Addicted To Her The Alpha'S Irresistible Contract Mate novel Chapter 18

18 Chapter 18 The Blackmail and the Poison

My hands shook so badly I could barely hold the glass of water the bartender had slid in front of me. O

He leaned back in the booth, swirling amber liquid in a crystal tumbler.

“Relax, little bird,” he said, voice smooth as oil. “Your father is safe for now.”

The recording started again without warning. That broken, hoarse voice I hadn’t heard in eight years.

“Naomi… baby girl… I’m so sorry… please forgive me…” Then the wet, choking sobs, the sound of fists hitting flesh, a pained grunt cut short. My stomach lurched. I pressed both hands over my mouth to keep from screaming.

“Stop it,” I whispered. “Please stop.”

Darius tapped his phone and the sound died, leaving only the bar’s tinny music and my ragged breathing.

“He’s been running a long time,” Darius said conversationally. “Ever since he helped put Elias’s parents in the ground. Did you know that part? Your daddy was the accountant who cooked the books, funneled money to the rogues who pulled the trigger. Elias has been tearing the city apart looking for the culprit. Imagine his joy if I delivered the last loose end gift–wrapped.”

Tears burned my eyes. Dad had vanished when I was sixteen. I thought he was safe somewhere but I’d always known it was worse. I just never imagined… this.

“You’re lying” I said, but my voice cracked.

Darius’s smile was thin and sharp. “I don’t need to lie. I just need you to listen.” He reached into his jacket and slid a small glass vial across the scarred table. Clear liquid caught the neon light like liquid starlight.

“I’m giving you one month, Naomi. You have to put this in Elias’s coffee, his whiskey, his fucking orange juice I don’t care. But he must die quietly in his sleep. Then you and your father can walk free. New names, new city, enough money to disappear forever.”

I stared at the vial like it was a coiled cobra. “I won’t murder him! Have you gone insane! You’re really asking me to kill someone?”

11:36

124

<

18 Chapter 18 The Blackmail and the Poison

+126

“You already tried to run,” Darius said softly. “Three times this month alone. Adrian keeps dragging you back like a naughty kitten. How long before Elias loses patience and snaps your pretty neck? Or worse–decides to breed you until you stop fighting? You think that contract protects you? He’s rewriting it as we speak. Permanent mating bond. No escape clause.”

My lungs forgot how to work.

Darius leaned forward, elbows on the table. “I know everything, Naomi. I know you let him knot you during your heat just to buy time. But I’m offering you a way out. One death for two lives. Your father’s. And yours.”

“He’s not a monster,” I said, barely audible. “Not… completely”

Darius laughed, low and ugly. “Tell that to the omega he kept in his basement for six months. Or the one before her who tried to stab him with a letter opener. They found pieces of her in three different rivers.” He tapped the vial. “This is mercy, Naomi. For everyone.”

I wrapped my arms around myself, shaking. Dad’s sobs echoed in my head, over and over. The way he’d called me baby girl like I was still eight years old and he was tucking me in. The way he’d promised he’d come home soon. Three years of silence, and now

this.

“What happens if I say no?” I asked.

Darius’s eyes went flat. “Tomorrow morning, your father takes a little ride. Straight to Elias’s front door with a bow on his head and every document proving what he did. Elias won’t kill him quickly. You know that. He’ll take weeks. Maybe months. And he’ll make you watch every second because you’re his mate now. He’ll want you to understand what happens to people who betray him.”

I closed my eyes. I could still feel Elias’s teeth on my neck from last night, the claiming bite that hadn’t fully healed because I kept picking at it when he wasn’t looking. The way he’d whispered mine while I bled and came apart beneath him. Hate and want twisted together so tightly I couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began.

“One month,” Darius repeated. “Thirty days to save the only family you have left. Or you can keep playing house with the devil who’s going to burn you both alive.”

My fingers moved without permission, closing around the vial. It was warm from his hand. Or maybe that was mine. I slipped it into my pocket, the glass pressing cold

11:36

2/4

18 Chapter 18 The Blackmail and the Poison

against my thigh through the fabric.

“I hate you,” I said.

Darius smiled like I’d complimented him. “Good. Use it. Hate is cleaner than guilt.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify