Darius chuckles along with me. “Right? Honestly, I think out of everything, these turkeys are the worst at marketing. You’d think Graham would be better at coming up with names and shit, given it’s his fucking job.”
“They’re setting up a pharmaceutical company?”
“They’re in the process,” he confirms. “And someone in Verdune is in cahoots with them. Looks like they’re lining up a mass exodus or something equally dramatic when our girl takes over.”
I sit back on my seat, trying to make logic of what Pack Lowly are doing. “Why did they jump at the chance of packing with her then, do you think?”
“Besides the obvious? Our girl is fucking fire. But I think they also don’t realise what she’s done.” Darius grins, his smile is wide and full of pride.
I glare at him, waiting for a more detailed explanation. “How do you know what she’s done?”
“Hmm, well see while Basil’s thinking he’s a gun in game development, he’s clearly a clown in cyber security. I don’t know how he’s done it, but all his passwords are listed. Anyway, I borrowed them and jumped into their emails. Graham and Joseph have copies of the deed Heidi made them sign, but they haven’t opened it after it arrived from Douglas’s office. On the same day she went public announcing, this is important for you to remember.”
“They can’t be that stupid, can they?”
“I don’t think we need to argue about whether they’re that stupid or not do we?” Darius laughs.
“True,” I offer, taking another bite.
“With the Deed they signed, they get nothing, Kai. I don’t know how she did it with Douglas, but she’s fucked them over completely. They have no choice but to support her in the boardroom. Anything that goes to vote and they support her one hundred percent.”
“How?”
“She’s straight up blindsided them, while they’re lost looking at everything they think they get. I didn’t see it for myself at first. Like in the first few pages all the major clauses list assets and shares and Pack entitlement, but if you go towards the back of the deed, there’s a couple of clauses, and they’re not tucked away at all. They’re black and white, but she’s got them by the short and curlies in clauses that renounce all claims if they don’t do it by the agreed response dates. She’s also got it worded so that they get nothing because to do so they needed to lodge a specific form within twenty four hours of signing the deed to activate their claim. It needed to be lodged with the Alpha Council forty hours ago. I’ve been through the Alpha Council claims and legal department and there ain’t anything received from Pack Lowly. Not one thing.”
“Who in Verdune do you think they’ve got. Could he be the latest threat too? A two-pronged attack, working against her by setting up Gamma while also posing as the mysterious threat who keeps trying to get into seeing her or Allan.”
“But that makes no sense. If they work at Verdune, they’d be aware of who he is,” Dare says, swinging back on his seat as he thinks more on it. “I mean, he’d need a full disguise kit, different scent, would need to be in two places at once.”
I look at him, my eyebrows up telling him to hurry up and come to the same realisation I have. “Dare, that’s what we do all the time.”
“Jesus, little bro, that could be our first solid lead.”
“I’ll go through the tapes,” I offer, referring to the Verdune security tapes to see if I can pick anything up. “In all likelihood it’s a pretty reasonable outcome and it would also confirm that Lowly are two-faced pricks.”
Dare nods his head before he turns back to the computer screen, getting super serious.
“That’s not all I found.” He’s quiet, and my stomach drops.
“What?”
He takes a while, his eyes shuffle to her, then down to his lap. And I can feel it’s ominous.
“Darius!” I snap after he takes too long.
“She got her learners,” he says quietly, his voice full of pride. “She got her fucking learners, Kai. All by herself too.”
I look at him stunned before a warmth spreads from the centre of my chest outwards. “When?”
“A few hours ago. I guess she did it on the flight back or something but we did that. We might have fucked up, but we did that, Kai.”
Darius stands up, shoves his seat back before clapping me on the back.
“Kai, since you delivered the kitties. I get the congrats cuddles.”
“What?” I growl, not following my older brother.
“She’s still got a headache. I can feel it. Well, that’s what I keep telling myself. Either way, I’m going to cuddle her tonight. When I get there, turn your feed off.”
