Chapter 80

By the time I made it back to the house, I was in a total daze. I didn’t even fully remember taking off the gown I was in, nor having said goodbye to Adeline. All I knew was that I needed to get back to the house as soon as possible.

‘Cruz had to be lying,’ my wolf insisted. ‘There’s no way that Lorenzo would lie to us about something as important as this.’

“God, I hope you’re right,” I said to myself.

The past couple of days have been painfully difficult from the lack of progress that I’ve been able to make on the case. And having overheard Lorenzo speaking to a few of his guards about my father’s involvement, only set my nerves off all the more.

I was praying that Cruz was merely trying to get inside my head and mess with me. Because I truly didn’t know what I was going to do if I found out that Lorenzo had been purposely keeping things from me.

He and I were a team. No matter what happened, we were supposed to get through it and figure it all out together!

The moment the car pulled into the driveway, I nearly flew out and hauled toward the house. Many of the staff members were spooked when I came rushing in. I headed straight for Lorenzo’s office and half-hazardly knocked on the door before stepping inside.

He glanced up from his laptop and stared at me with real concern. “Jesus, Eleanor. Are you alright? Wait, I—aren’t you supposed to be out with Adeline?”

I raised a hand and brushed off his question. It took a few moments for me to properly catch my breath. Once I gathered my bearings, my frustration was able to return. My brows pulled together with determination.

“Lorenzo, I need to know what’s been going on,” I stated.

He sat back in his chair and dropped his gaze to his desk. “I’m not sure what you mean,” he said. His voice remained calm and passive. “Now, did you happen to find a dress?”

My anger started to flare beneath my surface.

“Screw the dress,” I snapped. “Tell me about the disk.”

I watched nearly half of the color drain from Lorenzo’s face. The man was stunned—speechless. I could tell he was struggling to keep that stoic, cold demeanor in place for as long as he could.

“What disk?” he questioned.

My eyes narrowed on him with heavy doubt that he was being genuine. There was no way he was seriously trying to play dumb with me now.

“You know what I’m talking about, Lorenzo,” I hissed. “The disk that Cruz sent you.”

[Lorenzo’s POV]

Lorenzo felt like he was being pinned against the wall. Before then, he’d been having a quiet day. With Eleanor putting her focus toward their ceremony preparations, he was able to relax his nerves and finally get back to his own work. He was still keeping serious tabs on the case, but now he had to figure out another angle.

‘That damn list,’ he thought to himself. ‘Where the hell could it be?’

The only decent thought about the matter was that Lorenzo was highly certain that Cruz hadn’t managed to get his hands back on it.

‘As long as he doesn’t have it, there could still be a chance that Blue Moon’s operations could be exposed and taken down.’

In the meantime, business was beginning to pick up again and he needed to find time to give both endeavors his proper attention. Although, the last thing he was expecting was for a pissed-off Eleanor to come storming into his office.

How had she known about the disk? The second he’d heard her speak Cruz’s name it caused him to stand up from his chair. It suddenly dawned on Lorenzo that he could faintly scent Sterling on Eleanor.

His own anger started to boil. His voice filled with irritation. “So that’s why I can smell him on you...What the hell were you doing around him?!” he snarled.

“Don’t change the subject, Lorenzo!” Eleanor shouted.

She curled her hands into fists at her side.

“What did he say to you?”

“Hardly anything.”

His voice dropped into a low growl. He could feel his patience was thinning by the second. His eyes glowed in troubled frustration. “Eleanor.”

Through a tight sneer, she started to explain. “Oh, for fuck’s sake! Adeline and I were at the dress shop. I was in the middle of trying on a bunch that we’d picked out and then suddenly Cruz appeared out of nowhere.” Lorenzo raised a skeptical brow. “He wanted to know where you were since this whole thing was for our bonding ceremony. I told him you were busy with work. He assumed I was talking about the case and proceeded to make an odd comment.”

“Such as?” he gritted through his teeth.

“He said, ‘What I can’t seem to understand is how you’re taking it all so well’. Of course, I had no idea what he meant, and then he went on to tell me about the disk he’s sent you,” she said.

Lorenzo let out a curse under his breath and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Son of a bitch. What was he going to do now?

Eleanor spoke out once more. Her voice was strained with crippled emotion that caused his heartache. “I’m going to ask you again—keep in mind that based on your answer, it’s going to determine a lot of things going forward...What is on the disk?”

A long moment passed between them. Lorenzo was at full war with himself. He knew that if he gave it to her it was going to destroy her. But if he didn’t, then it was going to set a poor example for their relationship.

It could evidently ruin any trust that Eleanor has for him.

‘Better to have her not trust me than to be heartbroken,’ he concluded.

“There’s no disk. I don’t know what Cruz was talking about.”

Eleanor glared at him in disappointment for what felt like hours. She turned on her heels and stormed out of his office.