Luis Caddel took a good look at Angelo, he looked nothing like his mousy mother, their similarities stopped at the terrified pale green eyes that looked up to him like a god.
Maybe Mia would have felt less like a nuisance if she looked more like her son. The dowdy Omega had been an easy catch, he had been on the run when he met her, and she had done her job of keeping him hidden.
Then she got pregnant and he was shackled to her, and she hadn’t even been gracious enough to birth him an Alpha son that could prove to be of some use to him, but instead the worst possible descendant.
A male Omega... he would have tolerated a male or female Beta, anything else. Personally, he thought he had been pretty generous not kicking them out the door as soon as she brought a weakling home.
Despite being born a male Omega, relegated to being a bottom feeder from birth, Angelo had redeemed himself. The Omega had grown into a little beauty, one that was all his, no talk backs, no independence.
Then he had run off, and when he finally found him, he had almost lost everything that made him worth anything. The frail, beautiful Omega that made coming back from jobs worthwhile had turned into someone who could pass for a Beta or an Alpha.
Luis didn’t know what Angelo had done to himself, but he planned to change it.
Despite how hard he must have tried to change his secondary gender, however, it didn’t do much. Not with his hair left long the way it was, sweet scent running sour. Another mild inconvenience, one that could be changed with the facilities and drugs that the High Council had access to.
"You want me to keep Silvia alive, don’t you?" Luis started, his tone was indulgent, his dark eyes even more so.
Angelo was forced to bend at an awkward angle, a few moments from falling right into Luis Caddel’s arms. He shook out of the growing fog in his head at Silvia’s name.
Deep down, he knew that his dad wouldn’t keep to his word, and as soon as he got what he wanted, Silvia would be taken out, but he couldn’t help his response, hanging onto the thin thread that Silvia was still alive.
He nodded enthusiastically, the chain clinking as he did.
Luis Caddel downright glowed with satisfaction, a gloved hand going around Angelo’s waist to pull him closer, making Angelo rest a knee on his legs.
Nikolai cracked his neck, the sound was deafening in the empty room, it made Luis speak faster.
Luis Caddel let go of Angelo’s leash, his lips twisting in disapproval when the Omega quickly put some distance between them. He reached into his belt and pulled out a pink bejeweled dagger, complete with carved flowers.
"I heard you’re good with knives. Kill him." He tossed the knife at Angelo, leaning back in the wooden seat. "And I’ll let Silvia live."
Angelo caught the dagger with ease, looking from the overtly femininely decorated weapon to Nikolai, who had remained calm this entire time.
He slowly walked over, he couldn’t kill Nikolai, but he needed Silvia... he needed his mom alive. He couldn’t hide and listen to her get killed again...
Nikolai’s expression didn’t change as Angelo walked over, immediately giving up on cigars as soon as the other walked into the decrepit building. All it took was one look from Angelo for him to taste nicotine on his tongue.
"Nik-" A hiccup cut Angelo off, one that was born of tears he had yet to shed. The knife in his hand was steady despite the trembling in the rest of his body.
Nikolai’s expression was patient, Angelo’s eyes were clouded, but he could still recognize him, that was good enough. After he watched Luis Caddel gloat for a bit, he realized what he needed to do.
Killing the dog himself was too easy, it was like kicking a mangy mutt, and Angelo would still be shackled to him and the fear his mere presence brought about.
"I-I want to save my mom," The words were whispered, Nikolai had to lean in to hear.
"They’re going to shoot her again," Angelo kept babbling, "She locked me in a cupboard and I was too scared to scream... I was... daddy said I’m a weakling, a good-for-nothing bottom feeder... t-that, I should have protected her... t-that an Alpha would..."
Nikolai felt like his lungs were filled with smoke as Angelo slowly broke down in front of him, he instinctively reached out for him, only to get stabbed in the arm, the assassin moving off pure instinct alone.
The attack was deep, it was right on the edge of his arm, pinning him to the wall behind him.
Nikolai didn’t flinch, careful with his words and actions from then on, while fat drops of tears filled Angelo’s pale green eyes. "Angelo? How old were you?"
"Wha-" Angelo mumbled distracted from the horror of what he had done for a moment, "I-I was six... I think."
"Right, you were a child, your secondary gender didn’t matter then, and it doesn’t matter now." He spoke gently, trying not to move again so he wouldn’t trigger another attack out of Angelo.
Nikolai had no issues with the assassin being the one to kill him, but he didn’t want that on Angelo’s conscience, and their mutual enemy was seated behind them, watching the show.
Angelo blinked up at him and then glanced at the knife still buried deeply in his bleeding arm, heavy drops of blood audible as they hit the dusty floor.
"B-But my m-mom?" He mumbled, it was more of a question, seeming to see nothing but his weapon.
Nikolai moved when Angelo hefted the weapon out of his arm, pulling the assassin close for a kiss.
Angelo could have ran him through with the dagger but the Omega froze instead, long enough for Nikolai to reach into his trench coat and pull out a basic combat knife that he always carried around.