The Omega had been gone for two weeks and the entire place was a mess. Dirty. Uncared for.
Take-out food boxes, beer bottles, and laundry littered the living room and the rest of the house. Garbage continued to multiply in the kitchen. The entire place stank.
His father refused to loan out his staff to clean Steve’s town house. Hell, his old man refused to lend him any help at all. Steve needed to cough up his own funds to hire private investigators.
Fuck this. Steve went on a rampage. He broke his favorite lamp, slashed at the paintings on the walls.
Every single thing in this house was chosen and purchased with care by him. The old him would’ve been appalled at what he was doing but something had snapped inside him tonight.
It didn’t matter.
Material goods could be replaced. Any Omega would’ve been lucky to have him. Steve had been more than generous. Steve had given Eli a nice house and expensive things.
Hell, Eli didn’t have to work a single day in his entire life. He didn’t even understand why Eli would want to leave the safety of their home.
Other Omegas born in less than desirable circumstances would kill to have Eli’s place. How did the conniving little shit pay him back?
Eli ran away, knowing he’d put Steve in this kind of embarrassing situation. All the Omega had to do was get pregnant and give Steve an heir. Was that so hard to do?
The numerous private investigators he sent out had had zero luck so luck. How was that even possible?Steve would be immediately be notified by his bank if Eli used one of his credit cards. Too bad Eli had been careful not to leave a trace.
Who knew the Omega could be so crafty? Maybe the little snake had been planning this for a while. Perhaps Eli had extra help. That could explain it although Steve didn’t realize Eli had any friends.
Steve had already torn the townhouse apart, looking for clues. He ended up back in the living room, silently cursing Eli for ruining his fucking life.
Eli had been spoiled rotten. Once Eli was returned to him, Steve would shackle him to the house. He’d keep Eli a prisoner. Steve would even hire a bodyguard to make sure nothing like this would ever happen again.
Then he’d seed Eli and finally get him pregnant. Steve sat on the sofa and finally noticed the old desktop computer in the corner of the room. He had the entire townhouse searched but he hadn’t thought about turning the computer on.
Eli used that machine on occasion, he remembered. Steve got up and fired up the desktop. He needed a password. Steve received errors when he tried a bunch of combinations.
He clenched his jaw and tried again to no avail.Steve was tempted to destroy the damn machine but decided against it. He would take it to an expert tomorrow, someone who would be able to crack the password.
Steve wasn’t sure why, but he was now certain this computer held the answers he needed. Eli would taste the culmination of his wrath. Steve had endured nothing but humiliation and scorn since Eli’s departure.
For all he knew, the ungrateful Omega was relaxing on some exotic beach somewhere. Eli probably found another gullible Alpha to look after him.
Steve never figured Eli had any brains but he would never make the mistake of underestimating the Omega again. Once Eli was returned to him, there would be hell to pay.
11
Liam/ Eli
Liam
Liam had trouble focusing. He should be painting the wall in front of him. Logan glowering at him from the sidelines made it hard to accomplish his task.
“Remind me why we’re doing this again?” Logan demanded.
Liam ignored the aggressive waves of energy Logan was emitting. He applied a fresh coat of white paint over the dull grey wall. Logan watched him work for a couple of minutes, before letting out an impatient growl.
“Eli’s right. This place could some renovations,” he answered.
“Something breaks, we fix it. That’s all,” Logan said.
“It’s not enough.”
“Why should we bother? It’s not like we have any other guests staying over but your Omega.”
Logan hadn’t been too happy after Liam announced to his brothers that he officially mated Eli. Almost three weeks had passed since Eli had come to the lodge.
Hearing Eli’s laughter, mingling with Lucas’ voice in the dining area, made him pause from his work. His Omega was just the thing they needed to brighten this gloomy shit hole up.
Eli had started taking online courses in web design two weeks ago. Judging by the new website Eli created for the site, those lessons seemed to have paid off.
Unlike the clunky interface they had before, the new site looked modern, sleek, and professionally done. Eli was going to launch the site soon, and hopefully, it would draw more tourists. Liam told his brother all this. Logan didn’t look convinced.
“Changing our website isn’t going to change the town’s opinion of us,” Logan said, crossing his arms.
“Their opinion doesn’t matter,” Eli said, joining their conversation.
It seemed his Omega had taken a break from the computer to make them both sandwiches. How Eli was able to use that old piece of junk had surprised him.
Liam offered to replace that ancient PC but Eli stubbornly refused his generosity.Eli had started working on some freelance projects and told Liam he’d be able to buy his own laptop soon.
In a short amount of time, his stubborn and adorable Omega had managed to become self-sufficient. It wasn’t that long ago that Eli had doubts about himself. Eli came to the lodge, having no job experience under his belt.
Eli had lived to what practically amounted to a gilded cage his entire life but his Omega didn’t let that get him down. Eli developed new skills and found a job he liked doing.
“You’re a lifesaver,” he told his mate.
Liam neared Eli, kissed him on the mouth, and plucked a sandwich from
