To ruin an Omega

Chapter 204: She’s got a way

FIA

I turned and walked away. Garrett fell into step beside me. Baruch materialized on my other side. Their presence was a shield. A reminder that I wasn’t alone anymore. Wasn’t powerless.

The tears pressed behind my eyes. Hot and insistent. I blinked them back. Goddess, it was hard. But I kept my chin up and kept walking.

We reached the lounge. The door stood open. The room beyond looked exactly as I’d left it.

I however stopped at the threshold.

“I cannot be here,” I said.

Baruch looked at me. His expression was neutral but his eyes were understanding.

“I have to see my mother.”

They didn’t question it. They didn’t ask if I was sure or suggest we wait. They just nodded and followed as I changed direction and walked through the building and out the back entrance. Away from the formal gardens and manicured lawns.

The grave was far from the main estate. Tucked away where visitors wouldn’t stumble across it. Where it wouldn’t remind anyone of uncomfortable truths.

Weeds had grown over the nameplate. Green shoots and tangled vines that obscured the letters carved into stone.

I knelt. My fingers worked at the growth. I made sure to pull it away strand by strand until the name became visible.

Muna Sterling Hughes.

“How are you, mom?” The words came out soft. Barely above a whisper. “Are you resting well?”

The stone didn’t answer. The wind rustled through the trees overhead. Somewhere in the distance a bird called out.

“The dead do not speak to the living.” A voice said.

I spun around. My heart jumped into my throat. The figure stood several paces away. Backlit by the hot afternoon sun. The silhouette was familiar. The cut of the suit. The way she held herself.

I stood slowly. Brushed the dirt from my knees.

“You.”

Garrett and Baruch moved forward. Their bodies shifted to put themselves between me and the newcomer. Ready to act and to protect.

I raised my hand. A simple gesture that made them pause and instead hold their positions without stepping back.

“What do you want?”

Pauline Strati stepped closer. Her features became clearer. Sharp cheekbones. Eyes that calculated everything. A smile that held no warmth.

“Why the hostility?” she asked. “I am not your enemy.”

“Neither are you my friend.”

Her smile widened slightly. Like I’d said something amusing.

“Well, I am older,” she said. “So I am not looking to make friends with the young.”

Her gaze drifted to the gravestone. To the name I’d just uncovered.

“Sterling.” She said the name slowly. Deliberately. Then looked back at me. “So you are the daughter of the side piece that Joseph married.”

The words should have stung. Should have made me angry. But I’d heard worse. We’d been called worse behind our backs and even in our faces.

“Your mother and yourself really hurt my daughter.”

I crossed my arms. “Perhaps you should be having this conversation with my father.”

“Joseph is beyond useless.”

The admission surprised me. Not the sentiment but the openness of it.

“I overheard your conversation,” she continued. “And I must say I sympathize. It must have been tough not having the love of your father.”

She paused. Her head tilted slightly.

“Is that why you are so fixated on killing your sister? You know, the one who did have the love of your father?”

The question hung in the air between us. Sharp and pointed. She meant to cut with her words. But they didn’t have that effect on me. Not one bit.

“Can you really take this high road considering you abandoned your own daughter for choosing her heart?” I kept my voice even. Matter of fact. “It is a very well known truth around here. Even I know.”

Something flickered across her face. Brief and almost imperceptible.

“You sure have a sharp tongue.”

“You made the first cut.”

“Well, I suppose that is true.” She clasped her hands in front of her. The picture of composure. “But I am not here to trade words with a child who thinks because she married some affluent alpha that all her problems are now solved.”

I waited and let her continue. I wanted to know why she was here.

“What will it take for you to drop this obsessive takedown of your sister?”

“It will surprise you to learn I actually want Hazel beheaded.” The words came out flat. Final. “That is the only way this ends.”

“I don’t think so.”

“If that were true you wouldn’t be here trying to make a deal with me.”

Pauline’s smile turned sharp. Predatory.

“I am only here because I don’t want Hazel demoted to the lowest scum of the whole pyramid.” She paused, letting the implication sink in. “You know. What you are.”

The insult rolled off me. I’d been called worse by better people.

“The punishment for murder is death.” I said.

“You will be surprised.”

She turned then and started to walk away. But stopped after a few steps.

“In another life and another time you would have fascinated me,” she said without looking back. “I hate taking down strong willed women who remind me of myself.”

The certainty in her voice made my teeth grate. Made something cold settle in my stomach. But I kept my expression neutral.

“Really,” I said. “Because I could have sworn I reminded you of Athena.”

Pauline froze. Her entire body went rigid. The composure cracked. Just for a second. Just long enough for me to see.

I walked past her, my footsteps carrying me several paces before I turned back.

“From that reaction I am guessing I am not wrong.” I studied her face. The way color had drained from it. The way her hands had tightened into fists. “It does make me curious who this Athena was or what she did. You look as white as a ghost.”

I didn’t wait for a response. I had gotten my pound of flesh so I turned and headed back toward the estate.

Garrett and Baruch fell into step beside me.

“That was odd,” Baruch said once we were out of earshot. “She seems sure that Hazel will not die.”

“I know right. Something is going on.” I replayed the conversation in my head. The way Pauline had spoken. The confidence. The certainty. “It was like the attack she made at me during the trial was to buy time.”

“Marriage.” Baruch suddenly said.

The word stopped me cold. I turned to look at Baruch.

“What?”

“When your sister framed you for stealing her happiness by taking her place as Alpha Cian’s bride, you would have faced the Elder’s court if Cian decided he was done with the union.” He met my eyes. “But that didn’t happen.”

The pieces started falling into place. Slowly at first. Then faster.

“Because I was now connected to Skollrend,” I said. “A much stronger pack.”

Baruch nodded.

“Then it clicked.” My voice went quiet. Urgent. “Hazel will most likely not die if she suddenly gets connected to a strong pack herself.”

I thought about my father. About the Hughes pack. About the limited influence they had even with my union to Cian.

“Father wouldn’t have that kind of connection. The Hughes do not have that strong of a connection.” I paced. My mind racing. “And even if he could pull a few strings, no one with a brain would want to piss Cian off over a small pack.”

I stopped. Looked at Baruch. Then at Garrett.

“But with a Strati.”

The words hung there. Heavy with implication. With the realization of what Pauline was planning. What she’d come here to set in motion.

Goddess… They were going to marry Hazel off. Connect her to power that would make her untouchable. Make her crimes irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

Fucking hell.