Page 92 of Brandy Snap: Part One

“I know they hired you, that you’ll go back to servicing dirty old alphas at the Spa like you should. I’ve been friends with Michael Farringdon long enough to know what kind of business he runs. That money will be more than enough for you to leave and never return. If I learn you are still in the country by the time the Selection Ceremony arrives, I really will send someone to make you disappear. Do you hear me?”

I nodded quickly even though I was just staring at her, wondering what kind of world she lived in where she could hand out cheques and death threats like it was cake.

If I was a Knottinghill host, I would never leave my contract until the ten years was up. If she really was friends with Michael Farringdon, then she should know no one had ever broken a contract with him and made it out alive. I was more scared of him targeting me than her.

“Good. The money will be in your account in three days. Until then, prepare to leave the country.”

She sighed heavily as she turned to leave, as if this was such a bother for her.

“Well, goodbye, Ms Sanderson. Just pray you never see me again.”

I watched her leave, unable to say another word. An alpha sent me a final nod just as he vanished through the door with a loud click.

The second their footsteps faded, my arm shot out, gripping the back of the sofa as I bent over, heaving in a loud, gasping breath. I dragged the hyacinth-stained air into my lungs, completely unaware that I had my stomach pulled in the whole time.

It was still there, pumping away in me the urge to leap out of my front door, run down the stairs, and catch her before she left. I didn’t know what I would do, but every piece of me was saying I needed to tear her apart for even entering my nest.

I kept trying to breathe, even as I fell to my knees. Hyacinth drowned out all the other scents in the room as I wheezed and choked. I couldn’t hold back, pressing my head hard against the back of the sofa, using the pain to at least try to control my hyperventilating.

Because it was happening again. Something new to add to my list.

Again and again and again and again.

It wasn’t stopping. I didn’t even know if it could stop.

It was like a mantra beating around in my head.

Mum’s bills, Rosa’s lies, the debt, my heat, my job, the Risler pack, and now this.

Was it ever going to end? Or was it just going to keep on piling onto me like I was some indestructible force? Like I could somehow carry the endless weight of everything apart from myself.

Was I ever going to have a chance to be me? Because the realest me I’d ever experienced was in the arms of the three men I’d rejected.

Or was I just going to be flung around by all the people in my life until something broke and I could never come back?

But it sounded good. Because if I was broken, then I wouldn’t have to be strong. Or try to be. I could just let myself shatter and not have to fight anymore.

But that was what the Mel of two weeks ago would have thought. The one who’d believed she was always going to be a beta, and survive alone, and work non-stop to help other people live.

Before I’d met the Risler pack, before I’d had a heat, before I knew what it meant to feel violated by someone entering my sacred space.

I felt like I needed to rub myself over my entire nest to get rid of her scent, exactly how Kai rubbed himself all over me.

A whimper echoed deep inside my throat before I coughed.

Thick brandy swirled up around me, holding tight to my body as I sensed the air shaking around me.

My aura. The energy that represented who I was as a person—as an actual omega. And all I could taste there was rage.

Because there was no chance.

There was no fucking chance I was letting this happen again.

I had £100,000 clenched in one hand and my phone with Sin’s number sitting in my bag on my hip.

Maybe £100,000 was nothing to them, but I could pay for Mum’s care without worrying, probably for the rest of her life. And now, there was nothing to hold me back.

Even if Kai, Sin, and Caspian hated me, I had a deal with the three of them that would put me right back in front of Zania.

I was terrified of her threat to have me removed, but it was nothing compared to the burning pit made of every single spark of pain that had eaten away at my life.

I’d cash her money, use it to pay off my debts, and then get to work.

We had two weeks until the Selection Ceremony, and that was more than enough time to find out how much damage I could do.

Now that Mum would be looked after, I could focus on more important things.

Like showing that bitch she’d messed with the wrong omega.

---