Page 44 of The Pursuit of Happiness (Satan’s Angels #2)

Aria

“You know, I’m really getting sick of being summoned,” I grumble from my seat in Selene’s pristine office.

She summoned all of us here for a meeting and by all of us, I mean myself, Ivory, Brody, Harvey, and Sly.

Harvey stands by the window, overlooking the city while the rest of us sit before Selene’s desk.

“This is starting to feel a lot like when you sprung this one on me,” Brody hooks a thumb at Harvey over her shoulder.

A sense of nostalgia washes through me. It feels like an entire lifetime ago that we were being reprimanded for all the fucked up and very illegal shit we used to do.

It feels like an alternate reality where Selene demanded we change our ways and announced that Harvey would be moving in with Brody against her will to straighten her out.

Harvey scoffs and shakes his head, smirking at his girlfriend who practically stares at him with hearts in her eyes. My lip curls in disgust. Is that what I look like when I look at Sly?

“This is a very important meeting. We’re waiting on one more person,” Selene informs.

“Who?” Sly asks, suspicion in his gaze. I think part of him has been on edge since Rogan apologized to me two days ago in the studio.

He didn’t seem one hundred percent convinced that Rogan was sincere, but I reassured him that everything was fine even though I’m not entirely sure it is.

Not after the warning that Harvey gave me.

The warning I haven’t mentioned to anyone.

As if on cue, the door to Selene’s office opens and Dallas Carter enters with his gloomy aura of doom.

I swear the guy walks around with a dark cloud of shadows above his head.

I thought Harvey was intense, but Dallas is a different kind of intense.

His hazel colored eyes take quick inventory of attendance, but linger a moment longer on Ivory and where her skirt rests on her leg.

I look at her to see if she notices, but she doesn’t.

She seems completely oblivious to Dallas’ gaze and doesn’t think much of his presence.

He shifts his gaze to Harvey, whom he exchanges a nod with, and then shakes hands with Selene.

I know it strokes Selene’s ego that she has the respect of both Harvey and Dallas.

I can see it in the devious gleam in her eyes.

“Thank you for coming,” she thanks him, seating herself back in her desk chair.

Dallas nods, “I have information on the tape that may be of interest to you,” he speaks to the room, but focuses his eyes mainly on Sly and I.

Sly’s hand rests on my thigh and he squeezes it in encouragement and comfort. I grab his hand with both of mine and squeeze to steady myself. Are we about to find out who’s responsible for our public humiliation? My breath catches in my chest as we wait for Dallas to give us a name.

His face is unflinching, void of emotion as he announces, “The video was recorded and uploaded to social media through a prepaid burner phone.”

I wait for him to say more, but he doesn’t. “That’s it? That’s all you have?” I was expecting a name. I want to know who the fuck did this to us.

Dallas raises an annoyed brow at me, “It was prepaid which means there’s no way of tracing who purchased it. But I was able to get a few other details.”

“Which are?” Sly leans forward in his seat, his face blank.

“We managed to trace the model of the phone. It’s a small, blue metallic phone and is not a smartphone,” Dallas adds.

Ivory lets out a sarcastic laugh, “How does that help us figure out who did this to them?”

Dallas’ gaze on her is so intense and I watch as she starts to fidget with her fingers in her lap, her gaze suddenly trained on the floor. She seems intimidated, but judging off of the way he’s looking at her, I don’t think he’s trying to intimidate her. I think he’s more intrigued by her.

Dallas raises his chin and doesn’t remove his eyes from Ivory as he says darkly, “If you know someone with a phone that meets that description, it was them.” I almost don’t notice the sarcasm because it’s coming from someone who’s most likely never laughed before, but it’s there.

Harvey asks, “You can’t trace the IP?”

Dallas rolls his eyes, “You’re my business partner, Harvey. Don’t act like you don’t know me. Of course I tried to trace the IP.”

“And?” Selene asks.

Dallas answers, “ And the phone has most likely been turned off or not charged. I can’t trace the IP address without a signal. Unless whoever did this decides to unlock it or charge it, you’re out of luck.”

I hold my face in my hands and lean forward on my knees, trying to absorb the information.

Waves of hopelessness and defeat wash over me, leaving me on the brink of tears.

How is it that someone could do this to us and get away with it?

I thought I believed in justice, but I’m not so sure anymore.

Who would do something like this to us and why?

Why can’t Dallas find them? Why? Why? Why?

I feel a hand on my back and know right away it’s Sly. I feel breath on my neck and a whisper in my ear, “Baby, breathe.”

I shake my head, trying my best to keep the tears away.

He kisses the side of my head, “We’re gonna figure out who did this eventually.

We just have to be patient.” I admire his optimism and his inability to ever lose hope.

I wish I could steal even a little bit of his optimism, but it doesn’t work that way.

It doesn’t work that way and some fucking prick got away with ruining my reputation.

Dallas clears his throat, “Anyway,” he ignores mine and Sly’s intimate moment, “I have good news. We’ve made great progress on removing the images and video clips associated with the video from social media and have established safeguards that prevent people from reposting and spreading it.”

Selene’s satisfied voice is relieved, “Thank God. Thank you, Dallas.”

Sly’s hand is rubbing circles on my back.

“Hey, I need you to be strong, okay? You can’t let this person take any more from you than what they already have.

They may have damaged your public image, but who gives a fuck what anyone thinks?

Everyone in this room knows how unbelievably fucking amazing you are, and that’s all that matters.

Do not let this haunt you,” he encourages, low enough that nobody else will hear.

He’s right. I shouldn’t let this destroy me the way it does. I try my best to see things from his lens and to hope. I dare to hope that one day, we find out who did this and they suffer the way they made me suffer.

I nod as I wipe my eyes with the backs of my hands and sit up straighter.

I turn my face to meet Sly’s gaze and the pity in his eyes almost kills me.

He brushes a strand of hair from my face and gives me a soft look, “I promise you, we’re going to find who did this and when we do, we’re gonna make sure they never see the light of day again.

” He makes me a promise, swears an oath.

It isn’t his words that get me, it’s the conviction in his voice, in his eyes.

He truly believes what he’s saying and that is enough.

That is enough for me to nod and to trust him.

When he sees the acceptance on my face, he gives me a weak smile and caresses my cheek.

Ivory inserts, “By ‘never see the light of day’, are you referring to murder? Or…”

Sly gives her a dead look that says, Thank you for ruining the moment. He leans forward so he can face her head on as he says, “No. I mean they’ll be going to fucking jail.”

I whisper, “I wouldn’t be opposed to murder.”

Brody leans in really close to my ear and cups her hand around her lips so nobody can make out what she’s saying as she whispers, “You want someone dead? All we need to do is make one phone call to Ivy.” Ivy is Brody’s close personal friend who lives in New York and operates in a very dark area.

It’s never been verbally confirmed, but Ivory and I know that Brody is fully aware of who Ivy is and what she does.

Ivy Villin or soon to be Ivy Colton, is a mafiosa and has absolutely no issue killing someone to get what she wants or to defend someone she cares about.

I’ve met the girl and you would never suspect that her five feet and very petite form is capable of the most violent crimes, but don’t be fooled. She’s a fucking viper.

Selene snaps her fingers, “Hey! No!” She points at Brody like she’s disciplining a child.

“I know what you’re doing and we are not actually having someone killed.

Do not call Ivy and do not get her involved in any of this!

” Selene reprimands, knowing us way too well.

Harvey laughs from where he stands, leaning against the window.

Brody rolls her eyes, “Man, whatever.”

“Do not ‘man, whatever’ me, Brody Drake!” Selene raises her voice in warning.

Ivory giggles and I swear I see a gleam in Dallas’ eyes, a reminder that perhaps he isn’t dead inside. At least not completely. “Whoever this Ivy person is, I would like to be introduced,” Dallas inserts.

Harvey raises his brows, “You want to do business with the mafia now?”

Dallas gives Harvey a dark look, “Of course not. All I’m saying is that I would like to grow our network.”

“Off topic, guys. You can talk about your business on your own time,” Selene cuts them off by waving her hands around.

“Let’s focus on what’s important,” she leans her elbows forward on her desk and becomes deadly serious, “Dallas is going to continue working on finding the identity of whoever did this and in the meantime, nobody is to do anything stupid like calling our friends in New York. And by nobody, I mean you three,” she points at Brody, Ivory, and I.

Ivory crosses her arms over her chest, “I’m always down for some old fashioned Satan’s Angels fun.”

Brody scratches the side of her head in deep thought, “Considering that we almost went to jail for real last time, I may have to pass.”

“Also because your boyfriend would kill you,” Harvey inserts.

Brody nods, pointing at him, “That too.”

“Enough!” Selene shouts. “Everyone get out of my office before I call Ivy to kill all of you !”

Ivory rolls her eyes and rises from her seat. Brody does the same and in a moment, everyone is saying goodbyes and it’s just Sly and I left with Selene and Dallas. I rise from my seat to leave and take a step closer to Dallas. “Dallas?” I say quietly.

He gives me an uninterested look as if he’d rather be anywhere but here. He raises his brow for me to continue. “Thank you. For trying to help.” I am grateful that he was willing to help us and is still willing to help us, even though we don’t know the truth of his motivations.

He doesn’t say anything and Sly reaches for my hand, leading me out of Selene’s office and into the hall. The only things I took from that meeting were a sick sense of dread and a fraction of hope. We’ll see which overpowers which in the end.