Chapter 92

Ever since Cruz spoke with Eleanor in the middle of her dress-fitting, he was feeling rather chipper with himself. He truly believed that he’d gained the upper hand when it came to placing a true divide within Lorenzo and Eleanor’s relationship.

Having planted that terrible thought in Eleanor’s head about the disk, he was merely waiting for the official announcement, saying that she and Lorenzo finally split. And once that was all said and done, he would finally have his chance to swoop in and take her the way he’d been trying to since this whole mess first started.

‘Their relationship was hanging on a thread enough already,’ he thought smugly. ‘All that was needed was just a little push to really set things into motion.’

This was why Cruz sought out an old friend to help ensure his chance with Eleanor...The alpha had called Cate.

Over a night of drinks and long conversation, the two caught up with one another and shared their mutual dislike for the other’s deep love interest. It was clear that Cate loathed Eleanor for her unfair relationship with Lorenzo.

“Everyone knows that I’m the one who’s supposed to be with Lorenzo,” she stated firmly.

Sterling could easily tell that Cate was still holding on to her delusions when it came to Lorenzo. But, what did he care?

He wasn’t exactly fond of Lorenzo and he believed that he deserved someone like Eleanor at his side. Between her natural beauty to her fierce bravery—she was perfect in every way. Although her investigation was nothing more than a persistent pain in his side, Cruz admired her determination.

‘Once I have her by my side, I will make sure to never allow this ridiculous case to see the light of day ever again.’

So after their long, overdue session, Sterling and Cate formulated a plan. They wanted to make it look as though Lorenzo was being caught up in the middle of having an affair with Cate.

They’d managed to have Lorenzo’s car tracked while on his way to his business meeting. Cate’s job was rather simple. Her job was to end up seducing him so that a few people with cameras could photograph the whole event and eventually ruin Lorenzo’s image as well as his bonding with Eleanor.

It was perfect...Until it wasn’t.

No one had anticipated that Lorenzo was going to receive that damn phone call when he did. Because of the unfortunate timing, the pictures of the two of them were never taken. And now Cruz was stuck dealing with a very annoying and emotionally troubled Cate.

She still believed that she missed her chance with Lorenzo and was somehow finding a way to blame it all on Eleanor.

“It just isn’t fair!” she shouted.

Cate’s eyes were still noticeably puffy from all the crying she’d been doing since the plan fell through.

Cruz sat across from her behind his desk and refrained from rolling his eyes. So what if the plan didn't work? He was still feeling confident enough that his plan to destroy their relationship would pull through regardless.

“Have you ever considered finding someone worthy of your actual time?” he asked tersely.

Cate shot him a dirty look and went on her personal tangent as to why Eleanor was just a plain nobody who would never amount to anything.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

Thank God for small mercies, Cruz thought. He knew that if he listened to any more of Cate’s excessive ramblings, he was going to blow his head off.

However, when Sterling glanced down at his phone, he saw a name that he hadn’t expected to hear from in a long time. He answered the call and kept his tone stern.

“Didn’t I tell you that you need to keep your distance for the time being?” he asked. “I hadn’t thought that I needed to explain that phone calls were also considered to be restricted.”

The prince’s voice came streaming through the line with overwhelming worry.

“We’ve got a huge problem,” he said

This time Cruz rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and contemplated hanging up. He didn’t have time for petty, little problems of an overly-privileged prince.

“God, what now?”

“Sinclair says that he has a foolproof way of taking down Blue Moon,” the Prince stated stiffly.

The corner of his mouth pulled into an unpleasant sneer.

“Bullshit. He’s bluffing, the bastard doesn’t have anything.”

“Oh, really?” The prince’s voice filled with doubt that it caused Cruz to sit up straight in his chair. “So then, perhaps, you'd care to enlighten me on why he’s in possession of an official Blue Moon coded flash drive that contains any and every girl that’s been traded and sold along with every asshole who’s ever stepped foot into your dark club...”

Sterling felt all the blood drain from the upper half of his body. A terrible, long-forgotten feeling of panic started to race through him.

His voice grew hoarse and strained. “That’s impossible.”

Cruz had made it a personal mission to have Carter Braxton be dealt with all those years ago. It had never occurred to him that it was he who had initially swiped the flash drive from Cruz in the first place.

Sterling figured that Braxton must have overheard that Blue Moon was going to use him as their designated scapegoat if these kidnapping cases were ever brought to court. The bastard had taken the USB and kept it on his person until the right opportunity presented itself.

Cruz had his original theories that Carter had merely spoken about the list to Eleanor’s father. It wasn’t until they got rid of Braxton that his men weren’t able to recover the flash drive and the list had become officially lost since then.

Now it had fallen into Lorenzo’s hands.

Cruz needed to think of a new plan quickly, otherwise, he was certain he was going to lose everything.

‘Perhaps...’ he thinks. ‘Perhaps, I’ll be able to strike up another deal that neither of them will be able to refuse.’