To ruin an Omega novel Chapter 418

Chapter 418: Daylight

PAULINE

The silence was shattered the moment I spoke.

"Yes."

The word left my mouth before I could reconsider it, small and sharp, cutting through the thick air between us.

Marcus went completely still.

I watched something shift in his expression, something dark and terrible settling into the lines of his face. He had expected me to deny it. To twist and manipulate my way out of this, the way I always had.

But there was no way out.

Not this time.

"I was responsible for Athena disappearing," I continued, forcing the words past the tightness in my throat. "You know exactly why I did it."

His jaw clenched.

"Say it."

"She was going to take everything from me." My voice shook despite my efforts to steady it. "My position. My influence. Everything I had worked for. I could not allow that to happen."

"So you sold her."

The accusation hung between us, brutal and unforgiving.

I felt tears prick at the corners of my eyes, hot and unwelcome. I hated the weakness of them, hated that they came now when I needed to be strong.

"If anything," I said, my voice breaking, "it is your fault."

The tears spilled over, trailing down my cheeks in hot streams that I could not stop.

"You made me do this. You and your wandering eyes and your complete inability to keep your hands to yourself. You created this situation."

Marcus stared at me with nothing but cold apathy.

No sympathy. No understanding. Nothing.

"What about the Luna of Skollrend?" he asked, his voice flat. "How does she fit into any of this?"

"I do not know." I wiped at my face with the back of my hand, smearing dirt across my cheek. "I do not know."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"It is common sense!" I snapped. "If that girl were Athena, she would be our age right now. Not some young thing walking around as Luna of Skollrend. The timeline does not make any sense."

He reached for the contract on his desk, holding it up between us.

"This contract implies you did something with her," he said slowly. "I know you sold her. But to what? For what?"

My throat closed.

"Pauline."

The sound of my actual name in his mouth sent a chill down my spine.

"What did you do?"

I swallowed hard, tasting bile.

"I sold her to be a sex slave."

The room exploded into motion.

Marcus moved so fast I barely had time to register it. One moment, he stood not too far from his desk, the next, he was on me, his hand raised, his face twisted with rage so pure it stole the breath from my lungs. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

I flinched back, my hands coming up instinctively to shield my face.

He stopped at the last second. Literally.

His hand froze in the air, trembling with the effort of restraint, his breathing harsh and ragged.

"Would you hit me, Dimitri?" I asked, my voice dripping with venom despite the fear coursing through me. "Would you really? It is what you practically made her after all. A sex slave for your pleasure."

"Her family defected from this pack because of what you did."

"I would not have had to make a move if you were not the way you were!" I shouted, the words tearing out of me. "If you kept it in your pants. If you showed even the slightest bit of restraint."

I took a shuddering breath.

"You think I enjoy it?" I continued, my voice raw. "Hurting and breaking these women to show an example to the others? Ensuring no one dreams too big? You think that brings me pleasure?"

"If this marriage does not serve you anymore," Marcus said quietly, lowering his hand, "you are allowed to leave it."

"I chose this union!" The tears came harder now, hot and angry. "I fought for it. I sacrificed everything for it. My family. My freedom. My dignity. No one will touch my hard work. Not in a million years."

He stepped back, putting distance between us.

"I want to meet Athena," he said. "Give me the name of who you sold her to."

My mind raced, searching desperately for a way out.

"I am afraid that will not be possible."

"Why not?"

"Athena is dead."

It was the truth. But it was covered in a big fat lie, and that lie felt heavy on my tongue, but I forced it out anyway.

Marcus went very still. Then he laughed.

It was not a sound of amusement. It was dark and humorless, scraping against the walls of the study like something broken.

"Dead," he repeated. "How convenient."

"It is the truth."

"The name, Pauline."

I hesitated, my thoughts spinning. I could not give him the real name. Could not let him trace the threads back to what I had truly done, to the people I had truly involved.

"Give me the name of who you sold her to."

"I am thinking—"

"Thinking of a lie?"

I straightened my shoulders, meeting his gaze head-on.

"No," I said clearly. "I am thinking because I just cannot tell you that information."

The slap came so fast I did not see it coming.

"Marcus, please! Dimitri, please!"

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