Jogging down the hall, he turned the corner just as Addison turned into the conference room. “Shit,” he muttered.
He slowed and walked in right behind her. “Addison,” he said.
“Oh my God! Is that a puppy?” Angie pushed around Jeremy and rushed toward Addison, her hands outstretched, her focus on the large tote hooked over Addison’s elbow.
Angie pulled the small dog from the bag and raised it above her head before cuddling it close. “You are so precious! Where did you get her?”
He’d been so intent on sticking his foot in his mouth he hadn’t even noticed the dog’s head sticking out of Addison’s bag.
“She found me in the park yesterday during yoga. I tried looking for her owner, but no one claimed her, and the vet I took her to couldn’t find a microchip. I didn’t want to take her to the pound, but I’m not sure what to do with her.”
Angie’s eyes widened. “I’ll take her!”
Addison shook her head. “I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking—I’m offering. I’ve been thinking about getting a dog for a while, but all the ones I’ve found have been big dogs and I can’t have a big dog in my apartment, and she’s so tiny. Just look at her.”
He loved Ange like a sister, even though she scared him sometimes with how smart she was, but her timing was shit. The meeting wasn’t for another five minutes. He needed those five minutes to fix his fuck-up.
Angie pressed kisses to the puppy’s ear. “Do you know what kind of dog she is?”
“The vet thinks beagle mix. Maybe chihuahua,” Addison said. “He said she shouldn’t get very large and that I could bring her back if I had to.”
“No!” Angie pressed the puppy’s head to her chest. “You can’t take her back! She’s Leonidas now. We don’t give people back.” She turned back to the puppy. “No, we don’t. You’re one of us now. Yes, you are. Yes, you are.”
“Angela, what are you doing?”
They all turned to find Graham and Paige behind them.
“Isn’t she precious? I’m going to name her Princess. My sweet, precious Princess.”
Graham ran a hand down his face and through his beard. “You’re cleaning up after her. Can we get started?”
“Oh! Right! Yeah.” Angie handed the dog back to Addison and moved to the computer at the front of the room, shaking the mouse to wake up the computer.
Devon waited until Addison took a seat then sat in the one next to her, farther away from Angie and the screen. That way he could look at her without making it too obvious.
“Okay. I spent a lot of time on the dark web last night. Way more time than I ever want to spend there, for the record, but I found the information for the auction,” Angie said. “It’s happening eight days from today.”
“Where?” Addison asked. “How do we stop it?”
“We…can’t,” Angie said. “The auction is invite-only, and even then, it’s pay-to-play. Fifty thousand dollars, just to RSVP in the affirmative. No other information is passed until the money is paid.”
Devon could only see Addison’s profile, but he saw her eyes close and the small shake of her head.
“Even if I cashed out my retirement fund, I don’t have that much money sitting around,” she said.
“TLC will cover it. Along with the cost of operation,” Graham said.
Devon sucked in a breath between his teeth. That wasn’t chump change. Even with the extremely lucrative contract TLC had recently been awarded, the company would take a hit.
“I can’t let you do that,” Addison said.
“The Drakes put down a retainer when they hired us to find their son. It’s not going to cover the entire cost, but it covers a good portion of it,” Paige said.
“Then I’ll match their retainer,” Addison said. “It’s only fair—we’re getting Braedon out along with their son, so I’ll pay whatever they’re paying.”
Paige and Graham exchanged glances. “All right,” Paige said. “I’ll draw up a contract, and we’ll go over it this afternoon.”
