Page 149 of Broken Omega

He’s crossing the street, eyes on the phone in his hands.

We’re about to pass him when he steps onto the sidewalk, so I open the gate to the apartment building we were about to walk past, and I tug on her hand. She joins me in walking up the path, realizing something’s wrong. I close my eyes briefly, keeping a steady walking pace as we get up to the building’s double doors.

Thankfully, they don’t have a security lock.

I hold the door open for Brooke, and she steps inside.

I follow, not daring to glance back until she’s behind me in the unlit hallway.

Her hand is on my arm, her brow furrowed when I turn away from the door.

“What did I miss?” she asks quietly.

“That guard from Goldcrest. The one you were with the night we met.”

Her eyes widen. “He’s out there?”

“He was crossing to our side of the street, looking at his phone. Seems like luck was on our side. I don’t see him anymore. He must have passed while we came in here. We should give it a few minutes before we leave.”

She nods, keeping close. “I can’t believe I didn’t even notice.”

“You’re shaking,” I murmur, noticing her hand trembling on my arm. “Brooke, you’re safe. I’ve got you. Nothing bad is going to happen.”

I feel something jab into my back, and Brooke’s worried stare goes past me.

“Think again, Romeo. Nothing bad will happen to Brooke, but you’re completely expendable.”

BROOKE

Ispent so long trapped in Goldcrest’s gilded cage, feeling I was trapped in a private hell of my father’s construction. I’m just starting to realize that place wasn’t even close. It was more like purgatory. All I did there was wait.

It felt like torture, but it wasn’t the same as watching a psychopath point a gun at someone you love, threatening them with death in their gaze.

“Don’t hurt him,” I plead. “I’ll do what you want.”

“How about I kill him and you do what I want anyway, Brooke?”

I shake my head. “I won’t give you what you want if you hurt him.”

He raises his eyebrow at me. “And you will if I don’t? Call me crazy, but you haven’t exactly been very trustworthy so far.”

Frost lets go of my hand. I can’t look at him.

“If you shoot me right now, at that angle, you’ll hit Brooke, too,” Frost tells him. “You must know that.”

“Well,” Henry says, looking me over as if he’s trying to decide whether I’m worth it. “I’m not sure I’m quite so enamored of our pretty, little Omega anymore. Maybe she deserves a second-hand bullet.”

“Put the gun down,” Frost tells him, using his Alpha command voice.

Henry laughs, and my heart drops.

Why didn’t that work?

Oh wait …

Henry sinks to his knees and puts the gun on the ground.

“Stand up,” Frost says, not dropping his command voice.