Scum (Book 2)

117. Desperation

Liam’s POV

I don’t want to believe what I’m seeing, but I know everything about Cheyenne…

I know her walk, I know her fighting style, I even know the way she moves when she’s in pain, so I know that despite being declared the winner, she was hurt.

“How long ago was this posted?”

“I can’t tell… It was reposted a few days ago, but I haven’t been able to find who’s profile it originated from.” I understand how social media works, so I’m simply happy to know that Chey might be okay.

It would make sense that she’d default to something she’s good at to make money, but I know, just like my father knows, that she may be putting herself in even more danger by winning.

“Liam, you need to prepare yourself…” My eyes shoot up from my phone, staring at my father in fear. “That video is beyond our control. It may only be a matter of time before Porsha sees it, and then…” I feel sick as I consider what a woman with money and a grudge can do. “It’ll probably be best if you made up with her.”

“No. I-”

“I’m not asking you to be in a relationship with her. I’m simply telling you that your pride got you into this mess, and abandoning it might be your only way out.” Nodding, I leave my father’s office, but I don’t know what to do or how to feel, so I go straight to my bedroom, needing time to process.

Last time I checked, Chey hadn’t posted anything on her social media account, and trust me, I look often.

“Dallas… I think Chey may be in danger.” I hate that I keep torturing my mate’s brother in this way, but the hostility between us makes it unsafe for me to seek him out to talk in person, so mind-linking is all I have. “She’s a sports fighter.” I don’t typically get an immediate response, and I’d almost fallen asleep waiting for him to ask for more details, but instead, I got a link from my father.

Apparently, Dallas wanted to confirm what I was saying for himself, but my old man refused to give him details because the actions of the Lively family have almost bankrupted him.

We mortgage the structures on our land, and many of them aren’t fully paid off, including Chey’s old home.

With them not paying anything, my parents have had to pick up the slack, and it’s put us in a financial chokehold, no doubt their ultimate goal.

“Liam… Why do you insist on tormenting that man?” My father’s meeting with Dallas must not have ended well.

“All he has to do is agree to send her a simple text message.”

“You and I both know that he will never do that for you, but at least he’s agreed to start paying his way again.”

“With what money?” I get an instant headache because I remember Chey telling me that her family shared an account, meaning that… “Dad… Can you force the lively family to give you their latest bank statement?”

“I would have to have a reason to order it. Why?

“If we can figure out where Chey’s card gets used most often, we can find her.”

“Liam… That’s a lot of assuming. The girl may not even be in control of her own finances anymore.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I didn’t want to put this on you, but if Chey was captured by a hostile pack, they could be exploiting her.” The effects of the mate bond are no longer affecting me, but the thought of Chey being used by anyone for profit still hurts.

I loved her before I knew she was mine, and I still love her now, which is why I have to get her back. She’s always been my chosen mate; I just made a stupid mistake.

“My mate would rather die than to live as anyone's slave.”

“Not if she’s doing it for her family.” Again, I feel sick, knowing that my actions may have given Cheyenne that impression.

“Give her family back their phones.”

“I thought about it, but it wouldn’t help.” I’m already on my way back to my father’s office because if I stay still right now, I’ll have an anxiety attack. “We have no guarantee that she's in a place to even receive messages. All you did by getting her brother involved was give him more motivation to challenge you.” At this point, I’m ready to voluntarily step down if it would mean getting Cheyenne back, and with those thoughts in mind, I pivot, heading toward the lively family home.

“I’m not in the f*cking mood.” Dallas is mind-linking, probably because he doesn’t want his mate and parents involved.

“Listen to me please. I love your sister. All I want is to know that she’s safe. If you help me, your family can leave the pack.”

“Including Chey?” Dallas chuckles at my hesitation, but he has to know that I can’t just let Chey leave me.

“Tell your father that we’ll send a check by the end of the day.” Dallas must have a plan, and now I’m even more anxious than I was before seeing that stupid video.

I know that if I stick around, I’ll lose control, so I sprint, sparking the concern of people watching.

Porsha has really outdone herself in terms of ‘taking over’ the pack, so I know this will get back to council.

They’ve ruled that Alpine maliciously enticed the woman to abandon her home pack in order to somehow gain leverage over her father.

I didn’t even know the man was sick, nor did I know that, upon his death, Porsha will come into a large amount of money and land. That, however, wasn’t what Porsha said, and the old text messages where she and I were talking about expanding the territory lent more toward her rendition of things.

Now, she and Kelvin are walking around giving orders as if they’ve already taken over, but he claims that he’s just keeping an eye on her.

I would believe that if I could trust him, but I don’t, and truthfully, if I saw him right now, I might kill him.

Just the thought of tearing his head off is satisfying, but to make sure that I don’t act on my fantasy, I keep running until I’m too tired to move, and end up collapsing.

It took hours for me to regain my strength, but even then, I felt like I could barely walk.

I had to mind-link Royce to help me, which probably didn’t go over well with my sister.

She’s pregnant, and in order to ensure her safety, our parents have asked us to pretend that we’ve had a falling out, which has been working to keep Porsha’s eyes off them.

I know she’s trying to make me feel so isolated that I have no choice but to turn to her for comfort, but I refuse to give her that pleasure, and as soon as my mate safely returns, I’ll have her killed.

“Liam, bro. You know that I can’t be here. What the f*ck is going on?”

“I can’t move my legs.” Royce is my best friend, so despite the fact that helping me get back to my room may upset our plans, he still does it anyway.

“Have you seen the videos?” Royce looks genuinely confused, so I show him.

“F*ck… This… What are you going to do?”

“I want to re-upload her information.”

“On the rogue database?” I know that it’s extreme, but Chey’s newfound fame may help me locate her. “Liam, that's a bad idea. What if she gets hurt?”

“We can say that she’s a witness to a serious crime. We’ll set the reward at 15K, but only if she’s returned safely.”

“I know that you don’t have that kind of money, and the elders won’t allow you to dip into the pack resources for it without context.”

“I’ll tell them that I’m ready to settle down.” Royce knows that stability is the key to a good political arrangement, so he understands exactly what I mean.

“I don’t know, man… What if she gets hurt anyway?”

“Because what she’s doing for money now is the best thing for her?” Again, Royce is silent, but just as I reach for my laptop, he grabs my wrist.

“Don’t say you want her returned. Just ask for information about her instead.” Very rarely is the rogue database used to gather information about people, but it has been done in times past, and I’m not sure why Kelvin didn’t do that in the first place.

“Thanks man.” I can’t thank my beta enough for his support, but I can tell he’s still uncomfortable by the way he disappeared before I was even able to write anything.

Chey’s POV

Alpha Franchelle was supposed to visit the pack some time ago, but she only just made it, and she looks horrible.

It would be a lie if I said that I wasn’t concerned, but I’m afraid to ask just in case something tragic happened, like the loss of her mate.

“Thanks for walking me through this.” The woman nods, another uncharacteristic action, and now, I can’t help myself. “Can you just tell me what's wrong?”

“Do I really look that bad?” I refuse to answer because she looks worse than bad, but I don’t want to say it. “Someone from the council accused me of belonging to the opposition party. They’ve been trying to pick my pack members off one by one. We’re so spread out that I can’t protect them all and…” That’s probably why the woman wanted a healing potion.

It wasn’t greed, it was desperation born out of a problem I’m sure I caused her.

“Why didn’t you say anything to me?”

“Because that’s exactly what they want me to do.” I feel bad, knowing that this is somewhat my fault. “No need for pity. I knew what I was signing up for, besides, you should see Mateo.” That didn’t make me feel as good as Franchelle thought it would, and I find myself mind-linking Maya.

She’s afraid to be used for her abilities, but I recently made her the pack nurse, so she’ll be paid, and as a show of good faith, I’ll offer Bruno an allowance so that he doesn’t have to work anymore.

“I only have two bottles ready to go,” Maya mind-links, not even bothering to ask me why I need them.

“Can you bring them to me?”

“Sure, Alpha,” she cheerfully replies.

As soon as she arrives, I see Bruno's mark, which explains her mood.

“Congratulations,” I mind-link with a smile.