Page 72 of Knot in Their Wildest Dreams: Part 1

“I refuse to believe it. There has to be some explanation. There’s no way that she can be the same person who signed off on these.” Vigo’s voice rang out.

I stopped, sensing the seriousness of their conversation. Leaning in, I listened while I kept myself still.

“We have to stop her…” The voice was faint, but I froze as I realized they were talking about a woman.

“We’ll show the evidence to Reginald. He knows who to trust on the board. Once he knows the truth, they can remove her.”

Ice ran through my veins. They were talking about me. About removing me from my position. I momentarily blanked out, feeling a rush of emotions as everything I thought I knew slammed to a halt.

“Prison for someone of her status won’t be nearly as bad as for anyone else. She’s an omega. She’ll go to a facility for omegas, and when she’s out…”

What were they talking about? Prison? I racked my brain trying to understand what they could possibly think I’d done.

“When she’s out, the world will shun her.”

I felt my world fall apart.

The pack I scent matched, the pack I’d spent months getting to know, care for, understand…the pack I’d begun tolove…they’d been secretly working to take me down the whole time. And all while pretending to care about me. How could this be?

My heart was pounding so hard I was sure they could hear it. The pain in my stomach was the manifestation of my anxiety running out of control, and I knew soon my perfume would leak out with a sour note, and they’d scent that I was here. I needed them gone. I needed to figure out what the hell was going on, and what they were planning.

I closed my eyes, thinking hard about a plan. They thought I still believed in their care about me, and I had that up my sleeve. Quickly, I pulled out my phone and typed a text message to them.

“Help quick! I crashed my car near the lake on the way to my house! It’s sinking!”

My car was near the back end of their property, but they didn’t need to know that. I just needed them gone. I waited for the text notification, and sure enough, I heard Liam’s voice.

“Shit! Get the car! She needs help!” The sound of their footsteps pounding on the floor let me know my plan worked. I scooted around the back of the clubhouse, flattening myself against the back wall as I turned my phone off.

Then I heard them run out of the clubhouse, practically flying as they yelled at each other about what had happened to me. Once I heard their car peel out, I slowly crept around the side of the small structure and walked in. What had Dante said? That ‘it was all here’, which meant they had something on me.

They didn’t even close the door when they left. But inside the clubhouse, there was a bookcase that was swung sideways. My mouth dropped open as I realized it was a door to a secret hidden room. I stepped inside, in awe of what I saw. It was an office - one that I never knew existed. It was left in disarray. There were papers scattered over the coffee table and desk, and some that had fallen on the floor.

There were so many copies. I sat down, my body numb as I started sorting through them. What could they possibly think I’d done that would warrant me going to prison? Were they trying to frame me?

I read through one of the pages, my eye catching on some key phrases. This one was an internal memo, frommycompany, that allowed Harringday to pay people in certain districts less than the minimum wage - using the excuse that it was legal in that area if the workers could not adequately perform their work on time. It was a deal with the local mayor. I frowned at it. While this was technically legal in some areas, along with the approval of the local government, it was still not something I’d ever implement. But when I scanned down further, I froze. My signature, along with Arnault’s, was at the bottom.

I had no recollection ofeversigning off on this. Omegas needed a witness to sign a document to show that there was no coercion, via an alpha using their bark, when signing official documents. A beta was always used as a witness. How did Arnault get access to my signature for this document as well? And how was I not aware of this?

Quickly, I grabbed other packets, reading through each one by one to see what they were. There were so many more incidents than I realized. Policies I’d never seen, much less approved of, and they all had my signature. A panic started deep within me. How did this happen? Were these forged? Was Pack Lockwood trying to frame me?

Or… were these real? They looked like scanned documents. As I read through them, I noticed that the more recent ones had Sterling’s witness signature along with my forged name. I felt my chest tighten. Had this treachery been going on the entire time that Sterling had been in employment at Harringday Industries? This would be a nightmare to disprove. No wonder the men of Pack Lockwood had such a low opinion of me - these orders were abhorrent.

I stood up, walking over to the open laptop. My hands trembling, I pulled up the browser and searched through the history. There were several sites, all referencing the Island of Arkala. It tugged at my brain. I’d been there before, very early in my career. There had been a mine collapse, and I’d flown out to personally oversee the new regulations that we’d put into place. There should be nothing to be found except for the lack of regulations that had been remedied once I’d been in charge.

I remembered Dante mentioning the island briefly too - after our date. Something dark and sick felt just out of reach, something that I needed to figure out. This computer was secret, one that hadn’t come up on the list of devices on their wifi network. But it was probably my best bet at finding information. Trembling, I pulled off my gold bracelet that Bella had procured for me. The password that her cybersecurity specialist found was still etched on the metal. Slowly, I typed it in. It worked.

I started searching through the files, trying to find something, anything, that would make this make sense. Anytime I searched my name or Harringday, all kinds of results appeared, with what looked like highly confidential documents, most of which I’d never seen before. How did they get access to these, and why was I not aware of the existence of any of this?

With a growing sickness in my throat, I searched for Arkala. A folder came up, with hundreds of files. I opened one up - a simple image. Once my eyes adjusted, a gasp erupted from me as I looked at what appeared to be the aftermath of some type of brutal attack. People were lined up, bleeding and broken on the ground as a man in uniform stood over them with a baton. I recognized the uniform. It was one that the employees working for Harringday Industries on Arkala Island wore.

I clicked on another file. It was another photo, this one more disgusting than the last. One by one, I looked at each photo until I felt sick. What was happening? I’d been to that island before. The work conditions had been fixed - I’d met with the top managers myself. But the photos didn’t look like the area I’d seen. Something horrific had occurred there. I looked at the file dates - they were from over six years ago.

Another file had a statement from a worker, and as I read I started to tear up. It told of the working conditions so bad that the workers were getting sick with a transmittable illness, but unable to afford treatment. Leadership had let the townspeople handle it, with inadequate supplies.

One by one, I clicked through the files, reading incriminating documents that directly pointed to Harringday Industries as the culprit. Internal documents that showed orders coming from the top - directly fromme. My stomach heaved. I stood up and ran to the toilet, throwing up until I had nothing left in me.

Suddenly the incessant tug inside my brain made the connection - Dante’s tattoos, the ones he had on his chest and arms, matched the ones on the people in the photos.Dante was from Arkala.How could I have missed this?

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