Page 114 of The Beta's Bargain

I laugh bitterly. “Oh, no, your plan with Vienne destroyed those options.”

She makes a choked sound. She tugs the expensive red coat closer around her. They let her keep everything. Simon refused my money. I am grateful for that. “You know about that?”

“Yes, Silver, I know. Thank you for making sure they hate me. Yes, thank you for that, too.”

Silver flinches, her eyes well with tears. “I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”

“I know. You were just trying to get what you deserved. Except, maybe this is what you deserve. Maybe I should have brought you here years ago instead of starving and working myself into the ground. Go inside, Silver, and good luck.”

“No, I can’t. We’re sisters, twins.” Silver grabs at me, but I fend her off and finally push her away roughly. She peers at me with huge, hurt eyes.

I stare at her. “Go inside and find what you deserve, Silver, because if you come with me, it will be starvation and rape. I can’t protect you from alphas anymore than I can protect myself.”

Silver sobs for a few minutes, but I sit in silence, staring out the window. I feel cold inside. She needs to choose her own path. I can’t influence her and make her choices anymore.

“Will you come back and visit me sometime?” Silver asks in a tiny voice.

I turn my head and look at her. “Yes.” I soften my voice. “I’ll come back and check on you.”

“Thank you, Nyx.” She pauses. “Dad was wrong about the fire. It was an accident. The fire inspector said so. I read the report. It wasn’t your fault or mamas.” She pauses again, longer this time. “I didn’t realise you cared about them.”

“Would it have made a difference?”

Silver deflates. “No,” She whispers.

I absorb that blow with a curious lack of care.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry, Onyx. Really sorry.”

She climbs out of the car, slams the door, and runs towards the building. I watch until she’s inside. I keep the car there for another twenty minutes. A woman comes out in a long coat, she gets into the backseat and studies me. She’s got a hard face, like a woman who won’t be pushed around.

“Onyx?”

“Yes. You’re Jenny Lathem? You run the omega refuge?”

“I am. Silver has agreed and signed up to stay with us in the omega center. She’ll work for us and with us. We can keep her here for three years or until she finds a pack. Her bills are all paid with the money you have wired us. There is some left over. Would you like it back?”

I shake my head. “Just keep it in a deposit in case she needs something.”

Jenny brushes her grey hair behind her ear. “We’ll find her a good home. You don’t need to worry.”

“Thank you.”

She gets out of the car and runs back to the door and passes through.

“Hey, Sam?”

The driver looks back. He doesn’t remark on the tears on my cheeks or the tight sounds of my voice. “Can you take me home now?”

“Sure, Miss Davies, I can do that.” He clears his throat. “I just want to say that what you’re doing, giving your sister this chance, paying for her to stay, it's really beautiful. After everything she did, I'm not sure she deserves it, but I think you’re a really decent human being, Miss Davies.”

I feel so alone, but his words reach out and warm the broken pieces of my heart. A hug with words.

I smile through my pain. “Thanks, Sam.”

What is home? Home is the alley at the side of a convenience store. It’s a bit of brick wall that I lean against now. Sam’s long gone, and I'm soaked through, but I can’t make myself move from the spot. It’s the happy and the hope and the memory of innocent love before it all went wrong.

Shivers run up and down my body. I've never been this alone before. I've never been this broken before. Even when I've had men try to force themselves on me and seen some of the brutal things I’ve seen in hotel rooms, in alleys, in parks. Even when I've had to barricade the door to keep us safe, I've never been this scared of what my future will look like.

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