Chapter 74

Renee

By the end of lunch, I was jittery from too much coffee and not enough food, but it didn’t matter. I still had three deadlines stacked like bricks on my shoulders and a meeting to make in less than ten minutes, a few minutes after my lunch would be over.

My phone buzzed as I stepped out of the café, Neil’s name lighting up the screen.

Take care of yourself. I’ll be back soon. Promise.

I stared at it for a moment, then typed out a quick, Thanks. You too.

I didn’t have the energy to say what I really felt, that I missed him, that things were spiraling, that I hated being in this place without him, especially now that Vivian had all but told me she was going to make things harder for me. I headed back to the elevator and got in. I held my badge to the elevator panel and hit my floor. Nothing happened.

I tried again.

A red light blinked.

“No,” I muttered. “No, no, no!”

I slammed the badge against the sensor one more time, like brute force might make a difference, but the doors stayed wide open. My heart dropped.

My mind went back to Vivian's promise.

I checked the time. Seven minutes.

“Fine,” I hissed, turning on my heel and making for the stairwell. “Thirty flights. I can do thirty damn flights.”

I ran.

By floor ten, I was sweating. By twenty, I was dizzy. By twenty-five, I was cursing out loud with every step, dragging myself up by the railing like a woman possessed, but I was going to make it to the fucking meeting, and I was going to HR right after. When I finally made it to the right floor, my chest was heaving and my legs were trembling. I swiped my badge again.

Red light.

“Are you kidding me?”

I banged on the glass window on the door. The receptionist desk sat just beyond the threshold. And it was Vivian who was sitting there.

This could not be real.

She ignored me with a smile that wasn’t a smile. I banged on the door still. Suddenly, she jumped in her seat as someone approached her. An older woman who looked to be scolding her. She turned and saw me through the window, she glared at Vivian before coming to let me in.

"Thank you so much!" I cried, falling through the doorway. "My badge isn't working, could you let me in to the meeting in conference room 3?"

She blinked. "The meeting just ended."

My jaw dropped. "What?"

Vivian looked outright amused.

"Come on," she said. "I'll get you in so you can see some about your badge."

I followed her, glaring at Vivian as I passed. We got down the hallway only to find the meeting room empty, just like she said.

I turned, just in time to see my supervisor walking towards me.

He glanced at me. “Nice of you to show up.”

“My badge—” I started.

He held up a hand. “We’re past excuses, Renee. You'll be written up for this.”

"The meeting wasn't even supposed to be until--"

"Let this all be a lesson to you about your place here."

He walked off without another word. The woman who had been leading me around and tutted.

"I was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be managing any interns…"

I stood there, still gasping for breath, sweat clinging to my back, and felt that sharp little twist of helplessness start to bloom in my chest.

Then I set my jaw. He'd moved the meeting up to my fucking lunch hour on purpose. I hated missing the meeting. Even more than I hated Vivian’s smug face and the red blinking badge, I hated knowing I was behind on information that could affect the audit, that would only make my time on his time drag on.

I gritted my teeth and followed the woman down the hall. Luckily, she was in IT. She got my badge working again and put in a ticket for me with HR. I thanked her and headed back to the room I had been moved to recently, praying I could at least catch up and be useful for the rest of the day. But the second I sat down, my heart sank.

Half the files I’d organized earlier were missing. I stared at the desk in disbelief for a few seconds before setting my coffee down and standing back up. They had to have taken them for the meeting, which was stupid, but fine. I headed back to the other room, searching for the files. I had already digitized them, but there were notes in them that I wanted to incorporate.

They weren't there. I huffed, giving up before returning to my desk, my coffee was where I left it, but something felt... off.

The lid wasn’t flush the way I’d closed it.

I frowned, lifting it slowly, sniffing.

There was a chemical bitterness beneath the usual dark roast. I turned toward the little container from home: a muffin and some sliced fruit Arielle had forced on me.

The plastic seal was peeled back.

I didn’t even have to look twice. I tossed the coffee and the food straight into the trash.

Someone had tampered with it. I sent a text to Arielle about the incident, to which she told me she was sending someone else with a replacement. I sat down, my hands trembling slightly. I breathed in and logged in to get to work.

Thanks to Dominic teaching us about the new system, I just opened the documents I needed on line. It was slower that having he pages in front of me, but better than nothing. The rest of the day was a mess. Every time I fixed one problem, another cropped up. I kept documenting things and forwarding messages to Arielle. Someone did arrive with a fresh snack box and coffee for me, but a lot of my day had already been sunk.

Neil’s team was dismissed for the day long before I was even starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel on what I needed to get done. Soon enough, I found myself completely alone in the dimming office. I didn’t even realize how late it had gotten until my screen flickered into night mode.

I rubbed at my eyes, every limb heavy with fatigue. My stomach twisted uncomfortably, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten since I'd finished the snack box.

I needed to go home soon, but if I didn't get it submitted and documented that I had sent it, I'd never hear the end of it. I leaned forward.

The room tilted slightly.

My fingers slipped off the keys.

The buzzing in my ears grew louder than the hum of the lights overhead, and I felt myself slumping sideways before I could stop it.

My vision blurred. A sharp pain pulsed behind my eyes, and my limbs wouldn’t obey.

“...Elian?” I whispered hoarsely, my voice barely audible. “Elian...?”

I tried to reach for my phone, but it slipped from my hand and clattered to the floor. It was ringing. I saw Neil's number, but I couldn't grab it.

And then everything went black.

Dominic

I hadn't slept much since my date with Renee, existing on coffee and on edge, like I knew something was off. Then a knock sounded on the door.

"Come in."

“Alpha,” Ms. Leon said softly, “is now a good time?”

I nodded and gestured her in. She stepped cautiously inside, glancing over her shoulder before closing the door.

“I wasn’t sure if I should bring this or not, but after the dress incident, I think it best to do so… I know how vicious Lady Mountainhowl is and…"

I sat forward. "This is about more than just the dress, isn't it?"

She nodded and pulled out her phone. She tapped a few times, and then handed the phone to me.

It was a video. I could see Vivian and then Tyler. They kissed before stumbling into a room together. The video drew closer and I heard her laughing.

"She's so stupid… Like you'd really be interested in her…" Vivian said. "As soon as you're married, I expect you to take me on the Oceanic."

He laughed. "What do I get out of it?"

"Is that how you're going to treat me?"

I paused the video and looked up. “When did this happen?”

“Months ago,” she said, swallowing. “One of the younger maids came forward. They've been recording all sorts of things over the years."

"Years?"

She nodded. "I urged Ms. Mountainhowl to end the engagement." She looked away. "I'd found Ms. Vivian's underwear in his laundry earlier that week, and I thought for the sake of Brightclaw's reputation…"

I nodded, understanding. Getting rid of a gamma would have been easier than persecuting the heir, especially before they were legally bound together.

My stomach turned.

"Bring the others," I said. "I'd like to hear it all, and any evidence they have. Make it clear that no one is in trouble."

"Of course," she said.

Then, she left and before she came back, myI was trying to keep my pulse steady, trying to breathe through the mix of shame and fury building in my chest, when my phone buzzed.

It was from Arielle. A message and two files attached.

Something told me I already knew what I was going to see.