Page 199 of Captive Omega

I clear my throat and continue. “There needs to be another option. And alphas like Sloane Eddiswood need to spend the rest of their lives rotting in a cell. I escaped, but I wasn’t the first or even the last victim. There are omegas who are desperately afraid, trapped, and think that the world doesn’t give a shit whether they live or die. That only alphas matter in this world.”

I think I’ve said everything I’ve needed and wanted to say until I realize I haven’t said the most important thing of all.

I sweep my gaze over the courtroom, trying to meet as many eyes as I can, willing them to hear me, and to believe me. “This world needs to change.”

“I’m done,” I tell the judge and start to rise. “Actually, no, I’m not.” I glare at Sloane. “You are a piece of shit and I really fucking hope someone introduces you to a shiv where you’re going.”

Someone gasps. Sloane looks away and I stand up.

Probably not my best moment, but you know what? I don’t regret it.

The judge clears his throat, visibly uncomfortable. “Such accusations are?—”

“Shocking, of course.” The prosecutor, I presume, given he’s sitting at the table next to Sloane and his fancy attorneys, pushes himself to his feet and glances at his watch. “The police feel the same way, which is why approximately twenty minutes ago, they conducted a series of raids on no less than twenty properties. There have been more arrests this morning than any other in history. A lot of very wealthy men are going to prison for a very long time.”

For one long moment, there is complete and utter silence.

Then all heads swivel toward me as if I was the one responsible for it all. But it wasn’t me. All I did was hand a list of names to Garrison Brewster and he made this happen.

I’m in a daze as the judge announces the close of the trial and Garrison opens my witness box for me.

We stay in the courtroom, though some people leave it, notably the jury.

As the prosecutor speaks to his assistants, I stand in a Lucas Security huddle, stunned that I didn’t spend the last two minutes as a stuttering mess.

“You did this,” I say to Garrison.

He shakes his head. “Not me. For all the talk of abuse in the city, the cops were reluctant to act against such powerful people. They haven’t been doing enough to protect omegas, and I think you reminded them of that. They will want to speak to you and take an official statement, but you confirmed a lot of things they already suspected.”

"Nothing can change if people don't know what needs to change,” Vaughn says, pulling his cell phone from his pocket.

It's weird hearing my words spoken back to me.

Vaughn taps a few buttons and swivels his cell phone to show me the screen. It’s a social media app. In the video that pops up, I’m sitting in the witness box, staring Sloane Eddiswood down as I wish someone introduces him to a shiv.

Garrison nods at the phone with the rapidly increasing views. One million views blink into two as I watch. "Perhaps I’m being premature, but I think that you're about to change the world."

I laugh when I want to cry. “The top of a mountain I said.”

Vaughn bumps my shoulder and grins. “I thought we could do a little better than a mountain, beautiful.”

Pack Lucas didn’t just give me a voice in the courtroom. They gave me a voice to the entire city. Maybe even the world.

I throw my arms around him, and he squeezes me right back. “Do you think things will change?” I ask, pulling away.

“What do you think?” Vaughn asks.

“That there’s no way that Dexter Pieter—or anyone—can pretend not to know what’s been going on.” My excitement dims. “Do you think he even cares? He must not to stay cooped up wherever he is, determined to hide.”

“I think it’s time that things changed.” Blaine looks at me for the first time in days. His voice is quiet but intense. “You’re brave.”

“Not really. All I did was tell people the truth as I knew it.”

“And was it hard?” His gaze is even more intense.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.” And that includes leaping out of a window and into a tree.

Suddenly, there’s a commotion outside my Lucas Security huddle. Doors are creaking open, and the judge is speaking.

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