AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The gray haired butler didn’t even look my way. My heart twisted. Not that I thought we had a close relationship, but he’d been on staff since I was a baby. If he had any ounce of compassion, he’d help me.
“Set up for some hors d'oeuvres and drinks in the dining room. Some friends from the local police force will be here shortly, and I’m sure they’d like a quick bite.” Julian seemed bored with the questions and didn’t even react to my plea. “As for the ladies in the house, keep them where they are for the time being. They can eat when the excitement is over.”
Kienna! And my mother. I wouldn’t doubt if my father had the female members of the staff locked up too. If we all got away, if we told the authorities—not the local ones, obviously—what my father did, there was no way he could get away with it. Right?
“Yes, sir.” Gerard dipped his head and left the room. I couldn’t believe he didn’t even spare a glance at me.
“You see,” my father motioned to the retreating butler. “There’s someone who knows his lot in life and who is in charge. He wouldn’t neglect his responsibilities. I suppose you’re the type that needs to learn the hard way.”
The hard way? There had never been anything easy when it came to Julian and the Birk family pride. It didn’t matter what I said any longer. I had wanted to come home to stand up to my father, and now was my time. I gathered my strength, thinking about my Alphas and how they were fighting for me with their very lives. No one had ever done that for me before. I loved them all the more for it.
Love. It struck me hard. I was in love with all three of them. My heart swelled and my stomach fluttered. Talis, Evander, and Levi. How had that happened so quickly and taken such a powerful hold?
I laughed out loud, feeling braver than before. “You know, I’d been prepared to let Carson claim me because that’s what you wanted. I never considered I’d get to do what I want. I wasn’t happy, but I didn’t question it or you.” I shook my head and felt tears on my cheeks. I guess I hadn’t cried myself dry before. “Now I see you for the selfish bastard that you are. You won’t lose a wink of sleep over what you’ve done to me, to Kienna, to Mother, to the people whose lives you’ve stolen. The Birk family pride has been built on corruption and murder. I want nothing to do with it or with you. I willnotgo overseas. I won’t let you control me or anyone else.”
Julian slapped me. Hard.
The room spun for a few seconds before I straightened and wiped away the blood that dribbled from the corner of my mouth. I would not cower. I was done with Julian Birk.
“You will do what I say because you have no choice, daughter,” he spat. “As for Carson, it was a good thing we found out how unsuitable he is to carry on the Birk family line. I’d tried to help him by setting up an assassination attempt, and then I had to up the ante by arranging to have you kidnapped. It would have done wonders for him, but he messed everything up. Already the females he’d had affairs with have banned together and are launching a media storm against him. He’ll be ruined by the end of the day.”
We had known it was my father, but now he confirmed it was him all along. I felt like I might throw up. After everything, I didn’t think his betrayal would hurt so much, but everything in me crumbled. So many people died because of him. At least there was some good news about the senator. Carson deserved all the shit he sowed. My father deserved a harsher sentence: life in prison.
Not so far away outside, gunfire boomed and shook the house. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. My Alphas were coming.
“I do have a choice, and those three wonderful anddeadlyAlphas coming this way are what I choose.”
My father might be evil, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew instantly what I meant. “Three Alphas claimed you?” I wasn’t about to correct him. His face was delightfully red with his anger. “And here I thought you couldn’t disgust me any further. Only Alphas with no control over their Omegas let any other male touch them.”
But under that anger, I spotted a crack in his seemingly impenetrable exterior. Julian hurried over to where his head of security was in the hall and asked him what was going on.
I smirked at the remaining guards in the room. “I would vacate the premises, if I were you. My Alphas were trained in the special forces, and they know I’m here. They’ll kill anyone standing between them and me.”
“Don’t listen to her,” my father snapped as he marched back into the room. “Everyone into the hall. Guard all the entrances.”
There was a sudden explosion which rocked the house like an earthquake. I held onto the corner of my father’s desk to keep my balance.
“Outer wall breached. They have a rocket launcher!” The head of security shouted over the radio. “Every team member to the west side!”
If anyone had a rocket launcher, it would be Evander. He’d tear down the house to get to me. I wanted to cheer him on, but there were still innocent people inside. I didn’t want anyone else to die because of me.
“You will all stay here and protect me,” Julian snarled and stalked behind his desk, pacing.
The guards gathered in the hall. There were more now. Eight of them. I would have loved to say it would be nothing for my Alphas, but fear gnawed at me. I couldn’t lose them.
Gunfire rattled my ears from the other side of the house and grew quickly closer. I squeezed my hands together against my chest. Every inch of me trembled, and my heat stabbed at me, making itself known again. My heart felt like it might break free with how hard it thumped.
I clutched my thighs together. This was the last thing I needed distracting me and my Alphas.
Shouts echoed, and in what felt like forever but was maybe twenty seconds, the guards in the hall hollered back and started firing.
One of the men fell and twitched as he died. A second one. A third screamed as blood gushed from his thigh.
I took a half dozen steps toward the door. More men fell. So many bullets slammed into the walls. Were my Alphas okay? Just one peek. I had to make certain.
My father was suddenly behind me, and he grabbed a handful of my hair, jerking me backwards. I screamed and tried to pry myself free until he pressed the barrel of a gun to my cheek.
Oh God. No. He would use me as leverage against my Alphas. I couldn’t lose them.
