Page 119 of Sweetheart: Part One

“It’s a challenge,” I said. One I enjoyed. I got a thrill whenever I caught a whiff of Love’s interference in any part of my life. And his tells were obvious. It was a silent game: he tried to keep his meddling undetected as long as he could, just like I hid my discovery of it.

“Who usually wins?” she asked.

I chuckled, cycling through all the silent wars Love and I had waged over the last few years. “Me. But there are a few hills he’ll die on—like the omega shit.” I didn’twantan omega, but I also hated being told I couldn’t, as if Love was cutting away the alpha part of me that needed to be able to make a claim.

Then there was pack lead. I let him have some—I had to. If I won every time, he’d give up, and Love was my constant. One of the only people I could rely on to challenge me.

I needed him. That wasnormal,though, and had nothing to do with dependency or weakness like Rook had spouted this afternoon.

Then there was the house—I’d won that outright. When we’d first moved in, he’d said my room had to be close to the others for the sake of bonding. I’d diverted him to a dud company for renovations. Love believed everything was sorted when we left for a movie in Taiwan. When we returned, the mansion was the way I’d wanted it, right down to Rook’s room, which was the smallest.

Then there were the Sweethearts. I’d won that too easily, though. He’d fucked up last year, trying to sneak an out of pack romance behind all our backs. I’d discovered the relationship,andhow she was using him for his fame, because… of course she was. She was some wannabe journalist bitch—not even holding a candle to the last relationship he’d cared for, even if both were mistakes. But Love had shown his hand, asking me to let him end it peacefully, even when I knew the truth had wounded him.

My blood still ran hot at the thought of anyone walking free in this world who’d hurt something that was mine. I’d tried to loop back to her a few times, but Love was keeping tabs. Plus, the Sweethearts had been worth the trade.

Well, ithadbeen until Vex. Now I wasn’t sure.

She was watching me curiously. “What about this?” she asked, glancing around the little studio. “The acting.”

I shrugged. “My choice. Love lacks ambition without me.” I’d signed us up for career path after career path when we were teens. Elite packs started early, intent on becoming the top in whatever they chose to pursue. Love had discovered each, and shut them down, but I wouldn’t do it without him.

“Love didn’t want to act?” Vex asked, surprised. She folded her arms and leaned against the vanity. I regarded her for a moment, assessing my own desire to respond honestly. Usually, when people prodded me for truths, I sent them on wild goose chases. But it was quite… freeing, the idea of telling her the truth. And it didn’t matter, she was contracted.

“Not at first,” I said. “He might say otherwise, but neither of us were built for a nine to five life.”

The acting application had been Rook’s idea, one I jumped on, knowing I could use him to finally snare Love into ambition. I’d hated Rook since the moment his aura showed and Love got it in his head that he would be pack. Rook was one of the few people Love had growing up—who knew who I was and stuck around, anyway.

At fourteen, Rook had been a lot easier to bully, and I’d made him convince Love to film and audition with him—just for support. I’d submitted it with mine and to no surprise at all, we got in as a trio: prospective elite pack in the making. By the time Love found out, I’d forged a dozen signatures, and blowing it up would destroy Rook’s shot as well. He’d had to let it go through.

And Rook was better than the onlyotheralpha that might have been the third necessary to form our pack. The alpha Love had fallen for—the woman I preferred to pretend didn’t exist. Still, Rook was the most unfortunate cost of keeping Love—though Vex was closing in on a close second.

“Why did you come out as rogue?” Vex asked, ripping my attention back to her.

I grinned, a warm feeling rising in my chest. “Attempted blackmail,” I said, mildly.

That, I wouldn’t explain further; the secret was far too precious.

It was a question a lot of people had. Four years ago—almost to the day—I’d come out as a rogue. It hadn’t been necessary, and risked my image and career. But we’d played our cards right, pushing on the Gold Pack Protection Campaign, turning me into an icon for the tragedy of rogues—it wasn’t in my control, after all, and look at what an upstanding citizen I was.

Contrary to the media belief, I did, in fact, know who my father was.

He was a mega rich gold-pack omega. He’d contacted me years ago, threatening to reveal my status if I didn’t pick up the phone and do whatever jobs he asked, whenever he asked.

I did my homework and found out thatthis—blackmailing his own children—washis career. My father was example number one why society feared gold packs: their alpha children were rogues. And rogues—like me—could be dangerous, not bound by the laws of the Institute designed to keep the poor little betas safe.

And mycharmingfather in his younger years had hidden his golden eyes, and tried to sire as many rogue babies as possible. Then he’d banked on them making it big when they were all grown up, so he could drop in with the secret that could ruin them, and milk them for everything that they were worth.

Naturally, I’d come out as a rogue the next week, and tossed the ball back in his court.

Now my lovely father didmydirty work whenever I asked. That is, if he didn’t want me spilling his billion dollar secret to the authorities.

“Blackmail?” Vex asked, brows furrowed. But before I could answer, there was a knock at the door and a shouted ten minute warning.

VEX

Ebony got to his feet, adjusting his cuffs.

He was… a problem. And not just because he was a stone cold psychopath intent on evicting me from the island.

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