“Don’t start gloating just yet.” I point at him with menace.
“Can we start over?” Dominic asks, and he looks at me this time. “I’m here because I’ve been investigating Anderson St. James for a long time. The Alliance might think Veda is just a regular case of an Omega born among Betas, but if St. James is her grandfather—”
Veda pushes Jesse out of her way with all her might, and while I think he could still keep his foot firmly in place, he moves out of the way. Her delicate brows have a crease between them as she looks at Dominic.
“Do you think Grandpa is involved with trafficking?”
He extends his hand to her, but Jesse growls a warning, and he retreats.
Veda doesn’t even notice, her eyes flicking through Dominic’s expression as if she’s checking to see if he can be trusted.
Omegas are sensitive, true empaths.
People get caught up in the sexual side of things and forget that they are in tune with their feminine side, which means that they are the smartest people in every room. An Omega knows things by just looking at someone, and if she listens to her intuition, she can’t be deceived.
“Let’s just sit for a moment,” Dominic says.
None of us moves, but Veda takes a seat, and that’s enough to make Major and Jesse scramble after her. I want to remain standing, a bodyguard over her head, but when I don’t sit right away, she looks at me and grabs my hand, pulling me to a seat beside her.
Dominic watches us carefully, but I don’t take my hand from hers just because he’s watching. If she needs me, she can have me.
He clears his throat, and his eyes move from our joined hands. “It’s been happening for a long time all over the country. It started before any of us were even born. Omegas might have disappeared completely about twenty years ago.” He looks at us in confirmation, and Majordips his chin. “But the births stalled many years prior to that. Everyone with eyes could see that fewer and fewer Omegas were born, and it was clear after a while that something was going on. So instead of putting money into research, they started stealing breeders.”
“Excuse me, what?”Veda blinks.
“I’m sorry.” Dominic winces, realizing the term he used. “They stole Omegas and forced them to reproduce while controlling the offspring.”
Yep, that sounds like the definition of a breeder.
We are stunned into silence after that statement. I squeeze Veda’s hand, but I know it’d do very little to help. Dominic opens a briefcase, documents spilling out as he spreads them over the table. My mouth dries when my gaze flicks from one picture to another. Men being arrested, women being rescued. It’s not that I didn’t think it was real, but it hits differently when I look at the faces of every scared Omega. My instincts react at once, rage boiling through my veins.
“Five years ago, we busted this pack’s operation,” he says, showing us the picture of the disgusting Alphas in question. “The breeder escaped and reported to the Alliance. It quickly became obvious that they weren’t the only ones doing this. In one conversation, I could tell the pack was as dumb as a rock. They can’t be the mastermind of anything.” Dominic shakes his head and continues, “Over the years, I’ve been busting more operations, and at each step, I get closer to the center of it all. I get closer to the puppetmaster.”
“Do you think Grandpa is the puppetmaster?” Veda asks, horrified.
“No, but his name has been appearing in many points of my investigation, so when Major reported that they found you, everything snapped into place. Did you know St. James makes sure to always be financially involved with Alpha packs?”
The hairs on the back of my neck rise. “What do you mean?”
“Every supplier of St. James industries is an Alpha pack living among Betas. That’s odd. We are not many, yet he managed to be the constant clash flow to all these packs.”
“Control,” Veda whispers suddenly. “Grandpa throws money into every problem. That’s how he controls everything.”
Dominic flinches. “And I have to ask you for my sincere apologies. I knew your mother was an Omega. I knew there was a possibility that you were too, but at the time, I had seen no signs of neglect. From the outside, you looked just like the pampered daughter of a millionaire. Just like I expected.”
Instead of cursing yet another male who failed her, Veda smiles.
“I played the part really well. How could you know? I don’t think I knew I was neglected until I arrived at the ranch.”
Pride fills my chest. I hate that she was neglected so badly that she thought this was all that life had to give, but I’m fucking happy that we showed her how life could be. She’s a goddess, and she deserves to be treated like one.
“I found out about your mom when I started to investigate your grandfather.”
“He told me she didn’t want to be a mom and returned to Brazil.”
“I don’t have anything on that, unfortunately. Just theories.”
“Say it,” Major barks.
