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“Your scent is–” he inhales again, “it’s delectable.”
CHAPTER9
Audrey
The contract is binding,and now that I’ve read the whole thing, dread settles in the pit of my stomach. It clearly states that he has proof of my pick-pocketing, which he will hand over to the police chief if I don't comply with his demands. I’d go to jail and Sin would be out on the streets, with no one to help him.
But if I do everything, including move in with them, we will both be safe. Sinclair is out when I return to the apartment, resigned to my fate. I empty the small dresser of my clothing, shoving as much of it that will fit into my backpack, and putting the rest into plastic bags.
The door opens and my brother strolls in without a care in the world, but at least he doesn’t look high. He stops as soon as he catches sight of my packed bag still sitting on the bed.
“What’s going on?”
I sag into the plush couch as tears gather in my eyes. Crying is useless. I’ve learned that lesson in life already. But they come anyway.
“Aud, are you okay?” The concern in his tone has the tears cascading down my face as he drops next to me and gathers me into a tight hug as if he can put the pieces back together. As if he could rescue me again. Because that is where Austin was wrong. I wasn’t his protector, he was mine, and I couldn’t do enough to pay him back for the sacrifice he made to protect me. So this is another thing that I will do for Sin.
I sniffle against his chest. “Yeah. I’m fine, Sin. I got caught by a suit. But he offered me a job in exchange for not turning me in.”
“Why the bags?”
“Part of the condition is pretending to be the omega in his pack.”
“What kind of job is it?” I can hear the censor in his tone, and I bristle at it. As if he doesn’t do things that are better left unsaid during the light of day to chase away his demons.
“It isn’t sex. He needs me to steal something for him. But I have to be able to get into places he goes, so the only way is living with him.”
He mouths my last words, attempting to let them sink in. “Who is this guy?”
I knew that for sure too now. He is who I thought he was. A very dangerous man. I’d looked him up, and there is only one Austin Zade. Rolling my lips between my teeth, I pull away from him and sink back into the couch. He is going to lose his mind.
“Aud,” he warns. “Who is he?”
“Austin Zade and Dean St. Cloud, and a beta I haven’t met yet,” I admit.
He shoots off the couch like his ass is on fire and spins to face me. “You just made a fucking deal with a Mafia boss?” He stomps across the room into the tiny bedroom and starts throwing my stuff back into the drawers I had emptied them from. “I did not get you out of that fucking life for you to just go right back into it. No, Audrey, this isn’t happening.”
I bite down on my lip as I watch him. He really isn’t going to like this next part.
“I signed a binding contract, Sin. I have to do this or he will turn over physical proof of my pickpocketing. I’ll go to jail, and you will be on the streets. He said you can come too.”
He pales like I knew he would. If I had suffered the same extremes he had at the hands of the men that had worked for our father, I would feel the same; he almost lost his life, and some days, I wonder if he wishes he had.
“You can stay here in the apartment, too. His place is in this building. I’ll be close. Just a few floors up. It was part of the conditions. We keep this place for as long as we want it.”
“Aud,” he pleads, as if I had the power to do something different. “The Mafia is dangerous.”
“The papers said he’s out of the business. He’s legal now.”
He slowly blinks at me, my backpack hanging off his fingers. “Legal now? Maybe the shady shit is all done under the table, but a Mafia Prince doesn’t go straight and narrow even if he wanted to. You know that as well as I do.”
I do. Being a deposed Princess of the Mafia, I know that too well. But it's a lie I have to tell myself to leave this safe haven and move into a viper’s nest.
“What if they see you in the papers? What if they come for you? For us?” His voice cracks and so does my heart.
I never would have signed that contract if I had followed my instincts and looked him up before so I knew who I was dealing with. I just want to curl up and lose myself in the fantasy ofOmega in Paradiseand pretend none of this horrible day happened. But it isn't a luxury I have.
“I’m sorry, Sin.”
