They nodded. Quick and terrified.
“Now get out.” I gestured toward the door. “Because I can go all night.”
They scrambled. Picked up their leader from the floor. She was conscious but barely. They half carried, half dragged her out.
I waited until they were gone. Until I heard their footsteps fade down the hallway.
Then I went to the door. Locked it. The mechanism was old and stuck but I forced it until I heard the click.
My hands were shaking now. The adrenaline was wearing off and reality was crashing back in.
I slid down the door. Sat on the floor with my back against the wood. And I burst into tears.
Not sad tears. These were tears of fear. The kind that came when you realized how badly things could have gone. How close you’d been to something worse.
I pressed my bleeding hand against my mouth and tried to muffle the sounds. I even tried to breathe through the panic clawing at my chest.
What had I done? I’d beaten them. Brutalized one of them. They’d go to Cian. They’d tell him lies. And then I’d be right back in that cell. Or dead. Or worse.
Maybe he wouldn’t even do any of that. But it would only solidify the idea that I was this horrid person.
I cried until my throat hurt. Until my eyes burned. Until there was nothing left.
Then I heard it.
A ringing sound. Faint but persistent. Coming from inside the room.
I stood, wiped my face with the back of my non-bleeding hand and proceeded to follow the sound.
It was coming from the bed.
I walked over. There was a nightgown laid out on the mattress. Simple. White. Clean. And next to it, partially hidden under a fold of fabric, was my phone.
My phone!
I picked it up. The screen was lit. The battery was full. My mind momentarily went back to Cian. I almost scoffed. There was no way he was that kind. But my train of thoughts went left when the phone vibrated again. Milo’s name flashed across the caller ID.
I looked at the notifications. Twenty messages. All from him. And now a call.
I scoffed. Actually scoffed. Because of course. Of course Milo would be the one trying to reach me. What did he have to say after helping Hazel ruin my entire life?
I still could not imagine it. How someone I loved and cared so much about could just do that to me. How I was so blind that I even let it happen.
The phone kept ringing and his name kept flashing.
I knew I should let it go to voicemail. I knew the best thing to do was ignore him like I’d been ignored when I needed help. Nothing good could come from picking it after all.
But my thumb moved before I could talk myself out of it.
I answered.
“What?” My voice came out rough. Harsh. Still thick from crying.
There was a pause. Then Milo’s voice came through. Tight with something I couldn’t quite read.
“How are you Fi?”
I laughed. The sound was ugly. “What do you care?”
“Fia.” He said my name like it was honey. “I’ve been calling for hours. I was worried about you.”
“Why?” I sat down on the bed. The nightgown crinkled under me. “Why would you be worried about me? You should have done what would happen when you decided that you would assist Hazel to ruin me. Because I’ve been locked in a cell. Without my phone. Without food. Without anything. So forgive me for missing your calls despite the fact that you called for hours.”
There was another pause. It was longer this time.
“A cell?” His voice changed. Got quieter. “Goddess, I am so sorry.”
“Do not be.” I looked at my bleeding hand. At the bruises forming on my wrists where the omegas had grabbed me. At the mess I’d become. “Why feel guilty? At least the love of your life is not here. She was not locked up. No one was trying to make her sign a contract or actively trying to break her spirit. So yeah. If anything you should be elated.”
“Fia.” He sounded strained now. Almost desperate. “I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know that would happen.”
“So what the fuck did you think would happen?”
FIA
I stared at the phone. Waited for him to say something that would make sense of all this.
“I’m coming there tomorrow,” Milo said finally. “I’m going to tell Alpha Cian the whole truth.”
The words hit me wrong. Like they didn’t fit together the way they should.
“Why?” I asked.
“What?”
“Why would you do that?” I shifted on the bed. The nightgown crinkled louder. “Isn’t it too late? You already got what you wanted. Hazel is free. I’m trapped. Mission accomplished.”
“Fia, it’s not like that.”
“Then what is it like?” I pressed the phone harder against my ear. “Because from where I’m sitting, you helped destroy my life and now suddenly you want to fix it? That doesn’t make sense unless something changed for you.”
Silence followed.
My stomach dropped.
“Something happened between you and Hazel.” It wasn’t a question. I could hear it in what he wasn’t saying. “Did it? Did your little love affair turn sour?”
More silence followed.
“Milo.”
There was nothing. No response. Just his ragged breathing.
“I guess I am right then.” I laughed but there was no humor in it. “What happened? She get what she wanted and toss you aside?”
He made a sound. It was small and broken. Like the man that he was.
“All I want to know is what I did to deserve your resentment.” My voice cracked. I hated that it cracked. “What did I do? When all I ever did was love you. When I gave you everything I had. What about that made you think it was okay to do this to me?”
That’s when I heard it. The sound of Milo crying on the other end of the phone.
He was actually crying.
“I was foolish,” he said through the tears. “I was so fucking foolish and I was blinded by power.”
I waited. I let him continue.
“I thought she loved me.” His voice was thick with snot and tears. “I really thought Hazel loved me. That we had something real. But she was just using me to escape Cian. That’s all I was to her. A way out.”
“But what about me?” The words came out steady. Firm. ” I did love you. And you played me for a fool.”
“I know.”
“Alpha Cian might be a cruel man,” I continued. “But at least he’s honest in his cruelty. He doesn’t pretend to care. He doesn’t smile while he stabs you in the back. He’s not a snake like you.”
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