Chapter 118
Logan
After Emily’s discovery and Reid’s complete personality transplant, I made a point to have a trusted assistant watching for anything unusual.
So the message that came through a secure channel was only halfway unexpected.
The report was from Maren, one of the few internal auditors who still remembered the value of discretion. And one of the few I could trust to come to me without editing her findings.
She hadn’t flagged this to my advisors or copied anyone else. That alone told me everything I needed to know about the sensitive nature of the contents.
Three orders had been rerouted through one of the contracts that Reid’s team oversaw. It was requisition numbers out of sequence, along with some timestamps that had been edited post–submission.
The paper trail looked clean unless you knew what to look for. Maren clearly did and suspected I would too.
Reid’s signature was there. So was Chloe’s. But it wasn’t just the rerouted files that bothered me. It was the gap.
Each document had exactly a ten–minute delay between creation and approval, logged in a system that usually handled such tasks in under sixty seconds.
That meant someone was altering them and likely changing authorization and trying to hide the edits.
Sloppy, if you knew the pattern. Clever, if you didn’t. But The last file had my brow furrowed in confusion.
I tapped into the secured file, pulling up security footage from the recent dinner. Several feeds were already overwritten or partially corrupted, which wasn’t unusual for the outdated tech of a smaller Pack.
But Maren had included a few precise timestamps. So, I skipped ahead.
21:14 – Chloe lingers near the drinks blocking the view from the cameras.
21:17 – Reid enters from the side hall, already loosening his collar. They exchange a few words. He picks up a glass and drinks it.
21:19 – They leave the main room together. The hallway camera catches them turning the corner towards some private offices.
Then a glitch. Sixty–two minutes missing.
When the feed picks up again, it’s 22:21. Chloe emerges from the corridor. Her dress is slightly rumpled.
Several minutes later, Reid follows and looks… dazed. Off–kilter. He’s rubbing his temples like the light hurts him.
I paused the footage and leaned forward, squinting at the screen, willing it to give me more.
The angle was poor, the hallway dim, but something in Reid’s expression twisted my gut. He didn’t just look dazed, he looked drugged.
I rewound. Watched again. Rewound once more. But it was the same foggy stumble. This was setup. And Reid wasn’t in control of any part of it.
I turned to the notes that Maren had included. Scanning them quickly, my eyes hunted for confirmation and found it: the footage passed through a server that Reid had been pushing to upgrade for months.
It’s wasn’t definitive proof. But it didn’t have to be.
The glass. The timing. Chloe’s smile. Reid’s restlessness and behavior in the days that followed. The unspoken tension in every room we’ve shared since.
Chloe has been maneuvering. And if I’m right, she’s not working alone.
Chapter 118
+25 BONUS
I close the footage and open the clearance logs. Maren was thorough, she included Reid’s access patterns for the following morning.
And there it is.
At 06:48 the next day, a new auxiliary account is approved for Chloe. Low clearance, masked under a vendor ID, but active.
Reid authorized it with no consultation or request…odd.
I walked to the cabinet in the corner, unlocked the drawer, and pulled out a file labeled Discreet Internal Risk. Chloe’s name hadn’t been in it. Until now.
I wrote it in, sharp and clean, and flagged the page with a red tab. wasn’t evidence. But it was preparation.
Then I grabbed a fresh folder from the shelf and opened a new page. I didn’t title it–just wrote down times, entry codes, and clearance flags.
If the data was being watched and altered, then I’d track this in a way that couldn’t be hacked. Good old paper files.
I moved between the desk and terminal, cross–referencing entries to make Emily proud, even as my jaw locked tighter with every confirmation and every inconsistency.
I printed the flagged requisitions and clipped them together, sliding them into the folder and locking the drawer with a click.
I paced a little, then returned to the desk, still restless. I pushed back the keyboard. Stacked the papers again. Unstacked them. Re–aligned the pens in my tray. It didn’t help calm my irritation.
I sat back slowly, folding my hands under my chin, letting the pieces settle…Chloe inanipulated Reid. Maybe through blackmail, but she definitely had something on him.
But what matters now is the pattern. Right now it’s just circumstantial evidence. There isn’t enough proof to act. Not yet.
If I move too soon, Reid will deny it, Chloe will twist it, and Emily I shut my eyes briefly.
Emily’s been holding so much already. The thought of telling her that Chloe isn’t just a petty snake but an active threat?
That her sister may have compromised the entire structure she’s finally starting to believe she belongs in?
No. Not until I can make it undeniable. Not until I can shield her from the fallout.
I open a message tab and start to text her.
Emily-
I paused, her name blinked back at me from the unsent message on the screen.
I need to show you something.
Six words. Clean. Direct and honest. But loaded like a bullet. My finger hovered over the send key. Then withdrew. I stood and crossed to the far window.
Reid was likely still awake. Or pacing. Or cursing the trap he’d stepped into.
I didn’t really care what happened to him, but this was about Emily And what it would mean for her to know.
She’d worked so hard to build something steady out of the ruins her father made. She didn’t complain. Didn’t ask i Just moved forward, every day–fighting tooth and nail for legitimacy, for dignity, for acceptance.
,mpathy.
And Chloe was ready to tear it all down because she couldn’t handle not getting her way.
I thought about the way Emily had touched my hand earlier on the balcony. A quiet, grounding contact.
I could tell her. I could open the door to what I’d found. She’d believe me.
2/3
Chapter 118
+25 BONUS
And it would devastate her. It would confirm what she already felt from her family: that love was conditional.
Having an engagement based on a contract only served to reinforce that, I was sure,
The cursor blinked back at me like it was breathing. Waiting. I stared at the words again and knew I didn’t want to be the one to
hurt her.
Not when she was finally standing taller. Not when her hands had finally stopped shaking when she spoke in meetings. Not when her smile–rare as it was–had started to look genuine.
I hit delete.
Each word vanished before the previous one.
I shut the laptop slowly, letting the low whir of the fan die out. Then I rose and moved around the desk one more time, checking that the files were locked away, terminals cleared, drawers locked tight.
It was late, but my mind wouldn’t let me settle.
It was instinct to protect her. Even if it meant shielding her from the ugly truth.
TY
Chapter 119
