To ruin an Omega - Chapter 433: How you get them 1

Chapter 433: How you get them 1

PAULINE

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, tasting bile and blood. When I looked up, Marcus stared down at me with something that made my skin crawl.

Not anger.

Worse.

Recognition. Like he finally saw me for what I truly was.

“Dimitri…”

The name died on my lips.

He turned to the sentinels, then to the delicate and her handler. His voice came out flat and cold.

“Give us a moment.”

They obeyed without question. The door clicked shut behind them.

Fear lanced through me sharp enough to cut. I scrambled backward on the floor, my hands slipping in my own vomit, but he moved faster. His hand closed around my arm with bruising force, yanking me upright.

“I had a daughter?” His voice cracked on the word. “A granddaughter out there?”

“I only knew recently.” The half-truth tasted sour even as I spoke it. “I swear to you, I only just—”

“Do not.” He shook me hard enough to rattle my teeth. “Do not lie to me. Not now.”

“What do you want me to say?” I tried to wrench free, but his grip only tightened. “That I knew? That I planned it? I did what I had to do to survive in a world where men like you hold all the power and women like me have to claw for scraps!”

“You sold my child.”

“I did an Omega! I sold a threat!” The words exploded out of me. “A girl who would have taken everything from me. Who would have poisoned you against our children. Against me. I protected what was mine!”

“The Omega…was pregnant.”

“I did not know that.” At least that part was true. “How could I have known? She never said anything. Never showed. By the time I sold her to—”

I cut myself off.

“To whom, Pauline?”

My chest heaved. Sweat dripped down my spine despite the cold settling into my bones.

“It does not matter now. There is nothing to be done except—”

“Except what?” He leaned closer, his face inches from mine. “Except let you keep spinning your webs? Keep destroying lives to protect your position?”

“Our position!” I grabbed the front of his shirt, my fingers twisting in the fabric. “Everything I did was for us. For our family. For the legacy we were supposed to build together.”

He looked at me like I had lost my mind.

Maybe I had.

“You really will never change, will you?”

The quiet devastation in his voice cut deeper than any scream.

“This is the way I am,” I said, lifting my chin even as tears streaked down my face. “You knew what I was when you chose me instead of my sister. You wanted the cunning. The ruthlessness. The woman who would do anything to keep what was hers.”

His jaw clenched.

“And you would be lying to yourself if you did not admit that this is the way you are too,” I continued, my voice breaking. “So maybe we deserve each other.”

His eyes flashed red.

Pure crimson bled across the whites, spreading like blood through water. His wolf surged to the surface with enough force that I felt it press against my skin.

“No.” The word came out guttural. “No one deserves this. No one deserves a monster like you.”

Terror spiked through me.

“Dimitri—”

“I am going to drain you.” His voice dropped to something barely human. “Every drop of power you think you have in your veins. I will take it back.”

“I am your mate.” I shook my head frantically. “We are in this for life. The bond—”

He laughed.

The sound started low and built into something manic, his whole body shaking with it. Then he stopped abruptly, his expression going eerily blank.

“How did they get to Silvercreek?”

The shift gave me whiplash.

“What?”

“My granddaughter.” He spoke slowly, like explaining something to a child. “How did she end up at Silvercreek? Will you at least be honest about that part?”

I swallowed hard. My throat felt raw and swollen.

“If I am not honest, you would probably get that bitch to rip it out of me.” I glanced toward the door where the delicate had left. “If she does not already know.”

His fingers dug into my arm.

“I need your word,” I said quickly. “Your word that you will ensure no harm comes to me.”

Something flickered across his face. For half a heartbeat, I thought I saw hesitation.

“I promise.”

The words should have brought relief. Instead, dread shot through me like ice water through my veins. Something in his eyes and heart did not match his mouth. Something cold and final that made my stomach twist.

But I needed to believe him.

Had to.

“I sold her to a warlock,” I said, the confession tumbling out. “For experiments. I had no idea she was pregnant. But she was, and that child escaped from him somehow. Ended up at Silvercreek as the mistress of our daughter’s husband.”

I started laughing.

The sound bubbled up from somewhere deep and broken inside me, high and wild.

“What are the odds?” I gasped between peals of laughter. “It is almost like some divine being is having fun with us. Like we are all just pieces on a board for someone’s entertainment.”

Marcus stared at me with pure horror.

“Do not look at me like that, baby.” I reached for his face, but he jerked away. “This is a monster you made. You created me. Every choice, every betrayal, every terrible thing I became started with loving you.”

His expression shifted. Understanding dawned across his features.

“Fleshcraft?” The word came out strangled. “You did fleshcraft with my blood?”

I grabbed for his hand, my fingers wrapping around his wrist.

“I am sorry.” The tears came faster now. “Like I said… I did not know she had your child. If I had known—”

“Would that have changed the decision you made?”

The question hung between us.

He leaned closer, his eyes burning into mine.

“Do not lie to me. You know I will know.”

My throat worked. The truth sat heavy on my tongue.

“Then stop asking difficult questions.” My voice came out small. “You know they would have been threats to my children. To everything we built.”

“She is a girl.” His voice rose. “She does not stand to inherit much when we have a male heir. When you have a male child.”

“It is not enough!” I screamed back. “You men are insane. Nothing is ever enough. One girl leads to another. One threat becomes ten. I had to protect—”

“I cannot do this anymore.”

The quiet words cut through my tirade like a knife.

“We bring out the worst in each other,” he continued, stepping back. “This needs to end.”

What I felt from him through our bond made my blood run cold. Finality. Resolution. The feeling of a door closing.