Page 5 of Knot Broken

She lifts her head and glares at us, eyes wide and fierce. “Insane, yes. Mafia, no.”

Despite everything—despite the guilt dragging me under—I can’t help the corner of my mouth from twitching. That’s our mate: her fury, sass, and absolute refusal to let anyone define her world for her.

She’s not backing down.

And that’s good. Because neither are we.

Chapter Two

Fox

May 17th

11:02 A.M

That tiny spark of amusement flickers in Violet’s eyes, and for the first time since she opened the door, I feel like I can breathe again. She’s still angry—rightfully so—but she’s not shutting down. She still wants to fight for this, forus.

I pick up the thread of the story, my voice rougher now, raw from days of silence and nights of regret. “They kept us locked up for weeks—question after question about our connection to the Rosetti pack, pushing us to give them anything. Names, routines, weaknesses. We gave them nothing.”

I swallow. “The only thing I told them… was that I was in foster care with the Rosetti boys.”

Violet’s expression softens, that sharp edge in her eyes easing just slightly. “I didn’t know that,” she murmurs, quiet, hesitant. “That you were in foster care with them.”

I wave it off. It’s not the part of the story that matters right now. “We didn’t get released. Not really. One night we went to sleep in a cell. Next thing we know, we wake up in an abandoned house on the outskirts of town.”

“No phone, no vehicle,” Dare mutters, voice low. “No fucking clue what just happened.”

“Don’t tell anyone,” he adds, flashing Violet a wink, “but we may have stolen a car.”

Violet snorts, a real laugh bubbling up, and the sound settles something frantic in my chest.

But Jex doesn’t laugh. His hands flex against his knees, his whole body vibrating with rage just barely held in check. “They kept us from our mate for a month.” His voice is low and gravel-rough. “They stole that time from us.”

I look at her, and I mean it when I think: I’d kill them all to get that month back.

Violet watches us for a long moment, her lips pressed together, fingers absently trailing over the arm of the chair. Her scent shifts in the air—lemon frosting still sweet, but now touched with something thoughtful, somethingprocessing.

We’ve laid it out for her. All the broken pieces.

Now it’s her move.

“So, let me get this straight,” she says at last, unfolding her arms, her voice cool but laced with something sharper. “You helped the Rosetti pack rescue Fallon and a bunch of other omegas. In return, your employer locked you up, interrogated you for information on how Rosetti operates, and then—somehow—you were just…released?”

She raises a brow, skepticism curling her words like smoke.

Dare nods, jaw tight. “That’s the gist of it.”

Violet’s eyes flick to me, her smirk slowly returning. “Odette loves action thrillers. You pick up a thing or two.”

It shouldn’t make me smile. But it does.

“What are we missing?” Jex asks sharply, suspicion already catching in his voice.

“Share with the class,” Dare mutters.

I tilt my head, letting the pieces settle in my mind. “Let’s look at this logically,” I say slowly, spreading my hands. “Rosetti’s been hitting hold houses across the city—freeing omegas, dismantling their system piece by piece. Whether we meant to or not, we helped in one of those raids. But our employer? They didn’t just want to knowwhatRosetti was doing. They wanted to knowhowthey were doing it. Where they’d strike next. What methods did they use?”

Dare’s eyes widen slightly, the realization catching up.

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