Page 15 of Curvy Quirky Omega

Because of that, he’d hidden things from me and I’d let him out of guilt.

I’d known Melinda was probably having an affair but had kept it to myself since Gideon either didn’t know or pretended not to know, and I’d stopped asking questions about why he stayed at work so late when Melinda was waiting for him at home.

Then I pretended not to notice whenever he wasn’t at home or at work despite the reports that went directly to my phone thanks to the security company Cas and I built to keep my pack safe—my family.

Despite looking the other way, Gideon had done everything he could to hide things from me, and I now knew why. He’d never felt like he had a place within our pack when my mother kept forcing him into a position that didn’t suit him and wouldn’t hear of any other options.

He must have felt like his only solution was to leave.

Dane was right. I would have done anything to keep Gideon here because I had no control over the strength and power I’d inherited. I had no control over Melinda or their ability to have children.

There had to have been another way, but…there was nothing I could have done differently to prevent my brother from getting mixed up in something dangerous either, not when he refused to ask me for help.

Should I have stuck my nose in his business? Should I have demanded he tell me what he was doing? Maybe I should have had him followed for the hours he was unaccounted for.

But none of that would have guaranteed this never would have happened.

Someone killed my brother.

Somehow, I’ve been able to pretend this was all happening to someone else – that the murder we were looking into didn’t have anything to do with me directly, but now I had to accept the fact that I’d failed.

My older brother hadn’t trusted me.

We had enough of an age gap that I’d looked up to him – considered him a shining example of what it meant to be a good alpha. Gideon had always been gentle but firm. I could go to him if I needed anything, and I did.

Cas wasn’t the only one who’d helped me look for Lucy. Gideon had also done everything in his power to find out where Daphne Thomas might have gone, but he only had connections, not skills I could use.

After a certain point, he’d given me money to fund my search instead of helping me himself.

I wonder if I could pinpoint when that was. See if it lined up with the first deal we made with Randolph Steele.

Not that it would help me feel any better.

How was I supposed to tell my mother Gideon betrayed us? How was I supposed to look her in the eye and tell her I had no idea when I was supposed to be the strongest? She’d call me a selfish brat, and she wouldn’t be wrong.

I’ve always been selfish.

Finding Lucy has always been my highest priority. Everything I did was to facilitate that. Working for the pack, making money, buying all this ridiculous shit…it was all so I had the power and means to make anything happen.

I was a good boy and stayed with Valor to make sure I had a decent position within the pack to protect her if she didn’t care that I was a legacy alpha. I also made sure there were businesses my pack couldn’t touch if she did care and wanted to leave. This house, the nest…

Everything except Cas was for her, and even then I couldn’t keep him to myself. Not when it came to Lucy. I would have ended our relationship if she’d insisted on it, but I’d gotten lucky. My horrible nature didn’t give a shit that they were just as into each other as I was into them.

Not only that, but Lucy loved Cas the same way I did.

I placed my hands on the cold tile and let the hot water run over me until it felt like I was drowning.

Never once had I felt guilty for putting all my extra time and energy into finding Lucy and creating this life I’d built for her and Cas, but now…I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d paid a little bit closer attention, I might’ve noticed what Gideon was up to.

I might’ve seen that he was endangering us all.

And for what? What was the point? Why was he going to hand it all over to Dane and then leave Melinda here?

Then there was the other issue. Melinda told him she was pregnant. It wasn’t his, but I knew he believed it was, otherwise he never would have sold that house.

Was he ever going to tell Dane, or did he have some other plan?

Maybe he’d planned to take her with him once he found out about the baby, but what did I know? I wasn’t even smart enough to see he was up to shit that affected the whole pack, not just him and Melinda.

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