Chapter 20 #2
“I didn’t realize anyone was working on that,” I say. I mean, after what happened at the mixer, I’m not surprised that Cian pushed for that, but she wasn’t even there. “And yes, go ahead and lock the door, please.”
Standing, I grab my water bottle and walk over toward my living room set up. I need a break from my desk. Hayes flicks the lock after picking up the pen and joins me, taking a deep breath as he sits down.
“More bad news I take it?” I ask, feeling tired. My body has been working on high doses of epinephrine. Between my experience with Emilia’s goons, the hospital stay, my heat, and conversation with Caleb and Lars, it feels as if I’ve been on a yo-yo of extreme emotions.
Hayes gazes at me for a long moment before he sighs.
“Possibly,” he mutters. “This whole situation pisses me off for you since most of it is wrapped around ROWS’ bullshit.
Emilia just wants to have power over the narrative of what’s best for omegas.
Domh got the injunction order from a judge, but only up to twenty feet away.
That’s stupid if you ask me. Emilia also has a gag order that states that she can’t talk about you in her podcasts, nor can she call you anymore. ”
“That’s a mixed blessing,” I mutter. “Twenty feet is nothing.”
“Domh argued, but the judge said that we can’t expect him to believe that she sent people to hurt you,” Hayes grumbles.
“He obviously only granted the protection order to appease Domh and get him out of his hair. Domh has been by his office every day for the past two weeks. He just passed it this morning and had Emilia served.”
“So this was just approved?” I ask, eyes widening. “I’m sure she didn’t like that.”
“Fuck her—” Hayes leans forward, his eyes on the street as he snarls. “You have got to be kidding me.”
My gaze snaps up to see what he’s rambling about, and I sigh. Emilia is walking on the opposite side of the street with other ROWS members, her hands moving as she talks. She’s obviously going to split hairs about this protective order.
“God, she’s such an asshole,” I mutter, watching as she stops in front of my office. The twatwaffle pulls out her tape measure with a grin and wiggles it at me in an attempt to get a rise at me, while I turn to speak to Hayes, pretending to dismiss her from my sight.
“She’s got big ole lady balls,” Hayes growls, making me smirk.
“Ya know what, mine might be bigger,” I decide, standing to retrieve my laptop. “I’ve been trying not to stoop to her level, but fuck it.”
Lifting the device that’s a weapon when in my hands, I walk back to the couch.
Emilia simply stands and gloats at the other side of the road, and occasionally cars drive in front of her to hide her ugly mug.
Rolling my eyes when I know she can’t see me due to the passing of traffic, I sit back down next to Hayes.
“I’m officially pissed off,” I grumble, opening my computer. “You know, I wonder what she’ll do when her calendar is fucked with…”
Chuckling, Hayes gets comfortable. “You sound like Callum right before he loses his shit on someone’s security system,” he says.
“I’ve played nicely,” I say, my fingers typing as I code. Finding a back door in the ROWS network, I delete different engagements out of calendars from all of those that have them in the system. It’s random in its design, so any IT employee would say that it’s a glitch.
“You have,” Hayes says, watching me out of the side of his vision with a smirk. “Now you get to be bad.”
“Mmhmm, isn’t that how it works?” I ask.
I move from file to file so it looks haphazard, corrupting important information and “misplacing” money in their trust so it looks as if someone is embezzling. Humming under my breath, I create chaos happily.
“She’s still watching us,” Hayes says.
“It’s not unusual for me to work on my computer during a meeting,” I remind him.
By the time I’m done, I’m able to say that the ROWS headquarters will be in complete disarray, and none of it will be able to be undone. Not to mention, I haven’t even touched Emilia’s computer yet.
“Let’s see what nightmares live in Emilia’s system,” I grumble.
“I thought you’d hit that first,” Hayes chuckles.
“Self gratification has its best results when delayed,” I say. “Plus, I’m laying down distractions so that I can hide what I’m doing. Is she still out there?”
“Yes, the cuntcicle is still talking to her merry band of pod people created in her image,” Hayes says. “I think she’s pissed that you’re not paying attention to her.”
“I’m paying plenty of attention,” I mutter, maneuvering through the network to Emilia’s computer. “I’m erasing the next three months of events in her computer which also syncs to her phone.”
“What does Emilia get up to anyway?” Hayes asks.
Going through her calendar, I scowl. “That’s bold of her to have several meetings with known omega sex traffickers,” I say.
Pulling out his phone, Hayes opens the note section app. “Please, give me names. I’m really fucking bored and I need people to torture,” he says.
I rattle off the names, frowning when I get to Madam Clara’s name.
“Hmm,” I mutter. “Madam Clara isn’t in the area anymore that I know of. She’s the alpha I’ve been watching to release her next auction dates. I really think she may have the missing omegas from Club Slick.”
“Is there anything else to go on? What’s the date that she has for the meeting?” Hayes asks.
“It’s a phone call, not an in person meeting, and it’s set for next week at three,” I say. “There’s a phone number attached to the meeting. Will you take down this number?”
I rattle off the details before I delete it. Once I’m done going through the other meetings that Emilia has, I delete those as well. My inner petty is showing, and I don’t care. This omega has been making my and countless others’ lives a living hell.
If I can return the favor to make her life uncomfortable, then I will.
“I want to see what’s in her emails,” I say, forcing myself not to look up. “Maybe that’s where she’s been talking to Madam Clara. It would figure if the auction isn’t being advertised on the dark web.”
“Is this the floating auction that Mr. Sullivan was telling me about?” Hayes asks.
“Yes. It looks like she wants to mimic Club Slick’s business model, but is attempting to lay low,” I say. “While I don’t blame her for that decision, it’s been making it difficult for me to find… Got ya!”
Hayes chuckles as I open an email that’s addressed by Madam Clara.
“Emilia, I hope this email finds you well. As you know, I’ve decided to open a floating auction,” I read under my breath .
“I’ve been getting myself settled in the South, and am enjoying the warmer weather.
You asked me to tell you when my next auction would be, which is why I’m messaging you.
If you’ve decided that I’m too far for you to send me inventory, I completely understand. ”
“Fuck,” Hayes breathes. “Can you send yourself that email?”
“Yeah, I will just before I let the internet eat the original version,” I rasp.
“God, and she just keeps fucking going. ‘I appreciate the years we’ve worked together and hope that we can continue in our mutually beneficial relationship. The next auction will be on June seventeenth, which means that we'll be having beautiful weather. 1259 West St in Savannah, Georgia will be where I plan to have it at. If there’s a change in the date or address, I’ll be sure to tell you. Madam Clara.’”
“She’s so nonchalant,” Hayes spits out, his face turning red with anger. “Clara really doesn’t fucking care that she’s ruining people’s lives.”
“She runs an auction, of course she doesn’t care,” I whisper, forwarding the email to myself before deleting the evidence that I did that. Taking a breath, I send myself all of the emails that Emilia has so I can go through them, and then crash her server.
Now, Emilia won’t be able to receive any messages, or retrieve all the emails that I just deleted. It’s a blank slate.
Next, I hack into her phone and delete her contacts, notes, and all important information. I make sure that anything she backed up is also deleted because her password to her external cloud is saved on her phone.
Fucking idiot.
Is it enough? Absolutely not, but I have an address and a date, and that’ll have to suffice for now.
I back out of the ROWS network and delete any evidence that I was ever there before closing the back door I slipped into. She really should do a better job of keeping hackers out.
I’m shaking with anger and adrenaline when I glance up and find that Emilia and her Merry band of Twats are gone.
“Can you call Cian?” I ask, my voice breaking. “I need to tell him what I found.”
“I’ll call Evan instead and have him drive here with the boss,” Hayes says, picking up the phone as I nod numbly.
All this time, I’ve been looking in the wrong places. The dark web has been completely quiet about Madam Clara’s grand opening for her floating auction because she wanted to keep it that way.
It’s smart, but I can still fucking hate her for it.
“He’s on the way,” Hayes grunts as I nod, standing to pour myself a stiff drink. “I won’t say it’s too early for that, and I’ll take one too.”
I add another glass as I pour him one too, returning to the couch to hand it to him. I don’t understand why I’m freaking out. I know that Emilia has a hand in the auctions, but to see it so baldly in black and white and that it’s been happening for years?
“Un-fucking-believable,” I whisper, taking a long sip, enjoying the burn as it travels down. My skin pebbles up with goosebumps as I shiver, and I consider pulling on a sweater even though I know this isn’t from the cold.
No, I know it’s the depravity of life that’s responsible for this.