Beginning at the End (Betas in Waiting #37)

Chapter One

Eudora got back to her desk, put her purse away, and pulled out a snack bar. She brought up her screens and started working while she ate.

Steffie came in and said, “I thought you went out for lunch.”

“I had to run some errands.” She smiled.

“You are never going to last on a granola bar. I will head down and bring you back a burger.”

Eudora reached into her purse and pulled out a twenty. “Remember, no onions, and you can keep the change.”

Steffie grinned. “Got it. The packet just downloaded. Do that thing that you do so well.”

“On it.” She pulled the files and started picking out clips that she could use to advertise the event. Just because it had been streamed live didn’t mean there wasn’t a secondary market that included all the goodies they were able to package with it.

Meksoren Media was an outlier of the Meksoren Group and Eudora’s employer for the last four years.

She hummed as she listened to the ad music through a headset, making clip after clip from the finished roll and from some of the clips that drove viewers nuts when they couldn’t find them on the main video.

This video series was about free-running and parkour. Groups of three were set to run their way across Wonder Island, collecting flags and acting as a team. It was a really good watch.

The burger came, and a bonus soda and fries arrived with it. She glanced at Steffie. “You really do like me.”

“Don’t get a swelled head. It was a meal deal. The burger would have cost more than the set.”

“Well, aren’t I lucky. I am making some headway. Do you want to check the copy?”

“Sure. Send it over.”

“I will take five.” She sent the files to Steffie then dove into her lunch.

The supervisor was on the prowl, and he stopped by Eudora’s desk. He sighed. “What have I told you about eating at your desk?”

“Uh, don’t get caught?” She wiped her mouth.

“And what is this?”

“Debris?” She finished the last of the fries.

“Did you get the download?”

“I did. I did a rough workup for an ad campaign and forwarded it to Steffie through appropriate channels.”

He blinked. “Okay. Good. Remove the wrappers when you are done.”

She nodded, wadded everything together, put it into her wastebasket, and then went in search of the custodian. “Hey, Rod. I got caught eating at my desk again, and this is my punishment.”

He laughed. “Your punishment is my job.”

“We both get paid for it, but now I have to go stare at screens for a few hours.”

“Ouch. That I do not envy you.”

“Thanks.”

He paused. “How is the divorce going?”

“It’s done. Signed the last of it today. He’s free, and I am rebuilding... again.”

Rod’s face looked sad. “I am sorry.”

“I’m not. It was a matter of convenience for him and kept the socialites off his doorstep for the three years we were legally married. It was convenient for him, and I was bound to be polite and not date for some reason. Let’s just say he was having way more sex than I was.”

“Ouch. You rarely hear about situations like that.”

“Yeah. Well, I am a fan of retro. Gotta go back to the data mines.” She grinned and waved as she headed off.

She got back to her desk and prepared an advertising packet for the second episode. This was what she did, and she was extremely good at it.

* * * *

Likon Chyris answered the phone. “Yes?”

“It’s done, sir. She’s signed the paperwork. The filing has been completed and registered with the court.”

Likon paused. “Did she cry?”

“No, sir. She—uh—whistled.”

Eudora only whistled when she was happy. Really happy. “This was the more recent copy?”

“No, sir. She brought in the original, so she signed it as is. No changes.”

Likon whispered, “What? Why?”

“You said you wanted it done with little fuss. Dividing assets and giving her a payout would have been a fuss, so the original one stood. She was a little upset that her bank account would be frozen, but she accepted it.”

“Wait. What do you mean her account was frozen?”

“Well, until the court issues the acknowledgement it is an asset of the marriage and can’t be moved.”

“And she knew that.”

“Yes.”

“And signed it anyway?”

“Correct. You have what was yours when you married, she has what was hers, and anything she earned by exposure to your family name is divided equally.”

“Fuck. I forgot we wrote that.”

“I wrote that. It was for your benefit, and you managed to escape the marriage market of three years ago. Lik, it is for the best. You can start over now.” His friend of fifteen years stated, “She’s a mouse. You need a tiger, like Nessa.”

Likon frowned. They hadn’t had an intimate relationship, but having Eudora in his house had made it a home. When she had come home to him fucking Nessa in the living room, her smile had just turned off. She had nodded. “I will see your lawyer next week. This is over now. Good luck.”

He had thrown Nessa off him and run to Eudora’s room, where she was packing with calm efficiency. He watched her go around the gowns that he had bought her for their endless parties and events. “You can sell those.”

“No. They are yours as per the original contract. As fun as it would be to see you try to wedge into them, I am leaving them here. Jewellery is on the dresser, including the wedding ring. The phone is on the charger.”

“What?”

“It’s yours. Everything you purchased for me remains your property. That was the agreement.” She closed her luggage.

He had stood there, watched her lift the keys for her old car, and said, “Where are you going?”

“To an apartment that a friend rented for me when you started dry humping Nessa in the car. I may be a beta, but my nose works.” She snorted and left the room, brushing past him in her modest heels.

She walked smoothly down the hall. She smiled at Nessa, who was trying to look smug.

That had irritated Likon, but he was astonished when Eudora said, “Go ahead, fuck his brains out. It won’t take long. It’s not a big target.”

Nessa suddenly looked unsure.

Eudora had sailed out of his home, and he hadn’t seen her since.

“I broke our contract.”

His buddy sighed. “Then hope she doesn’t realize that. She didn’t seem too smart.”

Likon paused. “You didn’t actually meet her, did you?”

His lawyer remained silent, and Likon slowly hung up with the feeling that Nessa had been the biggest mistake of his life.

* * * *

She missed her home time, but for the first time in three years, there wasn’t anyone waiting.

The apartment that Arwell had rented for her was modest and close to work.

She could walk it. Eudora stretched, sent the last of her files for Steffie to check in the morning, and grabbed her purse to head home.

The funny thing about working in media and advertising was that she had to dress like she was going to be seen, even if it was only at a distance, through a window.

It would be two weeks before she had another payday and could start rebuilding her workstation at home.

She had to leave everything. That was the deal.

That was the contract. She got food and lodging and had to go around the social circuit as his wife.

She was polite, engaging, and just charming enough for his purposes.

It had been three years since she had said yes to the strange proposition while she was volunteering at an afterschool program for children whose parents couldn’t leave work early. She was teaching storyboarding as a means to get a grip on an idea, and he was there to pick up his nephew, Tyler.

Likon took a look at her and nodded. He had proposed the marriage of convenience immediately, as if he had been looking for someone to fit an outline in his head.

She fit. The rest had been a whirlwind of getting her wardrobe up to snuff, and then the endless dinner parties and charity events began.

That had been her evenings for the last three years.

Now, she was free again, and there was nothing like being broke but responsible for herself alone.

Restarting wasn’t horrible when you had made friends along the way.

Arwell Breaker had helped her get a modest apartment and kept it off Eudora’s books. Likon’s lawyer had been merciless in drafting the contract. She should have had her own representation, but she couldn’t afford it at the time. Now she could just call a friend.

She grabbed her exercise bag and went to hit the gym. She would spring for some takeout on the way home.

She was holding a weight plate and doing crunches with her legs wedged into the brace of the padded structure designed for this purpose.

The gym membership had been a gift from another friend, and she worked out like a demon. She ran, jumped, pressed, grunted, sweated, and groaned. She tried to be ladylike, but that was difficult when she was pulling herself up with her own bodyweight strapped to her legs.

Her body was humming and warm when she finally hit the shower and got back into her office attire.

She walked down the street, watching a woman lifting her groceries on one hip and a toddler on the other.

An idea streaked through her, and she let it develop as she stood in line at the noodle shop for her usual fast meal for takeout.

She felt the gaze following her and looped back to lean down so she could speak to the driver. “Nelson. You might be a lawyer, but now you are stalking. This is noted. I have a photo of you in your car, and I just want to know why you are here?”

“He’s worried.”

“Why? He broke the contract.”

Nelson frowned. “What?”

“Sexual contact within the house was expressly forbidden. She was riding him in the living room with their lower clothing missing. He wasn’t swatting a mosquito with his dick, Nelson.

I am gone; he can have Nessa any way he wants her.

I don’t give a fuck what he is feeling; he certainly didn’t give a rat’s ass about my feelings.

” She looked at him. “Don’t follow me. Next report goes to the police. ”

He blinked and started his car.