Page 73 of Of Daggers and Deceit

Bodhi’s hand immediately released mine as I ran into our house to see everything had been pulled apart.

“Raya, please. They are taking back their gifts.”

I whirled around towards her, frustrated. “Because an Omega was taken?”

She nodded, looking past my shoulder briefly before dipping her head again.

“Because you are a failure, Ace. As we should have expected.”

My eyes widened as I turned around to see a Benefactor standing smugly in the middle of our living room, two of his own guards by his side.

Pillows were torn open, drawers emptied, other items broken. We had little, but what we did have, they’d destroyed.

“She would have given them back peacefully,” I replied, trying to imbue as much reason into my voice as possible, though it wavered. I was furious.

He scoffed. “Hardly. She is a criminal and a sympathiser. Zander has requested these items back because you failed.”

Bodhi stepped to the side of me, and I felt his body vibrating with anger. I stepped in front of him to shield him, to let him know that it would be okay. I would not be in the Haven for much longer, nor would any of us. This only reiterated our need to leave.

Guards trailed down the stairs, holding every weapon they had supplied us with, others taking any excess food from our fridge. I opened my mouth to protest the food, but a single warning look from an Omega guard had me shutting it.

“You didn’t earn any of this. Therefore, it is to be removed,” the pompous elite tutted.

I hated Benefactors. There was hardly anything decent about them. There were three who covered the entirety of the Haven, their purple ties signifying their status to the rest of us. Now, there were only two.

Not that they knew it yet.

But they will.

My preference was for a world where there were none. They took more than they ever gave.

The Benefactor’s attention drifted down my body, and I froze briefly, remembering what hung on my wrists. I pulled my hands behind my back, the cuffs on my wrist sitting heavy as my breaths came out short and sharp. The evidence would follow me if I could not get these cuffs off. I had to ensure nobody saw them.

His expression twisted in disgust, my body easing beneath it. Disgust was far better than desire.

With a flick of his hand, the guards moved out behind him, taking everything I had earned from the first night and leaving behind nothing but destruction.

He cast me one last smug look before swiftly turning to follow them.

“Fuckers,” Bodhi mumbled as he bent down to begin picking up items off the floor.

They were right, though. I had a powerful gift, and I still failed. I was so easily conquered.

I bit my tongue angrily as I helped pick up pillows and broken items, returning anything salvageable to where it once belonged.

We worked together quietly for some time, my mum drifting towards the kitchen, cleaning it before she joined me once Bodhi left to start on upstairs.

I took that opportunity to turn to my mum, who had been quiet, and ask her the one question that had been sitting on my tongue. “I’m asking you one more time: did you know what these cuffs could do?” I whispered.

“No.” She barely glanced up, not even surprised that they could do anything at all outside of sit on my wrists and look pretty.

“But you knew they could do something?” I prodded, and unlike last time, she nodded.

“Why are you not asking for more information?” I asked, confused as to why she was not engaging me further, the tension not easing from the room.

“Because giving information can be dangerous, Raya. It is better people know less here. You do not know what sort of talents or technology this city has that can extract information from your mind, especially information that can become a weapon.”

I blinked, not entirely understanding what she meant.

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