Omega's Truth - Nora Phoenix Page 0,9
his watch. “A few minutes but not more than that, I’m afraid. Your father has found some new information he wanted to talk to me about.”
He gestured at a chair, and Lucan sat down. “It’s about Sando.”
“I spoke to him and his father earlier this week. Surely they haven’t made crucial progress since then.”
Lucan suppressed a frown. Palani couldn’t mean that as dismissive as it sounded to Lucan, could he? “It’s not about their research. Enar said he talked to you about Professor Melloni, about our concerns.”
Palani’s face was blank. “Concerns?”
“About how controlling his father is and how little freedom he allows Sando.”
“Right, right. Lucan, I’m gonna be honest with you. We have a lot of problems at the moment, and this one isn’t exactly at the top of my list. As long as you don’t have proof that anything bad is happening, there’s little I can do. Besides, I’ve spoken to Professor Melloni many times, and I can’t imagine that what you’re saying is true. He may have his quirks, but I have a hard time seeing him as abusive.”
Lucan took a deep breath, willing down the burst of anger inside him. “Did you even know Sando isn’t working from the clinic anymore?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“His father had all Sando’s belongings moved from his office in the clinic to their cottage.”
“But I talked to them both in the clinic earlier his week. They didn’t say anything.”
“Why would they when they assumed you knew? It’s not like it’s a recent development. He had his stuff moved two months ago, Palani. Two months and you never knew.”
Palani rubbed his temples, looking genuinely confused. “It must have slipped my mind because there’s no way that would’ve happened without me knowing.”
“As much as you keep telling people nothing flies under your radar, you forgot this…and it’s not the only thing you’ve missed.”
“Look, I get where you’re coming from. The last few weeks, I’ve been overworked. I’ll admit it. It caused migraines, and I wasn’t functioning properly. But I talked about it with Lidon and Enar, and I’m doing much better now. I’ll get on this, I promise.”
“You talk about it as if it’s in the past, but your meeting with Sando and his father? That wasn’t earlier this week. That was ten days ago. I know you work harder than anyone here, but if you have more work than you can handle, ask for help. Delegate some stuff to someone else.”
Palani’s eyes darkened. “Delegate? To whom? I don’t see any volunteers to take over some of my responsibilities, do you?”
His voice was dripping with anger, and Lucan rose from his chair, his fury bubbling so hot and fierce he feared it would spill over. “Is that what you tell yourself? I think the truth is that you don’t want anyone else to help. You like the power of being Lidon’s right hand. Because you do have options. Bray would do whatever you ask, and so would Sean, Kean, and the list goes on. Even Maz and I. Everyone is willing to help, but you have to get your head out of your ass and actually ask them.”
“Lucan!” His father sounded shocked as he walked into the room. “What the hell? You can’t talk to Palani like that.”
Lucan threw up his hands. “See? Everyone always fucking defends you like you can do no wrong, even my own father, who should know better than assuming I’d say something like this lightly. Saint Palani, we should start calling you. But meanwhile, my mate is being psychologically abused by his father on damn pack land, and you’re too fucking busy with other things to do anything about it. So fuck you and fuck your high horse. We’ll deal with it ourselves if it’s not important enough for you.”
He stormed past his dad, who looked too stunned to even react, but when he was almost outside, his father caught up with him. “Lucan, wait!”
Reluctantly, Lucan turned around. “If you’re gonna reprimand me again, save yourself the trouble.”
His father held up his hands. “I’m not. I promise. But what happened?”
Lucan crossed his arms. “You’re the one who told me to speak up for Sando. That’s what happened. I asked Palani what he had done about it, and his answer was nothing because it wasn’t important enough to him.”
A shocked gasp flew from his father’s lips. “He said that?”
“Yes.”
“You told him your suspicions about Sando’s father, and he didn’t do anything about it?”
“Well, Enar told him, but same