71. Chapter Seventy

Chapter Seventy

Lana

I ’m walking across the reception hall at five minutes to nine, with an entourage of two security men and an Omega who’s currently in heat. I’m acutely aware of the new marks I’m wearing.

They’ve made my skin more sensitive, and there’s no way to hide them, not that I’d want to keep them hidden away anyway.

Seeing the empty reception desk reminds me that I don’t have Erika’s help now.

It sucks for my workload, but I’m more concerned about what’s been done to Erika.

Hopefully the codebreaker guy will be able to help us figure that out.

I lead us to my office and unlock the door.

I step back to let Owen check the room first.

He clears it and waves us in.

“What’s the plan for today?” I ask them, knowing there’s no way Shadow can stick around while he’s in heat. Right now, he’s sleepy and all he seems to want is to get some food, but when he needs to be knotted again, it’ll be a need that has to be met in the moment.

“Food,” Owen says, at the same time as Shadow. “And then I’ll take Shadow to the suite. Ezra might need a longer lunch break since he’ll be visiting us then.”

I nod. “I wish I could be with you …”

“We know why you can’t,” he cuts in. “It’s fine. Can I use the phone to call in the kitchen order?”

“Of course,” I tell him, heading to my desk.

“I’ll give them ten minutes and then I’ll pick it up,” he explains. “Fastest way. Do you guys need anything?”

“Just get us coffee,” Pete asks. “We’ll order breakfast after you guys have yours.”

“Sounds good,” I agree.

Owen moves to the front of my desk and picks up the phone.

Shadow slinks in beside him and gives him a side hug while he starts to dial the number for the kitchen. “I want a bit of everything. Bacon, eggs, toast, tomatoes …”

“I know,” Owen tells him. “I’ll get you what you need.”

It makes me smile to watch Shadow’s Alpha take care of him.

Owen’s a lot sweeter than I expected.

I switch on my computer, and I login to my emails.

Owen places his order and puts down the phone.

He leads Shadow to the couches and his Omega curls up beside him as if he’s an overgrown cat. It’s cute how sleepy and clingy he seems to be right now.

I could watch them all day, but I pull my gaze away, knowing I need to keep my focus on work.

When I scroll through my emails, I find out Brooke sent the files to me last night.

They’re waiting in my inbox, ready for our code cracker to check through.

I really hope he can help with them.

I move on to dealing with a handful of complaint emails, and then I see one that’s been auto-forwarded from Geraldine’s old email address. I had it linked to mine, along with the other previous heads of admin when I started, because I didn’t want to miss anything important.

It’s probably nothing, but I’m too curious not to look.

When I open it, I find out at least one person out there is completely out of touch with the world.

He doesn’t know Geraldine is dead, for one thing, and he doesn’t seem to know why he can’t get Warren Corvina to answer his calls.

“Oh, my God,” I murmur, as I read the rest.

“What’s wrong?” Pete asks, moving toward me.

I wait for him to get to my side, and then I gesture at the screen.

“I think this must be one of Warren’s clients. I don’t know how he doesn’t realize Geraldine is dead, and Warren’s in prison, but he’s pissed off that Warren hasn’t delivered the Omega he promised him months ago.”

“You’ve got to be joking,” Pete says. “How can anyone not know Warren’s in jail? And Geraldine was killed by Frank Palmer. That was all over the news for months. They made a movie about it and it broke streaming platform records.”

“You saw the movie?” I ask him.

“Shadow made us watch it a couple of times. He’s kind of obsessed with true crime.”

“He’s asking for his money back if he doesn’t get what he paid for.”

“Well, we know the identity of one of the clients now. I’m guessing he didn’t state the Omega’s name in the email?”

I re-read it, but he doesn’t state a name.

“All we have is his name.”

I write it down. Wilfred Masters.

It’s vaguely familiar. I’ve probably seen it written on a letter before or something.

“Maybe you should try replying?” Pete asks.

“I don’t know,” I admit. “I’d have to lie to try and get the name out of him. I can’t give any of those guys a reason to sue. I have enough going on that I have to deal with right now.”

“Well, he might keep emailing if you ignore it anyway,” Pete says. “He sounds like that kind of arsehole.”

“He does,” I agree. “There’s no auto-reply to tell him Geraldine died so he could email again, I guess.”

I hope he does.

The sooner we figure out who paid Warren Corvina and for what reason, the sooner we can hand over the information to the cops and have those clients arrested. That’s the best way to keep my Omegas’ safe from what was done to them.

Pete moves back to the middle of the room.

I move on to the next thing, and the next thing, until I get a knock on the door.

Owen and Shadow left to get their breakfast ten minutes after Owen called about it, and, after dropping off our coffees, they went straight up to Ezra’s suite. When I glance at the time on my screen, I realize that was almost a half hour ago.

Pete answers it, letting in a security guard.

“Apologies, Ms. Cole but your phone is going to voicemail. I have a Damian Walton here with a Dr. Morgan. They were on the expected visitors list. Are you able to see them now?”

“Of course,” I tell him, getting to my feet and picking up my phone. “Give me a minute and send them in.”

He nods and leaves.

I send Brooke and Kellan a text message, letting them know the code breaker is here.

I move around the desk, and the guard opens the door again, sending in two men.

The Alpha has dark hair and eyes, and he’s big and muscular, but he has open, friendly energy.

He smiles at us. “Hi, I’m Damian. This is Rob. You called the alliance to get Rob’s help, and um, also Warren Corvina’s daughter called me to help de-code more stuff, so here we are.”

“Hi, Damian.” I smile back and look at his mate. “Hi, Rob. Thanks for coming.”

Now, I think I understand why Damian said he comes with him.

Rob has a slimmer build, but while he might be as tall as Damian, he’s standing with a slouched posture, and he barely makes eye-contact. He’s wearing glasses and he stands with his arms folded, looking vaguely unhappy to be here.

“Not a problem,” Damian says. “We like to help as much as we can. The alliance is doing great work. I’m blown away by how good they are. That rescue … wow. Awesome.”

He shakes his head. “Anyway, what I’d like to do is go with Rob to speak to your patient, and then we can get started on the decoding.”

“Great,” I tell him, picking up the guest book. “We need you guys to sign in, and then I’ll take you to the medical wing.”

“Perfect,” he says, taking the book and moving to the sofa nearest the door.

He sits quickly and slaps the book open.

Rob stays where he is, standing near the door, gazing at the ground.

I send Ezra a text to let him know to expect us in a few minutes outside the patient’s room.

Damian hums under his breath while he fills out the book, putting in both of their details before he gets back up and hands it back to me.

I put it back on my desk, and Pete opens the door.

“If you’re ready, we can go see the patient now.”

“Ready,” Damian confirms, putting an arm around Rob and leading him out of the room.

I lock the door once we’re out of the room, and I lead everyone to the medical wing.