Page 63 of His Gift
“The cops?” O’Neill blinked.
“No, sir,” Rick said. “We won’t be any trouble, honest. Come on, Jamie, move.”
“But I want my Christmas bonus,” O’Neill complained, though he let Rick lead him away, thank God.
As soon as I was certain they were actually going and that no one would turn back and make a grab for Enzo, I loosened my grip on my omega and turned to lead him back to the Pullman Center. The hour had grown so late that cars of people were already arriving for the event. Several people stood watching us, including Anthony, who had his arm around Walt as they waited for us at the top of the stairs by the center’s door.
“I’m going to need a complete explanation for everything that almost happened here,” Dad said as we walked up the steps. “I think the time has come for all our family secrets to come out into the open and for the four of us to come to an agreement about a great many things.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” I said, though I was still nervous about how that might change things forever.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Enzo
I’d come so close to losing it all. For a few seconds there, I had felt it all slipping away. Rick had brought a thug with him, and my dad seemed determined to give me up to God only knew what. I was lucky they started trying to convince me to give up with words at first, and that by the time my dad had grabbed me and tried to physically push me at the thug, Shawn was rushing to my rescue.
Shawn and his dad. I was flabbergasted.
“You saved my life,” I panted as we stepped back into the warmth of the Pullman Center. “I can’t believe it, but thank you so much.”
“Why can’t you believe it?” Mr. Wythe asked, glancing around at the curious people waiting in the lobby to be let into the event hall.
We were gaining a lot of attention, so he gestured for Shawn to take me through a side door and into the relative quiet of the event hall itself, Walt and Anthony following us.
“You don’t like me,” I said once we were on the other side of the event hall doors. “You wanted to get rid of me. You even—” I stopped myself, not wanting to blurt out the offer Mr. Wythe had made before, since he had technically saved my life.
The event hall wasn’t empty. The booths were all set up now, and the people who were there to assist with the job fair, the gift giving, and the supper were all running around getting things ready for when the doors opened. A few people were still putting up Christmas decorations as well. We stood between a super tall, glittery trees with donated gifts under it and one of the booths for the fair, but I still didn’t really feel the Christmas spirit. Not when my heart was pounding so hard.
“I never said I didn’t like you,” Mr. Wythe said, sending his husband a sideways look, like he knew he would be in trouble if he continued to be a grumpy-ass pill. “I thought you were trying to take advantage of my son, take advantage of my family. I didn’t realize the two of you were bonded.”
I blinked at him, then looked up at Shawn, who still had his arm around me like he would never let me go. As soon as our eyes met, Shawn smiled at me. I felt his joy and his relief and his deep love for me.
I felt them.
“Whoa!” I gasped, breaking into a smile. “How did that happen?Whendid that happen?” I’d felt it earlier, but not as vividly as I felt it now.
Shawn’s smile tightened for a moment, then resolved into a look of awe. “The bond,” he said, eyes wide. “It’s fully formed all of a sudden. Like really, truly, fully formed.”
Just to test it out, I focused on some deeply sexy thoughts and all the ways I wanted to thank my alpha later for coming to my rescue. Shawn’s face flushed bright red.
Yep, he’d definitely felt that.
“I didn’t see the bond between you before,” Mr. Wythe said, as if he were apologizing.
“I did,” Anthony said, sending his husband a wry look, as if he were always the last person to catch on. He then crossed his arms, narrowed his eyes at Mr. Wythe, and said, “What did you say to Enzo that caused him to step outside and run into those people?”
Mr. Wythe cleared his throat. “It isn’t important.”
“I thought you wanted us to stop keeping secrets,” Anthony said, adding a raised eyebrow to his scolding look.
I almost couldn’t believe what I was seeing. My observations of Mr. Wythe so far were that he was an arrogant, hard, borderline cruel alpha billionaire who thought he was the king of his own empire. What I saw in front of me now was an alpha who thought the world of his mate and who melted at even the slightest disapproval. Maybe Mr. Wythe really meant what he said when he implied he would protect his family and his company with whatever tools he had.
“I offered to pay Enzo if he would go away,” he mumbled, shrinking under his husband’s stare.
“You what?” Shawn nearly exploded.
“Tristan,” Anthony scolded him. “That’s unforgivable.”
