Defying the Lycan King (Kira and Derek) novel Chapter 312

Chapter 312: Sidonie Hart

The knock at Kai’s office door came just after eleven.

A young woman from HR came in walking as if any sound from her shoes would get her fired.

"I sent you the file, sir."

"Thank you." Kai said, already typing away on his PC, ignoring the woman who was standing in front of him.

The HR woman shifted nervously, clearly unsure whether she was supposed to stay or go. The Chairman had barely registered her presence since she arrived.

"Is Miss Westwood back in her office? I’d like a word with her."

The woman hesitated. "She left, sir. About an hour ago. She said she was feeling unwell."

Kai nodded slowly. Of course she had. He’d felt her standing there in the restaurant, watching everything unfold, and he’d seen the expression on her face when he’d pulled Jessica into his arms.

He would need to speak to her eventually, to explain what this meant, to find some way to untangle the mess they’d both allowed to grow between them.

But not now. Later. When he had answers.

"Thank you," he said, dismissing the HR representative with a small nod. "That will be all."

The door closed with a soft click, and Kai was left alone with Dennis, who had stationed himself in the corner of the office like a watchful shadow.

Kai stared at the employee file on his monitor for nearly a full minute before touching anything.

"This doesn’t make sense," he muttered, more to himself than to Dennis. He scanned it again. "Hart. Sidonie Hart?"

The photograph in the top corner was Jessica. Not someone who resembled Jessica, or a ginger-haired woman with similar features, but Jessica.

He enlarged the image anyway.

"Well?" Dennis asked from where he was standing.

Kai ignored him and opened the verification report HR had attached during recruitment.

"National identification verified," he murmured, clicked and read what was displayed on the screen.

Sidonie Hart. Twenty-three years old. Creek Town citizen. Date of birth. Identification number. Current residential address.

Kai frowned and moved to the next record which was the Tax registration. It was valid.

Previous employment was at The Copper Lantern in Orange Grove.

He slowly sat back.

Dennis pulled up the chair opposite the desk and sat down. "What’s wrong?"

"This is ridiculous," Kai said slowly, in disbelief. "How could she be registered as Sidonie Hart?"

He turned the screen towards Dennis. Dennis stared at the photograph on the employment file.

"But that’s Miss Jessica Ashfang."

"I know," Kai said calmly. "Sidonie Hart is real, but she is not my Jessica."

He looked up at Dennis. "I need a thorough background check on her. I want to know if this identity was invented three years ago. I need to know what exactly I’m dealing with here."

Dennis nodded curtly. "Yes, Alpha."

Even though Kai knew Jessica, the doubts were already clamouring in the back of his mind, too loud to ignore. Because there were other things about this that didn’t fit. Things the file couldn’t explain.

Why couldn’t he smell her? Why couldn’t Phantom, his beast feel Ginger around? Why didn’t he feel that bond pulsing between them?

He shook his head. "Something is wrong. Something is very wrong."

And he needed to find out what had gone wrong.

***

By lunchtime, Jessica had worked out that she was now famous.

She could tell because the restaurant had filled up considerably earlier than usual, and because a fair number of the people in it were not looking at the menu boards.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify