54. Chapter 54
Chapter 54
Celeste
I walked around the backside of the estate, cursing as my shoes were marked up by the mud and brush that seemed to cover the land outside their vast estate. I was going to need a shower and some new clothes as soon as I got inside. Maybe one of the guys could rub my feet for me. I tried to keep myself busy imagining them caring for me as I pushed through the wild brush. Finally, I saw the back of their property. There was a wall, but I already knew the door to the side gate was usually unlocked during the day. I pushed it open and stumbled into the back patio. I sighed as I was finally able to walk on the mosaic tile, heading toward the pool to take off my shoes.
I passed the clubhouse, pausing to sit on a bench and catch my breath. For a moment I thought I was alone, but then heard Dante’s voice coming from inside. I smiled for a moment, wanting to get up and see if he’d be interested in a nice, long shower with me. But something made me freeze.
“...everything we’ve ever dreamed of finding. It’s all here.” Dante’s voice was serious, but held a hint of something else.
“I refuse to believe it. There has to be some explanation. There’s no way that she can be the same person who signed off on these.” Vigo’s voice rang out.
I stopped, sensing the seriousness of their conversation. Leaning in, I listened while I kept myself still.
“We have to stop her…” The voice was faint, but I froze as I realized they were talking about a woman.
“We’ll show the evidence to Reginald. He knows who to trust on the board. Once he knows the truth, they can remove her.”
Ice ran through my veins. They were talking about me. About removing me from my position. I momentarily blanked out, feeling a rush of emotions as everything I thought I knew slammed to a halt.
“Prison for someone of her status won’t be nearly as bad as for anyone else. She’s an omega. She’ll go to a facility for omegas, and when she’s out…”
What were they talking about? Prison? I racked my brain trying to understand what they could possibly think I’d done.
“When she’s out, the world will shun her.”
I felt my world fall apart.
The pack I scent matched, the pack I’d spent months getting to know, care for, understand…the pack I’d begun to love… they’d been secretly working to take me down the whole time. And all while pretending to care about me. How could this be?
My heart was pounding so hard I was sure they could hear it. The pain in my stomach was the manifestation of my anxiety running out of control, and I knew soon my perfume would leak out with a sour note, and they’d scent that I was here. I needed them gone. I needed to figure out what the hell was going on, and what they were planning.
I closed my eyes, thinking hard about a plan. They thought I still believed in their care about me, and I had that up my sleeve. Quickly, I pulled out my phone and typed a text message to them.
“Help quick! I crashed my car near the lake on the way to my house! It’s sinking! ”
My car was near the back end of their property, but they didn’t need to know that. I just needed them gone. I waited for the text notification, and sure enough, I heard Liam’s voice.
“Shit! Get the car! She needs help!” The sound of their footsteps pounding on the floor let me know my plan worked. I scooted around the back of the clubhouse, flattening myself against the back wall as I turned my phone off.
Then I heard them run out of the clubhouse, practically flying as they yelled at each other about what had happened to me. Once I heard their car peel out, I slowly crept around the side of the small structure and walked in. What had Dante said? That ‘it was all here’, which meant they had something on me.
They didn’t even close the door when they left. But inside the clubhouse, there was a bookcase that was swung sideways. My mouth dropped open as I realized it was a door to a secret hidden room. I stepped inside, in awe of what I saw. It was an office - one that I never knew existed. It was left in disarray. There were papers scattered over the coffee table and desk, and some that had fallen on the floor.
There were so many copies. I sat down, my body numb as I started sorting through them. What could they possibly think I’d done that would warrant me going to prison? Were they trying to frame me?
I read through one of the pages, my eye catching on some key phrases. This one was an internal memo, from my company, that allowed Harringday to pay people in certain districts less than the minimum wage - using the excuse that it was legal in that area if the workers could not adequately perform their work on time. It was a deal with the local mayor. I frowned at it. While this was technically legal in some areas, along with the approval of the local government, it was still not something I’d ever implement. But when I scanned down further, I froze. My signature, along with Arnault’s, was at the bottom.
I had no recollection of ever signing off on this. Omegas needed a witness to sign a document to show that there was no coercion, via an alpha using their bark, when signing official documents. A beta was always used as a witness. How did Arnault get access to my signature for this document as well? And how was I not aware of this?
Quickly, I grabbed other packets, reading through each one by one to see what they were. There were so many more incidents than I realized. Policies I’d never seen, much less approved of, and they all had my signature. A panic started deep within me. How did this happen? Were these forged? Was Pack Lockwood trying to frame me?
Or… were these real? They looked like scanned documents. As I read through them, I noticed that the more recent ones had Sterling’s witness signature along with my forged name. I felt my chest tighten. Had this treachery been going on the entire time that Sterling had been in employment at Harringday Industries? This would be a nightmare to disprove. No wonder the men of Pack Lockwood had such a low opinion of me - these orders were abhorrent.
I stood up, walking over to the open laptop. My hands trembling, I pulled up the browser and searched through the history. There were several sites, all referencing the Island of Arkala. It tugged at my brain. I’d been there before, very early in my career. There had been a mine collapse, and I’d flown out to personally oversee the new regulations that we’d put into place. There should be nothing to be found except for the lack of regulations that had been remedied once I’d been in charge.
I remembered Dante mentioning the island briefly too - after our date. Something dark and sick felt just out of reach, something that I needed to figure out. This computer was secret, one that hadn’t come up on the list of devices on their wifi network. But it was probably my best bet at finding information. Trembling, I pulled off my gold bracelet that Bella had procured for me. The password that her cybersecurity specialist found was still etched on the metal. Slowly, I typed it in. It worked.
I started searching through the files, trying to find something, anything, that would make this make sense. Anytime I searched my name or Harringday, all kinds of results appeared, with what looked like highly confidential documents, most of which I’d never seen before. How did they get access to these, and why was I not aware of the existence of any of this?
With a growing sickness in my throat, I searched for Arkala. A folder came up, with hundreds of files. I opened one up - a simple image. Once my eyes adjusted, a gasp erupted from me as I looked at what appeared to be the aftermath of some type of brutal attack. People were lined up, bleeding and broken on the ground as a man in uniform stood over them with a baton. I recognized the uniform. It was one that the employees working for Harringday Industries on Arkala Island wore.
I clicked on another file. It was another photo, this one more disgusting than the last. One by one, I looked at each photo until I felt sick. What was happening? I’d been to that island before. The work conditions had been fixed - I’d met with the top managers myself. But the photos didn’t look like the area I’d seen. Something horrific had occurred there. I looked at the file dates - they were from over six years ago.
Another file had a statement from a worker, and as I read I started to tear up. It told of the working conditions so bad that the workers were getting sick with a transmittable illness, but unable to afford treatment. Leadership had let the townspeople handle it, with inadequate supplies.
One by one, I clicked through the files, reading incriminating documents that directly pointed to Harringday Industries as the culprit. Internal documents that showed orders coming from the top - directly from me . My stomach heaved. I stood up and ran to the toilet, throwing up until I had nothing left in me.
Suddenly the incessant tug inside my brain made the connection - Dante’s tattoos, the ones he had on his chest and arms, matched the ones on the people in the photos. Dante was from Arkala .How could I have missed this?
Sweat was beading on my forehead. I wiped my mouth, washing up briefly before heading back to the computer. There was a mountain of evidence that my company - my family’s legacy - was doing tremendous damage to people and hiding it. The problem was, who was doing this in my name? And how had this been hidden from me? I had access to every file in Harringday’s servers. Every decision we made was something I was aware of, save for Arnault’s indiscretion in Tedena. The board didn’t even have the access I did.
I forced myself to sit back down and look for more. A message popped up on the laptop, and I realized that the pack text messages were forwarded to this computer. From what I could tell, this laptop belonged to Dante.
Then, I had a thought. I pulled up the messaging window and searched through it, quickly confirming that this laptop and the connected number was in fact Dante’s. I searched my name, and found dozens of texts where he was complaining about me. That didn't surprise me. If this was accurate, he believed that I was behind a massive coverup of abuse and murder, most likely of people that he knew. I went back further, trying to find out when and how they had found these documents. It seemed to be very recent - he’d only called for his pack to meet him at the clubhouse earlier today.
I read through them, searching my name further and further until I saw something peculiar. It was a chain of messages between Dante and Elijah. These were old - over a year ago. Around the time of the Darlington Ball. The texts were sparse, but they were enough that I recognized exactly what I was looking for.
Dante: It’s the only way we can stop her
Elijah: Trust me, she won’t make it to the vote. She won’t even make it to breakfast the next morning.
Dante: It has to look real
Elijah: Don't worry, it will look like she’s on another bender. They’ll keep her for around twenty four hours, maybe two days tops. She will miss it, and once she is voted out Reginald will set things right.
Dante: I owe you
Elijah: You don’t owe me anything, brother. Just keep the other guys out of it. The less they know, the better. Just in case anything goes bad. You never know with these packs. Accidents happen all the time.
Dante: Even if it did go bad, the world will be better off.
I sat back, my world rocked to the core.
Dante and Elijah were messaging about hiring a pack to kidnap me. They planned to keep me from the vote.
Dante knew.
Dante knew I would be kidnapped, and he didn’t care what happened to me. Even floated the possibility of me having an accident . Dead, just like my parents.
I stood too quickly, stumbling as I fought to catch my breath. I reached for the table as I fell to my knees, my hands clutching at the printed papers as I curled up on the floor, rocking back and forth. My pack… my mates thought I was a monster.
This whole time, they thought I was responsible for sabotage- even murder. And Dante had lied to me. I could have been hurt or worse in the kidnapping attempt, and he practically gave the green light. Tears spilled out of my eyes as I gasped, not able to get enough air. I was having a panic attack.
No wonder they were having that conversation about me. They were talking about removing me from the public eye for my own good! Having me lose everything, and rely on them for the rest of my life! And Dante - I knew he cared about me, even if it was only a tiny fraction of what I felt for him. But I was also sickened. He knew I was his mate, and still thought I’d made the order that led to the deaths of countless people from his birthplace.
I was also angry. Angry that he let himself touch me when he thought I’d been behind something so monstrous. Angry that he couldn’t see that I’d never, ever do the things he thought I was capable of. And angry that he lied. He was behind the kidnapping, and wanted me to clear his name, all the while knowing he was guilty.
And now, he wanted to take me down, ruin everything I’d spent my life working for, take away the only thing I had left of my family. Just like a typical, power hungry alpha. Always thinking they know best. Never bothering to ask me first.
I let out a loud, blood curdling howl of despair.
This whole time, I thought I was in charge. I was so stupid. My entire company was a sham. I was being set up, and I had no idea how many people were involved. My mates believed I was a monster, and one of them had planned for my potential demise.
After everything we’d been through, knowing me inside and out, they still didn’t see me. They thought I was a danger, and wanted to take away everything I’d ever cared about. I sobbed, mourning the loss of everything I knew to be true. Everyone was lying to me.
I sat there, trying my hardest to focus on just breathing. I had to calm down and make a plan. What could I do? None of this was true, but how could I explain that? Who could I even trust?
I took a long, deep breath. My hands were still clutching some of the evidence that they had been gathering on me. Something about it caught my eye - Sterling’s signature. This document was recent. I read over it, and looked at my signature next to his. The date was only a few weeks prior. Something about it picked at my brain. Then I remembered.
On that day, I was supposed to go to my estate for my hair appointment. I remember that I missed that appointment - I’d spent the entire day in Liam’s bed, exhausted from our date the prior evening. I’d cancelled the appointment but never told anyone. As far as everyone at my organization knew, my calendar said I was on the premises, just in my private wing.
The signature, which I’d have supposedly done onsite with Sterling as a witness, was impossible. I was never around Sterling, or my house -not on that date. And Liam would know - he’d been in the bed with me most of that day. I would never have had time to leave and sign the document all the way across town.
I stood up holding on to the barest scrap of hope. Someone was playing me, and I needed to figure out who. But not before I got my own evidence.
One thing I could use was the thumb drive that fit inside my bracelet. I’d never had reason to use it until now. But I quickly unclasped the gold around my wrist, revealing the small storage device, and plugged it into the laptop. I was sure that Dante would have some type of trigger to know that an unknown device was installed, but I knew enough to get around it. I grabbed some of the copies around me, and risked turning my phone on to take additional photos of the ones I left behind.
As soon as I powered my phone on, a barrage of texts came through. The pack was looking for me, their frantic messages becoming ever more desperate as they tried to reach out to me to locate my car and the lake. I knew I had limited time to get out of here before they figured out where I was
I gathered enough evidence as I could from the laptop and the printouts, then rushed outside to get to my room. I sent a quick text and grabbed my necessities and my laptop. I left several papers in the middle of the pack’s kitchen, smack in the middle of the counter, using a marker to circle a date on one of them several times.
My phone rang, and once I saw the name, I picked it up.
“Celeste? What’s wrong?” The voice asked, and I’d never been so grateful to hear someone.
“I need your help. Come get me.”