34. Chapter 34
Chapter 34
Dante
I paced through the halls of our building while I waited for Elijah to meet me. I didn’t tell Liam and Vigo why I’d stayed late, but they knew enough to give me space. They had both crossed the line that we swore we’d never cross. My stomach turned now, just thinking about it - the idea of them being with her physically. Part of me was disgusted, but another part of me, a deep, hidden corner of my soul that I was struggling to suppress - was turned on. I fought myself each day and night not to imagine them with her - and fought even harder not to imagine myself with her. I knew it was just the scent match making me feel things, but I needed another perspective.
Elijah wasn’t affected like we were. He was the person I trusted most outside of my pack. We hadn’t told him about the scent match - it was too much of a liability, and also too shameful. I knew if he found out he’d want us to call the whole thing off, to send her back home due to the risk. And he would be right. Two out of the three of us had already complicated things.
I heard the door open and looked to see him enter the hallway, then nodded at him and gestured to the empty conference room where I’d gathered the evidence we had so far.
“Good to see you, brother.” He said with a smile. “How are you holding up?”
Elijah had worried about me, noticing the dark circles under my eyes, my ragged appearance since she’d been living with us. But he thought it was from the stress of being around my enemy, not knowing the other battle I was waging.
“As good as can be expected. Here,” I said as I spread out the papers. “Take a look. This is all I’ve been able to find so far, besides what you procured.”
Celeste was a mystery. We had been able to get access to some of her emails, but hadn’t been able to hack into Harringday’s full backend systems at this point. We did, however, manage to hack into the emails of some of the clients she worked with. Which led to some interesting discoveries.
“From what I can tell, she seems to be working to improve conditions in many of her factories.” I said as Elijah took the papers with a frown. “There’s no mention of any of this in the press. She also implemented policies to help the staff at Harringday, which seems to be a point of contention with the board.”
I let Elijah read through the emails, trying to gauge his reaction. We knew Celeste had been behind some atrocious things. So why was she doing things that would help people, especially if it was more cost effective to let things stay as they were?
“Interesting.” Elijah said, rubbing his chin. “What else have you learned? How are your interactions with her?” He asked.
I thought back. I’d been avoiding being around her, and didn’t want Elijah to learn it was because I now found her scent intoxicating.
“I can’t stand her.” I admitted. It was the truth. “But she doesn't seem to be who we thought initially. I haven’t seen her get messy like we’d assumed. She’s intelligent, more so than we thought.”
Elijah thought for a moment. “Well, by all accounts, your other pack members are getting along with her very well.” He said with a chuckle.
“They are phenomenal actors. And Celeste hates that everyone thinks it’s real.” I said quickly. I didn’t want him to believe that there was any truth to them actually having sex with her - it would lead to so many questions I didn’t want to answer. “There’s something that I can’t figure out as well. She acts like she has compassion, sometimes so believingly that the others nearly fall for it. But clearly that has to be a facade. So what’s her endgame here?” My question lingered, and Elijah considered for a moment.
“It could be that she does want to improve things slightly to look good internally. Remember, she needs to mislead the board too. At least half of them don't know what went on in Arkala. Remember the ultimate goal here.” Elijah reminded me. “You need justice for your family.”
I thought back to the call I’d had with my cousin and closed my eyes.
“ They killed everyone, Dante! Everyone! ” He’d sobbed. I shook my head, trying not to let the memories take me down a dark path.
“Let’s keep trying. We need hard evidence. And we need it soon. I think my packmates are too soft.” I said. Elijah looked at me, questions in his eyes. I had to tread carefully to hide the truth.
“They don’t see her bad side. She’s too calculating, her acting is phenomenal. I have to admit, I was even questioning how she could have pulled all of this off. And I’m not above thinking she has help. Someone internally is covering her tracks. Try to find anything else you can.” I said, gathering up the papers. Elijah frowned.
“I can’t get any closer without knowing her password. I’m sure she uses two factor authentication. We have to watch her more.” He said.
I sighed. I would have to be nicer to her, get her to trust me. That meant spending more time with her. The rest of my pack was too compromised.
“I’m on it.” I said, with a lingering doubt in my stomach.In all our attempts to be ethical and do things the right way, we were still going to have to bend the rules when it came to Celeste.