Chapter 12
1801words
"you're making this harder than it needs to be," Paris said, running a hand over his hair
"Am I?" I asked and shook my head, "None of what I've said is false. You only realize the true value of something after you've given it up and taken it for granted. You won't take me for granted ever again, Paris. I will not follow you back to a place where I was mistreated and abused."
"I'm not completely at fault here."
"Excuse me?" I asked, raising a brow.
"I said I'm not completely at fault here. You talk about my mother and sister mistreating you, but I was never told. You never told me anything."
"Oh wow. So perhaps it's my fault. Perhaps I'm wrong to have kept quiet while your family toyed with me when you never had my time of the day, and while at it perhaps I'm to blame for the way you turned away from me simply because you had found your mate. Perhaps I wasn't understanding enough."
"I'm not saying that any of those things are your fault."
"Then what are you saying, Alpha Paris? You want me to apologize for rejecting you?"
"don't put words in my mouth!" he spat, and looked me in the eyes, "I'm trying to say that it takes two to build a marriage. I'm not asking you to take responsibility for my family's ill-treatment. I'm saying I didn't know and you didn't tell me. And perhaps if you had" he paused, shook his head, and continued in a much more gentle tone, "perhaps if you had, then things might have been different."
I looked at him for the longest time, before finally shrugging, "Perhaps." I said. If I had said anymore then I was bound to cry.
"Let's forget the past, Paris. That includes you and me. Because as it stands, I never want to have anything to do with you and Kate ever again."
And before he could say anymore, or my emotions betrayed me, I turned away and left.
~~~~~
That night of the banquet had left me too overwhelmed . It was days after I had begun to feel like myself.
So for that reason, I begged my father to let me work at the company. He was reluctant at first, but with Axel’s persuasion, I was given a position as a managing director. Being the alpha's child had its perks.
Life was great, until…
I looked up from my papers at the sound of someone knocking on the door, and called out to the person,
"Come in," I said nonchalantly and went back to my papers,
"I laughed in the face of my colleagues when they said it, but I still had to come check with my own eyes."
I wrinkled my brows at the familiar voice, looked up from my papers once again, and involuntarily balled my hand in a fist. It was the same son of a gun who had harassed me at the party.
Seeing him triggered all manners of malevolent emotions in me, but I had to restrain myself.
"What are you doing here?" I asked sitting up,
"I should be asking you the same thing, Ember. It wasn't enough to sway heads at the alpha king's banquet. You had to come here and do the same"
" Mr. Lancelot," I began wearily, "I'm working. And so, if you don't have something important related to the work we do here, I'd like you to get the hell out of my office."
But he blatantly ignored what I said and walked closer to my desk,
"very fierce. you know that's how I like my women? Strong."
"you have a minute," I said, fighting the urge to jump out of my chair and land one on him. I had been longing to do that since the other night when he first harassed me.
"to do what, princess?" he asked, and made his way to my desk, sat comfortably at its edge, and smiled down at me like he owned the place.
"to get the hell out of my office," I said leaning backward. I could have kicked him out, but I only resulted to violence when I needed to. Right then, I was willing to speak amicably since we were working in the same space. But I didn't think that's the way things would be for long.
"It's alright sugar, I didn't come here to stay long," he said and ran a hand down my cheek. I grabbed his hand and smiled before throwing it to the side
"I'll advise you never to try that again." I said maliciously, "twenty seconds." I added, quietly and he slowly got up,
"I'll be back." he said and strolled to the door, "something tells me work just got more interesting," he added, before opening the door and then leaving.
I released the fingers I had balled into a fist and got up to walk to the window,
"Something tells me, Mr. Lancelot, that you might be on the brink of being unemployed," I said and worked on calming my racing heart.
~~~
I went to the security department after work hours to the tape that recorded the time Keith had come into my office. I wasn't sure they gave away such things to workers, but they did it for me. They weren't aware that King Henry was my father, but they were aware of Axel being sensitive about me. Perhaps they considered us in a relationship.
"right here miss, I believe this is what you were asking for." I looked at the monitor and watched from the moment Keith entered my office to the moment he left.
"Can you turn the sound on for this one?" I asked,
"Sure thing." the man said awkwardly. I didn't blame him. I was the victim and even I found the video disturbing.
He copied the file into a hard drive and handed it to me, then ran his hand awkwardly,
"I know you're new here, I'm sorry you have to go through that."
I smiled and collected the drive from him. "It's okay. thanks for the help."
I decided I was going to deal with the harassment on my own. Once I got home, I uploaded the video to the internet, with the heading, "Say no to work harassment."
My father and Axel were bound to watch it at some point, but hopefully, they'd see that I handled it well and wouldn't worry so much.
"Try getting out of this one Keith. Just try." I said to myself as the views on the video began to grow.
~~~~
"What the hell have you done?!" Keith said the next day. He didn't even knock, he just barged right in and hit his hand furiously against my desk,
"What do you mean?" I asked, innocently looking up at him,
"You know exactly what I mean, ember. You've ruined me!" he shouted, and I had a feeling our co-workers were going to question what kind of conversation we were having soon. Or perhaps they already expected this one.
"I ruined you? No Keith." I said and shook my head, "You ruined yourself. You could have atoned for what you did that night at the banquet, but instead, what did you do? You went ahead and tried to continue to harass me in my workspace. What the hell did you think would happen?" I asked, jutting out my chin stubbornly, the way I always did when I was angry,
"what? That I'd run under my covers and cry? Or that I'd come to work every day and deal with your bull crap. You thought wrong, Mr. Lancelot."
He took steps away from my table and regarded me with malice,
"you've drawn a line."
I shook my head, "No, you did that all by yourself. I simply just crossed it. Now, get the hell out of my office."
He looked like he was ready to attack me right then. But as though rethinking it, he turned away and headed for the door,
"everything that comes your way from here on, just know that you sought it out for yourself." and with that, he left my office.
I heaved out a sigh when he did and leaned backward in my chair. I didn't doubt that he would make do with his threat. He looked angry enough. I just hoped I was able to get him behind bars before he tried anything else.
Someone knocked on my door a few moments later, but I was too traumatized from the last time that happened to answer immediately. Even when I did, I kept my eyes on the door as the person entered, instead of carelessly looking away.
"hey." the young man appeared with a smile, and two cups of coffee in his hands, "thought you might need this," he said, dropping the cups on my desk and taking a seat across from me,
"Thank you, William. "I said, smiling weakly. William was one of the few friends I had made while studying at the university. We had grown apart when I married Paris. However, since I returned we have reconnected as though I never left, and was a big help when I took up the work as managing director.
"I saw the video about you and Keith. Although one can't easily tell you're one if they didn't know you worked here."
"yeah," I said, sounding worn to my ears, and drank from my coffee,
"I heard the board called Keith in. I think they are going to let him go."
"good riddance," I said and looked out the window,
"You should sound a little bit more glad. Is it just me or are you not as cheerful as I had hoped you would be?
I turned to him and shrugged, "I'm glad. It's just that he was here earlier, and I expected that. But he threatened me. Something about me deserving everything I get. Now I can't seem to shake off the ominous feeling he left behind."
"Would you rather he destroyed your office?"
"might be able to deal with that a little bit easier."
"Don't worry about him." William said after some time, placing his hand over the one I rested on the desk, "This too will pass. In the end, he'll be the one who gets what he deserves. He's already getting it as we speak."
And he did.
That next morning was a weekend, and the headlines were about the alpha who was charged with taking advantage of his subordinates. Women were speaking up after the harassment video I had posted and the history of him raping an omega daughter was leaked. Keith had been charged with sexual assault and I was in shock.
