Chapter One
Druggingmy husband wasn’t how I imagined my day would go when I woke this morning.
Life is full of unexpected twists, though, so I’ll pivot with this sudden change of plans.
Straightening the curtains in the living room, I watch the postman drop our mail in the box. Colin doesn’t like to wait to sort through it, so I slip on a pair of shoes and walk down the driveway to fetch it. I learned quickly in our marriage not to disappoint my husband. I’m not afraid of him; he’s been indifferent toward me since we met. But it isn’t his punishments I face when I step out of line. No, he will pass word to my father, who will be the one to beat sense into me.
Heavy fists have always been as common as colds in the Montgomery household.
Wiping the sweat from my face, I rest a hand on my stomach and hurry down the hall to our home office. I won’t risk upsetting Colin when I am several months pregnant. My parents wouldn’t dare lay a hand on me while I carried a potential heir to their cult, but they wouldn’t hesitate to take my daughter from me as punishment. Memories of the last time they took Kaitlinaway flash through my mind and bring tears to my eyes. Never again can I endure that type of suffering.
Careful not to make it appear as though I have been looking through the mail, I stop outside the office and raise my hand to knock. I hesitate when I hear my father’s voice inside. Colin must have his phone on speaker. Sliding my phone from its hiding spot inside my dress, I record the call.
I may act as the perfect, subservient wife and daughter, but that isn’t who I am. It’s a mask I wear to hide the truth of my deception. My true role in this cult is that of the betrayer.
For the past eleven years, I’ve funneled intel to the DAU. An organization publicly known for organizing protests, backing pro-designation politicians, and funding designation-friendly medical research, like suppressants and birth control. Privately, they infiltrate and dismantle extremist organizations and rescue at-risk citizens in anti-pack states.
Which is where I come in. During a trip to New York when I was nineteen, I ran to the DAU looking for help to stop my father. According to outsiders, Grant Montgomery is a popular pastor in the Northeast who gained traction and recognition for his extreme, pro-Beta viewpoints. The reality is he leads an anti-designation cult. His followers take part in and witness vile atrocities, enjoying the hatred he spews towards Alphas and Omegas.
I took the stories of all the awful things I was forced to watch to the DAU, hoping they could use my testimony to put a stop to him. Sadly, taking down a cult funded by the rich and powerful isn’t as simple as one person speaking out about the things they hide behind their outdated ideologies and charismatic politicians.
With no guarantee that they could put my father in prison, I returned to the church. My little sister was still here, sufferingthe same abuse I faced as a child, and I refused to leave her behind.
Before I came home from my trip, an agent approached me and asked me to become an informant. It was a role I couldn’t pass up. A chance to help more of my family’s victims. Which makes recording Colin and my father’s conversation a rare and wonderful opportunity.
“When are we expecting the first shipment?” Colin asks. “I will meet them in Keene and oversee their delivery to Harrison Pharmaceuticals.”
Nausea has my stomach rolling. Whether it’s from hearing that man’s name or morning sickness, I cannot tell. Doctor Harrison is a vile man. Moreso than my father. He experiments on humans, performing black market operations and running illegal medical trials to erase the designations. He’s terrifying.
“Thursday evening,” Father tells him. “Harrison will join you so that he can start processing the patients upon arrival.”
Patients? Are they expecting a delivery of some type of medicine? It wouldn’t surprise me if they were bringing in new black-market drugs for Harrison to experiment with. Anything to put an end to the other designations.
“This is your chance to prove yourself, Boyd.Heis testing our resilience. Sending federal agents in to investigate the doctor and giving us abominations for children. Help the doctor gather the glands he needs to expedite the production timeline, and surelyHewill favor you with a Beta son to carry on our name.”
I swallow back the bile rushing up my throat. They’re harvesting glands? So this shipment isn’t drugs, it’s organs? No, if they need to gather them, that means… are they traffickingpeople?
Fates, this isn’t good at all. I need to reach out to the DAU as soon as possible.
“Are there any federal repercussions we need to fear with the delivery, or has Pierson returned to the light?” Colin huffs, his displeasure with the senator well known.
Adam Pierson is my father’s golden ticket to the presidency, or so he thinks. That cowardly Beta is spineless. He’ll roll over at the first sign of trouble; he always has. Their partnership has been especially strained since my little sister, Sarah, disappeared five years ago, something Pierson took personally since she was supposed to unite our families by marrying his son.
What my family doesn’t know is that Sarah didn’t run away, as they assumed. She was rescued by the DAU when she presented as an Omega four years ago. I used my connections to get her out of New Hampshire before our father could make an example of her. He may blame Alphas for a lot of the problems in our world, but hehatesOmegas. Enough to allow anyone in the community who presents as one to die beneath Doctor Harrison’s blade. I couldn’t sit by and watch my sister face his wrath.
“Pierson won’t be a problem,” Father tells Colin. “As soon as the teams retrieve my abomination of a daughter, her marriage to his son will solidify our alliance.”
“You’ve finally located Sarah?”
My heart stalls in my chest, too afraid to continue beating. They couldn’t have discovered her location. The DAU gave her an entirely new identity and erased any sign she existed.
“My worthless son and his wife finally proved themselves useful. They brought proof of where she is hiding, and of what she has become. She has strayed far fromHispath. Presenting as an Omega and whoring herself out to satiate the devil’s desires.”
The disgust in his voice holds an undertone of hatred that shocks my heart into beating again, its pace furious as fear for my sister makes my hands shake. As soon as he realized she wasan Omega, his hatred of her intensified. It became a deadly, ugly monster that infected him down to his very soul. I fully believe he will stop at nothing to get his hands on her. To break her and use her as an example for the rest of his followers.
“Her embodiment of sin will be dealt with as soon as she returns to my care, and after their union, Pierson’s son will ensure she never strays again.”
No, no, no, no, no.
