Page 63 of Royal Omega

“Everything I do is for your benefit, Carissa! Everything. In this case, I wanted to... show my support for your choice to come here.”

“Mychoice? You forced me here by bribing my boss.”

“And it was your choice to let that happen. Look, this has gone on long enough. I’m here because I want to support you. I want to show that I believe in my daughter and what she can accomplish as an omega.”

That gives me pause. The wheels turn in my mind as I try to figure out what her real motivation might be. It’s not love; it never has been. And it’s not for publicity. At least, notjustpublicity. There must be something else... And then it comes to me. I point a finger at her, shaking my head slowly as I realize the truth. “You came because you found out Conrad was here, didn’t you? And you knew we would compare notes. We would figure out that you had manipulated the situation.”

“No, of course not.”

“No, it was more than that,” I murmur. “It would have to be more than that...” I snap my fingers. “You wanted to make sure that I didn’t pick him for my pack. You’re still thinking that he’s not good enough, is that it?”

There’s a brief silence and then my mother says, “Well, it did occur to me.”

I throw my hands up in the air. “Oh myGod! I can’t believe you! What’s so wrong with him, Mom? What’s so bad about being with someone who cares about me?”

“Listen to me, Carissa —”

“No,youlisten! This is a person I have cared for since I was a teenger. If I decide he’s what I want, then that’s what I decide. You will have no role in that decision whatsoever.”

Apparently that was a bridge too far, because my mother gets to her feet, her chair squeaking as it moves across the floor. In a dangerously low voice, she says, “I don’t know what I ever saw in you, Carissa, truly. I’ve worked my whole life to teach you. To make you see reason. But all you have ever wanted to do is spite me. Well that’s fine. That’s your choice. But I have to tell you that I think you are the most spiteful, ungrateful little brat who ever walked the earth. I’m ashamed to call you my daughter.”

“How can you say that to me?” I ask, my voice cracking. “I’m... I’m still your daughter.”

“You’re a disgrace, and you always have been. If you weren’t pretty, maybe it would have been better. Maybe it would have been easier. I could have just foisted you off on someone. But you’ve had your damn pick, and look what you’ve done with it. Wasteful, useless child. You disgust me.”

Chapter Twenty-eight - Ransom

I’m sitting in a chairat the top of the stairs, listening to Carissa fight with her mother. My hands are clenched into fists, and I feel as if I want to break something.

“I hope I didn’t overstep, calling you out here,” Seth says in a low voice. “I just wanted to make sure you had all the information you needed about who Carissa is.”

I give him a dry look. Conrad is the one who needed to hear this conversation, not me. I never doubted that Izzy was telling the truth about who she was, how she acted.

It’s interesting that Seth didn’t ask Conrad to come out here; he’s the one who would have benefitted from hearing this, but if he did, it wouldn’t have prolonged the drama for the show. And now he’s in the shower, and this fight will likely be over before he gets out, even if I were to go get him. Will he believe me when I tell him about what I heard? Probably not.

My shoulders tense as Carissa’s mother lands the final blow, reminding Carissa that she was raised on the blood of others. Pretty shitty thing to say, really, especially to someone like Carissa, who has clearly worked so hard to get out from under her family’s shadow.

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