“Dad?” I whisper.
There’s a faint rustle on the other end, the sound of someone exhaling like they weren’t expecting me to answer.
I don’t give him time to say anything as the words tumble out of me in a rush. “I didn’t mean to bother you,” I say quickly, twisting the hem of my sleeve around my fingers. “I know you’re probably busy, I just—um—can I talk to Mom? Just for a minute?”
Silence hums through the line.
I can hear the faint echo of a TV somewhere behind him, a low murmur of voices too far away to make out. For a second, I think the call might’ve dropped, but then I catch the sound of him clearing his throat—low, hesitant.
“Skyla.” The familiar voice says my name, slow and careful on his tongue, like he’s reminding himself how it sounds. “How are you, omega?”
I go completely still, breath locking in my throat. Every inch of my body goes cold.
That voice.
No.
No, it can’t be?—
“Miss me, little omega?” Brayden’s tone curls through the line, smooth and cruel. “I’m so happy you called.”
My mouth opens, but nothing comes out. The roomfeels smaller, air thinning around me. My pulse hammers in my ears, a desperate, trapped rhythm. I can’t even hang up—my fingers are frozen around the phone, my palms slick with sweat.
“I was scared you’d forgotten about me,” he says, soft and mocking. “I’m glad that’s not the case.”
The sound of his deep chuckle drags me backward through time—every bruise, every tear, every breathless moment of fear crashing down all at once.
The words blur together until one sharp thought cuts through the haze—Why does he have my dad’s phone?
My stomach drops. My lungs seize. “Brayden…” My voice cracks as I force his name from my lips. “Where is my dad?”
There’s a pause on the line, long and heavy. I can almost hear the smile in his silence.
“What did you do to them?” My voice rises, panic threading around every word. “I want to talk to my parents.”
A low chuckle hums through the receiver, cold and deliberate. “You always were a smart little omega,” he murmurs. “Don’t worry about your parents. They’re…taken care of.”
Terror grips me, making my vision blur and my knees nearly give out.
“Brayden.” My grip tightens on the phone until my knuckles ache. “Please, don’t, don’t hurt them.”
He sighs—long and theatrical. “That depends entirely on you.”
Something sharp crawls up my spine, freezing every nerve. My heart pounds so hard it hurts. “What do you want?” I whisper.
His voice softens, almost tender. “You, of course.”
My throat tightens, as fear crashes into confusion, and my whole body begins to shake—not just from terror, but from rage that claws up through my chest. “Yourejected me,” I grit out, my voice growing a little stronger. “You sold me to a bunch of strangers in the middle of the damn woods, remember?”
“You wouldn’t listen,” he continues, his voice light, like it’s all that simple. “You fucked up all the time on purpose, pushed back, and even mouthed off,” he rattles off the list with an easy tone. “I tried to be patient, Skyla, but you—” he sucks in a sharp breath, then his voice drops, “—kepttesting me. You brought it on yourself. But now, I’m ready to take you back. To save you from the savage alphas that bought you.”
My body shakes so hard the phone nearly slips from my grip. “Brought it on myself?” I repeat, the words catching on a bitter laugh that sounds more like a sob. “You handed me over, letting those men grope and humiliate me. You told them to take whatever they wanted!” I’m screaming now, and I can’t do anything to stop it. “You didn’t care what happened to me. If I was abused, beaten, or raped. You are a fuckingmonster!”
The silence that follows is almost worse than his voice. I can hear my own breathing, ragged and uneven, my pulse hammering so hard I feel it in my teeth.
“Don’t pretend you didn’t like the attention,” Brayden finally says, the mockery dripping from every word. “You’ve always been a cock-slut. Honestly, it’s one of the few reasons I kept you around for as long as I did.”
A sound tears out of me—half gasp, half growl—and before I realize it, the phone’s on the floor, the call still faintly humming from the speaker.
