Page 17 of Talk About… History

There were a lot of businesses on the line and I wanted them to thrive, to have our town be what it used to be.

“So, you’re really staying?” Maverick asked, ignoring everything about the fair and focusing on me again.

“Yeah, I’m home.”

Smiles were back on all of their faces, and I was crushed into a hug. Usually, an Omega wouldn’t love being squished between three alphas, but when they’re your brothers, you couldn’t feel anything but safe.

My phone rang then, breaking apart the moment. I pulled it out and saw it was my lawyer’s number. I held up a finger to tell them I’d be right back before answering the call.

“Hello,” my voice sounded more timid than it usually did, but I just knew that my exes were causing a shitstorm that he was dealing with.

To his credit, Lance was a take-no-shit kind of lawyer. I hired him for a reason.

“Hey, Avery, I just wanted to give you a little update. I meant to get back to you yesterday, but it ended up being a crazy day. When I first spoke to your exes, they threw around some bullshit about the damage you did to their property. I reminded them that the law is on your side, not theirs, and that a packed-up omega, when threatened, couldn’t be held responsible if their instincts took over. They would have a hell of a time proving otherwise.”

I let out a small chuckle. Honestly, I felt a bit feral at that moment. I was glad Sidney took pictures of the destruction so she could remind me not to fall for anyone’s bullshit again.

Now Lance was laughing with me. “I saw the pictures, and I’m kind of impressed, Avery. I think that only adds to my point. Anyway, after I said all that, I outlined all of the contributions you made to that pack, including your final paychecks and the furniture that you provided for the house that they ruined. In that case, you were entitled to compensation.”

“I don’t want their money.” The thought of it made my skin crawl. Thank fuck they weren’t able to touch my inheritance or I think they would have drained me dry.

“Well, for one, you have to pay me,” he reminded me, matter-of-fact as always. “But outside of that, this is not their money. It’s yours, Avery. The more I dug into that dynamic, the more they let slip in their petty annoyance. Let’s just say that I am very happy that you are where you are.”

I let out a bitter laugh. “You know we weren’t even scent matches? When my brothers were there packing me up, they found pheromone cologne. Not just the kind that can attract omegas, but the kind that’s banned.”

Lance cursed. “Tell me they took a picture.”

“Knowing my brothers, I would almost guarantee it. I’ll ask them to send it to me, and I can send it over.”

“Good. We’re going to hold off on that little check for a minute because the legality of this is worth so much more. Please tell me that you’re going to give me full control to ruin these men.”

He paused, letting me mull over his words. It wasn’t something that was going to take me long to figure out. Did I really want to ruin their lives, their standings, their reputations, the works?

Oh, I was absolutely willing. Because every time I thought about them, I could just picture the scene I walked into. I could feel the way my entire chest burned with embarrassment and shame and betrayal.

“Ruin them, Lance. Make it good.”

“Then get me those pictures,” he said before ending the call.

When I turned back around, it was clear that my brothers had been listening in. They couldn’t hear Lance’s side, but I’m pretty sure they figured it all out.

“Well, I guess there’s no point in hiding it. Did you take pictures of the pheromone cologne they were using?”

“Oh yeah,” Maverick said. “Do you think we’re amateurs? We took pictures of the office. We took pictures of the identifying things next to the bottles so that there was no question that it was theirs. In fact, they were stupid enough to put a receipt in there, so I took a picture of that as well. We thought we might need blackmail in the future, but they’ve stayed in their lane so far.”

“Can you send me all that so I can forward it to my lawyer?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Maverick said, his spirits lifting even more at the prospect of fucking over my exes. Though in reality, they’d fucked themselves over.

What they did was not only illegal but so morally low that it made me sick.

The last thing I wanted to do was to get involved in having to face them in court, but I had a feeling that they would settle outside of it. Their reputations were too important to them to ruin it now.

Instead, I was going to put every bit of my energy into helping my family fix our business and to bring back my fathers’ legacy.

I’d only been here in town for two days, and I already felt more alive than I had in the last seven years.

I never should have left home.

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