Page 88 of Curvy Quirky Omega

Maybe I didn’t have a hiding place and we were just overthinking everything.

I turned back toward the desk and sat in the chair, staring at the blank monitor as I considered all the possibilities.

Frankie and Liam started pulling stuff off the shelves, but Cas watched me like he always did and I almost asked where he thought Gideon might have hidden it – who he might know that wouldn’t be considered a threat.

But Gideon Valor was a legacy alpha. There wasn’t much in this world that could make him feel threatened. He’d been so sure this person would never be a threat – enough so that he’d shown them the private staircase so they could meet in secret.

Never once had he thought they would be able to hurt him, let alone kill him considering the way Gideon was found face down on the floor in front of his desk.

What was the connection I was missing? Why couldn’t I find it?

I’d been so sure I would find something new if I took another look around at the crime scene – that I would find the missing pieces in here, but there were just too many variables…too many things I didn’t know for sure and so little evidence that explained anything.

Without the phone, I couldn’t figure out what the fuck he was doing – what could make him invite someone into this room without consequence…what he had to hide from everyone, even the brother he adored but didn’t trust.

Pretending to relive his final moments was getting me nowhere fast. I didn’t have all the information I usually did when we tried this, and I couldn’t figure out what the fuck I was missing.

There were too many pieces and I didn’t know where they went. I had a handful of possible connections, but it was a 3,000-piece puzzle with no structure or foundation. I couldn’t find any of the edge pieces and it was starting to make me think this puzzle never had a frame to begin with.

I only had a tiny piece of the bigger picture and it just wasn’t enough to make any assumptions without more context.

The afternoon light felt way too bright and it was starting to hurt my eyes. I let out a frustrated sigh and rested my elbows on the desk, wishing I could reset but we had so little information that would tell me who would want Gideon Valor dead.

I pressed my thumbs into my eyebrows, trying to stave off the headache I could feel brewing. If I left his office now, I’d have to find another excuse to come back here, or deal with whatever happened when Helen Moss discovered what I was up to.

I pressed harder against my brow bone and the pressure made red and orange stars explode in my vision. Then Frankie’s cool hands replaced mine, covering my eyes to completely block out the light. “Just take a breath.”

I let her pull my head back until the whole chair shifted and my body was loose. The darkness eased some of the tension behind my eyes and it gave me the mental space I needed to try again.

One deep breath, and then another while her hands protected me from all the variables in the room that kept messing with my head.

“Walk me through it,” Frankie murmured, her voice low and soft to help me stay focused. “I understand what you did and why, but I need you to take me through your thoughts step by step. Remember – he wasn’t trying to gain more power. He actively gave whatever deals he could to his brother and stayed out of the other businesses owned by Valor. So, what did Gideon Valor want?”

Every single thought buzzing around in my head went silent as the soothing cadence of her words helped me focus, zeroing in on the patterns we’d learned over the last few weeks.

“Your wife is distant.” Frankie pressed her hands over my eyes just a little bit harder to help me focus. “Your omega doesn’t care if you come home late anymore. So, should you tell her?”

I felt my eyelashes flicker against her palms as I tried to understand why she’d give me that prompt, but clearly I was hiding something. Was it worth telling my wife? Or should I just hide whatever it was and pretend like it was fine?

“What is it that you want, if it’s not money or power?” Frankie slid her hands from my eyes but I kept them closed, waiting for the final prompt. “What could you possibly need that you don’t already have?”

“A family.” My eyes shot open and I stared at the room in front of me without really seeing it, going through all the information we’d learned and all the leads we’d found. “But I don’t really deserve it, or the pack.”

I looked down at my left hand where my wedding ring should be.

Reaching for the top right drawer, I pulled it open and studied the contents, not seeing a ring or a box.

I set my elbow on the arm of the chair and propped my chin on my fist, my chair spinning slightly so I could study the bookshelves behind me and to my left where the statue of Valor was. “A legacy may be untouchable, but they still bleed like the rest of us.”

Frankie knelt beside me, slipping her latex gloves back on. “He wanted a family but didn’t feel like he deserved it.”

I nodded, wondering how Nicolette planned to deal with Melinda.

“After I went back to the compound last night, I did a bit of digging on Helen Moss and you know what I found?” I studied Frankie out of the corner of my eye, but she wasn’t looking at me, she was looking at the shelf that was eye level when I was sitting.

She’d figured something out from my answer, but I had no idea what it could possibly be. Predicting future behavior patterns based on previous behavior patterns wasn’t the same thing as being able to understand the answer, which was why I could never do this alone.

Gideon had always been a bit self-deprecating, and he’d never enjoyed being in the spotlight. He probably felt like he’d never shine quite as brightly as his brother, and honestly, who could blame him?

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