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The air rushed from my chest before I could control the reaction once the rest of his words sank in, lungs refusing to draw in a fresh breath as the amount replayed in my head. I knew I had to be stinking up the office with the stench of my fear, the number he’d stated so far past what I’d considered that my mind had gone blank, still stuttering over it.
Twenty-twothousanddollars.
That was a quarter of what we still owed on the house. It was almost three-fourths of what I made a year at my office job, and it was double what we owed in medical bills for Momma.
The alpha waited as I gaped, mouth opening and closing as I tried to get my brain to string words into sentences. Eventually I gave up and bowed my head, shoulders curling around the fear in my chest, finally sucking in a deep breath to keep from breaking down in front of the strangers surrounding me. I wanted nothing more than to run home and dive into my nest, and I had to grip the sides of my skirt to stop the trembling of my hands as I struggled to think.
The door behind me opened, but I was too focused on trying to get myself under control to look up. A couple thousand dollars I could have figured out, given time, but twenty-two just wasn’t feasible. I had no idea how to get that kind of money.
But I couldn’t leave my brother to face whatever they would do to him if we didn’t pay. He was my responsibility. With the reputation the Galleons had, I wouldn’t be surprised if they simply put a bullet in his head as an example if he couldn’t come up with the money.
He was just a kid. A stranger to them, and a beta at that.
In other words, useless to them. Expendable. They had no reason to care what happened to him.
He’d never done anything like this before, so why had they trusted him with a package worth that much?
The longer I thought about it, the angrier I grew. The trembling eased as rage flooded my veins, curling my hands into fists. They would have seen Michael wasn’t capable of defendinghimself, much less something with that much value, yet they’d given it to him anyway.
When I looked back up there was a younger suited alpha standing behind the desk, but I ignored him. My glare focused on the one still seated.
The one ultimately responsible for us being in this situation.
Chapter Two
Leo
“Why the hell did you trust a kid you don’t know with that much? Shouldn’t he have had a trial run with an empty bag or something first? What the hell were you thinking?”
When I’d entered the room, I had ignored the girl standing across from my father’s desk, figuring she was one of the many that worked for us, but when she raised her voice, she caught my complete attention. No one who worked for us would dare speak to my father like that.
She was a little thing, more than a foot shorter than everyone else in the room, with light blonde hair that hung almost to her hips. A deep breath brought me the scent of honeysuckle beneath the stench of fear, the sweet notes telling me she was an omega, yet her dark eyes flashed with anger as she glared at one of the most powerful alphas in the city, her plump lips pinched together as her nostrils flared.
Glancing down at my father, it was easy to see his amusement at her tirade. He could be a hard man to read, but the quirk of his eyebrows let me know he didn’t see her as a threat. She was nothing more than a kitten hissing at a lion.
“He said he could do it, and we took him at his word. Thatwashis trial run. If he was one of our regulars, he would have had at least triple that.”
The omega ground her teeth so hard I was surprised we couldn’t hear it, her small fists clenched at her sides. I had no idea what was going on, or who she was, but the girl had spirit.
My eyes trailed along her slim figure, taking in the prim outfit she wore. A cream-colored blouse, buttoned all the way to the top, almost hid the gentle swell of her breasts. Cream heels were sensibly low instead of the long spikes that would have given her a few extra inches, and her pastel pink pencil skirt hugged hips that my palms itched to grab.
If I’d have looked at her when I came in, I would have known right away that she wasn’t one of our girls. She was too sweet and innocent looking, unlike the women who frequented my club, and it made her stand out. If she had been one of ours I’d have already noticed her.
I needed to know who she was, but I couldn’t admit I wasn’t already aware.
“Look, I’m a nice guy. I can give your brother two weeks to come up with the money to pay us back for what he lost.”
My father leaned into his chair, fingertips pressed together in front of his chest. It was his signature move when he knew someone wouldn’t be able to meet his demands, but he wanted toseemgenerous. He always had a backup plan for when they failed.
However much the omega’s brother owed, the way her eyes bulged showed she’d never be able to come up with it in two weeks. My guess was even a month wouldn’t be enough time. What was chump change to us could be a year’s wages to the average person working a nine to five.
It wasn’t hard to figure out what his plan was to get the money out of them.
Skimming my gaze over her body again, I pictured what she would look like without the demure clothing as an idea popped into my head. She clearly needed money, fast, and I knew how she could get it.
Before she was stuck with my father’s alternative.
I knew what he was going to suggest when they failed to pay up, and no omega with enough spine to stand up to my father deserved that fate. I’d seen too many women broken on the streets, their dead eyes showing what that kind of life did to a person, and omegas were the most sensitive. That fire would be snuffed out in no time.
