108

108
DOMINIC 

Cale had a smug look on his face as he dropped a shit load of work on my desk that morning. His lips were curled into a smirk by the edge and he had a look of pure satisfaction and it made my hand itch me to punch him. 

“That should be enough work to keep you busy and not just chilling like you’re paying me,” he said as he waved his hand dismissively, as though me working in the company was nothing more than a favor. “Since you’re all about family and you’ll remain loyal to them then I’ll make sure to work very hard to earn your pay.”

I didn’t react, I actually didn’t mind. I wasn’t going to give Cale the satisfaction.

I knew he was doing all of it just because Nathan had been arrested and he needed someone to take out his frustration on. He knew my family had something to do with it, of course he did but I was ite he hadn’t yet figured out exactly what or how we did it but he was smart and soon enough, he'd figure it out if we didn’t work fast. 

He had no idea how much we had caught onto him and was ready to make him pay.

“I would stay late if that’s what you want me to do, sir,” I replied to him, my face blank of any expression. I didn’t mind staying back, it was even a chance for me to search around and find things we could use as evidence.  

If he wanted me to stay overnight with my nose buried in files, then so be it.

His smirk turned into a wide smile as if my words pleased him and like he had done something good. 

He didn’t say anything in response as he turned away from me, walked towards the elevator and made his way to the ground floor, leaving no one else but me in the office. 

I smiled to myself, I knew I was going to be watched but that wasn’t going to be a problem. I was more than prepared for it.

I acted like I was getting on with the work as the last of the staff left the office, the light went off and a dimmer one was out as the janitor cleaned along the tiles and I leaned back against my chair as I watched him from the side of my eyes. 

When the janitor was finally done and the security guard passed for the last time, giving his usual nod before he walked out, I waited for fifteen more minutes before I got to what I had to do. 

I moved fast. 

The hallway that was just outside my office led to Cale’s. The door guarding his office had a biometric lock but that wasn’t what I was interested in, what I had wanted to get into was the safe that had been hidden in the corner behind a fake plant that he didn’t even try to make real at the right hand corner of his office. 

“I’m on the move,” I said into the earpiece I inserted into my ear, waiting for a signal from them before I stood up. 

I had provided my men with signal jammers for the alarms and cameras around the office. 

“You’re clear.” One of my men said and I quickly got up, looking around to make sure no one was watching me. 

The camera had already been shut off and no matter how far I walked, the alarms wouldn’t be triggered nor would they be notified of my movements. 

When I got to his door, it clicked open and I smiled in satisfaction. I walked over to the safe, pushed the faux plant away and knelt down to the floor. I had seen the code he was using got the safe not once or twice when Cale punched in the password and he had thought no one noticed it whenever he covered the numbers with his jacket but I had seen all of it from the reflection of the glass cabinet. 

I quickly keyed it in the code and it clicked open. 

My breath caught in my throat and I momentarily forgot how to breathe. 

The door swung open immediately. 

I started searching and in it were the usual documents with letterheads, stacks of black checkbooks, a few memory cards and one black flash card that was put in a solder that was labeled Board Activities: Confidential. 

My hands immediately reached for it and my finger water around the drive quickly and without any hesitation. 

I immediately slid it into my laptop and copied everything that was on it to a hidden folder I had already created on my phone. The contents on the flash drive were encrypted but my software was able to catch it fast. 

I returned the drive into the document, arranged everything back the way I had met them and gently closed the safe back after checking it twice to and sure it didn’t look like it had been gone through. 

I started going through the documents I had copied when I saw all of it. 

Videos. Dozens of them.

Families, children, wives and even aged parents, all of them were blindfolded and while some cried, others were sitting perfectly still trying to look brave but I could tell how scared they were from the look on their faces. What was even more shocking was that one of the videos had a timestamp of just three days ago. 

My blood turned into ice and I balled my hand into fists, my knuckles turning white from how tight I was gripping my hands. 

Alex was right. They really had been threatened.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing with my eyes.

The board members hadn’t willingly turned against us. They had been forced to sign over their shred and vote for him. They were forced to stay silent and only because they had been blackmailed with the lives of their loved ones.

With a heavy heart, I copied the videos to my phone, closed my laptop as my heart starting pounding so loud that I could hear it in my head but I remained composed and wore a blank expression.

I was going to remain calm and composed, I had to make sure I wasn’t suspected or worse—figured out. 

I got up, walked out of Cale’s office and quietly shut the door behind me. I quickly walked back to my office and made it just in time because just a few seconds after I had settled in, heavy footsteps approached and I buried my head in the documents again. 

One of the security guards walked closer to me and I raised my head, slowly nodding to acknowledge him. His face was stern and it looked like he had it out for me but I refused to be intimidated. 

“You’re still working?” He asked, his voice curt and sharp. 

I nodded as I turned back to look at the pile of papers on my desk. “Yes I am,” I replied, my voice void of any emotion. “I’m working late. Orders from Cale.”

He didn’t give me a response, instead he turned around and started walking away from me. He picked up his phone and started saying incoherent words but I heard him mention Cale’s name so I knew he was reporting to him. 

I sat in silence for a few minutes longer, my eyes focused on the screen and the files that were laid out on my desk but my mind was entirely somewhere else. 

We finally had what we needed but I couldn’t believe how evil Cale really was.

I left the office building an hour later and headed straight to meet with Alex at a cafe where he was waiting for me. We needed to plan things away from the girls not because we didn’t want them to know but because we didn’t want to put them at risk by getting them involved. 

He was sitting by a corner at the back of the cafe, his face was filled with impatience and he was tapping his legs anxiously. His shoulders were tense and I could tell he was dreading the information I was about to give to him. 

The minute I walked closer to him and his eyes landed on me, he straightened and looked at me with expectant eyes. “Well?” He asked. 

I sat down opposite him but I remained silent. 

“Did you at least get some information? Stop being silent, it’s making my anxiety worse.”

I still don’t say anything but this time, I handed my phone over to him. “Not only where they threatened, family members of almost every board member and it is all documented.”

Alex clenched his jaw as he went through my phone and swiped through all the videos. His eyes narrowed and he didn’t say anything for a very long time. 

“We need to find the location they’re holding them in,” he finally said in a low voice. “We can’t just sit down and let innocent people suffer.”

“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “I know.”

He looked hesitant, then he spoke up again. “We need to work with detective Carter on this one.”

I gritted my teeth, the idea of involving that son of bit u not settling down well with me. “No. No, I don’t agree with that.”

“I don’t trust him either,” Alex said bluntly. “But there are lives at stake and time is running out. Remember that it's not only Raina and our family that’s involved, there are others too—innocent people.”

I ran my hand through my hair and let out a loud sigh. 

He was right and I didn’t like it but there was nothing else to do. 

So I took back my phone from him and dialed Carter.

As expected the bastard answered with an undeniable air of arrogance. “Took you long enough to call,” he said cockily.

“I’m not interested in exchanging words with you,” I bit back. “We found some information and from what we saw, families have been kidnapped and are currently being used as leverage.”

“Where?”

“We have no idea but they’re with Cale. He didn’t release them like he promised to, for reasons we don’t know yet but I believe it’s because he still needs them.”

Carter went silent for a moment before he finally replied. “That explains a lot. No wonder they’re not entertaining people and refuse to speak.”

“We need you to find them. And fast.”

He let out a dramatic sigh and I had to stop from rolling my eyes. “It depends on where they are and knowing how smart Cale is, he might be rotating their locations or keeping them in a very protected area.”

“Then get on with it and you’ll have to dig more on Cale.”

“No need to worry,” Carter said coolly. “I’ll find them but be careful and make sure not to tip him, things might not end well.”

“I know.”

With that I hung up, not waiting for him to reply. 

“He’ll get on with it.”

Alex nodded. “Okay,” he replied, his shoulders now relaxed. “So what do we do?”

“We wait and pray he gets back to us very soon,”

I replied, my mind racing with possibilities but I tried to remain positive.

“Okay, but having to wait for a lead is so frustrating.”

“We have no other choice,” I replied with a tired sigh. 

“Let’s go home then before the girls start getting suspicious.”

I nodded and we got up, walked out of the cafe and headed back home. 

The next day, I walked into the office knowing that the jammed cameras had already been fixed and no one would suspect anything. 

But Cale was at my desk waiting, my heart skipped a beat but I kept a neutral expression. 

He was lazily flipping through one of the many documents he had left for me last night and his lips were twisted when he saw that I hadn’t gotten far with the work. 

“You didn’t finish or even get halfway done.” It wasn’t a question. 

“I had a family emergency,” I replied with a neutral tone. 

He cocked an eyebrow at me. “That late at night?”

“Exactly why it was an emergency.”