Chapter 24
Vigo
Here I was, in the middle of the snake’s pit. We were working with Sterling, the most trusted employee of Celeste’s uncle, and also one of Celeste’s scent matches. Funny how life turned out.
I watched Sterling as we went over the plan, trying to deduce how he could possibly be worthy of her.
If his story was correct, he’d been working against her for years, only turning to her side once he scented her.
That meant he was not to be trusted. But at this point, what choice did we have?
He knew more about the plan against us than anyone else.
“Gideon will be at Harringday headquarters at one o'clock. I told him I would bring a potential client up. We’ll keep him waiting as long as possible, but I’ll have to check in with him eventually.
I can’t have him getting suspicious. If he leaves to go back, it will take roughly forty-five minutes.
That gives us about two hours of access to his office in Celeste’s compound.
” He explained, and I nodded, wondering if we were walking into a huge trap.
Liam would be watching the office to make sure Gideon arrived and let us know when he left.
Sterling and I would be on the ground, breaking into the only place we knew of that might have proof of Gideon’s wrongdoings.
Working with another scent match felt like standing too close to a rival alpha - except Sterling wasn’t an alpha, which almost made it worse. He was a beta, calm and collected in a way that made him hard to read. I didn’t trust him. Not yet.
But this was the only way to make it up to Celeste, and possibly the only way we’d ever know the truth of what was going on. Our pack was still reeling from the revelation that Gideon was behind the downfall of Arkala, and that Elijah possibly played a part.
My heart ached at the knowledge that we were likely being double-crossed by Elijah.
Everything Sterling said made sense now that the pieces were laid out in front of us.
I could feel Dante’s pain through our bond, knowing that a betrayal would hit him the worst. Elijah had been a trusted friend to us, and a stellar employee. But I trusted Celeste.
We would let Dante deal with that for now - his part of the plan was to act normally and get information from Elijah.
I trusted he’d be able to keep Elijah occupied while Liam and I did our part.
We didn't have much time - Celeste’s uncle would want her back at work at some point, and he would surely wonder why we weren’t releasing the files.
We’d agreed to feed a story to Elijah that we were working with select journalists to make the drop of information as widespread and devastating as possible - if he was working with Gideon, he’d pass that along.
Sterling was already sitting at the dining table, a spread of lockpicks, flash drives, and what looked like a custom-made multitool laid out in neat rows. The guy packed for a corporate espionage picnic.
“You lay your gear out alphabetically, too?” I asked, grabbing a mug and pouring coffee from the pot nearby.
“Not alphabetically,” he said without looking up. “By order of use. If you’re not organized, you waste seconds. And seconds matter.”
“Sure,” I said, dropping into the chair across from him. “You ever try just winging it?”
He glanced up at me like I’d offended him. “No.”
That got a snort out of me. “Figures. You look like the kind of guy who irons his socks.”
One corner of his mouth ticked up. “Wrinkles slow you down.”
We sat there for a moment, the faint hum of the guest house’s fridge filling the silence. He was still preparing when I looked out the window at his sports car.
“That's your daily driver?” I asked, nodding at it.
He looked up for a moment. “For today, yes. We need speed.”
“Twin turbo, right?”
Now he looked up, eyes sharpening with interest. “Yeah. You can tell?”
I sipped my coffee. “I have one too. Probably much faster than yours.”
That got me a short laugh - genuine, like he wasn’t expecting it. “Bet I could smoke anything you drive.”
I grinned. “Careful. That’s fighting talk. I have my own, tuned to hell. She purrs like a cat. I promised Celeste a ride in it. After this is over, you and I are hitting the track. No excuses.”
Sterling smirked as he started packing his kit. “Hope you like losing.”
Despite how much I didn’t want to, I was starting to like the guy.
Celeste came down, her hair freshly tousled from sleeping in.
My eyes were stuck on her as she strode toward Sterling, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a kiss on the cheek.
I felt the pain in my chest as I watched her, craving her touch. But I hadn't earned it.
At least she’d let us sleep over here last night in preparation. It eased the ache, even if she made us stay downstairs on the couch instead of in the upstairs room with her.
Liam walked into the living room and spotted Celeste and Sterling together. His own ache strummed through our bond, but he put on a brave face.
“Be careful!” Celeste warned, looking at Sterling, then at us.
“We’ll be fine. Just stay here, and wait for our call.” Sterling said, gripping her hand and giving it a squeeze.
“And you’ll be safe with Pack Valence? Are you sure they can protect you if your uncle gets suspicious?” Liam asked, his anxiety over leaving her here apparent. She scoffed at him.
“Their families rival my own. No one would dare touch them. I’m safe here.” She assured him, but I was still worried. We had to make this mission successful, if there was any chance of clearing Celeste's name and proving that her uncle was behind all the things that Harringday had done.
We headed out of the guesthouse and toward the car.
I watched Pack Valence as they waited nearby.
For some reason, I didn’t feel the need to tear them apart, even if they were guarding Celeste.
They didn’t look at her like alphas normally did.
Either way, I needed to make this right.
Knowing that Celeste was going into heat soon around this pack made my nerves on fire.
“Let’s go.” Sterling said, and I got into his car while Liam took off on his own.
We drove toward Celeste’s property until we were about halfway there.
Then, Sterling pulled over and made the call to Gideon.
I waited, listening to him talk to the man with such a normal tone, asking him to meet at Harringday to discuss a new prospect.
I was amazed at how easily he slipped into a bland, corporate voice, with no emotion.
He ended the call, and waited. “He should leave soon. Then, the countdown begins.” He said with only the slightest tension. Sterling stayed in that neutral, almost empty posture after the call, his shoulders loose, like he could disappear into his own stillness.
It grated on me - I couldn’t tell if he was playing me, Celeste, or himself.
“So…” I leaned back in the passenger seat, stretching my legs like we had all the time in the world. “What exactly is it you feel for her?”
He didn’t look at me right away. His gaze stayed on the horizon, the car’s AC the only sound between us.
“Why?” he asked finally, voice even.
“Because you’re her scent match,” I said flatly. “And you’ve been working for the man who’s been undermining her for years. You can see how that might make me suspicious.”
His hands tightened on the wheel. Finally, he looked at me, enough for me to catch the faintest spark of something human before his gaze slid away again.
“I didn’t expect her. I didn’t expect anyone to match with me, to be honest. And when I scented her…
” His jaw flexed. “It wrecked everything I knew. From that moment on, my only priority was, and still is, to protect her. Does that make you feel better?”
“Almost,” I said, letting my mouth twist into a half-grin.
“And why should I trust you?” He asked, turning toward me.
“Your pack knew she was your scent match, and yet according to her you still wanted to turn her in. Take her position from her. Make her helpless.” He nearly growled as his eyes turned to steel.
I was taken aback by his words. But, he had a point.
“You’re right. We fucked up.” I said, running a hand down my face.
“We thought we knew what Harringday was doing, and all the proof showed that she was behind it. I don’t know if you are even aware of all the atrocities committed behind closed doors.
” I said, thinking of Arkala. Sterling let out a rough laugh.
“I was probably the one behind some of them. To cover for Gideon.” He added, and looked ashamed.
“I know. None of us are innocent, it turns out.” I said, thinking of our plan at the Darlington Ball.
“But we started to suspect she wasn’t the mastermind.
The more we knew her, the more we doubted.
But when we saw the paperwork, signed by her, and you…
” I said, trailing off. “We have deep ties to some of the people harmed by Harringday. It’s very personal.
We didn’t know.” I sighed, thinking about how complicated it all was.
“You had your sights set on taking her down, second only to her uncle.” Sterling added with an ironic laugh. “And fate assigned you to be her scent matches.” He let out a sigh.
“And I’m going to earn her forgiveness, no matter what.” I said, sitting up straight. “We were wrong. But we were never, ever going to let her get hurt. I’m putting my life on that.” I said, and Sterling watched me. I couldn't tell what he was thinking.
A buzz from his phone cut the moment short.
He checked it, then shoved it into his jacket.
“He’s leaving.” We drove quickly, the road narrowing until we pulled off into the shadow of a row of trees just shy of Celeste’s property line.
The compound loomed beyond, and we watched her uncle’s car peel off.
Sterling got out, motioning for me to follow. “We go over the east wall. There’s a blind spot between the camera sweeps. You can’t be seen. I can at least have an explanation for why I’m here. You won’t.”
Sterling led the way through a narrow service corridor, pausing at a locked side door. He pulled out a key and opened it, and I followed him inside.
“You’re too quiet,” I murmured, scanning the hallway.
“That’s because you’re talking enough for both of us,” he said without looking back. This place was massive, and I marveled at the size of it, even though we’d been here once before for the contract signing. Sterling deftly moved down the halls, waiting to watch for anyone before having me follow.
“Here. This is his main office, but he has a smaller closet for safekeeping. I know there’s a safe, and I think with the code Celeste has that we might be able to get inside.”
The office was darker than I expected, with heavy drapes drawn against the sun.
The air smelled faintly of expensive whiskey.
Sterling crossed to the massive mahogany desk, running his fingers under the edge until he found a recessed button.
A panel in the wall slid open, revealing a steel-faced safe.
“Tell me you remember the code,” I said, keeping my voice low.
“Yes,” Sterling replied, already spinning the dial. “Funny enough, after Celeste told us, I realized it was a combo of his birth month and day, his ego the size of a skyscraper.”
I watched him work, every turn of the dial crisp and deliberate. Finally, there was a muted thunk and the door swung open.
Inside there were folders, ledgers, even hard drives. Sterling sorted through them softly, trying not to disturb anything. “Gideon can’t know anything is amiss. Otherwise, he’s likely to take things into his own hands.” He said as he sorted through the folders, checking them one by one.
I saw him clench his teeth. “Fuck. Where are they!” He growled, his movements growing faster as he took out the legers.
“What? What are you looking for?” I asked, taking a pile and flipping through it.
“Anything that doesn’t have Celeste’s name on it.
Anything that can back our story.” He fished around for a thumb drive.
“This could have something on it, but we need more time to look through the files.” He thought for a moment.
“We can take it with us, but I worry he’ll notice it missing.
” Sterling looked at the thumb drive, then chucked it into his bag.
“Fuck it. We don’t have the luxury to wait.
” He sighed and looked through the rest of the files.
“Most of this is not going to help. I told you, Gideon is too good at covering his tracks.” Sterling said as his phone buzzed. He checked it, then frowned.
“Gideon is coming back. We need to head out.” We’d been here for over an hour at this point. He took the paperwork, filing it exactly as we found it. “Let’s hope these drives have something on them. Then, we need to try to return them before he notices.”
I kept my eyes on the hallway, adrenaline threading through my veins. And for the first time since this alliance started, I realized something - if this went south, I was trusting Sterling to have my back. And I was starting to think he’d actually be someone I could rely on.