Page 48 of The Omega's Secret Baby
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Traffic absolutely sucked that day. It took me almost an hour to get to my parent’s mansion after leaving the zoo. I found my mother and my sister sitting together in the downstairs living room, but no sight of my father.
“What happened?” I asked, coming in. I hadn’t even taken my shoes off.
My mother looked at me, but didn’t say anything. I’d never seen her so pale.
“It’s just as I told you on the phone,” my sister said, turning to me. Her face had lost its color as well, but she seemed to be having a better grip on things than our mother.
“Well, where is he? Did they take him to a hospital? Why aren’t we there?” What were we doing sitting around here? How could they take it?
My sister shook her head. “He’s not at the hospital.” Taking a deep breath, she stood and looked me in the eyes. “There’s nothing a hospital could do for him, Matt. He’s…”
It was like she couldn’t get herself to finish the sentence, but I got a good idea what she was trying to say. But that couldn’t be right. I’d walked past my father just this morning and he’d beenfine.
“No,” I said. “He’s not…”
My sister pressed her lips together so tightly the skin around her mouth went white. “It happened very quickly and very suddenly.”
I looked to my mother, but she had nothing to say. She just sat there, staring at her hands. Had she loved him after all? I couldn’t help but wonder. But even if she hadn’t, the two of them had been a couple for nearly thirty years. Losing him must have come as a shock to her, no matter whether he’d been the love of her life or not.
“She hasn’t said anything since they took him away,” my sister informed me. “Honestly, I’m not quite sure what to do, but I’ll stay here tonight. My husband’s watching the kid.”
“Thank you.” I tried not to sound surprised at her act of kindness, but didn’t quite manage.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she said. “I’m only doing what I have to do as member of this family. It’s my duty to see that all of us are taken care of while Mother is grieving and you… I hope you know what you have to do.”
WhatdidI have to do? My head felt heavy, and thoughts were slow to form and even harder to process. I’d just heard that my father was dead. I didn’t want to come across like a fool to my sister, but I was still in shock while she’d had at least a little time to come to terms with what had happened. Hell, she’d probably even had time toprepareherself for the possibility that this might happen, while I’d been left in the dark.
And I couldn’t help but wonder what I’d done differently if I’d known.
Would I have spent more time with old man?
My sister poked me in the chest. “Do you know what you have to do?”
I rubbed my face with the heel of my hand. “What do I have to do?”
“Go back to Boston and wrap up your business. Find someone to put in charge of the hotel there, because you’re moving back here. You have to take Father’s place.”
Really? I’d always thought we were competing for that. “Don’t you—”
“I don’t want the job,” she cut me off. “I’m happy with my life the way it is, thank you very much. What I want is for you to keep the company going so it’ll still be there when my son is old enough to take over.”
Sothatwas her endgame.
I took a deep breath. “I need a few minutes to myself,” I said, turning to leave the living room.
“Matt,” my sister stopped me. “Just please remember that this family doesn’t work unless each of us plays their part.”
My eyes wandered from her to our mother, who still sat shell-shocked. Suddenly, though, she returned my gaze. She didn’t open her mouth, but I felt like she was telling me something with her eyes.Please do as your sister says.
* * *
Ileftthe living room feeling like I’d kicked a blind puppy by not responding to either my sister’s words or my mother’s silent pleas. But I just couldn’t think about all this right then. My family expected me to jump right into action and be the strong leader I’d always been told I had to be—and I felt like I was letting them down by needing time to process first.
Was I just a total failure as an alpha?
I was certainly failing to fulfill my family’s expectations of me.
