CHAPTER ONE – HATE ME

BRIAN

I kicked the study door open, not knocking. 

I simply gave no care in the world.

Whiskey still soured the back of my throat. My jacket hung off one shoulder, my hair a mess from hands that weren't mine a few hours ago. 

I dropped into the chair across from my father's desk, waiting for no invitation.

"You called. I came." 

My voice came out sharp, sanded down by cigarettes. 

"What do you want, Father?"

Elias didn't look up right away. He never did. He would rather make one wait in a chair until he squirmed.

I clenched my hands, my feet making tapping sounds loudly and impatiently. 

I knew my father detested such uncultured behaviour. Again, I didn't give a fucking care about that either.

Elias finally lifted his eyes, cold and flat. He slid a tablet across the desk, slowly with suppressed rage I could sense.

"Read."

I snatched it, my heart sinking as I scanned through it.

*HEIR OR WHORE?*

*KINGSFORD'S SON STRIPS IN UNDERGROUND CLUB*

*THE FALL OF THE KINGSFORD EMPIRE*

Photos were under every headline. 

Of me stripping on a stage, me stumbling out of a club, me with something white on my knuckle, me kissing strangers in dark corners.

I didn't remember half of it. I rarely did anymore.

I laughed. Hollow.

"You dragged me here for this? I've seen it. I don't give a shit."

I threw the tablet. 

It cracked against the wall, glass scattering across the floor. Elias didn't flinch. Two years of this and nothing rattled him anymore.

He rose, buttoning his jacket. "You will give a shit. Because if you don't stop destroying your life and my reputation…

"I'll have you committed. Mental institution. Surveillance. No phone. No car. No freedom."

My heart slammed against my ribs as my hands clenched into fists at my sides. Trapped.

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

The silence stretched thick. 

I wanted to lunge across the desk. Wanted to scream. Wanted everything, everyone to disappear.

I paced instead, my boots striking the floor, my hand dragging through my hair. 

The old nervous habit my mother used to still with her own hand, back when there had been a hand to still it.

"You can't lock me away. I'm not crazy. I'm just—"

"Just what?" 

Elias's voice never needed to rise. 

"Self-destructive? An Omega who can't accept what he is?"

The word hit like a slap. 

My scent spiked violently before I could stop it, flooding the room with honey and cinnamon. I knew my father could smell it.

I pressed down my loosening blocker patch on my nape, hidden by my high collar, until the adhesive bit. 

But my hands kept shaking. 

"I've always understood, Brian. Your mother is the reason we hid it this long. Omegas in our world are prey. And we knew you hated being one."

My mother. 

That name cracked something open in my chest that two years hadn't closed. 

"Don't," I said, voice splitting, my finger pointed at him.

"Don't talk about her. You don't ever deserve to mention her name!"

"You're right. I don't deserve to." 

Elias didn't look away. 

"But I'm still your father. And I'm still trying to save you. Whether you like it or not."

---

The door opened instantly. 

I looked up, and my breath caught in my throat, mid argument with Elias.

Every Omega instinct I'd spent years choking down woke, screaming one word: ‘Alpha.’ 

The man who walked in filled the doorway like he'd been built for it. 

Tall and built like a weapon. 

A faint scar traced the edge of his jaw. A leftover from a life I could only guess at. Didn't care to, anyway. 

His eyes swept the room once, missing nothing, and landed on me last. They stayed on me a beat too long.

I wasn't scared. That was the humiliating part because I was something worse than scared.

"Brian, this is Ace Duskmere." Elias's voice was flat. 

Final, like he was reading off a contract. 

"Your new bodyguard. He'll live in your penthouse and be with you 24/7. You'll obey him. You'll listen to him. And you'll stop destroying yourself."

My laugh came out jagged. "A babysitter? You got me a babysitter?"

"He's not a babysitter," Elias said. "He's the only thing standing between you and an early grave."

Ace's eyes didn't move off me the entire time. "I'm not here to babysit, Mr. Kingsford. I'm here to keep you alive."

His voice was low, even, controlled.

The kind of calm that made me want to find the crack in it and rip it wide open.

"I don't need a bodyguard." I shoved to my feet. 

"I don't need anyone."

My pulse spiked, kicking hard. 

Ace's scent answered mine, hitting me instantly. Woodsmoke and pine. Dark and heavy.

It cut straight through my blockers like they were nothing.

My whole body lit up in fury, fear, and with something hotter than both stirring underneath.

My omega instinct began to whisper, whimpering. 

I fought it back crazily and only took a breather the moment Ace took his scent back.

"Your father says otherwise." Ace stepped closer.

"And I'm paid very well to keep you breathing till his election's over."

"Oh, so you're a hired dog." My smile turned sharp. "Good to know."

Something flickered behind Ace's eyes. Gone fast. 

"I'm a soldier. I've killed men with my bare hands. I don't need your respect. I need your compliance."

There was a long pause as we stared hard into each other's eyes, neither of us willing to look away. 

"Take him back, Ace. From today, don't let him engage in those foolish activities again. Ensure he no longer embarrasses—"

"Embarrass?!"

I was done staying silent while these two decided my fate like I wasn't even there.

"What about sex! You haven't mentioned sex! Do I stop sex too? Or does daddy get to choose who fucks me now?"

Elias slammed his desk "ENOUGH!"

"Mr. Kingsford, I suggest you take a breath." Ace stepped in, his goddamn eyes locked with mine again.

"Fuck you. Fuck you both!" 

I shoved past him and bolted, my boots slamming hard.

Ace's footsteps followed behind me. Unhurried.

I slammed the estate door hard enough to rattle the glass. 

I hope his nose got caught.

---

The cold outside hit me like a wall. 

My Porsche sat under the security lights, sleek and black, and my hands shook so bad I dropped the keys twice trying to get them out of my pocket.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."

I kicked the tire. 

My foot ached immediately. I didn't care.

Ace appeared beside me, silent as smoke, and bent down to pick up the keys.

"You're not driving like this." He held them out, not quite offering them.

I snatched them out of his hand. 

"Don't tell me what to do. You're not my father. You're not my anything."

"No," Ace said. 

"I'm just the guy who's gonna be cleaning up your messes from now on."

"Then quit. Walk away. I don't need you."

"You're right." Ace stepped in, closer. 

"You don't need me. But you need somebody to stop you from killing yourself. Right now, that's me."

My fist immediately connected with his chest before I could think better of it. 

I might as well have punched a wall.

"I HATE YOU." 

My voice almost cracked in the middle. 

"I hate everyone."

Ace didn't move. He didn't so much as blink. He just stood there and watched me come apart in the parking lot.

"Good," he said. "Hate me. Makes this easier."

"What?"

"I've dealt with people like you before." 

Ace's voice stayed level, almost gentle. 

"You're not special, Brian. You're just broken. And I'm not gonna be the one who fixes you."

He turned and walked away. 

I stood there in the cold with my mouth open and nothing coming out. Furious. Confused. Something underneath both I didn't have a name for yet.