Beauty & The Beast (Book 1)

61. Ultimatum

Cat waited for Vincent in the alley, like he'd asked her on the text, hidden in one of the nooks in the wall. She texted him she's there. He came jogging around the corner five minutes later, putting his phone away.

"Tess and Heather gave me an ultimatum," she says as soon as she sees him. "You or them."

"Catherine, the photograph- "

Cat nods. She went into Heather's room that morning and she got the photograph. "I got it. And if she notices it's missing I'll just tell her that I wanted it."

"Okay, that's great, but - " 

"Not exactly." Cat shakes her head. "Uhm, you made Heather so suspicious that she and Tess ran your name in through social security. So, now JT's gonna have to hack into the database and edit it - "

"Catherine," Vincent stops her, holding a hand up. He had some things to say and she wasn't giving him the chance to. "Your sister, she posted those photos online." Cat sighs and closes her eyes. "Including the one of me."

Cat takes a moment and then she opens her eyes again, blinking as her mind ran through options. "Okay, uhm, I'll tell her to take it down."

"JT's already deleted it. But if Muirfield are running facial recognition scans they may trace it back to her computer." He was now worried abour Heather's safety. He knows Catherine didn't want this to happen.

"Oh my God, if something bad happens to her because I wanted some kind of normal - " Cat cuts herself off, shaking her head. She couldn't watch anything like that.

"She just got the proofs okay? That means it was only for a short amount of time." Cat nods, still worried. "If she made a scan, then there must be a digital copy somewhere."

"Okay. I'll get it."

"Okay."

"We'll have to keep an eye on her, just to be safe," Cat begs Vincent and he rubs her arm.

"We will."

*********

Heather was busy doing some last minute checks with one of the other assistants when Cat walked into the station. Everyone was in a jovial mood, celebrating Joe's award.

"Hey," Cat says, reaching Heather. "You got a minute?"

Heather looks around, headset on and then she nods. "Uhm, yeah sure." She took off the headset and gave the clipboard to the assistant.

Cat led Heather to the lobby in the front of the station, as everyone else was entering through the side door.
She stops and turns to look at her.
"I saw you posted those pictures online."

"Yeah, people might want copies."

"I looked for the flashdrive everywhere, I couldn't find it," Cat chuckles.

Heather crossed her arms and gave Cat a dry laugh. "Because it's in my bag," she says. Now Cat was going through her stuff?

"Could I get it?"

"Why?"

Cat blinks and then she sighs. She rubs her forehead. "Okay," she looks at Heather, all jokes aside. "Heather, Vincent he...He can't have his picture posted anywhere."

"Why?" Heather scoffs. "Because he's a criminal?"

"He is not a criminal," Cat states. "Heather," she shakes her head. "Okay, I need you to trust me on this," she begs. "Alright, Vincent he's...dealing with certain things and I love you, and I can't have you involved in them. So, I need you to give me the flashdrive and promise me that you will never post his picture again."