“Perrie.”
“Perrie,” I amended, sucking in a deep, calming breath before continuing. “I apologize for the unceremonious, ah, upheaval of your wedding day. I’m sure you understand my reasoning.”
“Because you bought me?” she asked with a scoff, rolling her eyes.
“Because I bought you first, pet,” I corrected, watching her shoulders stiffen at the endearment.
She opened her mouth, probably to tear into me, but then her gaze shifted over to Rhodes again and she seemed to think better of it and sank further into her seat without saying anything else.
Only a smart girl would keep her mouth shut when it came to Rhodes McCreary. I wasn’t sure if it was her instincts telling her not to mess with my second or if she could recognize that he was dangerous, but it seemed that moment of fire had dimmed completely out of a sense of self preservation.
“So, what’s your plan? Kidnap me and imprison me until my father pays you the ten million dollars? Because let me tell you that’s not going to happen any time soon.”
I knew as much. Ethan Chandler may have been a conservative politician thanks to the help of various mob ties in the city, but the man had a way of flushing money down the toilet almost as soon as it was deposited into his accounts.
He’d been juggling the Italians, the Russians, the Japanese, and the Irish for over twenty years. The only person who didn’t fuck with him was Jifein Cheng and the Chinese which probably made her the smartest of us.
Forty years ago his father, Marcus Chandler, had done the same but by all accounts the elder Chandler had a good head on his shoulders. One that his son hadn’t seemed to have inherited. He never double-crossed on deals and he always fulfilled his promises.
Folding my hands in my lap, I offered her what I hoped was an unthreatening smile. “You will not be a prisoner at my estate, Perrie, you will be a guest, and eventually, you will be my wife.”
I needed an omega to solidify my place at the head of the Keane family. The Irish were a superstitious lot and my people, as Americanized as they were, hadn’t been able to shake that in the nearly one hundred and fifty years since they came to the new world by boat.
But it couldn’t be just any omega. I needed one that had no ties to other mafia families—I wouldn’t make that mistake again—but also one that understood the lifestyle. Not only that, I needed a woman that wouldn’t let the older generation of my family control her.
The Chandler family had been on the edges of the seedy underbelly of the city since its conception.
That made Perrie Chandler the perfect candidate. Willing or not.
And judging by the frown she was giving me, I was willing to bet it was the latter.
In the grand scheme of things, her approval didn’t matter. I’d gotten what I’d come for and she would eventually fall in line. I was Edison Keane and I was used to getting my way.
Right on cue, the car turned into the long drive of the Keane Estate, the armed guards standing at the electric gate nodding as we passed.
“Welcome to your new home,” I told her, ignoring her grimace.
I had my omega and now I just needed to figure out how to get her to cooperate with me and soon as the date of our own impending nuptials was fast approaching.
Three
Everything felt a bit numb as I sat in the pretty bedroom that they’d led me to upon our arrival and left me by myself.
Night had long since fallen outside, but I couldn’t force myself to get up and move, the events of the day overwhelming me as I stared at the beautiful french doors that led onto a balcony.
There were no bars on the windows, there was no guard outside of my door, but even as pretty as my new cage was, I knew it was still a cage.
I knew that if I was to run out onto the balcony, shimmy down the side of the house and make a run for it that there would be a half-dozen guards on my tail.
That was assuming I could even make it down to the ground without breaking my neck.
Not only that, my stamina still hadn’t quite returned after being sick and even running short distances made me wheeze so a climb down from the little tower I was in was most definitely not in my card.
The only kind of workout I could do these days was swimming—just like I’d done when I was in high school—and I still had noodle-limbs when I was done.
And even if I did make it out, where would I go? Back to Pack Ricci?
Just the thought of that made me realize that maybe my gilded cage wasn’t so bad. It had taken everything in me not to run screaming from the church earlier as the ceremony was taking place. I was wishing for anything to happen other than being married to them.
Not only did my omega instincts hate the way that they smelled, but it kept setting off little alarm bells in my head telling me that I did not want to be their omega. That they weren’t for me.
Then Edison Keane stood up and stopped the ceremony… but did all of that mean that my only other choice was to be Edison Keane’s omega?
The golden-eyed man hadn’t seemed to recognize me the way I had him. I did look completely different from my time in the children’s cancer ward. For one, my hair had grown back and I’d gained weight again. It was also dark that night, it made sense that he didn’t know who I was…
And yet I still felt a little bit disappointed by it.
Edison and Rhodes had made an impression on me four years ago, but it didn’t seem like I’d done the same for them.
Flopping back onto the bed, I shifted uncomfortably in the wedding dress I still wore. The boning of the corseted top was starting to chafe against my sides with every move I made and I was half-tempted just to take the whole damn thing off and wrap myself up in the bedspread. But even as I thought about it, I knew I’d rather be buried in this damned dress rather than wait for someone to come while I was naked.
As I considered the pros and cons of meeting my fate head on and naked, I never got the chance to come to a decision because someone knocked on the door.
“Are you decent, dearie?” a woman’s voice asked before the door opened to reveal an older woman dressed in what looked like a gray housekeeper’s outfit. She had a pile of clothing over one arm and when she saw me she frowned. “Are you still in that dreadful thing, sweetheart? You can just dress down to your knickers, no one but me will come in here. Boss’s orders.”
My face warmed and I shook my head. “I can’t.”
