Page 92 of Glass Omega

Edison, probably feeling me push my need for him down underneath a fresh wash of outrage, leaned forward and put a hand over mine. “I want to start out by saying that there is no one other than you and Rhodes. There never has been, you understand that, right?”

I nodded slowly. I’d come to learn that Edison felt more for me now than one would feel for an arranged marriage partner. He still hadn’t uttered the words I wanted to hear, and in turn I had kept my own feelings to myself, but I could feel it down the bond when he wasn’t paying close attention to it.

Ardent affection, the swell of warmth whenever our eyes met across the breakfast table in the morning, the unintelligible whispering in my ear as he was knotted inside of me followed by a wash of pure contentment through the bond.

When he’d looked at Yulia earlier, there had been none of that. Only disinterested disgust.

Edison continued on, saying the words I’d been dreading ever since we’d stepped onto the elevator. “Yulia was one of the bed partners that I used when I needed to let off some steam. She was… one of my favorites I suppose you could say. She was quiet and calm and never asked stupid questions. She understood her role because she’d grown up with the Russians before marrying into the Keane clan as a part of a trade deal ten years ago. Her first husband died pretty quickly, so as a Keane widow she was technically under our protection.”

An audible snort left me at his words.

Yeah, you protected her really well with your dick,my mind hissed nastily and I jerked in shock at the pure vitriol of it.

“So what happened?” I asked, shaking away the meaner part of my personality. “If she was calm and quiet, why didn’t you marry her instead?”

When we got married, Edison told me I was the perfect choice because I wasn’t from the Keane family. Neither was Yulia.

Edison’s nose scrunched as he shot me an incredulous look. “Why would I ever marry her?”

He made it sound so ridiculous that I had to look away, my cheeks warming as I said nothing and waited for him to continue.

“No, Yulia was never going to be marriage material, pet, she’s too connected with the five families for me to ever even consider her—not that I ever did consider her that is.”

“So, why ever end having sex with her at all?” I asked, jealousy leaking into my voice.

Edison’s lips pulled up into a wry smile. “Well, it’s hard to maintain a sexual relationship with someone who shoots you in your chest during sex.”

In all of the craziness of the past twenty minutes, I’d forgotten all about the reason Edison had stopped sleeping with women in the first place.

Edison’s earlier words echoed through my head as all of the dots finally connected.‘I’ll finish what I started four years ago.’

I gaped at him, my mouth hanging open with shock. “She’sthe one who shot you?”

He nodded, running a hand through his dark hair before tugging his bowtie off and shrugging out of his jacket, talking as he worked the buttons of his shirt. “Yes. An assassination attempt—one of my first I’ll admit as most people can’t get that close to me. I wasn’t the head of the Keane family yet, though I had taken on more responsibilities with my father’s failinghealth. I still haven’t figured out exactly who put her up to it and up until our engagement party I was under the impression that she had been sent away to live in one of the Keane properties across the country until she showed up married to Liam.”

“So, how is she still alive?” Did he have enough affection for her that he let her live? She was certainly beautiful enough for it…

My discontent seemed to leak down the bond because Edison was suddenly sliding down the couch and pressing into my side, his hand reaching for mine and pulling it up to the stubbled scar tissue of the old gunshot wound on his chest. It was the same one I’d seen Dr. Stedmeyer treating the night I eavesdropped on them four years ago.

“She was a long standing member of the Keane clan, even as a widow. If I wanted her gone I would need a good reason for it.”

I frowned at him. “And her shooting you in the chest and attempting to assassinate you wasn’t one?”

“Admitting to my men that anyone had gotten close enough to put a bullet in me when I was vulnerable was not something I wanted to do. My father’s health took a quick turn after that night and things were already on rocky ground. I didn’t want to appear…” Edison paused, searching for the words.

“Weak. You didn’t want to look weak.” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the alpha. It was typical of a man to not want to admit that a woman had gotten the better of him when his pants were down. “So. Now that she’s married to Liam do you think he’s the one who wanted to assassinate you?”

Edison shrugged, absentmindedly moving my hand away from his scarred chest and up to his mouth so that he could press a kiss to the inside of my palm. “Perhaps. At first the threads lead back to Volkov and his side, though I’m not sure what the Russians stood to gain from taking me out before I even took over as head. At least Liam has a motive.”

“Sean,” I provided with a sigh, thinking about the young teenager that the older generation of the Keane clan were throwing their support behind.

“Sean,” Edison agreed. “If I was killed that night they would have had an easy time installing him as my father’s heir and making him their puppet. I couldn’t take the chance of them sending another woman into my bed to finish the job when I was distracted… and luckily I didn’t have to anymore.”

Edison’s eyes shifted away from mine to the alpha that had been silently listening to our conversation, his thumbs rubbing deep grooves into the bottom of my feet as he did so.

“And things seemed to work out for the better in the end, wouldn’t you say, Rho?”

Rhodes’ chuckle was deep and delicious, sending the shiver of anticipation that I’d been pushing off since we’d stepped into this room skittering down my spine. “I think so.”

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