Andrew spun his engagement ring nervously, a habit he had picked up during the time he had started wearing it. Maxwell thought it was cute, so he didn't stop Andrew. He did make a comment that he was glad that it was Amir's grandmother who had made it, so that he knew the craftsmanship would hold up against his rough handling of it.
Andrew had blushed, but had also found later that day that Maxwell had made sure to put little hooks up in the kitchen and other places that Andrew frequented where he needed to take off his band so that it didn't get lost.
It was sweet, and having that memory pop up as he stared down the giant doors ahead of him gave him courage.
He brought the invitation, even if Kim had told him that he didn't need it. He held it in his hand as he stared up at the estate. That was what it was. It was down the street from where Luis and Thomas had their home. Literally two houses away, even though it felt like it was a lot farther than that.
It was because these places were extravagant. So large and imposing that it was easy to say that two street lengths were between this house and Luis and Thomas' home.
Andrew had been there, that was where they had the baby shower. They had it after the baby was born, something that Amir had wanted because they had one before the other baby had been born, and he didn't want to put the same kind of pressure on the baby growing inside of him.
So, it had been recent, and lovely. Andrew could understand why Maxwell was upset that Andrew hadn't been brought there for the first meeting. It was very much like the home that they had on that private island. Ornate, well taken care of, but still…welcoming in a strange way. You knew that the people who lived there were wealthy, but they weren't mean. You didn't feel like there would be a secret dungeon where you found out that people were being tortured.
Specifically, poor people.
That could not be said for the Proctor family's mansion.
The doors were dark, old wood. Stained, most likely, and the details etched into the door were…unsettling. Hordes of omegas throwing themselves on alphas. Assumably, true alphas. Disturbing was a nice way to put it.
Maxwell would have thrown a fit if he saw this. Would have turned his ass around and refused to go in. Andrew wouldn't have blamed him, but Andrew also needed to deal with this situation. Plus, even seeing this door just reminded Andrew that he wasn't alone.
Ben and Amir were staying at the family estate to get more help from Luis and Thomas, especially because Amir's grandparents were back in their home country for a little bit to finish their work. They had been up for the birth and pushed back going home as long as they could, but they had to leave eventually. They would be able to spend more time up soon, but had to leave for a month or so.
That also meant that Luis and Thomas were nearby as well.
No one was going to let Andrew do this on his own.
Andrew spun his ring, before he stepped towards the doors and knocked. He knew when they didn't open the doors right away that this was the first of the many power plays they were going to attempt. Make him wait, even though they had invited him.
That was okay. Andrew could wait. He just didn't think they'd like the outcome the longer that he did.
Eventually the doors opened and a grizzled old butler was on the other side. Andrew greeted him warmly, was escorted in, and was not disappointed by what he saw. If the door was anything to go by, they hadn't changed a single thing in this house since it was built.
Sometimes that was a good thing, but Andrew had a feeling that this was a bad thing. Very much so. He felt this also applied to their ideals as well. There was a nice, imposing two sided sweeping staircase with a chandelier straight out of a time past. There were doors underneath the landing that the stairs met upon, and they looked about as old and terrifying as the door he'd just entered through.
Several hallways jutted off from this main space, but no one was there to greet him when he stepped into the foyer. It was just the butler.
He led Andrew up the stairs, down a hallway, and towards another giant set of double doors at the end of the hallway. Andrew was calm, collected, even as he began to smell the scent of omegas radiating from that room.
Andrew halted in his steps, several paces away. The butler didn't notice right away, but Andrew wasn't going to move an inch further.
"I'm sorry, but if you are planning to lead me towards that room, I am going to have to call off this visit right now. I will not be treated this way." Andrew said loudly, clearly, and with no hesitation. The butler turned, a hint of surprise in his eyes, but that was the only thing that gave him away.
"You can smell them from here?" He asked softly, quietly, and Andrew nodded his head once.
"And I'm not going an inch closer. I know I'm not some degenerate that would cause them harm, but my pheromones alone will hurt them. I am not going closer." Andrew declared. "Is this what they wanted? To weaken me? I see the Proctor family is no better than-" A door flung open along the hallway.
Andrew had to turn to look, since it was from behind him, and a flustered man appeared. He clearly had not expected this kind of reaction from Andrew, but that just meant he hadn't done his research.
Of course Andrew was going to react like this. He had an omega Mother. He had an omega partner, and he had been a beta for a long, long time before he manifested. He had known more about omega bodies than he had known about beta or even alpha bodies. Out of defiance, and choice.
"W-Wait! I am so sorry, I seemed to have given Barnes the wrong instructions. Please! Come this way! I didn't realise you were here until now." The man was tripping over himself, and Andrew took a moment to look him over.
He was a redhead, like Kim, but his hair was on the darker side. Almost brown in colour. Andrew didn't need to know him well to know that he prided himself on the fact that he had red hair at all. It was the way he carried himself, and how he threw his employee under the bus when he himself had made that mistake.
Barnes seemed used to it, but Andrew made sure to catch the older man's gaze and give him a wink. Andrew knew that he had meant those instructions, and that he didn't hold any bad blood against Barnes.
Andrew might have been deluding himself, but he swore he saw the older man relax slightly. Andrew couldn't know for sure because whoever this new man was was attempting to draw all of Andrew's attention to him.
The side room that the man had been waiting in, listening to Andrew be led towards a room full of in heat omegas, which, by the way, why the fuck did they have a room like that? That was a whole level of fucked up that Andrew had forgotten to get more details from Kim about.
Either way, the room was fitted with several couches all kind of facing the door. There was a large coffee table in the center of the room, a fireplace against the wall, and Andrew felt like he was stepping back in time about 150 years.
The room wasn't empty, either. There were several people in here, and it became obvious, right away, that they had all been planning this. Andrew shoved the invitation into his jacket pocket. Kim was right, he didn't need this.
What got Andrew the most was the fact that in the room of five people, excluding Andrew and the almost red head, there was a couple that Andrew knew had to be blood related to him. It was the blonde hair, the blue eyes, the face that could have been his Mom's if she had been given the chance to live.
His Mom's parents. His grandparents.
He'd never heard about them before. His Mom hadn't spoken of them. It didn't take a genius to figure out why. When their omega daughter was claimed against her will, they didn't stand with her, they had thrown her and her unborn baby to the curb. That was another reason why Kim was so pissed at the head family. They were used to abandoning 'used goods'. They referred to omegas born into the family as goods.
Kim had told him that, at the door. She had told him that she had told her Mother about Leonardo's manifestation and she had called her grandson the newest goods born into the family. Kim had almost lost it at the door. Andrew couldn't blame her.
Now, he scanned the room, realising there was one chair in the room against the not lit fireplace. It was a seat of honour. Saved for Andrew.
Across from the chair was a trio. An older lady with a cane, her hands resting on it, a shawl wrapped around her shoulders. She looked small, delicate, but Andrew wasn't a fool. He could feel the pheromones coming off of her. The subtle power play she was attempting to do that the omegas and betas in the room wouldn't notice.
On either side of her were people around the same age as the grandparents who hadn't even shown up to their daughter's funeral. They looked like Kim, so it didn't take a genius to figure out that they had to be her parents. The male wore a collar, but that didn't hide the giant, clearly painful-looking bite mark on the front of his neck. It was so fucked up, it looked like the woman that was his wife had nearly torn his throat out.
He looked calm, serene. Andrew felt horror fill him. An old evil was right.
Andrew should have not accepted the meeting, because he wanted to save people that he knew didn't want saving. They didn't even know that they needed it.
The door closed behind him, and Andrew glanced in that direction. Barnes was nowhere to be seen, and Andrew knew what was supposed to happen. Well, he could play by the rules at least physically.
They had no idea what kind of beast they had brought into their home.
Andrew smiled warmly, knowing full well that they really thought they had the upper hand. They hadn't even met him in a proper room. They had met him in a smaller room, an offshoot.
They were putting their feet in their mouths for not realising that Andrew knew what disrespect looked like, even without Maxwell and Kim's coaching.