“They won’t do anything shifty. They’ll be condescending and patronising but it will be over before it starts. If you attend with me, they’ll drag it out before suggesting you guys are to blame. I’ll be fine,” I insist as I lean in for a quick side hug, but she might as well have lead weights on her feet because she doesn’t budge an inch.
From behind, she holds up an innocuous looking silver and rose gold chain, a small diamond eternity pendant hangs low. “Will you wear this for me?”
“What is it?” I ask as I spin around for her to put it on.
“It’s something I had made for me after I had a scare a while ago.” She says. But it’s not just words, it’s an admittance.
“One that we don’t know about?” I turn, fear at my beautiful girl being taken making me antsy.
“Probably. And on another day, another time we could eat pizza and argue about me not telling you, but the thing is, Ho, that’s not relevant right now. Besides, you don’t have time. Inside the latch is a tracker. It’s the most sophisticated you can get. It’s tiny and does not emit a detectable signal even when it is activated.”
“Sim, we will argue about this later.”
She fiddles behind me, before I feel her small pendant sit in the hollow of my throat. And then I’m pushed out of the door, my three besties filling my ears with their support.
Walking to the car and knowing they all know most of what happened and what I’m currently dealing with fills me with a sense of relief. And coupled with the way I feel in the dress Kai picked puts more of a pep in my step. Opening the gate, Bradley’s cool stare and his terse nod doesn’t bother me one bit.
“Just me,” I offer when he stands, waiting for the others. Without talking, I take my seat in the back of the car and spend the drive to my office locked in my own world, reviewing an email from Kai outlining information on his pack, Pack Alastor. I suspect the information he provided outweighs the official forms from the Pack Council. But I also suspect he already knows the amount of BS the Board are going to level at him, so he’s giving me as much ammo as he can.
Picking up Douglas from his office makes sense, it also gives us the time to strategize as we drive to my office. And considering the time, it’s a good thing we talk in the car because by the time Douglas and I log into the meeting, everyone is waiting. And I’m unsurprised Ayden is included remotely, despite him not being a board member, or even a member of the executive team.
There’s no preamble. Nothing. Just a room full of Alphas glaring, and Adyen’s smug face on a second screen they’ve wheeled in. None of them are hiding their judgement or scorn today.
“It was lucky Ayden was there last night, Heidi,” Chairman Troy starts, getting right down to the issue and not giving me a chance to even say hello. “Your actions were deplorable.”
There’s a slight pause where everyone attending waits for me to interject and start defending myself, but I do the opposite and become the voiceless woman they’ve always wanted. Smiling sweetly, I sit on the edge of my seat and give them my full attention, with sorry puppy dogs eyes too.
Troy sits at the head of the table working through the list of issues the Verdune executives have to discuss about my behaviour. Troy’s tone and mannerisms resemble more of a judge passing sentence than what his position demands, which should be bipartisan at best.
Every time he lists off a fresh misdemeanour, there’s a hum of support from everyone sitting near him. And it’s a long list: misconduct, poor conduct, inappropriate attire, disrespect for those in authority, excessive risk taking, public drinking, unapproved weight gain, behaviour unbefitting an heir, actions causing disrepute to the board.
His words are meant to incite, but I’ve heard them for so long that all they do is run over me, like extra drops of water falling into an overflowing bucket. It doesn’t really matter.
I check the clock on the top of my screen, right next to the timer I pre-set, counting down until I start taking things into my own hands. And the moment he asks for a verbal report from Ayden and Pack Lowly on my actions, or lack thereof, my trojan activates as planned.
Funnily enough it takes them a couple of minutes of monologuing before any of them realise both Douglas and I are suffering ‘technical issues’. Douglas’s screen works but his microphone doesn’t, while I suffer the opposite. But even before they stop and start questioning, I’ve already slipped away and remotely accessed the Verdune server to start fucking around with their devices.
If any of the people sitting in that boardroom had paid me one lick of attention when I returned a few months ago for a visit, they would have caught me installing a wire mesh transponder. They didn’t then, and they won’t find it now. The small, magnetised box sits over an innocuous looking antenna booster in the maintenance hall on the third floor. Any tech team called in to investigate is going to search for weeks for a reason why the cellular signal keeps having issues. Or so Koz advised.
We’re all caught up playing a complicated and convoluted game where nothing is left to chance. I may have not ever have been as contrived as I am being today, but there are lines they are crossing that piss me the fuck off. So today is the day I’ve decided to become a main player, and not a pawn.
There’s a hundred reasons why I have endured their bullshit for so long, and pretty much all of them have to do with Margot and Allan.
And sadly, there was probably a small part of me resigned to the fact I’d eventually end up with Pack Lowly or a pack like them, because being blindsided once by your scent matched Alpha fucks you up. Being so emotionally sucker-punched by the one person who should be your greatest supporter leaves a deep, gouging scar on your ability to have unwavering faith in yourself and the happy ending everyone wants.
One night with Kai, I can easily and quickly admit Pack Lowly will never, ever do. Maybe I am the fool Verdune keep insisting I am, but surely fate wouldn’t be so cruel to fuck me over again so spectacularly.
Douglas is fully supportive of my newfound confidence. He also confirmed the Board have no legal leg to stand on, in their attempt to sway my choice of who I choose to have a relationship with. Before all communication is lost, Douglas sends email confirmation to every person in attendance that I will be entering into formal pack ‘courting’ with Pack Alastor, starting now.
Kai had no issue, none at all, when I asked if we could take the first step in exploring our bond. With his permission, Douglas advised the Alpha Council by lodging the appropriate forms. And with Kai’s agreement comes a whole different set of rules that apply to how the Board, my security team, and Ayden need to act.
It’s a good feeling when Troy interrupts his diatribe to let me know we will have to postpone the rest of our board meeting due to technical issues.
By the time I’m back in the car, with Bradley sitting up front with Max, Ayden has re-emerged from whichever office he was hiding in to stream from but he is as voiceless now as I have been, and I can’t stop the smug look on my face.
Ayden’s mood makes his features sharp and angular and he’s waspish when he speaks, “You can’t be serious, entering pack negotiation with a fucking waiter, Heidi!”
“I’m glad you’ve been notified. Your thoughts are your own, but be a darling and keep them to yourself.” I shut the door on him.
