With my ire steadily on the rise, even an innocent remark like that sounds like a smart-ass comment; so, I sharply turn and glare at him. Phil instantly realizes that I’m not in the mood to hear anything that sounds even remotely sarcastic; and, immediately lowers his head, taking on a subservient posturing, and meekly utters…
“I’m sorry, Alpha Casper; I apologize. … So; how do you want to proceed with this now?”
With my hands cupped behind the small of my back, I stoically stare off at the horizon; as I instruct him…
“Give me about fifteen minutes to return back to my office to prepare myself mentally; and, try to calm down enough so that I don’t rip off his head when I see him … then, go tell Security to bring Taylor to me.
And, while they’re doing that; go to the IT department, and have them confiscate Taylor’s computer, and start copying all its folders and files onto a flash drive for us to review. Tell them to be thorough about it, and make sure to get everything; even any deleted files … I think they have a way of retrieving them from the hard drive; don’t they?”
Phil hesitantly informs me, “Yeah … about that. I kind of figured that you’d probably want that done; so, I took it upon myself to have IT get a head start on it … but….”
“But what?”
“Apparently, Taylor already deleted all of his files and folders; and, reformatted his computer back to its default properties. … And; then….”
“And then…?”
“He removed the hard drive.”
I furiously pound my fists down upon the wall; causing the concrete in the immediate area where I struck with my fists to break and crumble away. I angrily growl out…
“Mother fucking Taylor … trying to get rid of the evidence; huh?! When I get my hands on you, I’ll kill you; you scumbag traitor, son of a bitch bastard!”
I can feel Gilead chomping at the bit to come out; as I take in rapid, deep breaths to try to reign in my composure. Then; I suddenly wonder…
“Wait a minute, Phil; you said that you already had IT start working on Taylor’s computer? What did you tell Taylor … I mean, didn’t he ask why you were doing it? What reason did you give him?”
“Actually….”
I’m really starting to hate it when Phil stops speaking mid-sentence; because, nothing good ever seems to come of it…
“Now what?”
“Well … according to Security’s surveillance tapes, right after the meeting you held yesterday, that’s apparently when Taylor wiped out his computer’s data and took out the hard drive; and then, shredded a bunch of documents from his filing cabinets. … After that, he left the building; and, hasn’t been back since.”
“So then; he hasn’t come in to work today?”
“Nope. And, he’s not answering any calls. … In fact; all you get when you call his number is a recording saying that the number is no longer in service.”
“Alright then; call Gamma Franklin, and have him send a Security Detail Team to…”
“Already ahead of you…” Phil shoots me a small smile. “Sorry, Casper; but we’ve been friends for like what … forever … and; I think I know you well enough now to know what you’re going to do, even before telling me.”
As infuriated as I am; I manage to eek out a small smile to return back at Phil…
“Yeah; you’re right. … So; how did it go?”
His smile quickly vanishes. “Not so good. … By the time they got there; Taylor was nowhere to be found … and, his apartment was empty; and, wiped cleaner than his workstation’s computer.”
“That mother fu…!” Once again, I furiously pound my fists down on the wall; breaking away another section of concrete. “He knew we were going to find out what he did, so he decided to ‘get out of Dodge’; and, ran away with his tail tucked between his legs … that sniveling, cowardly bastard; I swear I’ll kill him, if I ever see him again!”
After a brief moment of uneasy silence; Phil hesitantly asks me…
“So … Jenny … what do you plan on telling her?”
Shit … talk about your fucked up situations. Jenny’s my sister … and, up until now; Taylor was her declared mate, and fiancee. … This is undoubtedly going to break her heart. Damn it!
After briefly pondering over the best way to break the news to her … in order to lessen the painstaking heartbreak she’s about to experience … I resolutely reply…
“I’ll tell her that he screwed up big time on a bidding proposal; which not only cost us four hotels, but also allowed the Luminary Pack to enter our territory … so; I kicked him out of the pack.”
Phil briefly stares at me; before responding, “Are you sure you want to do that, Casper? I mean, if that’s what you tell her; Jenny’s going to be pissed at you … and; probably hate you for it for the rest of her life.”
“Whatever … that’s fine.”
Phil appears totally perplexed. “Huh? Really?”
I explain my rationale…
“Either way, Jenny’s going to be heartbroken; that’s a given. If she were to know that Taylor had purposely altered the bidding proposal so the Luminary Group could acquire those hotels … and then, ran away on his own accord; just to avoid punishment for betraying the pack … she would be even more devastated.
So, if she winds up hating me; so be it. Maybe if she’s preoccupied with hating me; then, she’ll be distracted from just dwelling on having her heart broken, and suffer from a little less heartache.”