CHAPTER 131: TRAPPED ( TOM’S POV )

"What a disappointment you are, dear Thomas."

"Madam Akna."

She was standing there.

Lucrezia Akna.

Framed by the door like some awful oil painting that refused to age with dignity.

A red dress hugged her too tightly in all the wrong places—thin straps hanging on Botox shoulders, neckline plunging so deep it almost introduced itself first.

Pearl earrings swayed with every sharp breath, and her matching necklace glimmered like a leash for the rich and overdone.

She looked like a nightclub chandelier that made too many poor life choices.

And her face—

It was scowling.

At least, I think it was.

Hard to tell with all that frozen collagen.

Her brows were arched high in what I assumed was intended to be fury, but they hovered too far above her glassy eyes to land the expression right.

Like someone paused her mid-meltdown and left her there to buffer.

She just stood there, a stiff red specter, silently judging me in my hospital bed.

Or maybe the judgment was directed at the machines beeping next to me.

Or the IV in my arm.

Or the fact that I hadn’t died, perhaps.

Her heels clicked once.

Loudly.

Accusingly.

God help me—she was going to speak.

"I haven’t said anything when you got blown up, but cut open by that maniac and left for dead? I am disappointed."

"I am not that eager about this one as well."

She got closer and closer to me, her Chanel perfume filling the room, filling my lungs—

Burning them as well.

She dragged her fingertips on top of the blanket, pressing harshly on my stitches, enjoying my painful grimace.

The white blanket slowly dirtied with my blood as the heat from my flesh tormented me. I flinched. I shivered. I gulped the pain away, but I didn’t stop her.

"I can’t always have my boy toy in the hospital, Tom. You are slowly becoming useless to me."

"Do you wish to replace me?"

"It would be a shame, wouldn’t it?"

"I can only respect your wish."

"Since you deem me unable to provide you with what you wish for anymore."

Huh?

My face twisted in confusion. Brows pulled together, lips parted slightly. I stared at her, trying to make sense of what I was hearing.

"Oh Thomas dear, did you really think that you had me around your little finger? I know everything."

"What do you know, Madam Akna?"

"That you wanted to kill the Prime Minister just so you can assure a future with his brat, but guess what?"

Lucrezia smiled.

Her Botox face shifted unnaturally, the skin barely moving where it should.

It was beautiful—flawless skin, perfect teeth, eyes too sharp to be warm.

But something about it felt wrong.

Too stiff.

Too controlled.

It was the kind of smile that made you want to look away without knowing why.

"You are never gonna be with him. I took that away from you."

"I don’t understand."

"Let me make this clear. You used me and Mark to get close enough to kill Cassian without dirtying your own hands. In exchange, you legally developed The Drought Plan that is going to mass kill omegas, keeping only the fertile and the most beautiful flowers for the gardens— making omega a privilege to have, giving the Government the right to freely control the alphas."

"You knew I invented that?"

"Of course. Like I also know we can’t implement it without causing the mass-killing of the omegas to stir revolutions."

"So you still need me to figure out a way."

The room was quiet for a moment.

The kind of stillness that didn’t need to be announced—just present.

No voices, no footsteps, only the soft, steady beeping of the machines and the faint hum of fluorescent lights overhead.

It was dawn. Pale blue light crept through the half-open blinds, casting long, soft shadows across the floor. The air was cool and smelled faintly of antiseptic and old fabric.

I lay still in the bed, sheets pulled just below my chest. The IV in my arm tugged slightly when I shifted.

Across the room, Lucrezia stood on the side of my bed, her heels no longer tapping, her hands still at her sides.

She was smiling.

Not kindly. Not cruelly. Just... calmly.

She didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to.

When she finally opened her mouth, I knew that moment was just the silence before the storm.

"It’s not like you are the only brilliant mind we can use, but I would rather keep this matter between the partakers."

"Hah. So you know it all."

"Naturally. You didn’t really think Mark Begniffelo, the wealthiest tycoon of our country, would actually choose to trust a little alpha instead of his business partner, did you?"

Ha.

She knew everything, but the fact I was a beta. That I used Mark’s blood to pass as an alpha.

Which means that they are not as trusting with each other as she claims they are.

That means I can still play my hand right.

"Why did you still kill Cassian if you knew I was using you?"

"Easy, darling. That old, scunny man had a mind of his own. I had limited power over his decision. So when you offered me such a flawless plan I couldn’t say no."

"But the drug I gave you— how did it end up overdosing Claus as well?"

"I placed the pheromone powder in that family’s food for a week, but the enabler needed for the power to take effect— I placed it on my skin. I guess some got on Cassian’s clothes. My guess is that when he gave the speech about his new son and hugged Claus, the enabler took effect on him too."

So that was how the Prime Minister actually died.

Despite me planning his death, I didn’t expect Lucrezis to follow my instructions. She always had her own twist on the events.

It was surprising to see her as an executor rather than a mastermind.

Eerie.

" How did you know the Prime Minister will sleep with you?"

Lucrezia let out a low, seductive chuckle.

It was soft, deliberate, and entirely amused by what I’d said.

Her eyes sparkled with a mix of mockery and interest, head tilting just slightly.

She wasn’t offended—she was entertained.

The kind of laugh that said she was already three steps ahead.

"We had history. I just used his regrets to reach my goal."

Lucrezia moved her hand slowly across my body, her fingers light but deliberate.

I didn’t hide my disgust—my nose wrinkled, lips curled, eyes narrowed in clear rejection.

It was too late to try to hide. She already knew everything. The act had no purpose anymore.

But I didn’t move.

I need to weaponize her superiority complex. To let her dominate.

And step by step, to win back the upper hand.

Her touch lingered, testing, waiting for resistance.

All she got was stillness and contempt.

"I always like that about you, Tom. You’re smart. Even now, you know where your place is."

"And where is that place supposed to be, Madam Akna?"

"By my side, of course."

I froze.

My breath caught, chest suddenly still.

A cold jolt ran through me, quick and sharp.

Eyes wide.

Jaw tense.

I couldn’t look away.

For a second, everything stopped—

Thoughts, movement, even the steady beep of the monitors felt distant.

I was completely, utterly shocked.

"You know everything and you still want me?"

"Why wouldn’t I? You’re useful, smart, easy on the eye."

"I am gay."

"No. You’re in love with Luther. I am guessing you haven’t seen the news yet. Luther is a Belladonna."

My chest tightened.

Too fast. Too much. Too close.

Breath caught halfway and wouldn’t come back.

I tried to inhale, but it felt like I was drowning—air just wouldn’t fit.

Hands trembled. Skin burned cold.

The room spun.

Heart pounding, not in my chest, but in my ears—loud, crashing, endless.

I couldn’t think. Couldn’t blink.

Everything felt wrong—too bright, too loud, too fast.

I wanted to scream, but my throat locked up.

I was stuck.

Falling without moving.

Suffocating without reason.

And she was still there.

Touching me. Watching.

Smiling.

She knew about Luther. This was a disaster.

F-ck.

"Stop your tantrum, dear! Let me explain to you clearly: Luther will be isolated. I will make sure he is isolated in one of my facilities. So if you want to see your lover again, you will have to please me. Keep me entertained."

I laughed.

Not a chuckle, not a smile—

A full, unhinged, maniacal laugh that tore from my throat like it didn’t belong to me.

Louder with every breath, sharper with every second.

It echoed off the sterile walls, shaking the silence apart.

Lucrezia, as shocked as the botox let her be, arched her brow and asked:

"What’s so funny?"

"You’ll get bored of me in a year. Max."

Lucrezia smiled.

Slowly. Deliberately.

The corners of her mouth lifted first, followed by the faintest crinkle near her eyes.

"Then you have only a year to come up with a plan to save Luther from my grip."