Page 76 of Into the Fire: After
Now we sat in Gail Thorne’s conference room. We took up almost a whole side of the table. Taryn sat on my right and Caine on her other side. To my left, Lin, then Brooks. Our hands were linked beneath the surface. Taryn’s bond hummed, her anxiety a foghorn in my ear. Echoes of Lin’s and Caine’s were strong enough to make their ways through too.
We’d held out hope that Gail had called us in to give us good news. But the second she walked in, lips pressed tightly together and only a curt, “Good afternoon,” as she sat down, I knew that hope was dashed.
We were about to crash. Hard.
“Ms. Maddox,” Gail said, looking directly to Taryn across the center of the table. “Let me start by saying, I believe you. We, in this office, believe you.”
Taryn’s cheeks reddened. She drew her bottom lip between her teeth as her forehead crunched.
Gail straightened her papers before her. “Unfortunately, we can’t try cases based on my personal trust in you. We have to follow the strength of the evidence, and we simply do not have strong enough evidence to tie Wainwright Corp., or any individual within Wainwright Corp., to what occurred at Phoenix Labs.”
My omega’s face crumpled, but she didn’t bow her head. Even as tears streamed down her cheeks, she stared Gail down.
My pride in her was all I could feel.
Everything else was…
Numb.
Lin seemed to be fighting the same battle, his mouth opening and closing as he struggled to form words.
Caine did not have that problem. He banged his fist on the table. “How is that possible? We have Heston on side! Records of his involvement in the early stages of the project that ended up with three of us held hostage by Phoenix. What the fuck else could we possibly have?”
His scent assailed my senses, cinnamon and blood orange choking out all else. Even Gail and her beta team members shifted in their seats, trying to discreetly relieve the discomfort such a potent alpha pheromone created.
“Mr. Callaway’s notebooks are written entirely in code, with no contemporaneous key or legend. Only his current-day assertion of what that code means. Wainwright’s lawyers would tear right through it, assuming they didn’t get it thrown out for his having failed to surrender them twenty years ago.
“While Heston’s testimony carries weight, it’s simply not enough,” Gail said in an even tone. “Without rock-solid, irrefutable evidence, anything we bring won’t stick. It’ll just tell them what we know, and they’ll find better ways to hide what they’re doing going forward.
“Now, regarding what occurred at Phoenix, there is a potential for settlement—”
“I don’t want a settlement,” Taryn ground out, fresh tears still streaming.
Brooks leaned forward. “And it’s not aboutwhat occurredat Phoenix. It’s what occurred, what is occurring, and what will occur because the drug trials are starting all over again.” He swiped a hand over his face. “Can’t we even try?”
“You could,” Gail agreed. “It will bankrupt you, and you still won’t win. And you will paint fresh targets on your backs. But yes, you could try.”
Taryn ripped her hand from mine, pushed back from the table, and left the room. I followed without a word. The guys could finish the meeting.
“Taryn,” I called out as I passed through the door. She was already halfway down the wood-paneled hallway. “Taryn, wait.”
Her steps slowed until she stopped. One hand on the wall, she bent to remove her black high heels she’d worn. Her power heels.
“It’s all so fucking pointless,” she said as I neared.
I simply reached out and tugged her against my chest, wrapped my around around her shoulders. I shielded her from the prying eyes in the nearby offices, wishing I could shield her from the entire world as easily.
“I’m so sorry, Teacup,” I murmured into her hair. There were no other words. Just grief and sorrow.
We stood there in devastated silence. A few office workers passed by in the hallway. Maybe they knew who we were, or maybe it was instinct to give a distressed omega a wide berth.
The conference room doors slammed open, and Caine led the guys out. “Let’s go,” he growled as he stormed past. I kept my arm around Taryn’s shoulders, and Brooks bracketed her on the other side. Lin bent to grab her shoes, then brought up the rear of our retreat, and I didn’t need a bond with him to feel his disappointment like a heat wave behind us.
Taryn
Onceuponatime,when life had felt hopeless, I’d retreated to the apartment. Locked myself inside, curled up in bed, let my numbness pervade. My pack had surrounded me, their worry like sulfur in my nose.
Then we’d come home after Phoenix, and I’d hidden again.
