With the three of them working together, Ann, Coral, and Eva got through the list of upcoming proposals in no time. It was a lot less labor-intensive now that none of them had to focus on the design and planning part of the process, as they had entire departments devoted to handling that for them.
It had been a slog in the beginning, but with every list of possible candidates that Eva had sent Ann whilst she was holed up in the Enclave dealing with things there, Ann had selected the ones that she felt were qualified for the positions and Eva handled the interviews flawlessly, recording them so that Ann could look over them as well when she had time.
If she had any follow-up questions, Eva would hold a second round of interviews to cover those, and Ann would make her decision afterwards. It had caused quite a bit of a stir with both Ann and Eva's no-nonsense management style in the beginning, and the complaints of unfair treatment and dumbing down of the workforce came thick and fast from a few of the long-time, highly placed employees who had risen to their positions under her father.
Again, Eva had handled this flawlessly, so all that Ann had to worry about was signing off on the paperwork and recommending appropriate disciplinary actions. The majority of the heads of departments had either been sent for further training on inclusion and diversity in the workforce and adjusted their attitudes, or they had been let go and their former positions filled with more open-minded and competent individuals.
It couldn't be a coincidence that profits across departments were up, and it was something that both Ann and Eva were incredibly proud of.
"Do you think the former employees have tried to reach out to your father about all of the changes?" Eva asked as Ann signed off on the final proposal and sat back in my chair.
"There's nothing he can do anyway, even if they have," she sighed, "He knows as well as they do that even if he wanted to interfere, he couldn't. Not unless he was going to put together a group to try and overthrow me and have me removed from the throne. Considering Narcissa is no longer a part of the mess that is my family, I don't think that will be happening any time soon."
Eva wrinkled her nose in disgust at the mention of Narcissa's name and huffed loudly.
"Well, the less we say about her and that poisonous witch of a daughter, the better. Even saying their name out loud feels like uttering a curse." She muttered as she turned their computers on and loaded her USB flash drive onto them.
"Are those the files you were talking about?" Ann asked, leaning forward in interest as she scanned the list that appeared on the screen before them.
"The ones related to the lycans, yes." Eva nodded seriously, "These were all completed before either of us entered the workforce, and some of them at the beginning of your father's tenure here, so clearly at one point, we weren't so estranged from them."
"I see," Ann murmured thoughtfully as Eva clicked through the files and they browsed the contents.
The majority of them were nothing too outrageous, and there was nothing in the design specifications or the blueprints that was anything out of the ordinary. Large, purpose-built mansions for the Lycan nobility, plans for small new towns or outposts, all of these were pretty standard until they came to one particular file.
"Wait…what's that one?" Ann asked with a frown.
"It's nothing special, just a single house. There's not much remarkable about it, honestly." Eva answered as she clicked onto the file, but the more Ann read, the more suspicious she became.
"What are you thinking?" Coral asked as she moved closer to peer over their shoulders, and they both turned to Ann expectantly.
"Well, first of all, the site for this build, although specified for Lycans, is within a mostly human-populated village. There are a few other shifters for sure, but they're mostly known for keeping a low profile. Lycans never stray too far from their clans or the packs associated with them. So this is highly unusual."
Eva frowned as she looked more closely at the plans.
"Could it not be a…I don't know, perhaps a holiday home?" she asked as she stared intently at the screen.
"Or maybe a safehouse?" Coral added thoughtfully.
"Exactly what I was thinking, Coral." Ann said, slapping the desk excitedly, "Because look, here it says that it shouldn't stand out in any way from the other architecture in the area, so they aren't making a statement or trying to set up a new pack or clan in a territory. The security systems installed are quite advanced, and looking at the notes added here, it has been kept up to date over the years with regular guards from the Enclave deployed there."
"I didn't even think to check the security levels…" Eva breathed in surprise.
"It's fine, Eva. I couldn't say too much on the phone; this is why I wanted to do this in person so we could go over it together." Ann grinned.
"Look here as well, a panic room." Eva gasped, "There's no way a Lycan would need that unless they were fugitives or being hunted."
"There's the escape tunnel too, look," Coral chimed in, pointing to the blueprint and following the planned tunnel with her finger, "I wonder where it leads though."
"I don't think that will be recorded on here, considering the extensive lengths they've gone to keep this locked away." Ann mused, "Although I'm sure all parties involved in the construction will remember where it is. Can you pull up the involved parties, please, Eva?"
"Of course! Give me a sec," she answered, her fingers moving quickly across the keyboard before a frown appeared on her face, "How odd."
"What?!" Ann and Coral pressed at the same time.
"The list of parties has been sealed as well," she coughed in disbelief, "I don't think I need to tell you how highly irregular this is."
"On whose orders were the files sealed? It should tell you on there at least." Ann sighed heavily in frustration.
"Just a second..ah. Files sealed to protect the privacy and security of a protected party of the Enclave, signed off on by …Elder Bartholomew."
Ann froze as her mind whirred with the possibilities.
"So, let me get this straight. We managed to unlock the confidential files relating to Lycans because of our position in the company and your considerable skill sin gaining access to electronic files...but we still can't access the cooperating parties on the list because they've been sealed by the Enclave and not only that, the person this was built for is under their protection?"
"Apparently so." Eva grimaced.
"Interesting." Ann murmured to herself, "Well, it just so happened that I have this Bartholomew visiting me very shortly so it looks like I won't have to wait too long for answers."
"Do you think this was built for Greyson's benefit?" Maeve asked, cocking her head curiously.
"I don't know. I don't think it makes sense though. I guess Bartholomew has a lot of explaining to do though because if the Enclave and the Lycans have some sort of back-door deal going on without the involvement of the ruling family, then I think we're going to have a few problems."