All five heads of her immediate family were contained in the deep mahogany lined with creamy satin. Well, all the male members.
There would be no open caskets. The funeral director told her in no uncertain terms there wasn’t enough left of their heads to reconstruct. Assassination style, Jamie told her. Their hands bound behind them, brains spattered over the greasy brick walls below a factory. Marco wet himself before he was shot.
Elena almost wished she’d been there to see that. Almost.
Her father’s Omegas had disappeared within hours of the news arriving at their door. They’d taken their children and run back to their families and whatever protection they couldprovide. Leaving Elena all alone in the huge house with ghosts and nightmares.
Her mother was dead, that family long gone. Not that they would have taken Elena in regardless. She was tainted. Damaged goods.
“Miss, it’s been four hours…”
“I know.”
“It appears that no one is coming, Miss.”
“I understand.”
The man they’d sent from the funeral home shifted his weight, his restless energy prickling along her spine. He was a Beta, little danger to her with Jamie close by, but it remained that she was an Omega alone.
“I have other families to attend to,” he said on a faint growl, reaching for the monstrosity of red roses and white calla lilies set by the door.
“Leave it,” Elena snarled, careless of her broken arm as she shoved the man back out into the hall.
“We’ll call for the necessary arrangements.” Jamie took the funeral employee’s arm, leading him towards the front door.
“I can’t just leave the bodies here.”
“We’ll make sure the parlor gets their due.”
“Fat chance of that,” the man muttered, but he turned and left.
“I’m sorry, Jamie. I just…” Elena pulled in a shaky breath.
“Take all the time you need, Miss Costanzo.” He closed the study doors behind him, leaving Elena alone with her ghosts.
Elena wasn’t certain if this was grief that she was feeling. It was hard to feel anything besides the pain. She’d lost everything, not just these five men. The women who had been a forever constant in her life since she’d first drawn breath were gone. Their children, her playmates and rivals over the years, had disappeared along with them. No one had said a word to her.She’d come home from the hospital, shaken by the news, to find they’d all vanished.
Even the guards were deserting their posts. First one by one, and now in groups. Only Jamie and a handful of others remained.
Elena was vulnerable. Valente hadn’t died before doling out his punishment, beating her to within an inch of her life. A concussion, compound fractures, bruised and broken ribs. Bruises decorated every inch of her in varying shades of purple and blue, edged with sickly green and spotted with crimson. He’d almost crushed her eye socket, the eye still swollen shut.
It'd be weeks of healing, maybe months. She didn’t have that sort of time.
Gripping the back of one of the folding chairs as the room tipped sideways, Elena lowered herself onto the seat. Counted the caskets one more time.
“Jamie,” she called as the floor surged towards her, spinning out of control.
“I’ve got you, kid.” Jamie pulled her into his arms, carrying Elena up the stairs to her room.
Settling her on the bed, he slipped the painkillers past slack lips, holding the glass of water for her to swallow them down. Pulling a soft wool blanket over her, he tucked it tight to her chin.
“Just rest, Miss Costanzo. I’ll handle things.”
“The lawyer…”
“He can wait.”
“Jamie.” Elena held out her hand, letting it drop back to the bed as he paused and faced her. “I want them burned.”
