I took the rest of the week off, which marked the first time I’d voluntarily been away from the office for more than twelve hours other than my father’s funeral. I couldn’t bring myself to look into the eyes of the people who’d betrayed me without a second thought, and I didn’t trust myself to keep my irritation to myself. It wasn’t my employees’ fault that everything was changing, and I knew that I had to get my shit together by Monday morning, if only for their sakes.

Sometimes I told myself that my father’s legacy was the only thing keeping me tethered to the company, but in times like this, I knew better. There were hundreds of people who depended on me, and they needed one thing to remain consistent. No matter what Reece was saying now, I knew he’d go back on his promises eventually and it was my job to make sure that the transition was as easy on my employees as possible. If he thought he could just lay off my people and replace them with his own, he had another thing coming.

Maybe Stover Electronics was no longer my father’s company in spirit, and it probably wouldn’t be in name for much longer, but I wasn’t going to let Roman Enterprises gut us without a fight. Dad always had said that our people were the heart and soul of the company. I owed it to them to stay and fight, no matter how much I was dreading showing up for work on Monday morning.

Sunday night, I slept as fitfully as I usually did before a rough meeting or a quarterly report I knew wasn’t going to be pleasant. It was a luxury to dream about something as trivial as getting fired or walking into a boardroom meeting to find that everyone had turned against me, which could hardly be called a nightmare anymore, since it had actually happened. That night, I wasn’t so lucky.

* * *

Sophomore year had felt like punishment without an end. A summer job was hardly most teenagers’ idea of freedom, but the factory had been my sanctuary. It was there that I had learned the inner workings of our company, from the assembly line to the corporate offices, and that summer, I fell in love with my father’s dream.

A dream was a much safer thing to love than an Alpha. If a dream failed, it would break your heart, but you could always replace it with another. No matter how I tried to forget him, or to replace him with another equally unattainable crush, there was no escaping the hold Reece still had on my fractured heart.

That year, I’d learned that ambition was an acceptable substitute for desire, and I threw myself into it wholeheartedly. There had been another Alpha who worked at the factory who’d showed an interest, but my heart was still freshly broken and each day that brought me closer to the fall semester was a fresh reminder that it would be broken all over again when I returned to the real world.

Sometimes I wished I’d said yes when he’d asked me to go fishing with him out on the lake. Maybe then things would have gone differently. Maybe I would have deleted that text from Reece the first week back rather than sending a reply.

Maybe, but I doubted it. Those eight simple words had changed my world forever. They marked the end of my innocence, and the beginning of the hell that made me realize everything up to that point had just been purgatory.

Meet me after school in the music room.

More than a decade later, I still didn’t know if he’d chosen the place that had once been my sanctuary just to hurt me or simply by chance. Either way, I hadn’t picked up a guitar since.

The first week back had been far from an after school special, but the summer had given most people something to talk about other than my rumored obsession with Reece. He’d even acknowledged my existence when we were paired up for an assignment during social studies. While he’d been cold and kept a safe distance between us, as if I might somehow get my gay germs on him, he hadn’t been as cruel as he was in our second year and the others seemed willing to follow his lead.

For the first time, I actually had hope that I would be able to pass the remainder of my high school career in the same quiet obscurity it had started with. The moment I opened the music room door to find Drew standing there instead of Reece, I’d realized that hope was an even bigger crock of shit than love.

Before I could back out of the room, he slammed me up against the door and wrapped his hand around my throat. When I tried to scream, his hand clamped over my mouth and in his eyes, I saw everything that was about to happen. Everything that would linger in my mind and haunt my dreams for the next fourteen years, memories that four different therapists and three different psychiatric medications couldn’t dislodge entirely, even though I knew treatment was the only thing that had gotten me through college.

“You think you’re good enough for Reece?” I could still hear Drew’s voice, rough with hatred even I hadn’t thought him capable of. I struggled with all my might, but it was no contest and that was the day I learned that you were only as safe as you were strong. “You wanna act like a ruthouse slut, fine. By the time I’m done with you, no one’s ever going to want you. Especially not him.”

I stumbled home that night on autopilot, only partially aware of where I was going. I still couldn’t remember how I got past my parents, or how long I’d stayed in the shower with my clothes on, rocking myself and trying desperately to avoid waking anyone in the next room with my sobs.

For days, I fought with myself on whether to go to the police or not. It was a small town and the fact that Drew’s dad and the deputy were golfing buddies was only part of the problem. I knew they’d tell my parents, and I knew the moment my dad found out what had happened, there would be no court of justice. Drew would meet his judge, jury and executioner on the same day.

When my parents finally sent Brayden up to my room to check on me the fourth day I insisted I was too sick to go to school without any visible signs of illness, his words only confirmed my suspicion. I could tell he knew something was going on from the look in his eyes, and when he asked me what was wrong, the floodgates were unleashed. It was the first and last time he’d ever hugged me and he muttered something about killing Drew himself. When I asked him if I should go to the police, his answer was far less certain.

“You know what dad’s gonna do,” he warned me, a look of fear in his eyes. “He’ll kill Drew and we’ll lose everything. The house, the company, him. Everything he’s worked to build, and the police probably still won’t do anything.”

His words echoed my own fears and back then, I took it as a sign. A warning not to rock the boat. When I finally returned to school, the physical threats tapered off, but I’d learned my lesson. Speak up and bad things will happen. Stay quiet and fade into the walls and you have a shot at surviving.

And survive I did. Nothing more, nothing less. For most people, walking across that graduation stage marked the beginning of adult life, but for me, it was the end of a prison sentence. I only applied to colleges on the other side of the country, and while I was sure that decision hurt my parents, especially since they had no way of knowing why their “quirky” son had shut down to human maintenance mode for the last two years, but they accepted it.

I’d spent the next four years trying to fix myself, and while I never completely succeeded, I managed to do the next best thing, which was changing so much that I no longer recognized the man in the mirror. I built my body while my professors molded my mind, I went to therapy, I took self defense classes, I bought a gun and learned how to shoot it, I took classes the Alphas dominated, and I started dating the omegas they craved. I never let anyone close enough to hurt me again, and I never gave a second glance at anyone I thought I might actually come to love, if given the time and opportunity, but I faked it well enough to fool myself sometimes. Becoming the exact opposite of what most Alphas seemed to want didn’t do as much to deter their attention as I’d hoped, but I learned that a sharp tongue and a hard heart went a long way.

Eventually, I could be touched without feeling like I was going to vomit, even if it was only by other omegas. I started having the nightmares once or twice a month rather than every few days, but the one thing I could never suppress as much as I wanted to was what Drew had said that night as he’d left me broken on the floor.

“Remember, it’s your word against ours if you tell anyone.”

One word had cut me to my core. My heart was a wound and there was nothing left aside from the pain. Ours…

The unspoken question had made it through to him loud and clear. I could still see him smirking sometimes when I closed my eyes. “How do you think I got his phone? He told me he was tired of being stalked by a freak, and said I’d take care of it.”

I still wasn’t sure if Reece had known then just how his friend had chosen to “take care” of his imaginary problem, and part of me didn’t want to. It didn’t matter. Whether he’d sent Drew to intimidate me through violence or the humiliation that had scooped out every part of myself that I recognized and left me hollow—still hollow, even if the shell had long since healed around the emptiness—I decided it didn’t really matter. It hadn’t been enough to make me stop loving him, even if I hated him just as much.

* * *

I woke less rested than I had been when I went to sleep, which was really nothing new. I popped a couple of prescription stimulants and downed a cup of coffee before heading to the office building a few blocks away. I was starting to regret not eating something to settle my stomach, but it was going to be a day from hell anyway. What was a little indigestion added to the mix?

By the time I saw the crowd gathered around the water cooler, I knew Reece had already arrived ahead of me. He was surrounded by my engineers and HR reps as they peppered him with questions and gawked like some supermodel had just walked into the office.

I tried not to roll my eyes. The novelty of his good looks and charm wore off fast, but they didn’t know him like I did. He’d gotten good at pretending, I’d give him that.

“Ellis,” he said, lighting up like a Christmas tree when he saw me. “You didn’t tell me your staff was this friendly.”

“They’re not. They are, however, fast approaching a deadline, which begs the question of what they’re all doing out here instead of at their desks.”

The halfhearted grumbling as they all shuffled back to their desks was something I had learned to live with. I’d learned early on that an omega boss could either be firm and hated or lax and disrespected. There was no third option or combination thereof, and I could live with not being anyone’s favorite as long as it meant we all had jobs to come back to next quarter.

“I didn’t mean to cause a distraction,” said Reece.

“You’re a Roman. Are you really capable of going out in public and doing anything else?” I challenged, motioning for him to follow me down the row of cubicles. “This is the bullpen. On that side, you have the engineers. HR’s in the corner, and executive-level customer service is over there.”

“I thought they said customer service was downstairs.”

“We started segregating our enterprise clients from the general product lines last year,” I explained, calling the elevator. “It’s more efficient than training everyone for what are essentially two completely different jobs.”

“That’s an interesting idea,” he mused. “I might have to give that a try at another company I’ve been having issues with.”

“Be my guest.” The doors slid open and I stepped out on the next floor. “The cafeteria is down there to the left, right next to the gym and the employee daycare.”

“Do you mind if we stop there for a moment? I’d like to talk to the teacher about bringing Anika while I’m here.”

“Follow me,” I said, leading him over to the only door covered in brightly colored paintings rather than the silver plaques that designated every other office. I folded my arms and leaned against the wall, waiting for him to go in until I realized he was waiting for me.

“You’re not going to come in?”

“I’m not a kid person.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “They’re children, not piranhas.”

“Same difference.”

Reece rolled his eyes and as soon as he opened the door, the hallway was filled with screams and shrieks like some sugar-fueled ring of hell. I heard the daycare supervisor’s exclamation of surprise as she introduced herself, and it was my turn to roll my eyes. If this was the way every omega on my staff reacted to him, I was never going to be rid of the guy.

He emerged with an information packet and a few animal stickers dotting his jacket a few minutes later. “Thanks for waiting. I figure as long as I’m here, it’ll be easier than dropping her off to stay with my brothers’ mates, and I can check in throughout the day.”

I held my tongue even though I wanted to tell him that he should just consider being a stay-at-home dad and save us both the trouble. “Yes. Laura and her helpers came highly recommended. Ready to see the factory?”

He followed me out of the building and across the street to the one-level plant. “Is this where you manufacture all the components?”

“No, it’s about eighty percent. We have another branch across town since it’s closer to our western distribution center, so they handle the international shipments.”

“Doesn’t that cost more in rental space?”

“It would, but we share the space with another plant that makes laptops. In exchange for a discount on parts they were buying from another company before, we get the space for almost nothing.”

“And you arranged that?”

As much as I wanted to read condescension into his tone, I could tell he was genuinely curious. “Two years ago, when I became acting President of Operations.”

“Is that your official job title?”

“According to my business cards it is.”

“What about your brothers? What do they do?”

“Brayden’s the President of General Distribution and Patrick is the President of Customer Relations.”

“That sounds like three different titles doing the same job.”

“See? You’re catching on already,” I scoffed, coming to a stop in front of the side entrance. I grabbed a face mask and goggles before handing him a set. “Put these on. We won’t be going onto the floor itself, but it’s better to be safe than sorry around the soldering area.”

“Got it,” he said, donning the protective gear. It wasn’t entirely necessary, but it was worth it to see Reece Roman looking ridiculous for once.

“This is it,” I said, looking out over the neatly arranged workstations. I spotted my foreman across the room and waved him over. “Kaden, I’d like you to meet the new owner of the company. Reece, this is Kaden. He’s been with the company since it was still part of my dad’s garage.”

The older man looked Reece up and down before shaking his hand. Even though half his face was covered, I could tell he was scowling. “So you’re the son of a bitch that’s taking over, huh?”

Reece laughed awkwardly. “That would be me.”

“Kaden,” I mumbled halfheartedly, even though that was pretty much what we’d talked about over beer the other night.

“It’s fine,” said Reece. “I understand that it’s going to take a while for everyone to adjust, but rest assured, I have no intention of getting in the way of Ellis doing his job. It’s obvious that what he’s doing is working.”

“He’s a damn good boss, unlike those other ‘presidents,’” Kaden scoffed. I gave him a look and he said, “Sorry kid, but I’m still convinced the other two are adopted. They sure didn’t get your daddy’s genes.”

“There will be some restructuring,” Reece said carefully. “But Brayden and Patrick are both stepping down to focus on other things and Ellis and I have a lot to discuss about him taking over as the sole CEO.”

I tried my best to hide my surprise, relieved that Kaden had no such ability. “Good,” he said, giving my shoulder a friendly shake. “He’s a good boy, this one. Not just at work, either. You know when my Lisa was sick, he paid off the hospital bills and came over every day to see her?”

“No, but that doesn’t surprise me,” said Reece.

“Kaden,” I groaned. “He already bought the company, you don’t need to sell him on me.”

“Got a mouth on him, though,” he said, clicking his tongue. “Probably why he’s still single with a face like that.”

I pressed my lips into a line and glared daggers at Kaden, then at Reece for grinning. “Okay, that’s enough of the factory,” I said, tossing my mask in the trash before I opened the door.

“Good to meet you, Mr. Roman. Ellie, Lisa wants you to come to dinner sometime this week.”

“I’ll call her,” I promised, never more relieved than I was to make it outside.

Reece chuckled. “Your employees seem very fond of you.”

“Some a little too fond, if you ask me. Comes with the territory of being the boss’ kid turned boss.”

“Yeah, I know how that is,” he said with a sigh.

“I guess you would.” At one point, I’d viewed the strange similarities between our lives as a sign that we were meant to be together. Now, it just seemed like a cruel joke.

“It’s getting late,” Reece said, glancing at his watch. “I heard there’s a decent sandwich shop across the street. Care to join me for lunch?”

I would have said no if he wasn’t my boss, and I was still considering it when he took my arm and started pulling me toward the crosswalk. “Come on, it won’t kill you to take a break.”

I pulled away, smoothing down my sleeve. “Don’t touch me.”

He frowned and I realized my words had come out a lot harder than I’d intended. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“It’s fine,” I said, pressing the button on the crosswalk post again. As soon as the walk sign lit up, I strode across the street without waiting to see if he was with me.

Once we were seated at a table by the shop window with two Reubens in front of us, he asked, “Did your car end up being okay?”

“I’m sure my neighbors weren’t thrilled with me for hosing down the tires in the parking lot, but it’s fine.”

“It’s nice. It’s an ’87, right?”

“And here I thought you only knew football.”

He grinned. “I’m a man of many stereotypical interests.”

I snorted, which was as close to a laugh as I was ever giving him unless it was at his expense. “So, any questions about the company so far?”

“I did have one actually, about the factory. I noticed you’re still manufacturing the LEDs for the hand-held units. Wouldn’t it be more cost-effective to just have them shipped in from somewhere else? The profits off of them can’t be worth the cost of the molds and materials.”

I stopped eating and took a second to swallow. “The only places that sell them cheaper than we can make them are overseas, and I’m not interested in another quality control issue.”

“I can definitely understand that, but international manufacturing standards have changed a lot in recent years. I could put you in contact with our manufacturer in China. We’ve never had an issue, and if we combine shipments, the cost will be even cheaper.”

“Fine,” I said once I’d run out of excuses. If I was being honest with myself, it wasn’t a half-bad idea and it would probably cut our manufacturing costs by a solid two percent with little downside.

“I’ll leave it up to you,” he said carefully. “If you’d rather not —“

“No, you’re right. Just because something’s always been done a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the right way.”

Reece fell silent and leaned over the table, deep in thought. “Something tells me this is about more than the LEDs. I know you’re not happy about any of this, but I’m not here to tell you how to do your job, just to make it easier. There’s a lot that works about this company, and you’re at the very top of the list.”

Coming from anyone else, that would have been high praise. From Reece Roman’s lips, it was just static. “Thanks. Means a lot.”

He frowned, watching me closely. “I mean it. If there’s anything you need, anything that you haven’t had access to in the past or couldn’t get past your brothers, I want to make it happen.”

I looked up at him, deciding to test him on that offer. “There is one thing.”

“Name it.”

“Don’t change the company’s name.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “That’s it? That’s all you want?”

“That’s all I want,” I said firmly. “That and your word that there aren’t going to be layoffs.”

He hesitated. “That one’s a bit more complicated. I can’t make any promises until our auditor comes back with a full report.”

“You said anything,” I reminded him.

“I did, didn’t I?” he muttered, running a hand through his shaggy brown hair. “You couldn’t have asked for a raise.”

“Nope.”

He sighed. “Fine. Barring any findings of egregious incompetency, I give you my word that there won’t be any wide-scale layoffs or personnel changes.”

Now it was my turn to be surprised. “Thank you. My employees have been nervous ever since rumors started circulating about the buyout, so that’ll make it easier to get them back on track.”

“You care a lot about them,” he murmured.

“Of course I do. Why does that come as a surprise?”

He shrugged. “You were just a little harsh with them earlier.”

“I’m their boss, not their friend. You need your friends to laugh and goof off with you, but all you need from your boss is job security and recognition for your accomplishments.”

“I guess we just have different management styles, that’s all.”

I snorted into my soda.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.”

He gave me a look. “I’m asking as a friend, not a boss.”

“We’re not friends,” I reminded him. “As for what’s so funny, you have the luxury of being a friend and a boss because you’re an Alpha. I don’t.”

“I get it. I mean, I don’t get it because I’m not an omega, but I know the shit my brothers-in-law went through in their careers,” he clarified. “But you’re not really like most omegas. You’re not…you know, fragile.”

I stifled another laugh. Were they all really this clueless? “I was once. Didn’t work out, so I got tough. Doesn’t mean that if I let my guard drop for a second, they’d see me the same way.”

Reece’s eyes filled with pity, which was a hell of a lot worse than the indifference I’d always found in them. “That sounds like a hard way to live, always waiting for the people around you to turn and stab you in the back.”

I clenched my jaw and tried to focus my breath to quell the fury rising up in my core. Either he had managed to compartmentalize and detach himself from his past crimes to the point of psychopathy or he really didn’t have a fucking clue. I wasn’t sure which was worse. “You get used to it. First time’s always the worse.”

His frown lines deepened. Maybe it was the stress of running multiple companies, the death of his wife, the struggle of being a single father, or the combination of all three, but he looked older than his thirty-two years. Softer, somehow. The change suited him. “Can I ask you a question?”

“That depends,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “Is it a boss question or a not-friend question?”

“The latter,” he admitted.

I bit the inside of my cheek and looked out the window. “Go ahead.”

“What did Drew Richards do to you? Beyond the pranks and the bullshit in the halls.”

“That wasn’t enough?”

“That’s not what I meant.” His voice softened. “I know you don’t want me to apologize, but I at least need to know what I have to blame myself for.”

I searched his face, praying, pleading for a sign that he was lying. That he was just manipulating me for some purpose beyond my ability to guess. I would have taken anything other than the slowly encroaching realization that he just really didn’t have a fucking clue.

The moment I felt the tears stinging my eyes, I knew I had to get out. I hadn’t let myself shed a tear since It had happened. Not even at my father’s funeral. Somehow I knew that once I started, I wouldn’t be able to stop. Denial required two things: consistency and distraction. I wasn’t going to fall back into being that weak, simpering mess he’d left in the wake of his revenge, not after all these years. Certainly not because of him.

“There’s a meeting I forgot about,” I lied. It was an obvious excuse, but I didn’t care.

“Ellis,” he pleaded, standing.

I didn’t give him time to stop me. I left the shop and kept walking straight for the employee parking lot. I got into my car and I drove until I managed to put enough distance between myself and everything I’d been trying to keep in the rearview that I could no longer feel it welling up in my throat, threatening to spill out of every pore like lava.

I just had to get through this. I just had to outlast him. I’d done it once before, and I could do it again.