Page 70 of Glitterati Omega

Thirteen

R

upert saw winston only in passing inthe days leading up to the egg-harvestingprocedure. He tried to catch the lawyer at the office and at the house, but he was quickly shooed out, given the cold shoulder, or told they’d speak later. Later never seemed to arrive, though, even with text. Winston assured him, repeatedly, that he’d arrive to perform his part of the intended procedure.

“You can’t rely on alphas,” Alina told him when they had dinner two days before, “unless they’re married.”

“Even then,” Elise said, which earned her a glare. “What? Not me—you know who I meant.”

“Please don’t talk about him,” Rupert muttered, putting his head in his hands. He picked up his glass and drained it. He planned to get well and truly drunk; if things went well on Wednesday, then he wouldn’t be getting drunk for a while.

Alina refilled his glass without a word. “I just meant,” Elise started, and Alina shook her head.

“You need to get a ring on it,” she told Rupert when she turned back to him.

He clutched at his head. “How? Thomas still hasn’t signed off on the divorce papers.” No, the bastard’s legal team was still harassing him, in fact, about ensuring Thomas got his “fair share.” Ugh.

“You could be engaged,” Elise suggested.

Rupert sighed, then lifted his glass. “Winston told his mothers we broke up.”

“What!” Elise cried.

“Oh, honey, no,” Alina said. “You break up with him. You break up with him right now.”

“No self-respecting alpha lies to his parents,” Elise huffed.

“He has a side piece,” Alina declared. “He must.”

Elise frowned at her. “Lina, darling, Rooisthe side piece.”

“Oh God,” Rupert moaned miserably, then drained his second glass. “You don’t really think that, do you? That there’s another omega?”

“Probably has a wife,” Alina said, and Elise nodded.

Rupert started to cry, fat tears rolling down his cheeks. “No,” he whimpered.

“Why else would he keep you a secret?”

“I don’t know,” Rupert sobbed over the third glass. “Oh, I should have known better!”

Alina patted his hand. “It’s all right,” she said. “How could you have known?”

“He’s pretty sneaky,” Elise mused, “from what you’ve told us. All those weeks apart. The business trips.”

“Makes perfect sense,” Alina said with a nod, and Rupert sat there with tears dripping off his face, splashing into the wine. He knew he was ruining it, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“But why,” he managed through his sobbing, “why have a baby then?”

“What does anyone ever want from you?” Alina asked.

He sniffled loudly. “But he wants me to give the money away!”

The two of them shared a look. “All of it?” Elise asked.

Rupert nodded. Alina frowned. “How?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Everything I suggest isn’t good enough.”