Penelope
With Miss Gomez’s death, it meant that things just got a lot more complicated. I could only hope that her death meant that the mastermind and their minions might slip up.
With her death, it meant that the Agency was going to have to ramp up their involvement even more. After all, a human working for a supernatural company involved in an ongoing investigation had turned up dead. Simply put, it looked bad.
Really, really bad.
I wasn’t at all surprised when I got a text from HR following Stacy’s that I needed to come into the office immediately.
With the Agency coming in, everyone was scrambling. When the Agency becomes involved in a manner such as this, they don’t just knock politely and wait to be let in. They break the door down, and invade deep within the recesses of... well, everything.
By the time I arrived at the office, there were people running through the lobby, papers being dropped everywhere.
I stifled the urge to shake my head at their antics. So long as they were compliant with the Agency, there wouldn’t be an issue. Ignoring the chaos around me, I made my way through security and to the elevator and the top floor of the building. There were several people getting on with me, giving orders on the phone as we rode up.
Something like this—the Agency coming—well it meant there would be an emergency meeting with all of the higher ups, their assistants and HR which meant my attendance was mandatory.
It was to be expected. After all, the Agency was like the FBI and CIA rolled into one that policed the supernatural world and it’s laws under the governing body, the AOS—or also known as the Administration of the Supernatural—and no one wanted to deal with them at all.
When I arrived at my desk, I barely had time to set my things down before Vincent was leaving his office and striding towards me.
“There you are, Penny.”
I nodded. “Sir.”
He walked straight past me, his phone constantly going off in his hand without a moment's reprieve. “Follow me, we need to get to the meeting.”
“Yes.”
By the time we reached the board room, it was packed full to the brim with murmuring staff members, all of them freaking out over the fact that the Agency was coming from the little bit I could hear.
I took an empty spot by the door while Vincent continued up through the throng of people until he reached the head of the table.
As he started speaking, I spotted Mary Beth squeezing her way through the crowd.
“There you are, Mary Beth,” I called out softly to her.
“Sorry I’m late.”
I shook my head. “It’s understandable. Here, come stand by me.”
She slowly but surely made her way through the crowd to stand beside me against the wall. “Thanks.”
As she was making her way beside me, I noticed an odd discoloration on her arm.
I asked, “You okay?”
She frowned, trying to cover it up with her sleeve. “Yeah, I just burned my arm reaching into my oven.”
“Oh. Hope you’re okay.”
“Yeah, it’s fine now,” she murmured, turning her attention to Vincent.
I tried to put it out of my mind, and focus on what Vincent was saying but I couldn’t. I found myself drawn to it, my eyes wandering to the burn, getting a good look at it since Mary Beth wasn’t actively trying to cover it.
There was no way in hell that came from an oven—it was hand shaped.
My hand.
SEVENTEEN
It felt like I’d swallowed a frog, my heart leapt into my throat as it all fell into place in my mind.
It was Mary Beth.
Mary Beth was the murderer—or at least involved in Jacqueline’s death.
And of course I had to come to this realization when there were A) too many civilians around, B) I didn’t have my purse which held my cuffs, and C) I didn’t have any backup.
Because of course—the law of murphy.
“Hey Mary Beth?” I murmured, trying to not draw too much attention to us.
She tore her eyes away from the argument that was unfolding amongst the higher ups. “Yes?”
“Could I speak to you in the hallway?” I asked as nonchalantly as I could.
She frowned. “Is something wrong?”
I shook my head with a smile. “No, everything is fine. I just need to ask you something.”
“Oh, okay. Sure.”
I motioned for her to lead the way. The sooner we were away from the crowd, the better. I didn’t want her to have the upper hand by having potential hostages getting in the way and handicapping me from doing my job.
Thankfully, I was able to keep up the act long enough that I’d managed to get her secluded in another room.
It was small, just a utility closet, but better than nothing.
She gave me a confused look, but walked inside.
I locked the door after it closed behind us, and stated, “Mary Beth—if that is your real name—you’re under arrest.”
She stilled. “What?”
“You’re under arrest by order of the AOS for the murder of Jacqueline Gomez,” I said, feeling my adrenaline starting to kick in.
I had to be ready for the fight that was about to come to pass.
She looked over her shoulder at me, frowning with a brow cocked, asking softly, “This is a joke, right?”
I felt shivers run down my spine at the tone in her voice. Clearing my throat, I replied, “No. It’s not.”
“Do you honestly think you’ll be able to take me down?” She asked, waving her hand at me.
Sighing, I said, “Don’t make this any harder than it needs to be.”
“As if I’m going to go easy.”
Before we could get much further, she swung at me. I was barely able to dodge her attack, moving instinctually as she lashed out.
“Don’t make this any harder than it needs to be,” I sternly told her.
She laughed. “You make it sound like I should be scared of you or something.”
“Or something,” I agreed.
She leapt towards me, her hand curled into a claw. I jerked backwards and hit the door with my back to prevent being struck. I rolled towards the side, pushing myself towards the back wall of the utility closet to put a little distance between us.
Not that there would be much.
The room was only so big, and all 3 walls had shelving.
Mary Beth turned around with a growl and threw a punch at me that I was barely able to block due to the inhuman strength she was able to call upon.
Without giving me a chance to move, she grabbed my arm and threw me.
The moment my back hit the fibreboard door had left me winded. The door itself buckled, the door coming completely off of the hinges and falling backwards onto the tiled floor roughly.
I laid there stunned for a moment and attempted to catch my breath.
Mary Beth took the opportunity it presented to rush out of the room and stepped over me.
“Oh, no you don’t!” I growled, pushing myself up and back onto my feet. I threw a burst of flames in her direction but missed when she threw herself against the wall to get out of its path.
She glared at me.
At some point—probably when I’d gone through the door—we’d gotten the attention of the others from the meeting, gasps ringing out as Mary Beth lunged at me.
Ignoring the murmuring around us, I focused solely on the woman before me, throwing up a wall of flames around her and halting her in her tracks.
I wasn’t going to let her get away again.
“Penny?”
I could see Vincent push his way through the crowd, calling my name, just past Mary Beth. I could feel the lump in my throat begin to swell as my secret lay exposed.
I didn’t bother responding. Instead I focused on the fire surrounding my assailant, the wall of flames creating a small and controlled vortex in the hallway where there were barely a few inches between her
and the flames.
I refused to give her the opportunity to hurt anyone else.
“I wouldn’t try going through that fire unless you plan on dying,” I informed her softly.
It would serve as her imprisonment until reinforcements arrived, which shouldn’t be too much longer.
All I got in response was an angry scream.
“Penny.”
I looked up at Vincent’s insistent voice, watching as he closed the distance between us.
I shook my head, held up my hand and took out my phone. “Stay back,” I instructed. I didn’t have time for what I knew he wanted to bring up.
There was a time and a place, and this wasn’t it. This still wasn’t completely over until Mary Beth was taken into custody.
“What in the world is going on here?” A familiar voice demanded—Vincent’s uncle Mason I’d discovered with a quick glance.
Before he could make too much of a racket, Johanna placed a hand on his arm, calming the man. “She’s working, obviously.”
Though, it didn’t do much to calm the crowd that had gathered. The nosy busybodies.
I need to work on solving who the mastermind behind all this was. Because it didn’t make sense.
What did she get out of all this? How could she infiltrate a company to embezzle millions of funds without anyone knowing?
It just didn’t add up. After all, no one remembered her from before her brief stint as my assistant.
And as far as I was aware, vampires didn’t have that kind of capability to wipe minds on that massive a scale.
Clearly she was a hired hand.
My phone began ringing.
Stacy.
Right on time, as if she’d read my mind.
“How far out?” I asked. I was far too stressed out to worry about niceties right now.
“Just a few more minutes.”
“Good. I was able to capture Jacqueline's murderer,” I informed her.
“I’ll let them know to come prepared,” Stacy replied.
“Thanks.”
“Oh, and I was able to identify the person who owns the account.”
“Well, who is it?” I demanded. Stacy had a penchant for making dramatic pauses.
“Mason Mathers.”
I felt my grip on my phone slacken. “What?”
“I said Mason Mathers.”
Shit. Shit. Shit!
I dropped the phone, swinging back around to the man in question who had gone deathly still. In fact, most people had turned to look at him.
He’d heard.
Without hesitation, I conjured more flames as he transformed into a large wild cat—a caracal—his suit exploding into a shower of fabric around him.
Screams echoed around us, but I had no time to focus on that. No, my eyes were solely on the man turned wild cat in front of me. A distraction could end with death.
“It’s over, Mathers,” I called out to him, “Do us a favor and turn yourself in?”
He crouched down, preparing to pounce. Of course it was too late to reason with the man. Damn it.
I braced myself for impact when he leapt, but it never came. Vincent stopped him before he could get anywhere near me, tackling the shifter to the ground. There was a struggle, but he finally managed to get his arms around the caracal’s throat.
It didn’t do much since he pulled out of Vincent’s grip.
* * *
Vincent
“Stop!” I growled out, pleading with the man.
I was still reeling from shock at the scene in front of me—Penny had effectively trapped her assistant in a flaming tornado and was acting all cold—and for my uncle to have shifted in the middle of the office to attack her, it just made no sense.
What the fuck was going on?
I still wasn’t one hundred percent certain what was going on, but I still couldn’t allow my uncle to just attack Penny.
When my uncle didn’t respond and instead growled at Penny, preparing to go for her again, I saw that I had no choice in the matter and shifted, my clothes exploding around me.
I snarled at my uncle who was forced to turn his attention off of the woman I loved and onto me with my change.
I became the more immediate threat.
He stalked towards me, his tail twitching with irritation.
Rather than give him a chance to surprise me, I lunged for him, full of fury. His claws shredded my shoulder, but I forced myself to ignore the pain.
My wolf pushed towards the surface, how dare he defy me—challenge my authority.
I couldn’t let myself get caught up in it. Rather, I took another lunge towards him, this time going for the jugular.
I sank my teeth into his neck, putting the slightest pressure against his throat.
While I was pissed, I didn’t want to kill the man—he was family in all but name.
He stilled, finally going lax before the air around him changed, signifying that he was going to make the change from animal to human.
I allowed myself to do the same.
* * *
Penelope
I swallowed hard at the unreadable look on Vincent’s face. I couldn’t tell if he was mad or what. But I didn’t like it, whatever it was.
With a shake of my head, I turned my attention from Vincent. I didn’t have time for this.
I had a job to do.
Shortly after Vincent and Mason had clashed, the Agency finally showed up, taking over.
Thank the lord for small favors.
Mason was unresponsive to anything anyone had to say. Johanna was in tears and being consoled by her niece and a very stoney Vincent who’d been given an extra pair of pants from his office.
A medic had patched up his already healing wound from his fight with his uncle.
“Nice work, Agent,” my true boss and the most senior most agent in the tristate area murmured in an approving tone. He clasped a large hand on my shoulder as he assessed the scene once he’d arrived with the rest of our people.
I nodded. “Thank you, Sir.”
“I expect a full report on my desk first thing in the morning.”
“Yes sir.”
He continued towards the two culprits, leaving me to my thoughts.
It didn’t feel like I’d done a good job.
Hell, it shouldn’t have gone down like it had. If I’d been a better agent, I would have found them a whole hell of a lot sooner. I would have finished this before I’d foolishly gotten involved with Vincent, before an innocent young woman had gotten murdered for knowledge that had accidentally fallen into her lap.
I silently cursed my ineptness.
EIGHTEEN
Vincent
After I’d gotten through the debriefing with the Agency, my eyes had been opened wide. I had been a hard pill to swallow, knowing how ignorant I’d been. And to find out that Penelope had been undercover the entire time she’d been with us… it didn’t sit well with me.
It didn’t help that my mother had been in on everything and hadn’t breathed a word to me about the entire thing.
In all honesty, my mother being so mum about it pissed me off. I was the CEO, for fucks sake. Not to mention, her son! I should have been in the know from the very beginning that she knew something was up, or at least when I’d taken over.
I felt like a fool for being so blind.
With everything going on and all the secrets out in the open, I wasn’t all that surprised when Penelope stopped showing up in the office after everything went down.
I’d actually taken a few days off myself, consoling my mother who had been grieving for the loss of her friend and the truth that had come to light.
Mason had had my father killed.
He’d determined him to be in the way and wanted him gone, hiring Mary Beth to do the job.
I knew that Mason loved my mother—hell he’d left his home country to come here and help her get our company established and stayed once it was up off the ground—but I thought those f
eelings were leaning more towards that of siblings. My mother had too, treating him like a big brother all these years.
But he’d always wanted more.
And he felt that he was entitled to her money, hence the embezzlement that poor Miss Gomez has stumbled upon, leading him to hire Mary Beth once more.
The selfish bastard.
My stomach still felt sour at the thought of everything that'd happened over the last few days.
My wolf had been going crazy as well, since I’d not laid eyes on Penelope in days leaving me restless and feeling like I was about to crawl out of my own skin.
I was unable to distinguish one feeling from another—they were all jumbled into a giant mess of emotions that I could hardly make any sense of.
I’d found myself pacing once more.
I ran a hand through my hair and exhaled in frustration.
Nothing would get me to settle down—well, maybe not nothing.
I already knew what I needed to do.
I just needed to do it.
I had to see her.
* * *
Penelope
It had been two weeks since I’d finally wrapped up the case with Naturalist, Inc.
I’d seen neither hide nor hair of Vincent since that day in the office.
Not that I’d blamed him.
I’d lied to him about who I was and what my true job description was. And I knew how most people felt about operatives.
So, I naturally assumed he’d broken things off. After all, I knew how he was. I was a liar. Could he truly learn to trust me again after all this?
Would he be able to get past my background as an agent?
Clearly not.
So, instead of pining for what wasn’t meant to be, I’d taken a reassignment elsewhere.
I was in the midst of packing up my remaining belongings when there was a knock at the door.
With a glance out of the peephole, I spotted Vincent standing outside.
I felt my breath leave me.
What was he doing here?
I didn’t have much time to think about it before he was knocking again, more insistently this time. I took a deep breath, steeling myself before I opened the door.
Undercover Secretary (Supernatural Society Book 1) Page 9