. "Definitely, you know nothing about the hierarchy. Alphas, betas, omegas, even gammas exist. Just because I’m not a powerful alpha and that I get fucked like I deserve doesn’t mean I’m like you."

"What do you mean by that?" She snapped, pointing at me and I sneered.

I genuinely had no idea where this insane courage was coming from. But one thing I loathed with everything in me was being looked down on by someone as low as I was.

"I mean I’m a fucking beta. And betas attract alphas too. Betas moan like crazy too when fucked right by their alpha. But get one thing straight... I am not weak like you. And I will not be a slave just because you think all omegas should be slaves. Omegas deserve sunshine too." I muttered calmly and her face turned ashen while the other shook his head in trepidation.

They weren’t helping anyway so it was time to leave. Just as I turned around, ready to give up the thought of eating and return to my room, I heard words that made me freeze in my tracks.

"Yeah, maybe your family is made up of whores who stick up to alphas for a changed life. I mean look at you and your mom."

Did she just... call my mom a whore?

"What did you just say?" My vision turned red as I turned back to stare at her and she took a few steps backwards, fear evident in her gaze. "I’d like you to repeat that, right to my fucking face."

Just as I took a step forward, the door swung open and I glanced at it to see Elijah walk in, a tired look on his face. When he saw my expression and the look of fear on the maids’ faces, his expression changed as he walked up to me.

"What is going on?" He asked me, his voice soft as he held my shoulders gently but I slowly pushed his hands off.

"It’s nothing." I replied in anger, turning to leave when the maid suddenly spoke again.

"I was ordered to rile you up on purpose. He was the one who told me you were an omega." She suddenly whispered and my legs froze in one spot for a moment.

"What? Who is ’he’? Did you see who it was? When did this happen?" I asked all at once and Elijah stared at us in confusion, his arms crossing over his chest.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"One second, Eli. Let her talk." I cut him off and turned to her once again. "Who ordered you to rile me up on purpose? Who told you all that?"

"I don’t know. But I got a text to do that. I never liked you anyway so it was supposed to be a win-win. He promised me he’ll get me out of here if I agree and well... I really wanted to leave." She confessed and the other one stepped forward, her gaze cast down.

"She’s telling the truth... I got the text too... Please don’t punish us. We mean no harm..."

If this was the stranger’s doing, then it only made sense. Riling me up would distract me for a moment and that was either to make it easier for them to escape or just to see me lose my mind.

Which would also explain why they suddenly showed up when I needed someone to ask questions. He was planning everything and I kept walking into his trap like a puppet. He was controlling me, and I was moving along the path he had chosen for me.

"Can I see who texted you?" I questioned and she hesitated for a while before handing me her phone. Just like with me, it was an anonymous number that texted her as well.

"Rile him up, make him angry and I’ll get you out of there. Be there at a specific time, Nicholas is smarter than you know."

I couldn’t help but frown as I read it again and again. Something else was missing, this couldn’t be the only text she received. Who would receive an odd message from an anonymous number and not question him? Why would she just do as she was told without asking who he was or why she was chosen?

Worse, how did he get to her?

"Nick, what’s going on?" Elijah asked once again and I took his hand as I handed her her phone before walking away with him.

"Wait!" The maid suddenly called out and we stopped. "You won’t send us out, right?"

"Do you know who this anonymous person is?" I asked, ignoring her question and just as I suspected, she looked away, her lips thinning. "Sending you out won’t help anyway. Please wait here."

I ended up pulling Elijah with me as we rushed upstairs and he kept asking what was wrong even as I dragged him to my room.

"Smell this." I muttered as I handed him the hoodie Jayden had given me and he took a large sniff as his brows furrowed. "And this. Do they smell alike?"

"They do. But this scent... it is too familiar, but I can’t seem to place my hands on it. Like an old scent I should remember." He confessed with his brows knitted and I let out a sigh of frustration. "What exactly happened?"

We both sat on my bed as I told him everything that happened, from getting messages from that stalker again, to seeing the stranger that broke into Mr Blackthorne’s room.

I didn’t tell him, however, that I had snuck into the room on my own; I lied about seeing the figure in black break in and out with a file, and while I chased after him, I was only able to retrieve this piece of fabric by accident.

He looked totally devastated when I finished speaking as he paced around, a look of worry on his face.

"So, this stranger who broke into my dad’s room could also be the one stalking you?" He asked with a frown and I nodded. "We need to find this man. He’s obviously after you for a reason and I’m sure it’s not trivial." He added and just as I nodded, a thought lit up my head, making me gasp.

"Eli, do you think he’s in contact with the maids as well? The cameras showing up out of nowhere? There also has to be a way he snuck in and out without getting discovered. You don’t think..."

"That the maids are his moles? That the confession she made was just to distract us?" He completed my words for me and my eyes widened as I rushed out of the room, running to the railing as I looked downstairs.

Sure enough, both of them weren’t there anymore, and Elijah showed up behind me, the same panicked look on his face as well.

"Split up. They can’t have left the house in such a short period of time." I muttered and he nodded, rushing downstairs while I moved through the maid’s headquarters, searching for those two ladies who had deceived me.

After minutes of searching, I returned to the sitting room to find that Elijah had just returned, a resigned look on his face.

"They’re gone."

Fuck.