"Just under seventy thousand over the last few weeks." I pull a chair from the kitchen table and sit. "The forensic accountanttraced the withdrawals through the household account she managed. Father either didn't notice or didn't care."
Amos' eyes sharpen behind his glasses. "Below the audit threshold. I designed that threshold. She knew the detection parameters for the forensic audit I was running."
"That means she understood your methodology well enough to stay under it." I hold Mattaniah's gaze across the chair. "She wasn't just skimming. She was skimming specifically to avoid your audit."
"She sat through my presentations." Amos' voice goes cold. "The quarterly financial reviews. Father made the whole household attend. She was taking notes on my detection methods while I presented them."
"She was stealing from the family she moved into while grooming me to secure her position." Mattaniah pushes out. "What else?"
"The restraining order has been in effect since Thursday. The heir clause notification went to the board Friday and Garrett confirmed acceptance this morning. Amos drafted the filing from the hospital. The attorney processed it on schedule."
"I drafted it on morphine." Amos' mouth curves. "I want that noted."
"The filing was clean and counsel confirmed no deficiencies." I turn back to Mattaniah. "There's more."
Mattaniah sets the pill bottle on the carpet beside him. "Tell me."
"I tasked the security firm with a full background investigation the morning after the arrest. The financial records came back fastest." I keep my voice level because what comes next is going to cost him. "We knew she was running schemes. We didn't know it was six families across eight years."
Amos pushes himself higher against his pillows, his jaw tightening slightly.
"We knew she was running cons. We didn't know the scale." I direct this at Mattaniah. "Six families across eight years. And in three of those cases, you were the one she used to get in the door as a potential match for either a son or the Alpha themself. The files go back to when you were… sixteen."
"That was before Marcus."
"Marcus?” The name registers as I say it. “Mr. Bellavio, yes. He was the first placement that went wrong publicly."
Mattaniah lets out a small sigh. "What else?"
"The families she targeted have been contacted through our attorney. Three of them confirmed they were approached with an Omega she described as—" I stop because the words in the correspondence are going to hurt.
"Say it." Mattaniah's jaw is set.
"Compliant, trained, and available."
The air in the living room changes. Mattaniah's scent turns so sharply that Amos flinches on the couch. My bond mark throbs hard enough to blur my vision. The sweetness curdles into distress so concentrated that the apartment fills with it in seconds.
"That sounds like a product listing." Mattaniah says it barely above a whisper, his eyes fixed on a point between the floor and the coffee table.
I cross the room and my hands find his shoulders, pulling him against my chest. His face buries in my neck, not crying, just pressing into the space where my scent is strongest. Behind us Amos reaches down from the couch and threads his fingers through Mattaniah's hair, pulling gently.
We stay like that, Mattaniah breathing my scent with his face in my neck while Amos' hand works through his hair from the couch.
"Two of the families are willing to provide statements." I say it against the top of his head once his breathing has evened. "Thosestatements combined with the skimming and the conspiracy charges give us enough for prosecution on multiple fronts. The attorney expects a preliminary hearing within the month."
"Good." Mattaniah says it into my neck.
"There's one more thing." His body tenses against me and I tighten my grip. "She's requested a meeting through her attorney. She wants to see me."
Mattaniah pulls back. His eyes are red but dry. "I'm going with you."
"No." The bond pulses between us with the impact. Through the bond the anger redirects from his mother to me. "You promised." His voice barely above a whisper. "You promised you would ask instead of deciding."
He's right and I just broke the promise.
"I'm asking." I catch the word before it costs me more. "I'm asking you to let me do this alone. She knows how to take you apart and I don't want to hand her the chance."
"She can't take me apart anymore."
