Page 138 of Broken Dreams

Their grandmother lives in a pretty gated home with beautiful gardens surrounding it. It’s not as big as the property she gave to her grandsons, but it is still large.

“She lives here with her remaining pack. They’re ridiculously happy, and Grandma Diedre reminds me to call before coming over so that I don’t catch her in a promiscuous situation,” Callum says, struggling to keep a straight face.

She’s never going to change, and I love that.

“She hasn’t slowed down one bit,” Mom says fondly. Kissing me on the cheek, she slips out of the vehicle and walks up to thefront door. A butler lets her in, nodding at us before closing it behind themselves.

“This way I’ll worry less about her,” Duncan sighs, pulling away from the house. “Your mom used to be such a social butterfly before everything happened. Obviously, we need to take care of your father first, but it’s nice to see her slowly opening up again.”

“I actually have a question about that,” Linus says. “Why are you waiting for the party? Wouldn’t it be better to kill her dad sooner?”

“The mafia families told Cian that they want to know this is a clean kill,” Callum groans. “This shouldn’t even be a thing because most of us break the fucking law every day of the week.”

“However, because he’s an important member of the families, it’s unanimous that there needs to be a party to see if Quinn is truly fit to take over from her father.”

“That’s political bullshit,” Linus complains.

“I have a large backing of support, but I’ll always be looking over my shoulder if Rory Kelly chooses to go after me,”I say, using my tablet to communicate with them. “They’re best friends, it wouldn’t be a surprise to me, even though I’m bonded to his sons.”

“Dad could be a problem,” Callum sighs. “If the majority of the families are in Quinn’s corner, I doubt he will be. He does value his own life, but is easily led by Hudson.”

Weak alphas.I am finding that I don’t have time for those who can’t think for themselves. If I’m honest, I’m completely intolerant of it, unless it’s the poor people the ROWS leaders seem to pump full of misinformation.

I’ve found myself wanting to help push The Little Rabbit’s podcasts, but don’t have a social media following on Omega Link. All I can do is repost them and hope they land in someone’salgorithm. I fucking hate that so many people seem to follow Emilia’s podcasts.

I’m lost in my thoughts for the rest of the ride to the hospital, and then on auto pilot as I fill out the paperwork. A lot of it discusses past trauma to my body, so I write down as much as I can remember. Callum and Duncan told me that none of it would be discussed with them or anyone else who wasn’t Dr. Adrain.

They’re keeping this very quiet, with a nurse to help if needed. However, she’ll just be drawing blood, the vials will be labeled as Patients A and B, and no one will know who we are. I’m grateful for the discretion, because I’m currently fighting for a seat of power.

My medical history shouldn’t have any bearing on that, but if it comes down to a point where the senior mafia members are split in any way, I worry that they may use this against me. It’s a paranoid thought at best, but I can’t seem to keep myself from worrying.

There’s a lot that hinges on the next few weeks.

“Alright, who wants to go first?” Dr. Adrain asks, looking down at the clipboards of paperwork in front of him. There’s nothing to show disgust for what he’s reading, which is frankly what I was expecting.

“It’s up to you,” Linus says, gazing at me. I want to get it over with, so I nod and stand.

“Come with me then,” the doctor says with a small smile. Duncan and Callum cross their arms as they watch me leave, and I can feel their anxiety. Experimentally, I send soothing thoughts through the bond before their anxiety is replaced with amusement.

“We forgot that you can feel our worry,”Callum says through the bond. “I’m sorry. We’ll try to get our shit together, Quinn.”

“Such big, strong alphas,”I tease them.

There’s a smile on my lips as I walk into the room with the doctor and nurse. Time to get this over with, I guess.

“We’ll make this quick,” Dr. Adrain says. “Caitlyn is one of our best nurses for blood draws.”

She nods as I sit down and roll up my sleeve, and the doctor sits across from me as well.

“I’m your distraction,” he says ruefully. “I’m looking through your history, and it states that you’re mute. Do you know sign language?”

I shake my head in denial as the nurse cleans the area before wrapping a tourniquet around my arm to ensure she can find a vein. Focusing on the doctor, I take a breath as she pushes the needle in and attaches a tube to begin filling it.

I tried not to pay attention, but there are like four more tubes on the tray next to her. Wonderful.

“How do you communicate?” Dr. Adrain asks.

Unzipping my bag, I pull out the tablet to show him.

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