“Except you, and my father and my brother.” Angelica crossed her arms and shook her head. “Do whatever you want,Hope. The restaurant is your territory, not mine.” Angelica turned back to her iPad and stared at it, but she didn’t return to her plate full of food.
“Angel?”
“We have work to do, Hope. I suggest you do yours.”
Chapter
Thirty-One
“Kayla, I’m glad you could show up on time today.” Angelica held her iPad against her body as she stood at reception.
Kayla, who had finally shown up five hours late yesterday, had been reamed out enough to show up on time today. Though she didn’t exactly look awake, and she didn’t look like she wanted to be there. She glowered at Angelica.
“What did I do wrong now?”
Angelica cocked her head, her fingers tightening on the iPad. “Nothing.”
Though if she thought that was Angelica’s attitude toward her, this was going to be a long day. Angelica stepped around reception, the microphone pack digging uncomfortably into her back under the belt at her waist. She hated the dresses she was being forced to wear this season. It made things like this so much harder. She set the iPad down.
“We need to talk about room service.” Angelica leaned against the counter, her hip pushing into the edge of it, and she crossed her arms as she frowned at Kayla.
Sy was behind the camera today, Rex off doing something else with Josef, which meant that Sy had to make sure he caughtevery second of this conversation that Angelica hadn’t quite planned to have. She kept her gaze on Kayla, not giving her an inch.
“What went into the decision to terminate that service?”
“I didn’t make that decision.” Kayla looked at the ground in between them.
“Oh?” Angelica hadn’t heard anything to contradict LaRae’s story. And there was no reason that LaRae would lie about it either. “If it wasn’t your choice, whose was it?”
Kayla clenched her jaw hard, the muscles in her cheeks pushing out. Her cheeks were unusually pale and a little gray. Angelica focused her senses on her, first sight then smell. But she didn’t notice anything unusual about Kayla or the way she held herself.
“Kayla?” Angelica pushed for an answer. She needed one. They had to get to the bottom of this. “If it wasn’t your decision, who made it?”
Kayla shook her head. Because the only other person with the power to do that would be her parents, and she wasn’t stupid enough to throw them under the bus.
Angelica sighed heavily, clenching her fingers around her iPad and preparing herself to stand up and walk away. “Here’s the thing, Kayla, I can’t help you if you won’t let me help you. And I can’t save this hotel unless you start to cooperate with me. So you have a decision to make, either pull up your pants and be an adult or continue to let your parents dig you out of the grave you’re making for yourself and drag them down with you. Which will it be?”
Kayla flicked her long brown hair over her shoulder, a defiant little look taking over her features. “If you think you can do anything to me, then you’re wrong.”
The power of her confidence hit Angelica like a brick straight to the chest. Kayla had been nothing but meek and quiet up until this point, but Angelica had clearly hit a nerve. “Excuse me?”
“You can’t touch me.”
Angelica narrowed her gaze and crossed her ankles as she leaned heavily into the counter. “Touch you?”
“My parentsownthis hotel, which means they ownyou. You can fire me, and I’ll be back here tomorrow still running this hotel. Nothing you say or do is going to change that. So give up while you’re ahead.” Kayla’s upper lip turned into a sneer.
“Your parents, the owners of this hotel, brought me in here to figure out where the cracks were and how to make this hotel run to make them a profit instead of draining their savings. And I have only found one crack.” Angelica pursed her lips, debating how to put this kindly. Giving up, she said it honestly, which was the only way she could. “And that crack is you.”
Kayla scoffed, shaking her head. “I’m a hard worker.”
“You think you are, but anyone who shows up five hours late for a shift would immediately be put on a disciplinary. Theonlyreason you get away with it is because you’re the golden child who can do no wrong.” Angelica clenched her jaw.
“Angelica!” her father said, his voice sing-songing into her ear.
She stiffened instantly, looking directly at him. When the hell had he shown up?
“That’s no way to talk to an employee.” Harold glared in her direction. He leaned over the counter, and she could see Sy scramble to try and get him in the shot and another camera in the room so that he could catch absolutely everything that was going down.
