“I don’t care if she’s tripled our revenue.” Henri’s voice cracked on the last word. He stepped forward, and I noticed his gait was off—too rigid, like every muscle was locked. “A Gaming Commission investigation could cost us our license. We can’t afford to be associated with sexual misconduct allegations. She has to go.”
“What she’s done for this hotel is nothing short of amazing,” Orion said, standing to full height. “We’re not throwing her under the bus to appease Wilder.”
Tashi’s breathing had gone shallow. Her face was pale, her eyes darting between Henri and us. Flight instinct kicking in.
“Why is your judgment clouded?” Henri’s voice dropped to something cold and calculated. “All three of you.”
The room went silent.
I studied him—the too-perfect suit, the wrong cologne, and the tremor in his hands that hadn’t stopped since he walked in. His eyes kept flicking to Tashi, as if he knew her well. No. Couldn’t be. They’d never met before she began working here.
But they way he stared at her made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“Either you let her go, or I won’t help you pull out of this mess,” he said with a snarl.
Orion drew himself to his full height and, as usual, commanded the room. “I’m wondering whose judgment is compromised? We don’t have all the facts of the case, and we aren’t punishing Ms. George over an unsubstantiated allegation.”
“You three have always been stubborn, but this? Defending someone you barely know?” Henri’s voice rose, cracking on the last word. “This isn’t like you. We’ve had too many problems, and if you don’t do damage control fast, we’ve lost this hotel.”
He turned on his heel, movements sharp and jerky, and strode toward the door. The sharp tang of his cologne lingered in his wake—something chemical and wrong that made my nose itch.
“Henri—” Orion started.
But Henri was already gone, the door slamming hard enough to rattle the framed photos on the wall. The sound echoed through the conference room like a gunshot.
Silence pressed in, thick and suffocating.
I could hear Tashi’s breathing—quick, shallow gasps that told me she was on the edge of panic. Leo had gone perfectly still,which meant his mind was racing. Orion stood at the head of the table, jaw clenched so tight I could see the muscle jumping.
“Well,” Leo said finally, his voice carefully light. “That went well.”
Nobody laughed.
Tashi pushed back from the table, the chair legs scraping against the floor with a sound that set my teeth on edge. “He’s right. I should go. Before I cost you everything.”
“Sit down,” I said, more sharply than I intended.
She flinched, and guilt twisted in my gut. But she sat.
“Henri doesn’t make those calls,” Orion said, his voice returning to that controlled CEO tone. “We do. And we’re not making decisions about your future based on fabricated evidence and Wilder’s vendetta.”
“But he said?—”
“He said a lot of things,” I interrupted, my mind still cataloging Henri’s behavior. “None of which made sense. Did you see how he looked at you?”
“Like I was destroying his life’s work?” Tashi’s voice cracked. “Yeah, I noticed.”
“No.” I pulled up the security footage of Henri entering the building, rewinding to watch his face. “Like he knew you. Personally. Not as an employee, but as someone…familiar.”
Leo moved to stand behind me, watching the screen. “Ares is right. That wasn’t just anger about the hotel. That was personal.”
“I’d never met him before I started working here,” Tashi said.
“Are you sure?” I asked, freezing the frame on Henri’s face as he’d first looked at her. The recognition in his eyes was unmistakable now that I was looking for it. “Because he definitely knows you.”
Tashi wrapped her arms around herself, a defensive posture that made me want to pull her close and promise her safety I wasn’t sure I could deliver. “I don’t know him. I’d remember.”
“Maybe not you,” Orion said slowly. “But what about your family? Your mother? Could she have known him?”
