Chapter 100: The what ifs

Elias’s POV

"Argh" I groan as my body is slammed harshly against the wall. I know who it is, so I don’t fight back.

"How dare you fucking talk to mom like that?" Damien snarls in my face. My older brother pulls me away from the wall and slams me into it harder.

"Fuck" I spit out.

Pain is spreading through my body like wildfire. But I keep my teeth clenched, breathing in and out harshly as I glare at Damien.

"Are you fucking out of your mind? Huh?" he asks, tightening his grip on my collar and shaking my body like I’m just a ragdoll to him. I can already smell my blood seeping through the bandages from his rough handling.

"Noah is not going there" I say stubbornly and Damien lets go of me.

He puts a small distance between us and pants in anger. His eyes are glowing faintly with gold. He’s furious with me.

"You should at least listen to us, what the hell is wrong with you?" he snaps and I lean heavily against the wall.

"There’s nothing to be listened to. I’m married to Noah. That means he’s not just a random sacrifice, he’s mine" I say calmly, snaking one arm wrapped around my body to keep the pain under control.

"It’s one person versus more than a hundred people" he says and I freeze.

"What do you mean?" I ask him.

"Goldsmith wants to see his son and we want to see where he has been getting fundings from" Damien says and I tilt my head, not following any of his words clearly.

"What does that have to do with Noah seeing him in person?" I growl.

"The old pig claims to make his money from Winslow trade. But as far as we know, Winslow trading system has been on hold, yet the man has been receiving money and support from an untraceable source" my brother says.

Fuck.

"It means he’s still running his omega trafficking" I say plainly and Damien nods once. He tilts his head back and looks at me with eyes that demands answers.

"It’s only a matter of time before he demands to take his place as leader again, until then, we need every means to keep the city under our belt. We need Noah to go there" Damien says.

"I don’t want-" I start to refuse.

"I really don’t give a fuck about what you want, Eli. It’s one omega versus hundreds of innocent omegas we don’t even know of yet" he says with a crooked finger in my face. He makes sure his words are delivered before he walks away from me.

I bury my fingers in my hair and slide down the wall sit on the floor. My body is screaming at me in pain but I ignore it.

There’s a lot to unlock and Noah might be the key. But what’s the point of unlocking anything with Noah as a key if he might end up locking himself again?

Fuck.

"Get up" a cold voice says and I lift my head to find my mom standing in the hallway with his arms folded. Without wasting his time or mine, I immediately obey his order.

I rise to my feet with difficulty and keep my gaze on the floor.

"You’re bleeding through your shirt" he says with a sigh and beckons for me to walk with him.

I follow him into the treatment room and sit on the bed with my back straight.

And without waiting for his instructions, I pull my shirt off, grateful that the fabric has rubbed off the liquid proof of my earlier activities with Noah.

"You have sand all over you. I’ll take these off so you can wash up and I’ll do the rest" he says.

Ashamed of myself for raising my voice at him, I keep my head down and follow his quiet commands.

I don’t take too long in the bathroom. The cold water and my hanging shame has killed every desire I had earlier.

When I return to the room, I find that my mom is still standing in the spot. His arms are crossed and his face is sad. The door makes a clicking noise as I shut it behind me, and he looks up. Mom immediately fixes his appearance from sad to expressionless.

He doesn’t want me to feel bad about challenging his authority.

"I’m sorry mom" I say softly and he gives me a small smile.

"There’s nothing to be sorry about. I would have protected your dad like that if I was in your shoes" he says and I still keep my head down.

"Damien explained the situation to me and I understand your place" he turning around to pick out his antiseptic solution container and some cotton wool from the kidney dish.

"I don’t want Noah to see his father. I think that man was deceiving Noah" I say, clenching my teeth as mom cleans up the surrounding areas of my injury.

"How are you so sure Noah was the one deceived and not the one doing the deceiving to you?"

"He’s too...moral" I whisper.

"Everyone is moral" Mom state blankly.

"Mom, I saved him from his own mentor. She was going to sell him, she said it was his destiny to be sold" I say as I remember the look on Freya’s face.

"He was groomed to believe Winslow and its people are the good guys" I tell him the conclusion of my observations and my mom frowns, muttering a soft ’sorry’ as he applies the sterile dressing.

"Wouldn’t it be better to wake him from his delusions by making him see the truth with his own eyes?" he asks and I looks him in the eyes.

"He’s conditioned, Mom. What if he chooses his father at the end of it? What if I lose him?" I ask, clenching my fist around the sheets under me.

Noah can’t even ask me for what he wants in private. That’s how bad his mental bondage is.

"What if he stays with you longer and starts to see you as the monster, Eli. What then?" he ask logically and I drop my head again.

This is hard. Things are not usually hard for me. But this is too difficult.

"You let Noah see for himself, we get Winslow completely under our rule, and there’s salvation for more than one person. Think about it, Elias" he says, helping me with a shirt while I keep staring at nothing on the floor.

"By tomorrow morning, I’ll either be sending a positive response to Goldsmith or sending our men to burn down Winslow and everything in it. The ball is in your court."

"But Eli, even if your possess Noah...you don’t get to force what he ultimately chooses to see or believe" mom kisses my head and leaves the room.