Chapter 38
Chapter 38
Avery’s POV
Someone was sabotaging me.
I forced myself to take long, slow breaths.
Slowly, I entered the room and found an empty envelope and put all the tiny torn pieces of paper into it. I could try and tape them together maybe?
My hands were shaking. I was angry. Angry at whoever would have had the guts to do this.
Whoever it was, they had known I would be here.
My blood slowed to an icy slurry as I considered that whoever had come had expected to find me alone. When they hadn’t, they had made this mess, but what if that wasn’t their original intention?
Perhaps my recent kidnapping was making me paranoid?
Perhaps not.
Maybe my unplanned nap on the bench had actually saved me from something far worse.
The hair at the back of my neck rose at that thought.
In the middle of the night, down here in the cellar alone, it would have been pretty easy to hurt me.
I needed to be more careful.
I rose carefully and shoveled the remaining papers together as best I could. I would have to re-do most of my work with the files, but maybe the invitation list could be salvaged. I just needed to find some tape.
But first, I needed to investigate the saboteur.
I carefully tucked the boxes into shadowy corner where they would be less visible. Unless my enemies really had a penchant for shredding mildewing records, they would probably be undisturbed.
Then I closed my eyes.
My wolf might be dormant, but I wasn’t as ‘human’ as Zara liked to say.
I let my senses stretch out and fill the room.
I smelled the dust and faint scent of rat droppings. I could smell the stink of stagnant water where it pooled in the corners of the basement. I heard the slow drip drip of water in the walls from a leaky pipe.
I had probably slept for about 4 hours. That was enough time for the person who did this to be long gone, but they had to have left something. Some trace of their passage.
I opened my eyes and lowered myself to the floor. I put my head to the side and stared across the parquet stone, looking around. There were plenty of cobwebs under the shelves, but no clues.
I turned the other way and looked at the other side of the room.
Something glinted in the corner of the doorframe, near the hinge of the door.
I crawled across the floor on hands and knees to pluck it up.
It was a hair. A long, blonde, hair.
I remembered the only person I’d met so far who had long golden hair like this.
1/2
Jessica.
She was as predictable as she was vicious. I rose to my feet and let the hair fall back to the floor.
I may have identified the vandal, but there was no one I could run to, to report. That was fine. I was used to fighting my battles alone.
I set my shoulders and marched out into the daylight.
The mess hall, kitchens, and offices where I first looked were all a bust. I walked past Gideon’s office and paused for a moment, but didn’t knock.
What would I say?
“Hey, there’s someone here who really hates me because she thinks you like me more than her. Can you pwease come save me from the mean girl p>
No. I could already imagine the eyeroll Gideon would give me if I ran to him with such a stupid problem to fix.
What could he do? Give Jessica a stern talking to? Tell her to stop being mean to poor little Avery?
He would probably kick me out instead, for being a whiny teenager who couldn’t fight her own battles.
This was something I had to handle myself.
I kept walking.
My next clue was truly just luck.
I saw a dry cleaner’s van park outside one of the small boutiques on main street of the village. When the driver pushed his rolling clothes-rack past me on the sidewalk, I recognized one of the pieces.
Jessica’s skirt. The one I had ‘ruined p>
A-ha!
I walked across the street to a small coffee shop and bought myself a coffee. The barista smiled at me shyly.
“Need to cleanup? There’s a restroom back there.” He pointed towards the bathroom.
I looked down at myself. I guess crawling around on the floor of the cellar had left its mark. There were dark smudges on my clothes, and a few stray cobwebs.
Olivia Harris
Olivia Harris is an emerging author celebrated for her captivating romantic and steamy novels. With a talent for crafting deep emotional connections and fiery chemistry between her characters, Olivia’s stories offer readers an escape into worlds filled with passion, intrigue, and heart-stopping drama.