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Oops.
Too late I realize that I’ve said too much.
Even after Brick throwing me out, I still would never reveal his secret.
“I mean, he was probably working for the Adalwulfs.”
“Oh. Yeah, he could be. Is that all you have on him, though? That evidence is pretty circumstantial.”
I tap my lips. “There's the private investigator Brick hired to find out if Eleanor Harrington was my grandmother. I could call him. Maybe he can find a record of a payment from the Adalwulfs to the janitor. Or something?”
Aubrey looks at me doubtfully. “Well,” –she shrugs– “I guess it’s worth a shot. But why are you doing this? Do you want your job back?”
I hate that my eyes fill with tears. I thought I was done crying over this. “No, I don’t want my job back. But I also can't stand Brick thinking I would do this to him.”
I'm not obtuse enough to miss the parallel he was led to draw between his mother’s betrayal and what he believes is mine. He jumped to conclusions because of his past. That wound is so deep, and this whole fiasco just fed into it.
That’s the sick part. Aiden Adalwulf went for his deepest wound when he used me to get at Brick. I mean, he didn't use me–I wasn’t a willing participant in his treachery–but he framed me for this whole thing. Used my computer. Staged a meeting with me in front of the building. Made the phone calls damning me.
What had Aubrey said to me back when I was in the Berkshires? Never date a man who hates his mother? She couldn't have been more right. A man who hates his mother believes every woman is out to get him. Every female is going to be damned in his eyes.
Which makes me think…
Suddenly it all sharpens into focus.
Catherine Adalwulf’s insistence that she was innocent. Her desperate attempts to explain herself to Brick and repair the relationship. Could it be…?
Aiden knew how to play this game because it’s been played by his pack before.
Catherine Adalwulf has been a pawn in her pack’s feud against the Blackthroats. A pawn like me.
An even greater sense of resolve to get to the bottom of this mess comes over me. Enough wallowing. It’s time to get back in there and repair what’s broken. I have no intention of ever speaking to Brick again, but I can’t let the Adalwulfs win this round. No.
If I can clear up this farce they’ve laid out for Brick to believe, I will.
“I'm going to take a shower,” I say. I need to come back to the land of the living. I'm sure I stink, and I know I'm not very pretty to look at right now.
“Cool.” Aubrey heads into the kitchen. “I'll make us lattes for when you get out.”
* * *
Brick
Moon Co has been on lockdown for almost a week dealing with the security breach.
The executive team is stationed on the top floor as we manage the crisis. Or possibly they’re just trying to manage me. My sanity is as much of a crisis as the fate of the pack and company right now.
Sully calls me after hours. I’m still in the office. I’ll probably sleep here again. “What is it?”
“I had an interesting phone call.”
“Don’t speak in riddles,” I snap. “Why are you calling?”
“Madison Evans.”
Dammit.
My wolf roars to life. He wants to kill Sully for even mentioning her name. As if Sully might be moving in on our mate. Courting her. Stealing her from us, which of course is absurd, since I’ve already cast her aside. “What about her?” I snarl.
