Chapter 112: THE OFFICE
KEISHA’S POV
I came out of the bathroom and the table was back to normal conversation like nothing had happened.
"You okay?" Lyra asked, watching me carefully, as her fingers remained wrapped around her fork.
"Fine." I said, trying to keep my voice level. "Sorry. Stomach."
She looked at me for one second longer than necessary and then went back to her eggs while I picked up my tea and drank it slowly.
The rest of breakfast was good and I tried to remain present through it.
But I couldn’t stay for long. I had stuff to do.
"We should get back." I said to Lyra. "Let you settle in properly."
"You have work." She sighed. "That’s true."
"I have work." I agreed.
We said goodbye to Callum, Lyra thanking him for breakfast with the warm smile she had always had with him.
I followed her out and felt Callum’s eyes on my back until the door closed.
Outside, the morning was cool and clear and Lyra walked beside me, saying nothing for a moment.
Then she stopped.
"He looked at me way too casually." She blurted out.
I stopped too. "What?"
"Dane." She said and her voice had gone flat. "He looked at me the way he used to. Like nothing happened. Like he just—" She stopped and pressed her lips together. "Like it was fine."
"Lyra." I sighed.
"I’m not going to cry about it." She flipped her hair. "I just want to say it. He sat across from me at that table and he looked at me and it was fine for him but I wanted to put my fork in his eye."
"That’s fair." I muttered under my breath even as I wondered if she would want to put a fork in mine too.
"I have moved on." She said. "Mostly. About eighty percent."
"That’s good." I said. "Eighty percent is good."
"The remaining twenty percent wants to put a fork in his eye." She muttered again.
"Also fair." I said.
She exhaled and sarted walking again. "He’s still here." She said, more to herself than to me. "Of course he’s still here."
I walked beside her and said nothing, feeling guilt eat at me.
We got back to my house and Lyra went to the bathroom to freshen up while I changed out of the wine-stained dress and found something loose, put it on and stood in front of the mirror for a moment.
I picked up my bag, went to the sitting room to see that Lyra was already on the sofa with her feet tucked under her watching me get ready with the rapt attention of someone who had nothing to do today.
"How’s the new supervisor?" She asked. "You mentioned a change."
"Efficient." I said. "Terrifying in the way competent people are terrifying."
"Sounds interesting."
"Long story." I said.
"Tell me when you get back." She said as she unfolded her legs and stretched. "I’ll be here. I might explore a bit. Is there anywhere I shouldn’t go?"
"Stay off the northern path after dark." I told her. "And don’t go near the east boundary without telling someone."
She looked at me. "That’s a lot of rules for a pack estate."
"It’s been a complicated few months." I said.
She looked at me with those eyes as I picked up my bag. "I’ll be back by six." I said.
"I’ll be here." She nodded. "Go."
At the office nobody noticed I was slightly late because the office was mid-conversation when I walked in, several voices cutting into each other.
I sat at my desk, opened my laptop and started working quietly, hoping to go unnoticed for at least an hour.
"She was right there." Sera was saying. "Keisha was there. She followed them. She’d know the whole story."
I kept my eyes on the screen.
"Keisha." Evelyn. "You were there the other night. At the club."
"I was." I said without looking up.
"So tell us." Sera said. "Because we’re getting three different versions and none of them agree and you’re the one who actually knows."
I looked up to see that the office was looking at me.
Everyone was curious.
"Eliora is in the dungeon." I said. "She drugged Nadia and hired men to protect her when we came looking. That’s what happened."
"But why?" Sera asked. "Like what’s the actual reason."
"She didn’t like how she was being treated at work." I said carefully.
"She did all of that because of work." Peter said. "Because the supervisor gave her assignments to Nadia?"
"People do surprising things when they feel invisible." I said.
"That’s not surprising." He rolled his eyes. "That’s insane."
"Both can be true." I said.
The office went slightly quieter.
"Her resume was fabricated." I told them. "All of it. She had no qualifications in this field."
A collective gasp went around the room.
"So she just walked in here and lied." Sera said. "About everything."
"Yes." I nodded.
"And we hired her." Peter said.
"We did." I said. "Based on what she presented which looked real." I paused. "She was good at it."
"And how’s Nadia?"
"She’s fine." I said. "She’ll be completely fine."
"Good." Sera smiled. "Because I was going to—" She stopped, then started again. "Good."
The gathering broke up slowly, people drifting back to their desks one by one, muttering to themselves, as they talked about what they just heard.
At least they were gone now.
I took a deep breath and tried to focus on my work.
Lunch came and I stood up to make copies of a document while drinking coffee, the copy machine at the end of the room taking too long to respond. I was looking at my phone while I waited when someone appeared in the office doorway.
"Keisha." One of the junior staff poked her head through. "Someone’s here to see you."
I looked up.
Lyra was standing in the doorway with a meal box in her hand and a smile on her face.
Oh fuck.
The room tilted violently and suddenly everything went blank.