Chapter 25
Clash Of Interests
Damien
My heart was pounding in my chest as I stared at Priest with a cold gaze. I couldn't believe what I'd just heard.
"So you're telling me that Elena was in this car?" I nudged the picture of the wrecked car, the thought of her in the car sent chills down my spine.
It was a miracle she was still alive.
I thumbed through the other photos of the crash. "What happened to her after that?" I demanded, and my mood became worse by the second.
"I can't say," Priest began but he changed tack after he noticed my dark expression. "It's still unclear at this point," he admitted.
"I'm running through the records of every hospital in the vicinity of the crash for a radius of ten miles," Priest explained. "It'll take some time, but if she was taken to any of those hospitals, I'll find out."
"Good," I nodded curtly, pushing the photos back to him. "I want to see her hospital records when you do," I stressed, remembering Elena's reaction when she'd seen me. She didn't remember me.
Could it be because of the crash? I wondered, a small surge of guilt shot through me at the thought.
I'd mishandled that incident poorly that night I thought, she'd probably thought I would harm her child and I didn't blame her for it.
"Get it done, and quietly," I ordered, leaning back into my chair. It wouldn't do if Albert got wind of Elena's reappearance, something about Priest's words made me tense.
Had someone tried to kill Elena? The thought of someone attempting to take the life of Elena and her daughter made me feel nauseated.
"Find out where she lives," I added after a moment. "Have someone watch her twenty-four-seven. I want to be the first to know if anything suspicious happens."
Priest nodded, "I'll get to it," he said, getting to his feet. The office regained its serene and quiet after he'd left but my thoughts were far from that.
My thoughts drifted back to Elena, her pure innocent bearings when she'd first come. I'd ignored her totally, seeing her as nothing more than an unwanted necessity.
Even that single night of pleasure hadn't been enough to change my mind.
And now she was back, a totally different woman under the same skin and now I realized I couldn't see through her.
She was confident, cold with a prickly exterior, all the things I'd not thought she was. I couldn't imagine all she'd been through in the past few months and it irked me that I seemed to care.
A lot had also changed for me in the past few months, my eyes darkened and I pushed my lingering thoughts away.
My cell phone beeped suddenly, alerting me of an incoming call. Who was it? I wondered, pulling my cell phone out of my pocket.
I took one glance at the screen and froze, why would she be calling me? I wondered, my mood went downhill within seconds.
My cell phone displayed the name on my screen; Victoria. My stepsister.
"Hello?" I finally picked up, my voice was curt and cold.
"Dear brother," Victoria's voice came over the line, her voice held a thin thread of mockery. "Took you long enough to pick up my call."
"What do you want, Victoria?" I asked directly, not wanting to play any games with her.
"That's CEO, Victoria," she corrected. "But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
"What!" my heart skipped a beat and despite myself I revealed my shock. 'No,' I shook my head suddenly. Father couldn't have…
"I'm not CEO yet," Victoria's chuckles grew louder. "But you know I will, one day."
I fell silent, different emotions surging through me. "What do you want, Victoria?" I repeated. I didn't want to have this conversation with her.
Victoria was my stepsister, a hybrid product of her mother's dark manipulation and hatred for me as I liked to think.
The only problem was, Father didn't see it that way.
Of Course, he didn't, and why would he? I thought, bitterness creeping into my thoughts. Margaret had over the years used Father's adoration for Victoria to get what she wanted.
And she'd wanted more, I felt a hot fiery ball of rage swirl at the pit of my belly as I recounted some of my past experiences at the hands of Margaret and Victoria.
"Father mentioned reaching out to you," Victoria's words instantly drew my attention.
"But of course, Mother mentioned that you weren't ready and you had to prove yourself," Victoria chuckled.
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked quietly, straining to keep my emotions under wraps. Victoria had always known how to get under my skin.
"Because I can," she whispered. "Because I want to see you try and fail Father so badly, he'll see you for what you really are. A failure," Victoria spat, her voice dripping with venom.
The line went dead.
I sat there for a few seconds, trying and failing to keep my anger from bursting out.
"Damn her," I slammed a palm on the desk, briefly losing control of my emotions. I hated her, so so much.
I didn't know how long I sat there, my eyes flashing with emotions as I tried to keep my emotions in check.
This was what she wanted, I realized. She wanted me to react, get angry, and make a dumb move she could capitalize on.
I exhaled slowly before slowly opening my eyes. My desk was a mess of papers, my earlier tantrum had moved the papers around and some were on the floor.
I bent down to pick the papers but a page caught my eye. It was a list I noticed, Elena had listed all companies that were in the scope of effect one way or the other by the project. I'd skipped it, thinking it was too cumbersome to read but that wasn't what'd caught my attention.
My eyes were fixed on a particular company—Evergreen. That was Father's company, the one Victoria had her claws in.
Elena had done the numbers on how Project Houston could affect Evergreen both positively and negatively.
A light lit up in my eyes as I read through the list and I slowly formulated a plan in my head.
"Hahaha," I burst into laughter, my lips curling into a smile.
"Since you wish to play, I'll play with you," I whispered under my breath.
Watch out Victoria.