When I got out of the shower I found a fresh set of clothes laid out on the bed.
Tristan had probably had someone leave them here. It was a pair of jeans and a stylish white blouse. Probably May's choosing.
I got dressed. There wasn't much I could do about my hair. It had been a crazy past few days and I had neglected sleeping with a satin scarf on or at least braiding it down.
I bunched it all up and tied it up determined to sort it out when I got back to the safe house.
I left the guest room and immediately felt lost in the Melrose manor.
I had been here a handful of times but still, the magnificence of the place always got to me.
It was the same guest room I had been given before so I easily found my way to Tristan's room.
I knocked lightly on the door.
I didn't need a response to know Tristan was in there.
I could feel him.
The door swung open and Jasmine came into view.
"Oh hello there." She greeted with a somewhat mischievous smile.
"Uh, hi." I responded.
The last time I had seen Jasmine was when Tristan was mad at the both of us for going against him.
I guess that wasn't a thing anymore.
"Jazz." Tristan spoke.
Jasmine stood aside and let me walk in.
Peter sat at a computer at Tristan's desk.
Tristan was in another corner talking on his phone, looking frustrated and concentrating with wrinkles forming on his forehead.
"Boss man is just finalising a few things. He'll be right with you." Jasmine spoke breezily before she walked over to stand behind Peter who only looked up briefly to give me a nod of acknowledgment.
I felt out of place and completely useless.
Everyone seemed to be working tirelessly to prevent this war and me? The Luna, I had no idea what my place even was in all this other than being a distraction to Tristan.
I heard Tristan let out a sigh as he got off his phone.
He ran a hand down his face.
"Mary wants accounts on my prisoners. She says we can't keep them locked up without letting the justice system have a go at them too." He announced.
"Well we've got nothing from them yet." Jasmine spoke.
"Yeah and we need a report to present to the WU meeting tomorrow."
I perked up. "The union is meeting?" I asked.
They all turned to look at me as if just realising I was there.
"I'm gonna take Crystal home and meet you guys at HQ in a bit." Tristan told them. "Pete, stall with Justice for me. I need at least 48 more hours and get Captain Park down in the cells as soon as possible. We're getting desperate."
"Got it. Probably gonna piss off a lot of them though." Peter spoke as he got up and started gathering the stuff on the table.
"When are they never mad?" Jasmine spoke with a roll of her eyes and a playful smile. "Bridge wouldn't have had a problem bossing the oldies around."
"Yeah." Peter spoke with a tired laugh.
I looked at Tristan and he was quiet. His face straight.
I could tell Peter and Jasmine noticed the change in the room as well.
Jasmine turned and looked at me. She gave me a raised brow look and then nodded at Tristan.
Oh wait, was I supposed to -
Right of course, I'm his mate. I could practically feel the sadness coursing through him.
"We'll see you later, T." Peter announced as he and Jasmine walked out the room.
Tristan turned to look at me. His 'business' face on.
"You ready?" He asked me monotonously.
I walked up to him watching to see if he wanted me close by. When he didn't shift I took his hands in mine.
"Do you wanna talk about her?"
Tristan was quiet for a long time.
Bridget and I weren't close to being friends but her and Tristan were.
They were best friends.
She was his confidant. His partner... he was used to being with her all the time and now she just wasn't here.
I honestly wondered if Tristan had even taken the time to process that with all that was going on.
In a twisted way, him losing Bridget, a constant in his life was the same as how I had lost Roman. So to some extent I could understand the gap he probably felt in his heart right now.
"Not really." He spoke pulling one hand away from mine and caressing my cheek.
He dropped his hands too soon and walked away.
"I gotta get you home so that I can get back to work. Are you ready?" He asked.
He was clearly avoiding talking about his feelings and even if I knew how unhealthy that was. I wasn't willing to push him.
"Yeah... uhm, you know you don't have to escort me home. You could just ask someone to do it."
Tristan emerged from his closet now in a pair of black combat boots.
"I don't trust just anyone with you." He spoke as if that should have been obvious.
I looked at Tristan's desk and saw all the scrolls of paper scattered around. There was a board up with various slips and notes pinned on.
"You really have been busy." I spoke.
My childishness seemed all the more apparent to me.
I had my own agendas in wanting to keep an eye on Roman but in that I was constantly posing a distraction to Tristan who was doing important work.
"Yeah, well I doubt Ornyx is getting any sleep either."
I looked at Tristan's exhausted face. For all we knew this was one of Ornyx's tactics to get into his head. Psychological warfare.
Well if it was, it was definitely working.
Tristan's phone rang.
He picked it up and frowned.
He looked up at me.
"Could you give me a sec?"
I nodded. "I'll wait outside."
I turned to leave the room figuring I could wait for him downstairs, maybe talk to Anita and ask about Lady Melrose who I hadn't seen in a while.
Well that came as no surprise. With everything that had been happening and also considering the last time I had seen her, she had found out that Tristan and I had been faking our entire relationship. She has genuinely took me in and cared for me. I could only imagine how betrayed she must have felt.
She wouldn't be the first Melrose to shun me.
Speaking of.
I paused outside a wide open door in the hallway.
I didn't mean to pry but I couldn't help it once I saw it.
The folder.
The black folder that Captain Park had once showed me.
The letters in bold on top of it.
R O M A N.
The black folder sat on a neatly made bed.
Without thinking too much of it I pushed the door open and walked in.
I didn't occur to me to pay attention to anything else in the bedroom except that folder.
I walked up to it slowly, like it was calling out to me. I was just about to reach out for it when I heard the floor creak behind me.
I jumped and spun around seeing Mikey standing there.
He looked at me and then the folder and then me again.
"It isn't what it looks like." He blurted out.
I opened my mouth to say something but never got the chance to.
"Crystal!"
Tristan's voice came from down the hall.
"Crap." Mikey pretty much dived towards his bed knocking the folder onto the floor just as Tristan stepped in.
Mikey struck a pose on the bed in an attempt to be overly casual.
"There you are." Tristan looked at Mikey and seemed confused.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"Oh - just chilling." Mikey spoke forcing a smile at his big brother.
Tristan furrowed his brows but if he had questions, he decided not to ask.
His attention shifted to me.
"Hey, I'm sorry but something came up. I have to go." He sounded panicked.
Or as panicked as he was allowing us to see.
Mikey sat up. "What's wrong?"
Tristan looked at him and I thought I saw sadness cross his features.
"I just need to take care of something quickly." He turned to me. "You'll have to stay here a bit longer. I'll let your Uncle and Aunt know where you are but just stay out for now."
I frowned and stepped forward. "Tristan what's going on?"
Tristan didn't say anything. He simply stepped forward and placed a kiss on my forehead. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
He started backing away. "Mikey, you and Josh look out for each other and Anita."
Mikey rose seeming confused as Tristan turned and rushed out.
I spun on Michael. "What's going on?" I asked in concern.
Michael pursed his lips staring at the now empty doorway in concern.
"I don't know. But it can't be good."
***
"Should we start with the folder? And why you have it?" I asked.
Michael was walking down the hall quickly while I followed trying to keep up.
"I just like brushing up on my facts!" Michael called back.
I scoffed. "A more believable lie please."
"Will you just drop it?" He asked in exasperation.
"No!" I yelled.
It was one thing for him and Joshua to go through my folder without my knowledge. Now they were going through Roman's. Something was up.
"Tell me or I'll tell Tristan." I blurted out.
Michael stopped and I bumped into him.
He turned around and sighed. "Why'd you gotta play that card?"
I folded my arms across my chest trying to seem tough but the truth was I was anything but that. And blackmail really wasn't my game.
Michael sighed. "Look, I have the folder for... research purposes."
"Research? You mean like how you and Joshua 'researched' me? Come on Mikey, I'm not stupid. You looked into my file when you suspected I was working with Roman. Now you have his and he's a prisoner here so there's obviously-"
"Wait. Roman has been captured?" Mikey asked.
I immediately shut up.
Wait. Did he not know that?
"Uhm, no." I spoke quickly. If Tristan didn't even tell his own brothers about Roman then it was probably meant to be a secret. Damn it.
Some Luna I was. Giving out secrets just like this.
"Did you see him?" Michael pressed. "What has he said?"
"I -" I wanted to fix this desperately.
If Tristan didn't trust me with information before, he definitely wouldn't now.
"Hey, what's going on?" Joshua showed up and one of my biggest 'not fans' behind him.
Michael turned around. "Roman's been captured. Crystal saw it." He spoke sounding almost excited.
Bea turned and narrowed her eyes at me.
"Now we don't have to waste time with dead ends in that folder."
"You told her about the folder?" Joshua asked sounding upset.
"No. She found it." Michael spoke defensively.
"How did she find it? I told you to hide it." He hissed at his brother.
"Maybe my hiding spot wasn't the best but you're not listening. Crystal knows stuff. She can help us with tracking the mole."
Wait. I didn't say that.
And hold up. Did he say, the mole?
"You guys have been trying to find the mole?" I asked.
"No." Joshua spoke bluntly.
Michael turned around. "Yes."
"Mikey." Joshua hissed but Michael stepped forward. "We have. We've been scheming footage we could find, looking at every possible suspect, trying to peek through Tristan's files when he isn't looking because we think finding the mole will put us at least ten steps ahead of Ornyx."
"That's it." Bea spoke pulling Mikey back by his shoulder. "Last time you'll ever be included in a secret mission."
Mikey looked at Bea and Joshua. "Come on! She obviously has insight and who better to help than her?"
"She can't be trusted!" Bea yelled.
I hated that they were discussing me right in my presence.
"Hey, all I want to do is help Tristan as well and he's sidelining me just like he is you guys."
Joshua let out a humourless laugh.
"Oh now you want to help my brother?" He stepped forward. "Tell me Crystal, where were you when you got his men killed and he was in a bad place? We begged you to help then and you weren't there. And now you think you can just show up and we'll trust you not to hurt him again?"
"I would never -"
"But you did." Joshua spat. He clenched his fists and stiffened. "I once told you that I knew you couldn't really hurt Tristan because that would mean hurting yourself too. But I take that back. You're sadistic and selfish and you do not deserve my brother. At. All."
His words felt like shards of glass had cut into my skin.
I didn't get in many fights or confrontations. And when I did I usually had Kat or Roman by my side. Going through this journey, I had learnt that people weren't always going to be there to fight my battles. Not my aunt or uncle, not Roman, not Tristan.
That's why I didn't allow Joshua to turn around and leave.
"I'm sorry." I spoke in a small voice.
Joshua looked down at me, his nostrils flaring.
"You're right." I hugged myself as I said this. "Tristan went above and beyond for me. H-he risked his life and put his neck on the line for me and I disappointed him more times than I would like to admit."
From lying to him to not trusting that he had my best interests in mind.
"But that doesn't mean I don't love him. I do. And it took me way too long to realise that. Listen, Joshua, you don't have to trust me. But you can trust this. I love your brother and at this point, I'm willing to do anything to keep him safe."
"From your family?" This time it was Bea who spoke.
She also stepped forward. "Because those are our enemies, Valencia Van Cliffe."
The use of that name unsettled me. But I knew this is what she wanted. A reaction.
"I'm aware of who the enemies are." I spoke.
Bea looked at me, head to toe as if she were unimpressed.
Bea turned to Joshua. "I don't trust her. But Mikey is right. If we're going to find the mole, she could have some insight... if not," Bea turned to me, "we get to prove to Tristan that we were right about her this whole time."
It felt like she was keeping me in a choke hold with hold she was staring.
I tried not to let her intimidate me.
"Fine." Joshua spoke gruffly. "Let's show her what we have so far."