Page 43 of Knot in My Wildest Dreams: Part 2
“I say we hear them out, these are heavy allegations. We need to hear the story from Celeste as well,” Reginald, the one board member who I was sure was impartial, spoke up. I smiled at him gratefully.
“Well I think this has gone on long enough. We’ve never had such disruptions as we’ve had with Celeste at the helm. I think we need to have a vote!” One of them yelled out, and I bit back my frustration.
“I agree. We need someone neutral in charge until we get this sorted.” Another one said, and I could hear their voices starting to raise as the board argued with each other.
“Celeste is right.” Sterling said, his voice smooth and matter of fact. The entire board turned to him, and I could see Gideon’s look of shock as he turned to the one person who he never thought would betray him.
“Gideon has been the one behind these documents. He’s been doing this for years. The deals are done at his behest, and forged to look like Celeste in case they are ever brought to light. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Once Celeste is out, he wants to take over, and the deals he’s done will solidify Harringday as a monopoly. Gideon wants the throne.” Sterling stated, and the sheer rage on my uncle’s face made it evident that Sterling was telling the truth.
“Liar!” My uncle shouted, standing and pointing at Sterling like he was on trial. “You only say this to save yourself! You are implicated in her crimes! Your name is all over these documents, not mine!” He shouted, throwing the papers up as he faced Serling.
“Just like Arnault’s name before me. And what happened to him?” Sterling said, before turning the laptop to face the board. Then the board, and everyone in the room, was met with the gruesome video of Arnault being beaten as Gideon mocked him for his betrayal. The board gasped, but some didn't look so surprised. Gideon watched, shocked for a moment, before he stormed over, slapping the laptop to the ground and turning toface us. My heartbeat was off the charts, and Vigo stood half in front of me in a protective stance.
“This has gone on long enough! I call for a vote!” My uncle said as he slammed his fist down on the podium. He sneered at Sterling, who was staring back at him defiantly. “And you, what a disappointment. You’ll go down along with her. Your hands are all over this.”
I stood straighter, not willing to let my uncle control the narrative. “No! You have been after the CEO seat from the beginning. You tried to take it from me, over and over. This ends now!” I said, my voice so loud I was nearly yelling.
“I call for a vote of no confidence. All for a vote of no confidence against Celeste Harringday, rise!” My uncle proclaimed, and I saw his minions on the board stand. Three standing, including my uncle. And three board members who were left stayed seated, unsure of what to do. A vote of no confidence meant that the person in question could not vote, which meant that my usual tie-breaking vote would be disqualified.
“That’s not fair!” I cried, trying to walk forward. Vigo held me back. “You just saw what he’s capable of! He’s corrupt! He’s willing to kill to be in charge!” I cried, looking at the board.
“Be careful Celeste!” Vigo said in a low voice, looking at my uncle with suspicion. I knew that the threat of what my uncle was capable of was weighing on the minds of the rest of the board. They had just seen how vicious he could really be.
My uncle looked around, and seeing that some members were intimidated, gave a slow, ice-cold smile. I could see one member wavering, looking at the balance of power, deciding if it was worth it to go against a man who was willing to do such violent things to his enemies.
“Bernard, your daughter has such a bright future. I’d hate for anything to disrupt that.” My uncle said, looking at one wavering board member. I gasped at the blatant threat. Bernard looked between me, then my uncle, and started to stand, mouthing an apology at me.
“Wait.” Dante stepped forward, like an electric storm, his eyes dark and his jaws clenched. His bandaged arm was close to his chest as he hid his injury. “There’s something you need to know. The entire reason we got involved with Celeste was because our pack used documents implicating Celeste in a cover-up to blackmail her.” I gasped, looking at Dante as he revealed the incident that started all this, outing the very secret that landed us in this situation. “We used her to save our reputation. We had a document about a cover-up in Tedena that implicated her - that we later found out was just another forged document by you.” Dante said, looking at my uncle.
My uncle let out a sharp laugh. “And? This board doesn’t care about your frivolous love life and PR moves. This is much larger than that.”
“The board will care when it affects Harringday.” Dante said, and I looked over at him as the rest of the board murmured to each other in confusion.
“What do you mean?” Reginald asked carefully.
“As part of our negotiations when we had Celeste court us for publicity, we agreed that if the documents we used to force her hand were to be publicized, she would automatically get a stake in Manticore Tech.” Dante said, a smile curling up at one corner of his mouth.
I looked at him, stunned into silence. I remembered that day, when they had arrived with their proposition. I’d hastily called in a lawyer to make sure the Tedena documents would never be released after our fake relationship deal was over. I’d demanded that if they were, I’d own a significant portion of Manticore Tech. “I released them to the press just before this meeting.” Dante said, giving me a grin.
I gasped. He was publicly admitting to what his pack did in the first place, the blackmail that started all of this.
Dante was effectively giving me part of his company. Asignificantstake. Something that he’d never have even dreamed of before, back when his entire life was spent trying to get justice for his family. He looked at me, and I felt his hand close around mine. He nodded to the question I had in my eyes.
He trusted me completely. He was willing to give everything he’d worked for up, for me.
And he was offering me a way out of this situation. I squeezed his hand in return, and with a newfound confidence, faced the board.
Chapter 43
Dante
Celeste should have a stake in Manticore Tech. She’d done more than enough to deserve it.
I’d thought of the idea when I was healing from the gunshot. Lying there, staring at the ceiling, I kept replaying the first time we’d stormed into Celeste’s family compound. I’d felt that sharp, vindictive rush when we forced her to fold to our demands - a hollow victory when I looked back on it now.
Back then, I still believed she was the monster behind the Arkala massacre, the shadow that had fueled my obsession to tear Harringday down and build something strong enough to rival it. My whole life had been sharpened into that one mission.
And yet… at that exact moment, she’d realized we were her scent matches.
