Lunar Temptations

Ch 44

"Yes, I came to your house and went into your office, but it was all to grab Macy Jenkins' case file before the trial," she waved her hand in the air, pretending to be mad at the supposedly false accusations. "Then how did this get into your possession?" Zayden asked, looking indifferent. At this point, nobody could tell what was going through that thick skull of his. Neither could I tell if he believed his mother or not. Either way, we had the drive, and it was enough proof or at least that was what I thought until Esther began to speak again.

"After I found out that the evidence to this unfortunate case was stolen, I couldn't help but feel responsible since I, too, was present at your house the day it was taken. Of course, I did my investigation, privately, and found the culprit," she said, motioning towards the drive in his hand.

Wait- What?

My brain went into a frenzy. Did she just make that up, or was this all planned? She was clever, but this- this was something entirely else. The story seemed to have flipped, and the sides had suddenly changed. It was no more the drive being found in Esther's office, and she was the culprit, but rather Esther found the drive and the culprit before us, and she was completely innocent. I replayed our conversation before her men decided to pin me down, and she never admitted to stealing it yet I knew it was her. She did threaten me that Zayden wouldn't ever know what happened with me, but it wouldn't be enough, or else I would have told them to review the footage from minutes ago, and that would have called out Esther's bluff.

"And who is that?" he asked, calmly. I still couldn't tell if he was buying Esther's explanation or not. "It's your housekeeper, Danna," she revealed, a gasp or two escaping from my mouth.

"W-what?" I said, not shocked but surprised at her ability to muster that lie. Danna would never do such a thing, and she was right in front of us the whole time when Esther and Nicole had come to visit. This evil woman surely had no proof for this shameful accusation.

"Yes, this drive was found at her home yesterday."

Fuck me! She really knew how to turn the situation in her favour. No wonder she was leading one of the most powerful packs all these years. I ran a frustrated hand through my hair. "We all know that's a lie. Danna would never do such a thing," I scoffed.

Esther sighed tiredly. "Ask your men, Zayd if you don't believe me. They were the ones who scoured her house," she shrugged, relaxing. Whatever confidence I had that I would finally be able to prove that Esther was the one who took it was gone. It was replaced by my dumb expressions as I stood there speechless. I looked nothing less than a fool with no more proof against her as she swiftly built a story around it. What was the worst part? It wasn't just a story, it actually happened. The guards must have found it in Danna's house since Esther seemed way too confident about it.

Defending herself was one thing, but framing innocent Danna was another. I might have believed her too if it wasn't for the conversation I had overheard of hers with that mysterious man. I was sure about one thing though, Esther Castillo was a dangerous woman, and I had played right into her hands.

"Why didn't you bring this to me?" Zayden said, flicking the drive in his hand as if he was playing with it. That man seemed too calm to be in this situation. I wondered if he believed her or not because if he did, then I was about to look a lot more like a fool now. What scared me the most was that people in power didn't bother about innocent girls subjected to exploitation. All they did was put a sympathetic face on with an evil heart. She was playing with the lives of not one but two innocent women.

"You wouldn't have believed me because the evidence has been wiped off," she said, frowning. Did I mention how good of an actor she was? Because it was all it took, and her story was convincing enough. He stayed quiet, his eyes wandering over the drive as he pondered over something.

In two long strides, he was by the desk and inserting the pen drive into the laptop's port. After a while of clicking, he straightened his back and took the pen drive out.

"It's empty," he declared, nonchalantly. My eyes widened, and I opened my mouth to say something but closed it again. I surely looked worse than a fool now. Perhaps, I was the only culprit too now, since I broke into Esther's office with a false suspicion, followed by some false accusations. Fury radiated from me, directed at a specific person standing innocently as if she hadn't unjustly proven herself well-intentioned.

"I don't know what to say, Mother," Zayden said, turning to her and releasing a breath. She opened her mouth with twitched brows, ready to feign her innocence once again when he raised a hand to stop her.

"How could you possibly think that I wouldn't believe you?" he said, with his head hanging low. My mouth parted as I gaped, blinking twice until it dawned on me.

I didn't want this to happen. All I wanted was for Macy to get her deserved justice and for those assholes to be trialled. Yet there I was, proven wrong while doing so. Not only that, my humiliation was pretty evident, and I couldn't lift my gaze to look at Zayden now. He must think of me as a stupid, insensible woman to barge into his mother's personal space only to wrongfully 'frame' her.

"You, together with Father, have led this pack to prosperity. Your intentions are always in our favour, I can never doubt you," he said, tilting his head to the side, and I quietly shrunk behind him. My existence suddenly felt useless at that moment.

"Raya must have been mistaken; I am sure she can apologize for her careless stunt," he said, grabbing my hand to pull me forward.