Tilly
Icouldn’tstayany longer.
I certainly wasn’t safe.
From being drugged in the nightclub, to Sandy and her pack, to the man turning up at work and at the club. And I loved my job, but my workplace was becoming unsafe and as much as I wanted to explore things with my alphas, possibly even Cruz.
But I couldn’t.
This was different. Knowing the same kidnappers who took my mother and sister for me to never see them again. I couldn’t take the risk, and I was stupid to think that showing the world I was an omega would work.
I packed my suitcase and emptied my bank account. I had enough money to get to the Lake District and ample to keep me going until I found a job there. The more I thought about it, the more brilliant it was. The Lake District was a wonderful, safe place to live. It was discreet, and I could hide again, because there was enough space around for my perfume to be blown away. I lived there for years and not once did I feel threatened.
Thinking about it, I didn’t know what possessed me to move back to London. It was the craziest decision. People were in too close of a proximity, and alphas galore. But I never expected things to get so difficult.
But saying goodbye to Isla a couple of hours earlier was the hardest thing for me to do. I was abandoning her, and yes, she understood, but we were supposed to be in this together. But I went from not fearing Cruz when I was trying to work out who he was to being petrified of the men that were hunting me. And now it was time to leave for good.
I glanced at my outfit—I changed into jeans, a sweater and a pair of tan coloured ankle boots before I dragged my navy knee-length coat over my body and took a last glance at my apartment.
I took two tablets, for no other reason than it was a long train ride and also fear of what my future held petrified me. From a marketing executive for an investment company with a half decent salary, and a pleasant apartment not too far from work. But now I was going backwards, moving back to nan’s house and hiding away in the valleys.
Back to hiding myself from the world.
I sighed because nobody would have known about me if Jeremy Hanson hadn’t sold the business.
I took one last look around my apartment, making sure I’d turned everything off that needed to be.
Dragging my suitcase behind me, I took a final fond look at the building where I lived, used to live, and strode outside the building to walk the ten-minute journey to the tube station.
The first leg of my new life was a quick tube ride to Euston Station. It was brief but awful and I tried to keep my head low and my suitcase tucked safely behind my knees. I packed my worldly possessions in the case, anything I couldn’t carry on my person.
I was hoping once I got a place of my own near to nan’s home, I could organise a shipper and have my furniture delivered. Though in reality nothing was worth much and not worth extending my lease longer than I needed to keep it.
“Euston Station.” The sound came from the tannoy.
I stared out of the window, but could only see my blurred reflection looking back at me. Tears were burning my cheeks. I was going back to a boring life, hiding away from the rest of the world.
The train slowed as it got closer to the station. Passengers queued to get off as I double checked my over-shoulder bag, patting it against my hip, and lugged the suitcase from the floor, dragging out the pull-along handle the moment the train stopped.
Standing on the platform, I stopped and plucked my phone from my bag before I clicked on Isla’s name. “Hi it’s Tilly, can you call me back when you get this message? I need to speak to you,” I said into Isla’s message bank. I hit disconnect and walked to the ticket office.
“Could I have a one-way ticket to the Lake District, please?” I asked, taking my purse from my bag.
“You okay, love?” the ticket operator asked. Her eyes softened as she smiled at me.
I nodded. “I just need to go home,” I said. It wasn’t home, home was the place I lived with my mum, dad and sister before my life spiralled out of control. Nan was all I had left, though she was going to be annoyed with me for giving up everything.
She had high expectations. Despite me being an omega, she believed in me and she thought I would make something of myself—I was supposed to change the world.
I believed her, but I couldn’t even change my life, nevermind anyone else. I was a fool for believing in myself, wanting to follow mum in her quest to save omegas, but she was a scientist. Me nothing more than a pen pusher, because I couldn’t get my degree right. Marketing was seldom the profession to change people’s lives. I got it so wrong.
Iwas so wrong.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked again, and I realised she had caught me in deep musings. It wasn’t any different from the other times.
“I’m fine. How much is that?”
“One hundred and eighty-one pounds,” she said.
“What? Oh my god, it’s a train not a flight,” I sobbed, tears rolled down my face as I rummaged into my bag for my purse again. I flashed my debit card on the reader and waited.
“Sorry,” she said, tilting her head to one side. “The bank has declined it.”