Page 35 of Curvy Quirky Omega

“Fine…let’s say it is Gideon’s child. Then why would you tell Dane Valor you were pregnant before you told your husband?” Frankie smiled slightly when Melinda didn’t immediately respond.

The silence in the room felt loud and Frankie’s smile widened into something that should be warm and reassuring, but it was the smile she used when she wanted someone to notice how fake it was. “I can wait all day if I need to. I have literally nothing else to do but wait for your answer.”

Melinda looked down and pulled at a loose thread on her nightgown. “And what happens if I decide not to answer?”

Frankie raised an eyebrow, never once dropping the smile that always gave me the creeps. “Well…I don’t think you’d be able to handle what Liam did to his own cousin let alone whatever he’d do to you.”

Melinda’s face paled slightly at that. “He’s still alive?”

“For now.”

She finally looked up, anxiously searching Frankie’s face. “Did he kill my husband?”

Interesting.

I did a rough sketch of her current expression, adding the abbreviations for her question next to it. It didn’t seem like Melinda knew who killed her husband. She seemed genuinely worried Dane was involved.

She also didn’t seem to know whose child it was. Not yet anyways. Her declaration that it was Gideon’s was too confident. It was entirely possible Nicolette hadn’t told her yet.

I doubted Melinda knew anything about Gideon’s plan to leave either, so I didn’t think her telling him that she was pregnant was a scheme to get him to stay. So, then why tell him? Had he scented it on her like Dane had?

Or was it something else?

Frankie dropped her fake smile and studied the pitiful omega before her, ready to shift to the second strategy she’d written in my notes. “What if I told you Dane has already confessed to his involvement?”

Melinda’s eyes filled with tears but it didn’t feel like she was crying out of grief. Not when the scent of her emotions were sharp and tangy. Like she was so relieved she was sick to her stomach.

I don’t know why she’d be relieved…other than the simple fact that it would remove her from the suspect list. I’d say she was involved except the relief seemed genuine, not smug. At least, that’s what her scent was telling me.

Any other details I’d have to ask Frankie for.

But for someone who thought she had what it took to join a legacy pack, Melinda didn’t seem smart enough to survive one. Not when it was obvious to anyone with even the smallest bit of common sense that she thought she could walk out of this unscathed.

Regardless of whether she had anything to do with Gideon’s death or not, she had an affair and was carrying Dane’s child, not her husband’s. She would be labeled an adulterer as soon as her alibi got out.

Yes, it was a child of Valor, but Gideon was dead. It wouldn’t make any difference now. Maybe if he was still alive…

I flipped the page and made a note.

There was almost no chance Melinda would have anything to do with killing Gideon when it would affect her so negatively. A divorce, even a messy public one, would be less harmful to her reputation.

I didn’t think she had any intention of having her child named heir either, not when she seemed to be secretly hoping it was an omega just like her, if the articles she’d been constantly reading on her phone were any indication.

The reason a divorce would be the better choice for her was obvious. The whole world assumed Melinda couldn’t breed and as an omega in a legacy pack, that was her whole purpose. If she left Gideon after discovering the baby wasn’t his, that would put the blame on him, not her.

No one would blame an omega for leaving an alpha who couldn’t impregnate them.

“If Dane was involved…I just want whoever killed Gideon to pay for their crimes,” Melinda whispered, her gaze dropping to her hands, tears spilling onto her delicate skin. She looked like the epitome of a delicate omega drowning in her sorrow.

The perfect alpha bait.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they’ll never see the light of day again,” Frankie promised, her voice gentle but strong. There was no room for doubt or hesitation, and Melinda looked up at Frankie through her eyelashes, tears dangling from them like gems.

“Thank you,” Melinda murmured, dropping her eyes back down to her hands, like she was flustered after just now realizing she was an unbonded omega in the same room as an available alpha.

Absolutely wild to me she thought this was going to work on Frankie of all people. The least she could do was a little bit of research before pinning her whole future on a play like this, but what did I know?

I was just a fool.

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