I blinked hard, shaking my head. My breath hitched. “My father tried to sell me too.”
She nodded. “Your father took you to dinner with Georgie. I think he was trying to work out what you’d be worth. We argued about it.”
“I remember.”
“They offered him more for you than Georgie, but the man was told he had to wait until you were eighteen when you would present at the Omega Ball,” Mum said.
”As Georgie was about to be,” I gasped. “And the men that night?”
“I didn’t trust your father, so I hired the men to kidnap you and your sister and hide you for a while. But I failed,” she said.
“You hire the gang,” I gasped.
“I found out the alpha didn’t want to wait for you. Your father told him you hadn’t presented, but the alpha wanted you. I planned on only hiding Georgie, but suddenly I had to protect you, too.”
I hesitated. “Why was Cruz there that night?” I turned to Cruz. “In fact, you tell me why.”
“Tilly, I need to tell you everything first.” Mum smiled. “But Cruz let me know.”
“You trusted Cruz. Why?” I asked, interrupting.
“One day I came into the house and you caught me as I was going to have a shower,” Mum said.
I closed my eyes and inhaled, opening my eyes as I stared at her. “You were showering the scent Cruz had left on you.”
“I was,” she said. “I had to because every time I spoke to him, you reacted to his scent. And I knew then that Cruz was your mate. You’re fated to be with him. You’re very lucky to have these three men.”
I nodded. “I know.”
“That was the day I knew I could trust him and that is the reason I asked you to hide, because I tried to stop it and got cold feet with everything. Cruz said he would help.”
“How come you’re here?” I asked.
“Cruz set me up in a safe house here, on his father’s estate. I knew once you came out of your hiding place the police would send you to nan’s as she was your closest relative.”
“You didn’t come back for me,” I whispered. Mum’s eyes flooded with tears and a sob released from my mouth as nausea skated up my throat. “And dad?”
“I hired them to tie your father up and frighten him, then to take you and Georgie to a safe place for a few days. Cruz came to me, told me who I had hired and what they planned to do with you and your sister. Cruz helped me. After a few meetings, he confided in me. Told me he scented you as his mate and that he had overheard me talking with another alpha about the night in question.”
“Why didn’t you stop it?” I asked.
“I tried when Cruz let me know the gang had double-crossed me. But they refused. Now I know it’s because they had other plans. They had received an offer of one million pounds for Georgie from the Italian brothers and they were touting you to the highest bidder.”
I swallowed as nausea skated up my throat.
“And Georgie? Where is Georgie? Is she okay? Is she happy?” I asked, my voice a whisper. Jackson’s hand stroked up my back, soothing me with every touch as Luca sat on my opposite side, taking my hand. “Is she alive?”
Mum turned her face to me, and tears laced her eyes. “I don’t know Tilly, Saint and Cruz have had a private investigator looking for her, but she doesn’t want to be found.”
“Cruz has,” my voice stuttered as I looked at Cruz.
“I’m trying my hardest to find her, but she isn’t my omega, and she is harder for me to locate, but I won’t stop until we find her.”
It was the moment I realised Cruz had done nothing but try to save me. I stood up and walked to him, wrapping my arms around him. “Thank you and sorry for not trusting you.”
His head nuzzled around my head. “You had no reason to trust me.”
“I should have listened.”
He tipped my chin up to meet his gaze. “We’ve both made mistakes Tilly, but from now we can have nothing but truth.”
“And Saint?”
“He is trying to find her, but he is struggling. It breaks him apart that he can’t find her,” Cruz said.
“He thinks she’s dead?” Tears poured down my face.
Mum sobbed, and I spun to her and wrapped my arms around her as her body shook as though she were in pain. “I don’t know what happened to her, darling. I’m so sorry. Saint and Cruz have people looking for her and I’ve never stopped looking for her.”
For a minute, I felt a kinship with Cruz he would not have expected. He clenched his fists like he was stopping himself from touching me. It was like he had a need, a desperation, and when I pulled my hand from his, a look of pain etched on his face. And I wanted to take it away from him, the omega I was, yearned to make it right for him. I wanted to hold him, let him touch me. Now I realised this man was not my enemy, but he was my saviour.
“She isn’t with the gang?” My breath hitched at that. “Is she dead?”
“I don’t think so.” Mum smiled. “I thought your sister was not as wise as you, Tilly, thought she was the one who had accepted her omega fate.” Mum’s head dropped back, and she laughed too wildly. “I know she escaped.”
“How do you know? Where is she?” I asked.
“Because she went back to the house,” Mum said, smiling.
“How do you know it wasn’t the gang?” I sighed.
“It was her. I feel it. I know she is alive.” Mum sighed as she hesitated. “Her credit card was used to take the Eurostar to Paris, a flight to Madrid, and another one to the US.”
I wanted to tell her that Georgie could still be dead and the gang used her credit card to cover their tracks, but how could I. I needed to believe she escaped. “Georgie is alive.” I whispered, my eyes filling again. “We have to find her.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself Tilly, she’s gone underground again. She was in New York, but now we don’t know. Saint is there looking for her. Cruz and Saint only tried to help you and Georgie,” she said, rubbing a soothing palm over my hand.
“Saint is still looking for her after all this time?” I whispered. But her words weren’t filling me with confidence. Knowing her kidnappers would want their tracks covered, and what better way than to have her disappear in another country?
“She’s his omega. Saint claimed Georgie,” she said.
“She’s bonded to Saint,” I whispered. “Did Dad know?”
Mum shook her head.