His Invisible Architects Revenge

CHAPTER TWELVE

Natalie pov

Sunlight poured through the glass windows of my hotel suite, warming the white blankets covering my legs. I opened my eyes slowly and took a deep breath. For the first time in three years, I had slept for a full eight hours.

In fact, I had slept perfectly for an entire week.

I pushed the blankets aside and walked into the bathroom, I leaned over the sink and looked at my reflection in the mirror. I barely recognized the woman looking back at me.

The dark purple circles under my eyes were gone. My skin had a healthy glow instead of the pale, sickly color of a girl who never saw the sun. My shoulders were relaxed, I looked rested and at peace.

I walked back into the main room and poured myself a cup of hot coffee from the room service cart, the television mounted on the wall was playing quietly in the background on a local news channel. A reporter was standing outside the Blackwood headquarters, talking rapidly into a microphone. The words "Search Party" flashed across the bottom of the screen.

I took a sip of my coffee and watched without a single ounce of fear. I knew Adrian was looking for me, the news reporters had been talking about it for days. Adrian could not take his loss. His ego was bruised, and he was sending his guards into every corner of the city, tearing through motels and train stations, demanding to know where the girl who betrayed him had gone.

I set my coffee cup down and opened my laptop on the table. My encrypted email inbox was flooded. Since the night of the gala, the news of my departure had spread through the supernatural corporate world like a wildfire. Everyone knew that the brain behind the Blackwood Group had walked out.

I clicked on the first email.

Miss Ernest, it read. I am the head of acquisitions for the Gold Claw pack. We saw what happened at the gala, we would like to offer you a senior position at our firm. Name your price, we will provide you with full pack protection.

I pressed the delete key without a second thought. I scrolled down to the next one, it was from a wealthy rogue investor. Natalia, come work for me. You will have a beautiful corner office and double your old salary. You just have to report directly to my Beta.

I deleted that one, too.

There were dozens of emails just like them from different business partners, rival Alphas, and wealthy investors. They all wanted to work with me, all promised me money and safety.

But I kept refusing every single one of them, I was done reporting to Betas or letting Alphas take the credit for my sleepless nights. I wanted complete independence.

"I am going to build my own table," I whispered to the empty room, shutting the laptop screen.

I walked over to the closet and pulled out a tailored black suit, I threw on a white shirt underneath and slipped into a pair of black heels. I grabbed my bag and left the hotel, catching a taxi cab into the supernatural commercial district.

I was heading to see Elias Thorne. Elias was a senior commercial real estate agent who handled the best office buildings in the territory. Two years ago, Elias had been drowning in legal trouble because he built a massive office complex on land that violated an environmental zoning law, he was going to lose millions.

I was the one who found the legal loophole to save him. I quietly filed the paperwork through the Blackwood legal department, got his building approved, and saved his career. He owed me a favor, and I was going to collect it today.

The taxi dropped me off in front of a tall glass building. I walked inside with my head held high, my heels clicking sharply against the floor. I took the elevator to the tenth floor and walked straight into Elias's office.

Elias was sitting behind his desk, looking over some blueprints. When the door opened, he looked up with a polite customer-service smile but the moment he realized it was me, his face went pale. The blueprints slipped right out of his hands and fluttered to the floor.

"Natalia?" Elias gasped. He jumped out of his chair as if it had suddenly caught fire.

"Good morning, Elias," I said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind me. "I need to lease the fourth-floor suite in the new commercial tower, I brought the initial deposit in a certified bank draft."

Elias ran past his desk, rushed to the windows, and quickly pulled the blinds shut. He checked the lock on the door, his hands visibly shaking.

"Are you insane?" Elias whispered harshly, turning back to face me. "You cannot be here! You should not be walking around in broad daylight!"

I frowned, taking a step forward. "Elias, what is wrong with you?"

"You are on the run!"

"I am not on the run," I corrected him firmly. "I resigned."

"That is not what the Alpha is saying!" Elias argued, "Adrian Blackwood has his guards tearing this city apart looking for you, he put out an official notice to the supernatural business council. He told everyone that you stole highly sensitive pack secrets and committed corporate treason."

I stared at him, a wave of anger washed over my chest. "He is lying, Elias," I said,"You know he is lying, I did not steal anything. I took back the intellectual property that legally belonged to me. The patent office confirmed it, you know I am brilliant enough to build my own firm. Just give me the lease."

Elias shook his head rapidly, backing away from me as if I had a contagious disease. "I cannot do it," he said, "I cannot lease an office to you, Natalia. Even if you use a fake name, Adrian's men will eventually find out who is running the company. If the Blackwood pack finds out I helped you set up shop in this territory, they will burn my entire business to the ground. They will ruin me."

"Elias, you owe me," I reminded him, "I saved this building for you two years ago. If it was not for me, you would be bankrupt."

"I know!" Elias cried out softly, "I know what you did for me but things are too dangerous right now, Adrian is furious. He announced this morning that he is granting the public a press audience. He has invited all the major news networks, the investors, and the pack elders. He is going to give a live address to explain everything that happened at the gala."

My stomach tightened. "When?"

"In a few days," Elias said. "And I am telling you right now, Natalia, until the Alpha clears his name and explains himself to the public, nobody in this territory will dare to do business with you. Not me, not the banks, not the suppliers. Everyone is terrified of what Adrian might do to anyone who helps you."

So this was his plan. Adrian was going to use his power, his charisma, and his platform to twist the narrative. He was going to make sure that I looked like a villain, so no one would ever trust me enough to work with me.

"Please, Natalia," Elias begged softly, "You are a smart girl, do not push this. You cannot fight an Alpha like him. The only reason I am not picking up my phone and turning you over to the pack guards right now is because of the help you gave me in the past," he said, "Consider my debt paid. Go hide somewhere far away, and do not come back."

Elias opened the door, stepped out into the hallway, and walked away quickly without looking back. I was left standing, my peaceful, rested feeling was gone.

I looked down at the certified bank draft in my hand, it was the money for my freedom, the start of my new life but Adrian's shadow was still covering the sun. Even when I was not in his building, he was still controlling my life.

I balled my hands into tight fists. My fingernails bit into the palms of my hands, but the pain was nothing compared to the intense, burning annoyance flaring inside my chest.

Hide? I thought to myself, a bitter, angry smile touching my lips. I spent three years hiding behind a desk while he took all the glory, I am never hiding again.

I squeezed my fists tighter, staring out the window toward the towering skyline of the city. I wondered what the hell Adrian was planning to tell the public, what twisted, disgusting lies he had prepared to make himself look like a victim.

"Go ahead and talk, Adrian," I whispered, "Set your stage but you are not the only one who knows how to play this game anymore."