“The message is in the delivery,” I whisper, repeating the words Dominic used a few times as we ourselves got ready this week. And the message is I’m not worthy of anyone but this newly graduated lawyer’s time. It’s meant to hurt, but all I feel is relieved.
I take my seat next to Dominic, and our side of the room stills. Their lawyer might be young, but if he’s here, he’s obviously a practising lawyer. I don’t remember seeing or ever meeting him, but the Families don’t venture outside of their own. His smug, cocky look when he stares me down, confirms he is a product of the world I grew up in, proud of it even.
I lean into Dominic’s space. “Baby, destroy him for me?”
Dominic’s hearty laughter echoes through the courtroom. And it’s not over the top, but it is power laden and intentionally aimed at knocking the lawyer down a peg or two.
From the corner of my eye, I watch Hendrix rise to his feet. And where Dominic was subtle in his threat, my other Alpha is not. Unperturbed by the cameras dotted around the room, Hendrix slides into the seat directly behind the lawyer.
The judge comes in to take his seat. For someone in such an authoritative position, the way he cowers and refuses tolook directly at anyone confirms what a weak person he is. The nervousness of his movements, and the way he hurries things along, acts as confirmation that all this is almost for nothing. He has already made his decision.
Regardless, watching Dominic own the courtroom is inspiring. He is so dominant, his presence impossible to ignore. I get lost in the cadence, the rise and fall of his voice as he outlines our case.
The other lawyer tries at every turn to do his job, but the judge waves him on. The first time the lawyer got overruled, his expression was comical. Clearly the other side believed they had this judge in their pocket, and they did until last night, apparently. But listening to Dominic, there’s this point in the proceedings where I know even if the system wasn’t dodgy as hell, and if the judge was bipartisan like he was supposed to be, I would have won the case.
But the process continues.
The young lawyer outlines the case against my emancipation, but each time he gets into a rhythm, Dominic interrupts and objects. The judge not only supports Dominic’s counter claims but starts offering his own. It’s almost farcical the way he works through the entire list of allowable objections—speculation, relevance, assumption all feature high in his tirade. He even brings proceedings to a halt and formally warns the young lawyer for improper questioning, which makes Dominic chuckle under his breath.
The hearing is finished within forty minutes. And when the judge finishes his ruling and the gavel falls, Dominic is the first to pull me close.
“Congratulations, Amore Mio. Officially free,” he whispers between his sweet kisses.
Behind us the bailiff follows the judge out. The lawyer for the founding family makes to leave but Hendrix flies out of his seat and levels him with a punch that sends the youngAlpha to his knees. Hendrix isn’t done humiliating him, though. He leaps the barrier and holds him down by pressing his finger right in the centre of his forehead, hard enough to bruise. “Come for my Omega, and I will hunt you down for sport.”
Chapter
Forty-Four
RYDER
Sin’s face is angled to mine, her hand resting on my heart. She looks peaceful in her sleep, and I know she is. But I’m still worried.
All week she’s pushed herself. I’ve felt how tired she was in our bond. If it hadn’t been such an important week for her, I would have whisked her away to a tropical island where all she does is eat, sleep and orgasm. She needs to be treated like a queen, but first she had to show those bastards who they’ve been messing with.
We knew this week was going to be taxing on her. Emotionally mostly, but I can also see she hasn’t been eating and sleeping properly. This weekend all that changes. She’s about to discover how her pack likes to pamper.
We’re idling at the last set of lights near our house when Dominic points to the side of the road. Triple checking she’s still asleep.
“I’ll walk down and pick up our food. It will do me good to burn off this residual energy. And I have to make a couple of calls. Do we have all her favourites already?”
Hendrix simply stares at Dominic in response. His eyes are cold, his lips flattening, a clear indication he’s offended. The dismissive wave of his hand has Dominic striking like a snake and grabbing Hen by the tie.
“Watch your attitude, Innamorato. I’m allowed to triple check, which is completely different than questioning your ability,” he hisses back equally frustrated.
Hendrix slaps his hand away, but Dominic is such a stubborn bastard sometimes and doesn’t let go of Hen’s tie. Dominic’s tug is stronger this time, but he also uses both hands, making escape impossible.
I settle back with our Omega and watch the two Alphas in the front working through their frustrations. Dominic is usually taut like a bow after a case. Throw Simona into the mix, and he’s about ready to explode like a volcano. “I’ve got no issues admitting I’m still wound up and anxious after today. Everything went too smoothly, and we’re all aware fairytales don’t happen.”
I scoff at his argument before smiling innocently at him when he swings his mood at me. Dominic is a ball of tension—and he wasn’t wrong about the reason why, but the whole fairytale thing is bullshit—we have our happy ending in my arms, in our car, and as soon as he stops being such a dick, she will be upstairs in our home.
Flicking up my eyebrows, I dare him to argue with me, but I fight dirty by looking down at our sleeping Omega. And then all the tension burning through both Hendrix and Dominic trickles slowly out of them.
Dominic twists and uses his chokehold on Hendrix to apologise. If the slow kiss they share is a precursor for our weekend, the next few days are going to be a treat. For all of us.
Leaving without a backwards glance, Dominic strides offtowards our favourite restaurant and we get the enviable task of settling Simona into her nest.
Hendrix cradles her to his chest as I fumble to remove her heels without waking her up. And then she gets lowered into the middle of her nest before he buries our Omega under a pile of her favourite blankets and throws. Tipping the aircon to cool, the both of us lean in carefully, quietly, to kiss her before we playfully shove each other out the room.
