To ruin an Omega novel Chapter 379

Chapter 379: Ouroboros

ALDRIC

The silence dragged on, thick enough to feel.

Every eye in the hall settled on me, unblinking, expectant.

Cian sat rigid in his chair, his face drained of color. His hands clutched the armrests so tightly the tendons stood out, his knuckles stark and bloodless. He looked like he might snap if he moved.

Gabriel remained at the center of the hall, his chest rising and falling hard, as though the words he had just spoken had taken something out of him. The accusation still hung in the air, sharp and undeniable, meant to ruin me beyond repair.

And I had nothing to counter it.

Because it was true.

I had killed my brother.

I had arranged his death, dressed it up as an accident, and let rogues carry out the part no one could trace back to me. Involving the Alpha King had only made it cleaner and safer for me. It shifted attention and built a story that people accepted without question.

No one had looked deeper.

Until now.

Still, I was not about to let Gabriel have this.

Not here. Not like this.

I straightened, slow and deliberate, and let my gaze move across the room, meeting faces one by one.

Then I tapped my fingers lightly against my leg.

Three short. Three long. Three short.

That was the signal.

Pryce would catch it. The others would too. They had all agreed on what it meant.

It was time.

For a moment, nothing changed.

The silence held. No one moved.

Then Pryce rose to his feet.

The scrape of his chair against the stone floor cut through the room, loud and jarring. Heads turned toward him at once.

He slipped a hand inside his coat.

When it emerged, there was a gun in his grip.

The hall broke apart.

Voices rose into screams. Chairs dragged harshly across the floor. People lurched back, pushing away from him, from the sudden threat that had taken shape in the center of the room.

Pryce lifted the gun and aimed it toward the gallery where Cian sat. Fia moved instantly, stepping in front of him, her body a shield. The sight of it made something twist in Cian’s expression, something sharp and almost repulsed, as he shifted himself back into the line of fire.

And then Pryce hesitated.

He didn’t fire.

Instead, he looked around.

His gaze moved across the hall, searching, waiting for movement, for anyone to rise with him.

No one did.

Not a single person.

The confusion came first, plain on his face. Then it sharpened into something closer to panic.

"What the fuck?" he said.

His voice carried, unsteady.

He turned slowly, scanning the room again, as if he had missed something the first time.

"What the fuck?" he repeated.

I felt my chest tighten.

My eyes swept the hall, faster now, searching for the others. The ones who were meant to stand. The ones who had sworn themselves to me. The ones who had taken what I offered and promised they would act when the moment came.

None of them moved.

They remained in their seats, hands folded, expressions carefully blank, as though they had never seen the signal, never heard it, never been part of anything at all.

Something cold settled deep in my stomach.

"Did you bastards not hear me?" I said.

The words came out louder than I intended, edged with something harder than control.

"Stand up and fight."

No one stood.

I turned toward them fully now, toward the faces I knew too well. The men and women who owed me, who had accepted my money, my favors, my silence, and given me their word in return.

"My nephew already knows there are more traitors in this room," I said. My voice rose despite myself. "Stand with me and fight, you spineless losers."

Still nothing.

Gabriel’s voice broke through the quiet.

"That was easy."

I looked at him.

He was smiling.

Not with triumph. Not with cruelty either. If I noticed anything, it was just a calm, steady certainty he had plastered on, as if this outcome had never been in doubt.

"The fear of using the Alpha King and getting away with it is the beginning of wisdom, is it not?" he said. His tone remained even. "No one will stand by you. I am sure they are that smart."

I stared at him.

Of course. My own sealed protection had come back to bite me hard. Gabriel’s mention about Cian’s father’s death would lead to questions and a reopening of the case at an international level. If the Alpha King realized he had been manipulated by me and given an unjust verdict. Heads would roll.

So the backstabbing was actually a smart move. They had chosen survival over loyalty.

But it was at my own expense. And I could not have that. I felt my hands curl into fists.

Gabriel stepped closer.

"No one is coming for you, Aldric," he said quietly. "You are alone."

I turned back to him.

"You bastard."

He gave a small shrug.

"Nothing personal."

A strangled sound came from Pryce.

I looked over. He was still on his feet, the gun hanging in his hand, but his arm trembled now. The color had drained from his face, leaving him ashen.

"Fuck," he muttered. "Fuck. I fucked up. Please, spare my family, Alpha Cian. They did not know. They had no idea."

He turned the gun.

The movement was slow and deliberate.

He raised it to his head and pressed the barrel against his temple.

"Pryce, no—"

The shot cut me off.

It cracked through the hall, deafening the whole space. Even the echo clung to the air long after the sound itself should have died.

Pryce’s body gave out beneath him.

He dropped hard to the floor. Blood spread beneath him at once, dark and quick, seeping across the stone.

I cannot lose now.

I cannot. I cannot. I cannot.

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