Chapter 102: TWO FACED
KEISHA’S POV
I came back from lunch to find the office in chaos.
Papers were scattered across the floor near Eliora’s desk, sheets of it, fanned out like something had been thrown rather than dropped, and Mr Hale was standing over her with a folder in one hand pointed at the mess like it was evidence in a trial.
"Three weeks of work." He gritted out, his eye brow twitching and I could see the veins in his neck practically popping with anger. "Three weeks. Gone. Do you understand what you’ve done?"
Now what?
"I’m so sorry—" Eliora whimpered and her voice was shaking. "I was carrying it to the printer and I tripped and—"
"I don’t care how it happened." He cut her off with a growl. "I care that it’s ruined and now I have nothing to show the council on Thursday." He looked at the scattered pages like they had personally betrayed him.
"I’ll redo it." Eliora said quickly. "Tonight. I’ll stay late, I’ll have it done by morning—"
"You’ll redo it correctly this time?" He said. "The way you got it correctly the first time?! Answer me!"
She flinched.
"Nadia." Mr Hale turned, and his voice changed completely, the edge gone. "Can you take this. Recreate it from the source logs. I need it by Thursday."
"Of course." Nadia said immediately. She was already crouching to gather the scattered pages, organizing them by section without being asked, and Mr Hale nodded once and went back into his office and the door closed and the room exhaled.
Eliora stood there with her hands at her sides.
Nadia straightened with the gathered pages and went to her, said something low, put a hand briefly on her shoulder.
Eliora nodded with her chin tucked down and went to help gather the rest of it.
I watched from my desk.
A few minutes later Eliora headed for the bathroom.
I don’t know why I followed her. I told myself it was coincidence— I needed to go too — but some part of me already knew I was following her specifically, and I waited a beat after the door swung shut behind her before I pushed it open myself.
She was at the mirror.
And no, she was no longer crying nor composing herself. She had the sanitizer bottle from the dispenser in her hand and she crushed it— actually crushed it, the plastic cracking under her grip, gel spilling down her wrist— and dropped it in the sink before she grabbed the tissue dispenser next, yanking the whole roll out and shredding it between both hands.
I stood in the doorway, my eyes wide.
Oh shit.
She didn’t see me.
For three full seconds, I watched her destroy the bathroom counter with a deliberate, silent violence that had nothing to do with crying over a ruined report, and then she caught my reflection in the mirror and went completely still.
"Keisha." She muttered.
"I forgot something at my desk." I said. "I’ll come back."
I left immediately.
I sat at my desk afterward and thought— that was not grief. Or guilt. That’s anger. Real anger.
But people had anger issues. People had bad days. I told myself that, turned it over, decided it was at least possible, and went back to my queue.
Twenty minutes later Sera came back from the bathroom with a confused expression. "Did either of you see some maniac in the bathroom?" She said, to the room generally. "The whole counter’s destroyed. Sanitizer everywhere, paper towels shredded. Eliora—"
"No idea." Eliora said from her desk without looking up.
I looked at her but she kept her eyes on her screen, so I said nothing.
By the end of the day Eliora had recovered her composure completely — she was smiling, laughing at something Nadia said, the version of her that everyone in the office had decided was sweet and hardworking and deserving of sympathy.
I watched the transformation with a visible frown on my face.
Weird.
"Friday night." Eliora said, leaning back in her chair as we wrapped up. "There’s a new club that opened on the boundary road. We should go. All of us."
"I have plans." I immediately disagreed.
"Boring plans?" Eliora said, smiling.
"Quiet plans." I forced a smile at her. "Sorry."
Nadia hesitated. "I think I’ll pass too, I—"
"Come on." Eliora said. "One night. You’ve been working so hard this week, you deserve it." She tilted her head at Nadia specifically. "It’ll be fun."
Nadia looked at me. Then back at Eliora. "Maybe one drink." She smiled.
Eliora’s smile widened.
Something about it made my stomach drop in a way that had nothing to do with the pregnancy.
We walked home together at six, the evening cool and the pack grounds quiet, and Nadia was talking the whole way about the club and what she was going to wear.
But that wasn’t what I was thinking about. What I needed to know was how Eliora was capable of that damage. What was she hiding? Was I paranoid?
"I don’t trust her." I blurted out.
"Eliora?" Nadia said. "She’s fine, Keisha, she’s just had a rough week—"
"She’s two-faced." I said. "I watched her destroy the bathroom this afternoon and then deny it to Sera’s face twenty minutes later."
"Maybe she was embarrassed." Nadia frowned.
Why did everyone keep saying that? It was beginning to make me feel like I was the crazy one for noticing all these things.
"Nadia." I pinched my nose bridge. "That’s beside the point."
"You’re being harsh on her." Nadia sighed. "She’s trying. I think you’re just being strung up because you’ve been sick the last couple of days. The days you took a leave? She put in a lot of effort to make up for your absence."
Right. She was right.
I looked at the house coming into view and thought about Eliora’s smile widening when Nadia agreed to come Friday but I said nothing else, because I didn’t have proof yet.
Just a feeling.
And a phone call to Dane that hadn’t come back with an answer.