Page 9 of Glass Omega

Turning to Elio again, I shot the man a nasty smirk and laughed. “Do you really think I, the head of the Keane family, would walk into something like this by myself? Were you born yesterday?”

At my words, heads popped up amongst the wedding guests and suddenly there was an Irish gun for each of the Italians, effectively evening out the fight.

“Take her out to the car,” I told Rhodes, my ringed fingers continuing to tap on my gun.

Alessandro looked as if he was about to explode, his face turning a ruddy reddish-purple color.

“If you can get me my money, then you can have the omega back,” I lied, grinning at the older man before turning to offer Chandler a cheeky bow. “And Ethan, I do hope this was all worth it.”

Turning, I walked back down the aisle, following my second-in-command as he struggled to keep the wriggling omega from falling on her ass.

“Vote for Ethan Chandler,” my voice boomed off of the cavernous rafters of the cathedral. “He’s just dying to be your governor.”

“You have such a fucking flair for the dramatics,” Rhodes told me as we settled into the sleek black car that would take us back to the Keane estate. The car ride would take twenty minutes or so as the mansion sat on the outer fringes of the city.

I shrugged, my eyes going to the omega that was currently drowning in white tulle in her seat across from me.

She’d stopped struggling as soon as her butt hit the seat and was now staring out the car window, her arms crossed over her chest.

It surprised me. I’d assumed that she’d have started crying by now, but her face was completely impassive, going against what I typically thought of when I thought about omegas.

My first impression of her hadn’t been good—by all accounts she was reluctantly getting married—and yet she meekly walked down the aisle and resigned herself to that fate. Not an ounce of rebellion in her.

And yet, as soon as we were in an enclosed space and her sweet strawberry scent filled my nose as she glared out the window? It was clear that the seemingly resigned omega had at least a little bit of fire in her. It aroused the alpha instincts that I rarely ever gave into and promptly shoved back down.

This is all business,I reminded myself.

“I think our line of work should come with at least some theatrics. Bravado keeps people alive.” My mouth watered as I spoke, my eyes glued to the omega as she continued to look anywhere but at us. “Omega.”

Her spine stiffened a bit, her brightly painted lips opening for a moment before closing into a thin line as she continued to look out the window.

“Omega,” I repeated, more firmly this time.

There was another beat before she turned her gray-eyed gaze to me, silver fire alight as she glowered at me. “I have a name you know.”

“Watch it,” Rhodes warned, his voice low. I put a hand on his arm to stop him from getting into it with her the way I knew he wanted to. Rhodes was born to argue, but I had a feeling that would get us nowhere fast with this woman.

“Apologies, Peregrine—” I began but she cut me off again.

“Perrie.”

“Perrie,” I amended, sucking in a deep, calming breath before continuing. “I apologize for the unceremonious, ah, upheaval of your wedding day. I’m sure you understand my reasoning.”

“Because you bought me?” she asked with a scoff, rolling her eyes.

“Because I bought you first, pet,” I corrected, watching her shoulders stiffen at the endearment.

She opened her mouth, probably to tear into me, but then her gaze shifted over to Rhodes again and she seemed to think better of it and sank further into her seat without saying anything else.

Only a smart girl would keep her mouth shut when it came to Rhodes McCreary. I wasn’t sure if it was her instincts telling her not to mess with my second or if she could recognize that he was dangerous, but it seemed that moment of fire had dimmed completely out of a sense of self preservation.

“So, what’s your plan? Kidnap me and imprison me until my father pays you the ten million dollars? Because let me tell you that’s not going to happen any time soon.”

I knew as much. Ethan Chandler may have been a conservative politician thanks to the help of various mob ties in the city, but the man had a way of flushing money down the toilet almost as soon as it was deposited into his accounts.

He’d been juggling the Italians, the Russians, the Japanese, and the Irish for over twenty years. The only person who didn’t fuck with him was Jifein Cheng and the Chinese which probably made her the smartest of us.

Forty years ago his father, Marcus Chandler, had done the same but by all accounts the elder Chandler had a good head on his shoulders. One that his son hadn’t seemed to have inherited. He never double-crossed on deals and he always fulfilled his promises.

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