Chapter 31
Asteaming cup of coffee in his hand, Francisco left the kitchen.
It was still early, and instead of breakfast, he’d opted for an extra shot of caffeine.
Everybody had been up early to shore up the estate’s security features.
After Steve Leon had managed to sneak onto the estate without anyone seeing him and had assaulted Danielle, Jude had filled all his team members in on what had happened.
Everybody had been assigned to add additional security cameras and upgraded procedures to prevent it from happening again.
Francisco had been coordinating the installation of additional cameras and testing of all existing ones.
Chase, the tall black werewolf working for the Gallaghers, entered through the front entrance. Francisco tipped his head in Chase’s direction.
“Hey, did you manage to figure out what’s wrong with the third camera angle down near the gate?” Francisco asked.
Chase nodded. “Yeah, the problem was the wire that supplies electricity to it. We need to rewire that one completely.”
“Ah, crap,” he replied.
“I’ll replace the wiring, but we also need another camera. There’s a blind spot in the curve just after the gate.”
“Start on the rewiring, and I’ll follow you once I’ve picked out the equipment we need for the additional angle.”
Chase nodded. “Great. See you in a bit.”
While Chase left the house the same way he’d entered it, Francisco took a large gulp from his coffee cup and headed toward the little security office located beneath the stairs, though it could barely be called an office.
It was more like a cupboard stuffed with electronic equipment, a desk with one chair, and two monitors.
Before he reached the door, it already swung open to the outside, and Flora exited. When she saw him, she jerked back, hesitating for a moment, before she pasted a clearly forced smile onto her lips.
“Oh, hi, Francisco.”
He nodded. “Flora. Is there anything you need?”
“I was just looking for Spencer.”
Francisco raised his eyebrows. If she were really looking for Spencer, she would have seen immediately when opening the door to the tiny office that it was empty. There would have been no need to enter and close the door.
“I saw him drive away about half an hour ago,” he said, pretending he didn’t notice that she was nervous.
“Well, that’s a shame. He was supposed to come to Costco with me. He must have forgotten. I suppose I’d better ask Chase.”
“Chase is busy installing more security cameras. He won’t have time.”
“Guess I’ll take Heath instead. Thanks, Francisco.”
Since when did Flora thank anybody for anything?
That alone was suspicious. From the moment the Werewolf Alliance had taken over the Gallagher pack, he’d disliked Flora.
She was a busybody who put her nose into everything, whether it concerned her or not.
She still acted as if she were the matriarch of the pack, when that was Danielle’s role now.
Flora seemed to have a hard time letting go of the role she’d previously held in the pack.
When Flora was gone, Francisco entered the security office and closed the door behind him. From the position of the chair, he knew that she’d sat down in it, further underscoring the fact that she hadn’t been looking for her son. She’d sat in front of the computer. But why? What had she done?
He sat down in the chair and moved the mouse.
The screen was locked, and he entered the password, which reminded him that Spencer had insisted the security system password remain the same so anyone needing access in an emergency could use the system.
Considering that this meant anyone in the family could use the computer, it was anybody’s guess why they even kept it password-protected.
He’d have a word with Jude about it later.
First, he needed to figure out what Flora had done here.
He navigated to the log that registered the previous actions executed on the system.
Several files of security video recordings had been viewed.
He was sure that he hadn’t done that. The time stamp coincided with the time that he’d been in the kitchen, which meant that Flora had accessed those recordings.
He tapped on the first one and viewed it.
It was a view of the front door of the mansion, which had recorded somebody driving away.
He zoomed in: it was Byron who left the property a few days earlier.
It was dark, and the time of the recording showed as 7:23 pm.
Nothing suspicious about that. He closed the video and tapped on the second one Flora had accessed.
To his surprise, the video didn’t open. Instead, a window popped open, saying File missing or moved.
“Damn!”
Had Flora deleted the video? He clicked on the trash icon on the desktop, and a large window opened.
He sorted the files so the latest file that had been deleted was listed first. It was a video file.
He clicked on it. From the date and time, he noticed that this had been recorded only a couple of minutes before Byron had driven off.
What was so important that Flora had to delete the recording?
Francisco clicked on Play and watched. This video was taken from the same angle as the one before.
This time, two people were standing just outside the front door: Flora and Byron.
They seemed to be in a heated discussion before Owen arrived and exchanged a few words with them, after which Byron hurried to his car.
There was nothing in this video that warranted deletion. Nothing incriminating, nothing that would arouse suspicion. So why had Flora gone through the trouble of looking for this particular recording and then deleted it?
He played the same recording again, when he noticed that the sound on it was set to mute.
He put on his headphones, unmuted the recording, and listened.
The voices were faint, and there was a lot of interference.
He adjusted the audio controls to eliminate all sounds but the voices.
Then he clicked on the video again. While the voices were low because of the distance between the microphone and the two people talking, he had no trouble understanding the conversation.
When the video stopped, he took off his headphones.
Fuck!
Now he knew why Flora had deleted the video, whether of her own accord or on Byron’s behalf, he didn’t know. It didn’t really matter. All that mattered was what was said on the video. He couldn’t keep this to himself.
He copied the video onto a tablet and rose.
Jude had to see this.
He found him in his office, where he was on the phone. Jude lifted his hand to indicate that he was finishing the conversation.
“Thanks, I appreciate it,” Jude said into the phone, then ended the conversation. “Francisco, what do you have for me?”
Francisco pointed to the tablet in his hand. “Potentially bad news.”
“The Leons? Have they—”
“It’s not about the Leons,” he interrupted.
Jude raised an eyebrow. “Go on.”
There wasn’t really a good way of saying it, so he came right out with it. “Flora deleted a file from the security camera right outside the front door. I caught her and was able to restore the file. You’re not gonna like what’s on it.”
As Francisco tapped on an app on the tablet and placed it in front of him on the desk, Jude prepared himself for what was to come.
He wasn’t sure how much more bad news he could stomach, not for his own sake but for Charlotte’s.
So what had Flora done now? He was aware that she didn’t particularly like him and was upset that her role in the household had been diminished.
So what was she up to now, deleting a surveillance video?
The clip began to play, showing Flora and Byron standing outside the front door of the mansion.
“Byron!” Flora called out.
“What is it now?” Byron replied, seemingly annoyed.
“What’s wrong? I heard you slam the door to Jude’s office.”
“What do you think is wrong? Everything is wrong! He’s ruling this pack as if he owned it. I hate these meetings with him where he wants suggestions from me about how to improve the businesses, and then he never implements a single one of my ideas. It’s a farce!”
He looked up at Francisco and motioned to the video. “That’s hardly bad news. You know as well as I do that Byron isn’t a fan of mine. I don’t hold that against him.”
Francisco shook his head. “Keep watching.”
“…wouldn’t have happened if he’d mated with Eve!” Byron continued complaining.
“And hadn’t killed Cameron, and exiled your father.”
“But no, he snubs Eve and humiliates her in front of everybody. As if she’s a nobody! I can’t forgive him for that.”
“I get it. I’m sure he wouldn’t like it either if somebody did that to his sister! Then Jude would be just as pissed off. Maybe then he’d understand what he’s done.”
Flora’s words sent a bolt of lightning through his body.
“He has a sister?” Byron asked.
“Yes, I overheard him and Austin talking about her a while ago.”
“I didn’t know that. You sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. I believe she’ll visit at some point. Danielle mentioned something the other day.”
“She’ll visit? Do you know when?”
“Byron! Don’t tell me you’re planning something. I know you, Byron. If you try to seduce Jude’s sister and then decide to publicly dump her, I’m warning you: don’t do it. It will not end well.”
“What the fuck!” Jude hissed.
“Oh, I’m sure it’ll end badly, but not for me,” Byron agreed. “For him and his family. When I break his sister’s heart. Then he’ll finally realize what he’s done to me. The humiliation I suffered at his hands…”
Anger charged through him. Byron had planned to break Charlotte’s heart?
“Are you talking about the fight? When he defeated you in wolf form? Is that what this is about?”
“It’s about all of it. About Eve, about Dad, about Cameron.”
“It’s not. You’re sore because he beat you in a fair fight…”
Jude tapped on the pause button, stopping the video, then looked up.
He’d seen and heard enough. Still, he couldn’t believe what he’d just watched.
Had Byron really planned to make Charlotte fall in love with him just so he could break her heart?
After saving Danielle from Steve Leon the previous day, his opinion of Byron had changed.
It wasn’t just that he’d shown no hesitation in stopping Steve from hurting Danielle; the way he’d spoken was different, too.
He’d called Danielle his sister. It had been the first time he’d heard Byron talk like this and clearly mean it.
Or was it all a big ruse? All part of his plan to hurt him and his family?
To lead them on so the pain would be greater when he pulled the rug out from under their feet?
“What are you thinking?” Francisco asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.
“I’m not sure. The old Byron would absolutely have done this. No question. But the Byron of now, of yesterday?” Jude shook his head. “I don’t want to believe it. You saw him.”
Francisco nodded. “He stood up for Danielle, for you. I’ve never seen him so determined.
Maybe he really has changed, and this video means nothing.
Just something said in anger. In any case, I couldn’t just bury this.
There must be a compelling reason why Flora deleted it.
It’s our luck that she didn’t realize that just dumping a file into the trash bin doesn’t erase it from the computer. ”
“Somehow, I’m not sure this was good luck for us. This is the worst possible timing. Byron stabbing us in the back, while the Leons are breathing down our necks, wasn’t on my bingo card.” He rubbed his nape. “For now, I’m inclined to keep this from Charlotte.”
“Keep what from me?”
Jude whipped his head in the direction of the door. Charlotte had opened it without him noticing and overheard the tail end of their conversation.
Fuck!