“Is it madness to grab life by the throat? To not be satisfied and to look for change? To force it? To bend others to your will?”
“Do you listen to yourself? You kill people who disagree with you! Look at my friends! Alan and P.J. They did nothing to you and you had them murdered!”
“You will find, my dear, it was you who killed them. I gave you every opportunity to work with me, to choose the path of peace, but you didn’t. Their blood is on your hands.”
“You were going to take my son and breed me! How was I supposed to know what you were going to do?” Nicole said, her voice breaking just a tad.
“You had to learn the price of resistance. The choice is, was and always will be yours. Resist and face the inevitable consequences, or yield and live in reasonable comfort and happiness. There really is no other way. You have now seen the price to be paid. As you say, two strangers to me are dead. Imagine what Alicia and Talia will suffer should you continue your insolence. Rage. Storm. Curse. Shout. Do whatever your young mind wishes and you will pay a penalty each time. The choice is up to you.”
“Why don’t you just kill me?”
“As I said, your son is sick. This is your chance to be with him. My show of mercy. We are quits. I need him alive. You want to be a mother. Do not be foolish with your new age millennial garbage. Take the opportunity and shut up.”
They finally came to a steel door and it was here Nicole heard the cries of a child, her baby, behind it. Her breasts ached with heaviness thanks to the milk in them, her thighs burned from the torturous walk up, but all her thoughts were to bash the door down to get to her boy.
“I will give you time with him but it is my wish you accompany me when the heads of house get here in a week.”
“What for?”
“You do not see my vision. But you will. You have heard me talk about it but seeing is another thing. You are not the only one that does not share my view. I have invited any heads of state to come along and share their grievances without violence. There will be four Alphas there. You will hear their views, then mine. You will see how I conduct my affairs and then you will understand the world you and your son will live in.”
She opened the door, and Tynan let her through, not following. Nicole stood in a lavish room that could be a one bedroom apartment. There, in the middle of the room, sat a woman trying to settle the infant child with a bottle. The boy was crying, coughing and struggling for air. Nicole reached out with shaking hands. She was expecting a catch, something else she had to do, but the woman gladly handed him over. Nicole wrapped him in her arms and his crying slowed to a still. Eventually nothing. Nicole was the one now that couldn’t control her emotions, sinking to her knees and sobbing, finally holding him. He was real. He knew her. By her scent? Her touch? She wasn’t sure, but he quieted and knew he was safe in the arms of one woman that loved him. Her tears fell onto his tiny cheeks and her sobs shook him, but he remained calm, looking at her with a curious expression. She held him to her face and rocked him.
“He’ll be wanting a feed, miss,” the woman said. “You can try this but your milk is much better for him.”
Nicole didn’t pay her any attention, trying to calm herself down so she could get a good look at him. The bub started to wriggle as his bottom lip curled, crying a second later.
“I can show you how to do it, if you like…” she reached out for him and Nicole snapped.
“Fuck off! Go away!”
“But I was only trying to-”
“Leave us alone!” Nicole screeched over the cries, herself quivering with emotion, shielding her baby from the woman. Nicole was finally left alone to feed her baby, but the task proved more than difficult. Nicole stripped her top and positioned the nipple into his mouth but the infant was fussing too much to notice.
Chapter Nineteen
How The Mighty Have Fallen
Dante gazed down at the dancers and drinkers of T, his clients. The music thumped away but even with his enhanced hearing he didn’t register it.
“Come in,” he said.
The door to his office opened and shut with barely a sound. “Help yourself to a beverage, if you like,” he said, still with his back to the woman. He had spotted her and had Bison collect her. She was staggering on the dance floor, half spilling her cocktail. He could sense her trying to remain as upright as possible, fixing her ridiculously short and tight skirt.
“I don’t see any drinks…” she giggled.
Dante gave a huff. Jesus Christ. “The fridge has all you would need. Shall I prepare one for you?”
He turned around to find her sitting on his desk. Legs partially open, using the forefinger of one hand to flick over what she wanted Dante to see.
“I know why you brought me up here…” she said through another half giggle.
“Oh?” Dante replied, moving closer to her.
“Yeah…” she said, stretching her neck back. “Owner of a nightclub…bringing only one girl up to his private room. I’m down…”
She began undoing the buttons of his business shirt and ran her fingers over his stomach. “Oh…I’m definitely down.”
