Chapter 133: This is Jennifer

"This isn’t a joke, Reid," I said, my voice tight as I stared at the screen.

​Reid didn’t answer right away, his face still holding that unbothered, lazy composure. Was I really the only one feeling entirely paranoid about this? I wondered, a bitter knot forming in my stomach.

​But then I glanced down. Reid’s fingers were wrapped around the steering wheel, and his knuckles were white. The leather of the wheel was practically groaning under his grip, and his hands were actually shaking.

​Ah. He was also worried. That was good to know. It offered a strange, grim comfort because I knew for a fact that things would not settle easily tonight. Or so I thought.

​We made our way to the address in a tense, heavy silence. It was a five-star diner, tucked away from the chaotic main streets, serving the kind of clientele that paid for absolute discretion.

I led the way inside, my eyes immediately scanning the private booths until they landed on my sister.

​But she wasn’t alone. Marina was sitting with a lady. The woman was blushing, her cheeks a bright pink, while my sister leaned back, playing the part of the charming, attentive Alpha to absolute perfection.

​The moment Marina noticed me, a warm, genuine smile broke across her face. But the second her eyes shifted to the figure stepping up behind me, her expression instantly turned to stone. She became Medusa in a split second, her eyes narrowing with a cold, lethal sharpness as they locked onto Reid.

​Yup. She definitely knows.

​"Sit down, both of you," Marina said smoothly, her voice betraying none of the sudden hostility in her gaze. She gestured to the empty side of the booth.

​As we slid into the leather seats—Reid practically pressing his shoulder against mine to fit his broad frame into the space—Marina cleared her throat. She looked at me, then reached across the table to gently take the blushing woman’s hand.

​"Kain, I wanted to introduce her to you first before the rest of the family logs into the group chat," Marina said, completely out of the blue. "This is Jennifer. I plan to get married to her in a month, and I’ll be meeting Mom and Dad about it tomorrow."

​Jennifer quickly stretched her hand across the table for a handshake, her smile incredibly bright. "It’s so nice to meet you, Kain. Marina tells me so much about you, and we sometimes watch your games together."

​"Ah... nice to meet you too," I stammered, extending my hand to shake hers. "A-and thank you for... watching our games."

The news of my sister suddenly getting married was a massive shock, my brain struggling to process the information while my pulse was still racing from the looming interrogation.

​"Jennifer, honey, can you go wait for me in the car?" Marina asked, her tone melting into something incredibly soft as she looked at her partner. "I’ll just have a brief word with my brother and his... teammate, and then I’ll come join you so we can leave."

​"Yes, of course," Jennifer said sweetly. She got up from the booth, smoothing down her dress, and left the diner, throwing one last friendly smile over her shoulder.

​Once the glass doors of the diner clicked shut and Jennifer was entirely out of sight, Marina’s gaze lingered on the window for a moment.

​"Isn’t she just cute?" Marina murmured, her voice full of a rare, genuine affection.

​"Um, yes," I muttered, my hands tightening under the table.

​Then, Marina turned back to us. The warmth vanished from her face instantly, her eyes turning dead serious. Her sharp Alpha gaze cut between the two of us, analyzing the way Reid had naturally positioned his body to shield half of mine, before her eyes pinned Reid down like a target on a board.

​"I asked this before in so many words, but I’ll ask it again," Marina said, her voice dropping into a dangerous, icy register that made the hairs on my arms stand up. "And this time, I don’t want a roundabout answer, because you sure as hell know what I mean."

​She leaned forward, her presence completely invading the space across the table.

​"How long have you been sleeping with my brother?"

Unlike the last time when he bypassed her question by joking around—saying teammates slept in the same bed all the time and asking if that wasn’t normal—Reid couldn’t play it out this time.

Under the crushing weight of Marina’s direct, lethal gaze, and knowing he couldn’t lie to an Alpha who could read his every expression, he kept his mouth shut. He sat completely still beside me, his jaw locked, offering nothing but a heavy, tense silence.

​When he did not speak, Marina’s sharp eyes slowly turned to me. The terrifying, Medusa-like coldness in her expression softened, replaced by a deep, quiet warmth that only ever appeared when it was just the two of us.

​"Kain, I told you about Jennifer first before I told the rest of the family," Marina said softly, her voice steady and calm. "I wanted you to be the first to know and it’s been on my mind for a while, but today struck me as a great day for it to happen." she explained and I held my breath. "You are the first person I chose to introduce the most precious person in my life to. Do you know why? Because you are equally just as special to me."

​I felt my heart race and pound at the same time. I knew exactly what she was saying.

​"And I understand the circumstances to which you feel you cannot open up to me, but... you need to trust that your best interest is everything to me," she continued, reaching across the clean white tablecloth to firmly hold my hand. "Do you know, I always worried for you because you chose this path? It only meant you would be alone, scared to open up to anyone because you value your career more than anything else. So, knowing that you did open up, whether it was by confessing or being found out accidentally..."

​Marina paused, her words hanging heavily in the quiet air. She did not speak my secret out loud. Even in her interrogation, she was being incredibly careful, choosing her words with absolute precision because she still didn’t know if Reid actually knew I was an Omega, or if I had just managed the situation somehow. She was protecting me, even from him.

​"...it makes me happy," Marina whispered, a small, genuine smile touching her lips. "It makes me happy that you at least have someone who holds your hand now, and likely feels what I feel toward Jennifer right now. Whenever you decide to tell me with your own mouth, it’s fine. I will always sit down and listen with an open heart because you are my first priority. You are my brother