Page 186 of Broken Omega

“This is the best the most elite academy in the country can do at a moment’s notice?”

It makes me laugh that he actually cares about what I look like.

I mean, he always has, but it seems extra amusing today.

“Compose yourself,” he snaps, unimpressed with my moment of levity.

I roll my eyes. “You took away all my stuff. So, if I look like shit, it’s not my problem.”

“You look like your mother did on our wedding day.” He takes a closer look and screws up his nose.

That look lights a fire inside me, igniting the rage I’ve been trying to push away since he left the last time. I stare him down. “Well, I’m sure she’ll be looking down on us today, wondering how the hell she ever forced herself down the aisle to marry a monster like you.”

His expression is bored, but I can feel how angry he is. He can’t hide that from me.

“Is this what you had to do to her that day? Use your Alpha command voice to make her say yes?”

“Your mother was a timid, little mouse,” he tells me, his lips turning up into a sneer. “She was weak, and pathetic. She didn’t need to be ordered to do it. She knew what would happen if she didn’t.”

Oh my God. I fucking knew it!She never would have married him.

She was so sweet, so sensitive.

She never would have willingly agreed to be mated to someone like him.

“Well, I know what’ll happen if I don’t do this,” I tell him, through gritted teeth. “Do you see me going anywhere?”

He laughs. “There’s nowhere for you to run to, Brooke.”

“Yeah, and there never was,” I admit. “I shouldn’t have tried to run. I knew I was trapped. I know there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Except attempt to convince my father that I’ll do what he says without his mind tricks.

Avoiding being triggered is the only option that’ll give me a shot at freedom.

There is one good thing about the hairstyle Erika gave me.

It required a couple of six-inch-long pins to hold it in place.

I have a precision weapon I can use when I get in close to my father, or Lachlan. All I need to do is be ready to grab the opportunity whenever it presents itself. Right now, while I’m trying to convince my father I’ve realized I can’t run away anymore, isn’t the time.

“I’m ready now,” I tell him, my voice hollow. “I’ll do whatever you think is best.”

He looks at me, and I keep myself as emotionless and still as possible.

I know that’s when he trusts me the most. When I act as if I might be like him, under the surface.

“There’s an old fable, Brooke, about a scorpion and a fox. The scorpion promises not to sting the fox if he’ll only carry him across the river, but he stings the fox anyway, because it’s in his nature. I’m not sure why you’d ever think I was as stupid as the fox.”

I’m not the scorpion in that scenario, though, Daddy Dearest. I’m the river, and I’m long past ready to drown you and the fox both for your fucked-up behavior.

I stay silent, knowing he isn’t going to change his mind.

He’s still that same scorpion. I can’t expect him not to sting me.

“I almost believe you’re ready to do this,” he tells me, sounding pleased with himself.

“It must be time,” I murmur, feeling oddly calm in the face of this new nightmare.

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