Chapter Twenty- Nine
“Improper conduct.”
The words blurred as Verity blinked.
Theo didn't call after Harris caught them. She’d messaged when she got back, asking if everything was okay, messaged again before bed but he didn’t reply.
It hurt more than she’d admit, especially considering what had happened in his office, but he must have been busy.
Not that being busy normally stopped him.
Now she knew why.
“Lord Theodore Chapel has issued a formal complaint due to the improper conduct of Miss Verity Harper… Current client contract is hereby terminated and donor suspended… official tribunal to determine suitability of donor for continued service…”
He’d reported her.
He… he…
He had kissed her! He made the first move! He touched her and kissed her and… oh gods… he bent her over his desk and spanked her so hard she still felt the hum of his hand when she sat down.
Her cheeks burnt with embarrassment. Had she done something wrong?
No. No! He wouldn’t do this.
Verity heard her mum moving in the kitchen and darted out the front door, not wanting to talk. Debbie called it her mother’s intuition, one look at Verity’s face, and she would want to know what was wrong, and Verity had no idea what she’d say.
Marching to the bus stop, she shoved the letter into her bag and pulled out her phone. It was a mistake. It had to be. And if it wasn’t he could tell her himself. If it wasn’t she’d kill him for getting the Exchange involved.
It was a mistake.
She hit call and waited, listening, heart racing, begging her voice not to break. It rang and rang until she heard his familiar, smooth voice. “This is Theo. Sorry I can’t take your call…” She hung up. Theo always answered his phone. Always.
Arriving at the bus stop, she checked the time; he wouldn’t be at work yet, so no point calling him there. That would also mean talking to Stella, and if she knew what had happened, that would be a whole new level of mortification.
No. Stella wouldn’t know, because it was a mistake. She’d call him again when she got to the cafe and everything would be fine.
Only it wasn’t. He still didn’t answer.
Lights were on at the cafe as she walked up and Verity mentally prepared herself to talk to Cora. Chest tight, hands sweaty. She wasn’t okay but she could pretend, get through the night and… and what? Theo was avoiding her.
The bell rang, announcing her arrival, and the moment Cora looked up from the till Verity burst into tears.
“What the fuck?” Cora said, running over and pulling Verity into a hug. “What’s wrong? Babe, what’s happened?”
Verity shook her head, choking back sobs. This wasn’t the time. Customers would be arriving any second. “It can wait,” she whimpered.
“I don’t think so,” Cora said, dragging her into the back, past a sympathetic looking Kim.
“No, really. Please,” Verity pleaded. “I just…”
“If that Adam’s hurt you…” Cora held her by the shoulders, looking into her glassy eyes, face crinkled in love and worry, and Verity found that she couldn’t lie anymore.
“It wasn’t Adam,” she said, hand reaching for the tender bite mark on her neck. It still wasn’t as stark as most she had seen, but it was far more noticeable than the first one. “It was never Adam.”
The image of Sienna came to mind, her story of the vampire who used her and then cast her aside when he grew bored. Was that what had happened? Had Theo got what he wanted and found her boring now the mystery had gone? Had she been too easy? Too desperate?
The idea made her sick.
“What do you mean?” Cora asked, her eyes following Verity’s hand and going wide at the sight of the bite. “Is that…?”
“Theo,” Verity snivelled.
“Oh gods!” Cora batted Verity’s hand away to get a proper look at the bite. “Did he…? If he made you…”
“No,” Verity cut in. “He didn’t make me do anything.”
“Wait wait wait.” Cora stepped back, jaw dropping as realisation struck and Verity’s heart sank. “It was never Adam?”
Verity shook her head.
“So, when you were late that time, the day after Valentine’s…”
“I was with Theo,” she mumbled, unable to look at her friend. Her heart ached as it was, seeing a look of disgust on Cora’s face would have been too much to bear. “I wasn’t… it was complicated.”
“Sweetheart,” Cora’s voice was as soft as her touch as she carefully wiped the tears from Verity’s cheeks. “I wish you’d told me,” she said, pulling her into another tight hug that melted every ounce of the worry that her friend would shun her.
The door chimed, followed by the chatter of the evening’s first customers, and Verity jumped at the chance to change the subject.
“You mind if I work in the back today?” she asked.
“You do whatever you want, babe. You didn’t have to come in.”
“No,” Verity said. “I need the distraction.”
“Only if you’re sure. I really wish you’d told me. If he took advantage…”
“He didn’t,” she interrupted. Even if she was angry and confused and utterly devastated, Verity couldn’t let Cora think her the victim, even if she felt like it. She asked for it. Repeatedly.
Cora nodded, giving her another hug. “We’ll talk later,” she said, waiting for Verity to nod before going to help Kim out front.
The cafe hummed with activity as Verity leant against the sink, massaging her temples.
With every passing moment the realisation that this was, in fact, not a mistake, settled like a boulder in her stomach.
This was the longest he’d gone without messaging her since her very first visit to SubRosa.
His constant checking up had gone from exciting to irritating to part of her daily routine. Now she felt lost without it.
Her phone rang and she could have drowned in relief, until she saw the name. Vital Exchange. A voice in her head begged her to ignore it. If she didn’t answer then she could hold onto the chance it was all a misunderstanding for a little longer, but she couldn’t do that. She had to know.
“Hello?” she asked.
“Good evening, is this Verity Harper?” a chipped male voice asked.
“It is.”
“I’ve been asked to give you a call to ensure you received our correspondence this evening.”
She took a shaking breath. This was really happening. “I did,” she managed to say.
“Good. I would like to stress that until the investigation and tribunal have been concluded there is to be no contact between yourself and Lord Chapel.”
“No contact?”
“Have you read the letter, Miss Harper?” the man asked.
Verity fumbled with her bag, pulling out the crumpled paper.
With a sigh the man went on. “Lord Chapel has requested not to be contacted. You are not to visit City Hall or Horsham House. If you try to, it will reflect poorly on your suitability as a donor. Do you understand?”
Her finger traced the words on the letter. It couldn’t be a mistake. Theo had specifically said that he didn’t want her going to his work or his home.
“Miss Harper?”
“I understand,” she murmured.
“Good. We’ll be in touch with the next steps in due course. Good evening, Miss Harper.”
Verity couldn’t bring herself to say goodbye before hanging up.
Her mind emptied, heart hollowing, as it finally sank in.
It was over. Whatever future she had fantasised about with Theo had only ever been that, a fantasy.
The trap door had opened, and she was free falling into nothing, a pit darker than Theo’s eyes, and if she was lucky maybe it would swallow her whole.
Of course, she had no such luck. Not when a cafe full of customers waited to feed. Her mind wondered as she worked and thankfully Cora was understanding when she messed up orders until demoting her to washing up.
It was as she scrubbed dishes and plates that the horrifying realisation struck that if Elliot no longer believed she and Theo were an item, he might cancel the contract.
He said Cora was getting good reviews, what if he’d been lying?
Maybe he wasn’t but Theo would admit the truth, that they were never truly together, and Elliot would withdraw his support out of spite.
She prayed Theo wouldn’t let that happen, but considering his reporting her, she wondered if she really knew him at all.
When the breakfast rush was over, Cora fetched Verity from the back and sat with her by the window, shoving tea and cake towards her.
“Tell me everything.”
Verity picked at the cake, looking around to ensure no one could hear. Although she had admitted to her friend that there was more, had been, more between her and Theo, she definitely couldn’t tell her everything. Some things needed to remain secret.
“There isn’t really much to tell. I’ve been helping him with work stuff, he’s been swamped with work and… we got close.” She took a sip of tea, the hot liquid doing little to thaw her heart.
“How close?” Cora asked.
Verity shrugged. “We kinda… we both admitted that we liked each other, but we were trying to… keep a professional distance.”
Cora pulled a face. “But you’ve been going out in the day, and staying over, and Valentine’s…”
“Yeah, I know. Nothing happened, though, we just… spent time together.” Tears pricked her eyes again. How many hours had she spent with him? How many days just talking, being in each other’s presence? It was all over.
“I don’t understand,” Cora said, reaching over for Verity’s hand.
“Yesterday… we… he kissed me,” she choked. “We… did stuff… in his office, and today…” Unable to get the words out, Verity pulled the letter from her pocket and showed Cora.
“What the actual fuck?” Cora shouted, startling a customer talking to Kim by the counter. Verity shushed her but Cora was near shaking with rage. “He reported you? That fucking scumbag!”
“Cora, please.” She reached for the letter, but Cora snatched it back. “I’ll fucking kill him!”
“No, you won’t,” Verity said, voice flat.
“Well, I’ll… I’ll… I’ll shit through his fucking letter box then!”
Despite herself, Verity couldn’t help but snigger. “He doesn’t have a letter box exactly. He lives in an apartment, there’s like a wall of post boxes.”
“Even better,” Cora declared. “We’ll collect a whole load of dog shit and…”
“Cora?” Kim called, stopping her mid-evil plan. “Sorry, you got a minute.”
“Hold that thought,” Cora said, getting up to go see what Kim wanted.
Trust Cora to completely skirt over the fact that he was a vampire and go straight to petty revenge. It might not be the best idea but the thought of it did bring a smile to her face.
Grabbing the discarded letter, Verity folded it back into her pocket before anyone could see and grabbed a newspaper from the end of the table. A customer must have left it behind. It was upside down, but one word jumped out stealing Verity’s attention. Curfew.
She snatched the paper up, reading the front page.
“Curfews being considered.” What the fuck?
The article explained that the day-commissioner was discussing daylight curfews for humans due to the steep rise in crime.
Vandalism, robberies, missing people. Was this what those police officers were talking to Theo about?
Why wouldn’t he tell her something like that?
Turning the page she continued to read. Vigilante groups?
This was the first she was hearing of it.
Looking at the bottom of the page, Verity saw the journalist’s name and felt her heart stutter. Di Campbell. She’d seen that name before, Verity was good with names, and that name…
She pulled her phone out, flicking through photos, searching for the Cliffhaven newspaper clippings given to Theo with the donor reports.
It was the same person, she was sure of it.
But not just the same person, the same story.
How in all the hells could the same reporter be writing the same article about two different places?
It was impossible. But then there were the other articles she’d seen recently.
Protests, anti-vampire vandalism. She’d helped write the article about Georgie herself.
Every one of them mirrored the ones from Cliffhaven. How was that possible?
“How’s Lord Mayor Dickhead feel about glitter?” Cora asked, slipping into the seat beside Verity but she could barely hear her as her thoughts raced as fast as her fingers, searching for the pictures.
Other than the protests outside the Exchange, Verity hadn’t seen any of the unrest the article described. Rumours but nothing concrete. She travelled into town to see Theo almost everyday, she would have seen something. But if there were protests here and…
“What’s that?” Cora asked, snatching the phone from her hand.
“What? Have you seen the paper?” Verity asked, watching as Cora scrolled back and tapped on a video. “No,” she snapped, trying to take the phone back but Cora shot out of her seat, watching the video with a hand clutching her chest.
“What the fuck is this?”
“Cora, please. I can explain.” She reached for the phone again, but Cora was hitting replay, watching the video of Toby kissing another woman then checking the date.
“This was before he broke up with me,” she said, turning to Verity with wide, tear-filled eyes. “He was cheating on me.”
“Cora, I wanted to tell you…”
“He was cheating and you knew!”
“So much happened that day. I…” Verity scrambled to catch her phone as Cora threw it on the table. She searched for the right words but came up short. Her lip trembled, friendship slipping through her fingers. There was no excuse and she knew it.
“Cora, I’m so sorry.”
Cora turned her back, wiping her face. “I want you to leave.”
“Cora,” Verity begged.
“Please,” her friend snapped. “I need to think.”
“But…”
“Keeping your relationship from me is one thing but keeping secrets about my own…” Cora shook her head.
Verity deserved this. It had been weeks since Toby dumped her; she had every opportunity to tell Cora the truth, but she hadn’t. She didn’t want the awkward conversation. She wanted to believe there was no point and Cora didn’t need to know, but that wasn’t her choice to make.
Collecting her bag and donning her coat, Verity tried one last time.
“Cora, I didn’t know for long and I wanted to tell you…”
“Then you should have told me. You’re supposed to be my best friend.”
The words were a knife to her heart. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“Just go.”
Verity nodded. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled one last time before walking home.