Page 41 of Building My Pack

Kennedy tells the man on the phone that he's got to go, but the guy on the other side says something that chills me to my bones. "Hey, you never did tell me. Did you get that omega to help you seal the Japan deal?"

Whipping my eyes back to Kennedy, I stare at him in disbelief. He reaches over and ends the call, hanging up on whoever that was. He scoots closer to me, "I can explain."

Smacking his hand away, I jerk up off his desk and secure the robe back in place now feeling more exposed than I ever have. "Was he talking about me?" I ask, slowly backing around the other side of the desk.

"It's not what you're thinking," he says without giving me an actual answer.

When I'm close enough, I snatch the folder I'd spotted not caring that the rest of the papers on top scatter around the floor. I'm opening it as he stands out of his chair and makes his way around the desk. I open the file and almost puke all over the pages from how hard the gut punch feels. Staring back at me is my real estate license photo with every single detail about my life, including my designation that my parents had to file legally in order to get me on suppressants.

"You knew," I accuse, holding up the folder between us. "This was what, some great scheme to what? What were you hoping to get out of this?"

"Nothing," he says, holding his palms out. "We care for you, Bryce. That's it. We didn't want anything more from you."

"Then what's this?" I ask. "What was that about the Japan deal just now?"

"You're misreading the situation. The Japan thing is something else entirely, but that," he says pointing at the folder, "I did to protect me and Santiago. We've been hurt and played before. I haven't done anything with the information in there. I just had to make sure—"

"Make sure what?" I ask, starting to raise my voice. "That I wasn't here trying to steal a piece of this empire you've built for yourself or that I could help you get another step ahead? Because that's the way it seems right now. So much for no secrets, huh." Tossing the folder at him, I stalk out of the office.

Santiago is rounding the edge of the stairs and we almost collide. He reaches out to steady me and notices the tears now streaming down my face. Wiping them away with his thumbs, with concern, he asks, "Hey, what's wrong?"

I want to bury my face in his chest and soak up his scent, but who knows if he was just as much of a part of this as Kennedy was. "Did you know?"

"Know what?" he asks, taken aback.

"That Kennedy pried into my life. That I'm an omega before I told you," I say. My heart breaks even more as his expression morphs into clarity, and I pull away from him.

"Wait," he begs, turning to follow me up the stairs.

I whirl on him just as Kennedy comes into view around the side of the staircase. "I don't care what either of you have to say right now. You let me sit at that table last night pretending like you didn't know and you've been doing nothing but playing me this whole time."

Santiago's hands go palm up as he spreads his arms, looking up at me. "Bryce, baby. I knew you were an omega the very first time I met you. Kennedy never told me a single word of what your background check said. I could tell by your scent. That sweet banana that had me wrapped up for months before that night when you accepted your award." He takes a step up to get closer, adding, "My alpha knew then that you belong with me. With us. You're mine."

"No, I'm not," I whisper, tears flowing harder at the look of devastation on his face. "You'll have to find another omega to help you seal your deals."

"What?" he asks angrily, turning to look to Kennedy for clarification.

"I never told you," Kennedy says, "The Japan deal fell through because they're religiously pack-oriented. They didn't want to partner with two unbonded alphas who hadn't managed to start building our pack at our age."

"That's bullshit," Santiago growls.

Kennedy nods then motions toward me, "I was trying to tell her that I never once considered using her to close that deal. I all but told them where to shove it when I left early like I did. Scott just caught wind of us dating Bryce and started formulating his own ideas of what was going on."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Santiago asks.

"Because you've got enough to worry about. Because it's what I do," he barks. "I take care of this shit, so you don't have to, and I watch our backs to make sure they're covered."

The last is said as his pleading gaze meets mine. There's truth to his words, but betrayal burns deep right now. I just need a break to think. "I'm going to go home."

Santiago is hot on my heels the whole way up the stairs. The last place I want to go is in the room from last night to get my dress, but I have to. I'd rather face the heartache than do a walk of shame into my own home in someone else's bathrobe. He doesn't say anything as he helps me into my dress and finds my shoes to hand to me. I don't bother putting them on because with my luck right now I'd probably fall down the stairs and break my neck.

Kennedy waits for us at the bottom where we left him with his hands stuffed into his pockets. I don't look at him because I know I won't be able to walk out that door if I do. Santiago grabs my keys and small purse from where I'd left it and follows me out to my car. He wraps me up in a tight hug, "Promise you'll come back."

It's a rhetorical statement. He's not expecting an answer. Honestly it sounds more like a broken prayer than anything. Then he's letting me go and stepping away. I hate getting in my car and leaving them like this. It feels wrong on so many levels. My head is just so flooded that my chest hurts from the anxiety of it all.

I let silent tears flow down my cheeks the whole way home and spend a few minutes in the car calming down and wiping my face clear of them before I go inside. Kit is laid back on the couch with a movie playing quietly. He sees me come in and smiles before taking a good look and it drops into a frown, "Come here."

It's all the invitation I need to fall into his arms. He lies back until I'm draped across his torso. "Want to talk about it?"

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