“Rosa is always sad,” she whispers. “Her father pushes and pushes, forcing her to do heinous things in the name of survival. That man is fucking evil.”
“I’m going to ask for a crash course on things. I don’t deserve the knowledge, but I need it. We are going to have the Accetta’s on our asses very soon, which means we will be moving rentals. I need a small bit of trust while we ensure everyone is safe,” Nico explains.
“You could have let me die,” Verona snorts.
“No. I couldn’t have,” Nico growls. “Your life is too closely tied to Rosa’s?—”
“Shh,” she says, waving her hand to stop his words. Despite being hurt and half dressed, she still holds confidence in her voice. I don’t think I would ever shush my brother like that. “I mean that you saved me despite how complicated my existence is. That alone gives you a small amount of trust from me.”
“Thank you,” Nico says mildly. “Some of these things may not seem important, but they are. Rosa mentioned her father forces her to drink some kind of drink every day. Do you know anything about that?”
“They’re supposed to be vitamins. Sometimes, he gives her pills alongside the smoothie. The pills started more recently, though. Maybe as of eight months ago? I have no idea what they all are, but the smoothies started shortly after she turned eighteen and found out she was an omega. Rosa actually tried to keep it quiet as long as possible by staying away from everyone who wasn’t me, but it was about a week later that Renzo figured it out. She was in the kitchen grabbing herself a drink, and he cornered her,” Verona says. “He was very excited about it, and called the entire family to celebrate the news. Honestly, I think he thought she was worth more as an omega.”
“Unfortunately, she probably was,” I admit.
“Has she ever had a heat before?” Nico asks.
Yeah, we’re definitely going all in. It’s a very sensitive topic for some people and Verona stiffens before she shakes her head.
“Never. I have wondered if Renzo was doing something to suppress it. Her entire life is run by him. What she wears, who she sees, everything. I was the only thing he couldn’t dictate, and that’s only because we snuck around.”
“I have a thought,” Dario says, leaning forward now that he’s returned to his seat. “What if there’s something in the smoothie that is not only keeping Rosalia from having a heat, but also guards against her scent? It could be alpha, heat, andscent blockers? That can’t be healthy to be on them for so long, honestly.”
“I wonder if there’s some kind of withdrawal on that shit,” I mumble, finding myself concerned. That doctor may be receiving another call from us soon. Fuck.
This also means that I was reacting to Pablo’s scent andnotRosalia’s. Double fuck. I feel an insane pull just sitting in the little omega’s presence which shows whatever she’s been taking isn’t foolproof.
Things just continue to get more and more entangled here, even as we learn new things about Rosalia and Verona.
“It would figure Renzo would throw everything but the kitchen sink at his daughter,” Verona says, ignoring me. “He will look for her. It’ll look bad on the family otherwise.”
“Rosa is married and no longer his responsibility. That doesn’t mean we’ll allow him to pick us off like sitting ducks, though. We plan to go into hiding and then kill them all off,” Nico says, almost sounding bored as he watches Verona.
Is he baiting her?
“What does that even mean? Are you saying that you plan to murder an entire family?” Verona’s chest heaves as she sits with the knowledge that’s exactly what he means as my brothers and I nod. “Even thechildren?”
“No kids,” Dario grunts. “Everyone else is fair game. They were all happy to watch you die in that pew. I believe they all knew you were there, and approved of Don Accetta’s actions. We’re going to bring in some of our men to help. Once we’re done, we need to get the fuck out of Savannah. Too many people will remember a massacre of a family.”
Verona looks over at Rosalia, and I can fuckingfeelthe longing in that glance. My brothers and I shift uncomfortably at the unguarded emotion, but her next whispered question guts me the most.
“What happens to me after that?”
“Should I order something for dinner?” Pablo calls out from the kitchen nonchalantly. I’m confident he decided to enter the conversation to give us time to think of an answer for that.
“What’s Rosalia’s favorite food?” I ask.
“That’s a good question. She hasn’t been hungry lately,” Nico muses.
“This is bizarre,” Verona growls. Pablo freezes in the other room and shudders before walking out suddenly. It’s not until the scent of cinnamon and fresh sugared rolls comes strongly into the living room that I realize the growl made him perfume.
Poor little omega. I kind of like that he’s so responsive. My lips twitch as I inhale his scent deeply and Nico palms his cock unabashedly.
“What…no. That’s not possible.” Verona’s head whips toward the exit Pablo left through, her eyes wide.
“It’s raining scent matches,” I sing under my breath like astronzo.
Dario looks like he wants to smack me again, his hands fisting at his sides.
