Page 100 of Craving Their Omega

“No,” Tristan says, answering for me. “She does not.”

“Not with you, certainly,” Xavier chimes in. “Do you know what the acceptable amount to raise rent on a tenant in a one year period is?”

“I—”

“Three percent,” he says, not giving him a chance to finish his sentence. “Maybe five percent if the market really calls for it.” He glances around the building. “And I can definitely tell you that it did not. So tell me why you thought it was acceptable to raise the rent over ten percent not once, but twice over the course of eighteen months.”

“It is not illegal for me to turn a profit,” the manager fires back, drawing himself up. It’s not impressing anyone, and there’s a moment where I remember being intimidated by this man.

Now there’s nothing intimidating or impressive about him. He’s just a greedy, corrupt little man, standing in front of three Alphas who see him for what he is.

“No,” Dominic agrees. “It’s not. It is however highly exploitative and unjust to your tenants. Which results in them being priced out of the building and it sitting vacant until someone else comes along to continue the cycle. Was it worth it, the few months of extra rent money? Because good business sense says that if you’d just had fairer renting practices, this storefront would still be making you money instead of sitting here.”

The manager’s face turns red and he splutters. “Who do you think you are to come here and tell me how to run my business? If you don’t have legitimate business with me, then I’m leaving.”

Dominic slowly raises an eyebrow and folds his arms. Just that simple act draws attention to how much bigger he is than the manager, and some of the redness in his face goes pale, leaving him blotchy and pink.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Xavier says, moving in to smooth things over. “You won’t have to worry about it anymore.”

“Excuse me?”

“You won’t have to worry about it anymore,” Xavier repeats. “Because we’ve purchased this entire building, so we’ll be taking it off your hands. No more rent gouging for you.” He finishes with his most charming smile, but it does do anything to put the building manager at ease.

If anything it fires him up more. He demands to see the proof of purchase, and they show him a bill of sale and the proof that the building is in their ownership now. He splutters something about a lawyer, and Xavier just laughs.

Dominic takes a step forward. “Please, call one. I’d love to see them go up against the kind of lawyers we have on the payroll at Vantage.”

Dropping the name of their company is enough to make the manager realize he’s not going to win this. He turns on his heel and marches out of the building without another word, and a few seconds later we hear a car burning rubber as it speeds out off down the street.

“You know what they say about men who drive loud, shitty cars,” Xavier says, smirking. “Compensating.”

“I can’t believe you guys did that,” I say, looking at all of them. “Was all that just because he was shitty with the rent when I was here?”

“Notentirely,” Dominic says, which is as good as an admission.

“What are you going to do with the space now?” I ask them.

“Well, this storefront is yours,” Xavier says. “And as much of the rest of the space as you want for your bakery.”

That stops me in my tracks and I stare at him, stunned. “What?”

“You heard him,” Dominic says. “It’s yours. So you can have your bakery again. Or whatever else you want to do with it. We’ll be having it put in your name this week.”

I keep staring, trying to wrap my head around the fact that they did this for me. “You… I… I don’t know what to say.”

“Say you’re going to make more of those lemon bars and let me have some,” Xavier says, grinning.

“Of course.” I let my breath out in a rush and then laugh. “Oh my god. I can have my bakery again. Oh mygod.”

“You like it?” Tristan asks, looking at me.

I nod. “I love it. Thank you. All of you. This is…” I shake my head, not even sure how to finish that sentence.

“That’s not all,” Dominic cuts in.

“What do you mean? You didn’t buy me another building, did you? I’m not ready for that responsibility.”

“No, we didn’t buy you another building. But you are fired from Vantage. Effective immediately. You took that job because you needed it, not because you wanted it. And it’s not your dream.”

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