Chapter 287

The traffic was light, and I made it to the mansion in less than twenty minutes. I parked near the garage and hurried inside.

Benson was waiting for me in the foyer.

“Miss Woodward is waiting in the sitting room,” he told me. “I’ve brought her tea and cookies.”

“Thank you, Benson,” I said. “Will you tell my father I’ll need to speak to him when I finish with Heather?”

“Of course, Miss Wilson,” Benson replied. “Please let me know if you need anything else.”

I gave him a smile and hurried into the sitting room.

Heather jumped to her feet when she saw me. “How could you do it, Daisy?” Tears welled in her eyes. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you anything.”

I shook my head. “Heather, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Then how did they know I spoke to you?” she snapped. Her body trembled with anger while tears flowed down her cheeks.

I sat on the sofa and urged her to sit next to me. “Please tell me what happened, Heather. Maybe I can help.”

Heather remained standing and crossed her arms over her chest.

“You’ve already helped enough,” she said through her tears. “I’d give you back the money you gave me this morning, but my family and I will need it for food and a place to live instead of my books.”

“Please, I want to help you, but I don’t understand,” I said. “Tell me what happened.”

Heather sat on the edge of the couch and began to explain. “An hour after I spoke to you, my boss fired me because I dropped a plate last week,” she sobbed.

I handed her a tissue. “That doesn’t sound like a legitimate reason to fire you.”

“It’s not,” she said. “I offered to pay for the plate when it happened. He told me not to worry about it, and it wasn’t the first time a waitress had broken a plate.”

“Then why did he fire you today?” I asked.

“I think he was told to …or threatened into doing it,” she replied. “And when I went home to tell my mom what happened, my dad was there. He’s been fired from his job, too.”

My mouth dropped open. It was what Heather had been threatened with if she made any more waves about being rejected from her top two college choices.

“Heather, I’ve been busy somewhere else all afternoon,” I said. “I haven’t said anything about you to anyone.”

Heather crumpled next to me. “My parents were also notified that the bank is foreclosing on their mortgage. We have thirty days to leave our home.”

It was my turn to stand. “Oh, no.” I began to pace the room. “Heather, I didn’t even have cell service for most of the afternoon. I didn’t do this, but I’ll do everything I can to help you.”

“What can you do?” she asked.

“I’ll talk to my father, and we will come up with a plan to provide you and your father with employment and a way to keep your home.”

She stopped crying, yet the hopeful look on her face made me nervous. Could I deliver on the promises I just made?

Yes, I could. If I had to buy her family’s home with my debit card money and give it to her family as a gift, I would gladly do it.

But Alex may have a better idea of how to help the Woodward family. They needed good, steady employment to keep their home and pay for Heather’s college expenses.

“Don’t worry about anything,” I said. “Give me your phone number, and I’ll call you as soon as I talk to Alex.”

“Thank you, Daisy,” Heather said as she put her number into my phone. “I’m sorry I accused you of something you didn’t do.”

“I would have thought the same thing,” I assured her.

I walked Heather to the door and watched her drive away in a ten-year-old Chevy before going to look for Alex.

I found him in his office, looking at vacation destinations online.

“Going on a trip?” I asked.

He smiled. “Cassidy and I are going away for a week.”

“That’s great,” I said, and I meant it. “But I need your help before you go.”

He listened closely while I explained what happened to Heather and her family.

“I shouldn’t have gone to her at her job to talk about it,” I admitted. “It was something that needed to be discussed in private.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, sweetheart,” Alex said. “You had no way of knowing what was going to happen. And you were trying to help her and other Betas and Omegas.”

Alex shook his head. “It’s a shame. Heather is brilliant. With the right education, she could do anything.”

“I agree,” I said. “Why are some Alphas against Betas and Omegas have the same opportunities as us?”

“They are afraid that if another group of people that they always thought were inferior to them have the same rights that it will somehow take something away from them,” Alex explained.

I rolled my eyes. “I think they just want to keep feeling like they’re superior. And uneducated people believe what they are told.”

“Agreed,” Alex said. “Now, let’s help Heather and her family.”

“First, they need good jobs,” I said. “Maybe Amy will hire Heather to work at the shelter.”

“We can hire her father at Wilson, Inc.,” Alex said. “And I’ll make some calls about their mortgage.”

Alex picked up his desk phone. Within twenty minutes, he hung up the receiver with a satisfied smile. “Mr. Woodward is being asked to report to Wilson, Inc. tomorrow to start his new job.”

“And I bought the Woodward’s mortgage through an anonymous shell company,” Alex reported. “The property is being deeded back to Heather’s parents. They won’t have any more payments.”

I walked around Alex’s desk and threw my arms around his neck. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, dearest,” Alex said with a warm hug. “But I should be thanking you. You’ve shown me how delightful helping others can be.”

I sat on the edge of the desk. “There’s something else I need to discuss with you.”

“The look on your face is intense, sweetheart,” Alex said. “Please go on and tell me what’s on your mind.”

I confessed I was lost in the passageways at the Association and that Cassidy helped me find my way out.

“Cassidy told me not to say anything about it, even to Victor,” I explained. “Why can’t I say anything to Victor? Knowledge of the spy passage could help him identify and stop the faction that is against him.”

“Cassidy was right to say what she did,” Alex replied. “She is working on something in the passages at my request, and the project must remain a complete secret for now.”

“But Victor is now the leader of the Association,” I argued. “Doesn’t he have a right to know everything that is going on inside the building?”

“I can’t explain everything right now, Daisy,” Alex said. “You’ll have to trust me for a little while that it’s best for everyone if you say nothing about the passages.”

I opened my mouth to argue again.

“Please, sweetheart, just keep quiet about it until I return from my vacation,” Alex implored. “I’ll discuss it with Victor myself then.”

I nodded. “Okay. I’ll say nothing about it until you return from …where are you going?”

“I’ve always wanted to visit a nice tropical beach,” Alex replied. “Blue skies, warm sand, and the ocean are calling me.”

I stood and kissed Alex’s cheek. “I hope you and Cassidy have a wonderful time.”

“Thank you, dear,” Alex said with a grin. “I’m sure we will.”

I went to the kitchen for a sandwich to take to my room. The cook insisted on making me a thick roast beef sandwich when she heard I missed lunch.

“But I had several pastries for breakfast,” I assured her. While I was in the passages, I had more to worry about than my stomach.

“You’re too thin, Miss Wilson,” she said. “Make sure you eat every bite of that sandwich.”

“I will,” I responded. “It looks delicious. Thank you.”

I took the sandwich and a glass of iced tea to my balcony along with my laptop.

After placing everything on the small glass-topped table, I compared the photos I took with my phone to images of the foreign languages and symbols on my laptop screen.

It took a while until I saw anything similar to the letters, words, and symbols on the cardboard boxes. But when I found the correct language and understood what was on the boxes, I was left both amazed and more confused.

“What the …no way,” I sputtered. “It doesn’t make any sense.”