“Sir, Miss Sarah wants to meet you,” Jane announced.

I didn’t even look up. “Tell her I’m busy.”

“Why don’t you tell me that yourself?” came the familiar voice from the doorway.

Sarah walked in like she owned the damn place. 

Long wavy brown hair, sharp black eyes, a body that turned heads, and a face that could launch ten advertising campaigns at once. She was every man’s dream, except mine. And for the life of me, I couldn’t understand why that still wasn’t enough for her.

“Get out,” I snapped.

“How rude,” she tutted, ignoring me and waltzing right in. “How can you be busy with just one project?”

“This project isn’t the only responsibility I have,” I replied, barely containing my irritation.

“I can help,” she offered, flashing her flawless smile. “I’m not bad with business, you know.”

“I don’t share confidential matters with strangers,” I said flatly, stressing the word.

“I’m your fiancée.”

“Was. I broke off that engagement, Sarah. We have nothing to do with each other anymore.”

“Ouch,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Still such a charmer.”

I was about to bite back when the phone on my desk rang, cutting through the tension. I picked it up, glad for the distraction.

It was my personal guard, the one I’d assigned to keep quiet tabs on Tony and Twen. 

Yeah, I know, call it what it is: stalking, or pathetic even. 

But after five years of searching, of living with the weight of everything I’d done, I couldn’t risk losing them again. I told the guard to stay in the background, not to interfere with their personal lives, unless there was danger. 

That was the deal.

But the moment I heard they had packed their bags and left, my pulse spiked.

“Where?” I asked, holding the receiver a little tighter.

“La Costa Beach,” he said.

My gut dropped. That was practically the outskirts. 

Were they really leaving for good?

I nearly lost it. Just the idea that they were slipping away without a word made my chest feel like it was caving in.

“They came to meet an acquaintance,” he continued.

I frowned. “Who?”

Tony wasn’t the social type. He had a few close people: Samuel, Tanya, and Jenny in Warham. Back in Guyana City, it was Kendrick, the old store manager, Pastor Ellis from the church, and Priya, his old warden. 

Beyond that, nothing. 

His family had tossed him out like garbage. I’ll never forget the day I saw his father call him a sl*t in the middle of the street. All because Tony tried to see his younger siblings, both Betas. That man humiliated him without remorse. 

I'd never seen such cruelty. 

My own father’s disdain for Omegas had been bad enough, always seeing them as gold-diggers, but at least he hurt them, not me. But Tony’s father wrecked his own son.

That day, Tony cried into my shirt for hours. I’d been too naive to comfort him properly, but I stayed. And now, thinking about it, I have done worse. I had become the very thing I swore I hated.

“I’ll send you pictures,” the guard said before hanging up.

Moments later, my phone buzzed. I opened the message.

The first photo showed Tony, smiling, in the arms of some ginger-haired, tanned giant of a man. I scrolled through more images. The guy was with Twen, too. They were both laughing over sandwiches and juice like some happy little family.

Then came the one that made my stomach twist: the man looking at Tony like he was his whole godd*mn universe.

I felt my grip tighten on the phone. My vision blurred from the flood of thoughts storming my head.

Who the f*ck is this guy?

Why does Tony look so relaxed?

How does he even know him?

“Who’s that?”

I jolted. 

It was Sarah. I’d forgotten she was still here.

“None of your business,” I muttered, putting the phone down.

She gave me a skeptical look. “You’re acting like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I said it’s nothing. Now leave.”

But she didn’t move. “You’re hiding something. Who was that man? Why do you have a picture of him?”

I looked up and met her stare with ice. “Get. Out.”

Her jaw clenched. She turned sharply on her heel and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

But I wasn’t thinking about her anymore.

All I could see was that man’s arm around Tony. 

And for the first time in years, the idea that he might not need me anymore, that someone else could give him the peace I destroyed, made me feel like I was drowning in my own mistakes.