Chapter 284

Heather waited on me when I returned to the little restaurant the next morning. While I was ordering coffee and a pastry, she recognized me.

“Daisy Wilson, how are you,” she said.

“I’m good, Heather. How are you?”

She shrugged. “Okay, I guess. I’m looking forward to starting classes next week at Denhurst College. I love to learn.”

“What’s your major?” I inquired.

“Pre-law,” the pretty Beta replied.

“You’ll make a great lawyer,” I told her. “I was going to study law too, but a friend talked me into journalism.”

I looked around at the mostly empty restaurant. I deliberately arrived during the slower time between breakfast and lunch.

“I’m practicing my investigative skills with a story I think needs to be brought to everyone’s attention,” I said. “I’d like to speak to you briefly about it.”

Heather checked her watch. “I can take my break in five minutes. I’ll check on my tables, grab a cup of tea, and be right back.”

Heather warmed up my coffee and returned with more pastries.

“What did you want to talk about?” she asked.

“Discrimination in the college admissions system,” I replied.

Her pretty features crumpled at first. “Are you serious? You’re an Alpha and engaged to the Association’s leader. Why do you care?”

“I care because it’s wrong,” I said. “I was raised as a Beta. I know how the present rules keep Betas and Omegas under control by denying them a good education. A thinking population asks questions and wants answers.”

Heather studied my face. “You sound as if you want the system to change.”

“I do,” I said. “People should get what they earn in this world. You deserved to be accepted at a top university.”

Heather looked at me warily. “I don’t want it known that I talked to you about this. When I challenged two of my rejections, I was warned about making waves.”

“You were threatened?” I couldn’t believe how bad the situation was.

Heather nodded. “I shouldn’t be talking about it.”

“I would never use your name,” I assured her. “Nobody has to know you spoke to me,” I promised. “Who threatened you?”

“I don’t know who it was,” she said. “But a woman with a high-pitched voice called my cell phone and told me my dad would lose his job and our home if I didn’t stop making waves about being rejected.”

“Do you know which school the woman was from?”

This situation couldn’t be tolerated. It was time for a change. People needed to know what was being done to keep Betas and Omegas from getting a good education.

Heather kept her voice low. “I challenged my rejections from Gilmore and Frampton Universities. It had to be one of them.”

The restaurant owner came out of the kitchen, and Heather jumped to her feet.

“I better get back to work,” she said. “This job is paying for my books at the city college.”

“Is there anything else I can get for you today?” she asked loudly.

“No, but the coffee and pastry were delicious.”

Heather pulled my bill from her apron pocket. “I’ll take your bill to the cash register whenever you’re ready.”

“I’m ready now.” I pulled money from my purse and handed her a twenty.

Heather took it to the cash register and returned with my change.

“You can keep it,” I said. “Along with this.” I handed her several one hundred dollar bills from my wallet. “Thanks for a great breakfast.”

Heather looked at the money I gave her with a stunned expression. Then she slid it into her pocket and smiled.

“Thank you,” she whispered. And then she said louder, “Have a good day.”

I left the restaurant and climbed into my car, feeling slightly less guilty about being accepted at Frampton U instead of Heather.

But my resolve to try to change the unfair admissions practices was firmer than before. I’d find out everything I could and compile a report of my findings. Then, I would find a place willing to publish it.

If I had enough proof, maybe Victor would help me.

I started the Mercedes’ engine and drove to the Association Complex for my tour.

I texted Victor to tell him I was on my way, and Findlay met me at the main entrance.

I never spent much time with Victor’s personal assistant, and it was nice to get to know him a little.

After we signed in and were waiting for my clearance to come through, I learned the petite blonde man was thirty years old, his first name was Mickey, and his husband worked at the Association in Antiquities Preservation.

“Then you should know a lot about the history of the complex,” I said.

“Yes,” Findlay said. “Mason, my husband, talks about little else. Fortunately, history fascinates me, so we are well matched.”

Findley told me everything he knew about the main foyer and the ceiling paintings. They were older than I thought.

Then, we moved through the hallways and stopped at the chapel. It was a lovely room where the weddings and funerals of leaders were held.

I looked around at the sparkling marble and gold room and thought, Victor and I will marry in this room.

The scroll room was at the other end of that hall. It’s where our sacred writings are kept under glass. The first village charter of a werewolf pack was here, along with the book of our present laws.

Next on my tour was the room where some of the Association’s art collection was kept for the public’s viewing.

I’d never seen such lovely artwork. The paintings glowed with a light of their own, and the details of one statue were so realistic I studied the masterpiece until Findlay became anxious to move on.

After we left the gallery, Findlay told me he had to return to Victor’s office to prepare some meeting notes.

“I’m sorry, Miss Wilson,” Findlay said. “But I believe you could accompany me to see your fiancé’s office if you can find your way out of the building afterward.”

“Sure, that sounds good,” I told him.

I followed Findley through the maze of hallways until we came to a door marked Victor Klein. He held the door for me, and I stepped inside the anteroom as he said goodbye.

There were filing cabinets, a communication board, and an empty secretary’s desk in the room. I looked through another open door and saw Victor behind a massive desk.

He was looking at some papers while a beautiful brunette wearing a skin-tight dress on her curvy body was leaning over next to him.

Jealousy ripped through me. I turned away and told myself I was overreacting. Victor was working. He wasn’t even looking at the woman.

But I didn’t want to see her near him again. I left the room and tried to remember which way would lead me out of the building.

After turning right twice, I saw Cassidy walking ahead of me. I called her name, but she didn’t hear me. A moment later, she went through a door and into an unmarked room.

I followed her. She didn’t work here either, so if she could go into that room, I could too. Maybe the room held an ancient secret.

But when I opened the door, I was disappointed. It was a bathroom. The floors were marble, and the walls were granite with two semi-circles of smooth white rock built into one wall.

They looked like fancy columns. How posh for a bathroom. But it was still a bathroom with three stalls, two sinks, and a paper towel holder.

Still, Cassidy had been spending time in the complex, and she had to know the way to the main entrance.

I called her name to let her know I was there. “Cassidy, it’s Daisy. I hoped you could tell me how to get out of here.”

There was no answer. The bathroom was completely silent. I looked for her feet in each stall. But the doors were open, showing me I was alone in the bathroom.

Was I in the wrong room?

I checked the hallway, and no other doors were near this one.

Where was she?

I rechecked the stalls before looking for another exit. But there were no other doors.

I sighed and stood between the two white columns on the wall.

“White columns,” I said and turned around. I touched the smooth white surface. “Ivory Columns. They’re the Ivory Columns!

What if Cassidy left the room through a passageway between the Ivory Columns?

But how do I open the door to the passageway?

I tried pressing three carvings on one column several times in a different order.

On my third try, I heard a click, and the wall between the columns moved inward.