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“I’m going to need you to turn on your least favorite network, aka the same one that you had your show on,” she said. Tori was rambling at this point and she never just rambled like I did when I was nervous.
Despite the dread forming in my stomach, I reached to the coffee table and grabbed the remote. My hands started to shake as I clicked on the TV. Whatever it was, she didn’t really want to tell me, but knew she had to. What more could Candace ruin?
The moment the screen flickered to life the dread turned into straight anger.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I yelled so loudly that the guys all rushed in to see what was wrong. At this point I was no longer curled up in the couch but leaning forward, one elbow on my knee and the other pressing the phone to my ear.
“It’s bad, but not that bad. Fuck them.” Tori tried to reassure me but I was barely listening. I just switched her to speaker and sat my phone on the table as I watched on in horror.
My parents were on the screen opposite of Candace. My mom was right at the center and her three mates sat around. The alpha and betas at least looked a bit uncomfortable but she was soaking up the attention like she had any right to.
She’d dressed way outside of her price range. The pantsuit was clearly designer and her hair and makeup looked airbrushed on.
“You know Mom couldn’t resist her fifteen minutes of fame,” Tori said bitterly. My sister was just as angry for me as I was for myself.
“Holy shit, that’s your parents?” Collin said as he scooted in next to me. The others all dropped to the empty seats at the sound of that.
Of course, Candace was conducting the interview. The lady that already had it out for me and treated me like shit the entire time I was on the show. She would be eating this up.
“Was Ellie always such a shy girl? Even on screen she seemed to almost try to disappear,” Candace said. She did a good job at hiding her hate for me when the cameras were rolling.
Bitch.
“We have three children and she was always the quietest one. Our son is the alpha and he is outgoing and charming. Our oldest daughter is a free spirit and unapologetically herself but she’s so caring,” my mother started.
“Then there’s Ellie,” my alpha dad supplied, giving a little chuckle. The fact my family could laugh at the mere mention of my name was insulting.
“Uh oh,” Candace laughed along with them. “Was shethedifficult child?”
“I wouldn’t say difficult, per se,” my mother said. “She just liked things a certain way and didn’t want to listen to my advice. Perhaps that’s why she stayed single so long.”
Again the laughter filled the air and I felt shame burning behind my eyelids. I’d worked so hard to not let her words hurt me anymore but suddenly, I felt like the teenager being told she wasn’t good enough to get a pack. I didn’t dress pretty enough or revealing enough, I didn’t talk enough, couldn’t charm them.
An omega is only worth finding a pack, in her eyes.
Collin reached out, clasping my hand in his and Ezra squeezed my thigh. I could feel the anger rolling off of all of them while Tori’s curses filled the air.
“I’m done with this bitch! I’m moving to Lockwood. You can help me find a place to stay when I get there,” she thundered. “I stuck around out of duty but they don’t deserve a damn one of us.”
“My apartment still has six months left on the lease if you want it?” Dean supplied hopefully.
“Wait, is she serious?” Atlas said but the sound of something slamming in the background was answer enough.
I knew my sister. “Oh, she’s already packing,” I said, knowing damn well my sister wasn’t playing around. Any obligation she’d felt was over the moment they’d gone on the show.
They’d officially ruined that for themselves.
My mother was still going when I turned my attention back to the TV and it had my blood boiling even further. She knew nothing about my life and nothing about me.
My mom was dabbing at her eyes to clear fake tears. “She had a good life going here, she had a boyfriend at one point. He wasn’t her fated mate but he would have provided for her.”
“He was an upstanding boy,” one of my beta dads added in. The other just smiled at the camera, saying nothing. His silence was fucking deafening.
“She threw that away and moved to the city,” my mother continued.
“Like he wasn’t some emotionally abusive asshole,” Tori growled. The sound of something shattering echoed from the speaker. I had a strong feeling it was a family photo.
“You had an abusive ex?” Atlas asked quietly. Every one of my men’s eyes were locked onto me, waiting.
