Brock stood in the shadows off to the side. “Find her,” I ordered.
I moved through the ballroom’s glitter and gloss in a fog. Nameless people stopped to give me handshakes, and slap my back. People with fake smiles and loaded pockets. None of them mattered right now as I pivoted across the parquet, searching for the woman in red.
When I finally spotted her, she was standing near the lounge entrance, one hand at her stomach. Fitting.
She turned and practically ran into Sam, who suddenly approached her with an evil grin.
“No.” I rushed to them as fast as I could, stopping about five feet behind them.
“Quite a performance tonight, lovely Jessa,” he drawled.
She blinked, confused. “Excuse me?”
“You’ve done very well here. I’m impressed.” He let his gaze drop, rise, linger too long. “Poor small town girl lands herself a billionaire. And pregnant, too. Commitment to the role—I respect that.”
The color drained from her face. “What did you just say?”
“Don’t play innocent.” He stepped closer. “Gossip travels, honey. Griffin’s PI has quite the file on you. And if it’s one thing Griffin hates, it’s a liar. But don’t worry. If it’s money you want…” He slowly slid his hand down the bare skin of her arm. My hands squeezed into tight fists. “You and I can work out an arrangement. I’d be happy to pay for certain services.”
She flinched as if he’d slapped her.
My ribs detonated. I moved in as she straightened, chin high.
“Get your hand off of me,” she shouted. People around us turned and stared.
“Relax.” He smiled. “We shouldn’t make an embarrassing scene for Griffin’s sake. We can come to a discreet arrangement.”
“And you call yourself a friend to him?”
Sam’s eyes cut past her as I arrived. His face fell. For one suspended second, Jessa’s gaze found mine. Then it flicked to the report in my hand, and back up to the doubt on my face.
Why hadn’t I already torn Sam off his feet for touching her? My past, my present, my future froze me to the spot.
“You had me investigated?” She asked, unbelieving, voice low and shaking.
I couldn’t speak.
Sam got between us. “She’s not worth it, Grif. I think it’s time I call security and have her escorted out.”
Tears glossed her lashes, fury burning through. “Griffin?”
“I-I…” People were staring and words wouldn’t move off my tongue, stuck behind everything I hadn’t asked for and everything I feared most. I’d experienced plenty in my years of running this company; never once had someone completely disarmed me as she had.
Sam’s satisfaction and gloating hung like a dark cloud in the air.
Despite it all, Jessa inhaled and drew herself taller, like a queen without a throne, fearless in the face of lions. “I would’ve told you everything if you’d given me the chance.”
Her voice wobbled at the end, and she fled, crying, forcing her way through the crowd.
“Jessa!”
“Grif—” Sam started, pulling me back. I yanked my arm from him. Brock came out of the shadows, ready to tear him to pieces.
“Another word and you’re fired,” I barked.
I turned back to see which way she had gone. The ballroom swallowed her. I chased. By the time I made it down the front steps of the Plaza, a yellow cab was already pulling from the curb with her in it.
“Jessa!” The name tore out of me. The taillights blurred down Park Avenue’s crowd of cars.
