Another prompt from the GPS turned me down a side road and took me through a run-down section of town that pressed my foot harder on the accelerator. First my coworkers judge me behind my back, and now I had reporters showing up at the house within a week of that text? I’d never cared for coincidences, and I liked them even less when they stacked up like this.
“What did you tell them?”
“I gave them your bio. Told them about your high scores in college.”
“What else?” I barely managed to keep from shrieking. “Lila, please. Tell meexactlywhat you said.”
“That’s it.” Lila sounded so genuine that the panic abated. Not completely, but enough that breathing came easier. “It wassuper weird. They kept asking about your personal life. They knew about your dad. Which, I guess, that’s not really unusual. Not like that was a secret or anything. But I hate it when people like that try to dig for dirt or something. I told them to get off our property and if they came back I’d call the police.”
“Good. Thank you. That is really weird. If anyone wanted to interview me, you’d think they would set something up with the company. And why me? I’m a nobody at Elevate. Maybe they thought they could get dirt on the company since I’m the newest and youngest employee.” The more I talked, the more sense it made.
They couldn’t know about my relationship. This was all just a really weird string of coincidences.
Dad would’ve laughed and told me I should write mysteries because my head always went to conspiracies instead of thinking the best of people.
Because people had always failed me.
Except for Dad and Lila, no one had ever been trustworthy.
“Thanks for calling to let me know.” The GPS directed me through another series of turns. I concentrated on that as the terrain changed. I drove up a rocky hill and slammed my foot onto the brake. “Lila, I need to go. I’m at the meeting and I need to prep. I’ll call you back later.”
“Okay. Good luck. Sorry to call and distract you. I would have waited, but I knew you’d want to know.”
“Yeah, definitely.” I ended the call, barely even listening to her response, and silenced the GPS. A log cabin stretched in front of me. I craned my neck left and right, peering through thewindows and trying to make sense of the woods on either side of my car.
I’d been so wrapped up in my thoughts and then the conversation with Lila that I hadn’t paid attention to the city turning into dense woods. When was the last time I’d passed a house? What kind of brainstorming session did they have planned out here in the middle of nowhere?
Julian’s message read like they were looking for a new vision for Elevate. I’d spent every single second since that text pulling information and compiling it into a cohesive presentation.
I opened the car door and stepped out into a pine-scented forest that reminded me more of a fairytale than I wanted to admit.
18
HARPER
None of this made sense. I tucked the folder under my arm and approached the cabin with slow strides. The front door opened and three dark figures emerged.
“Harper. You’re right on time.” Julian’s smile was a thing of beauty. He wore a short sleeve polo and jeans with a pair of motorcycle boots, his tattoos on full display.
I gaped at him, then at Dante and Alexander. Like Julian, they were also dressed casually, though Dante hadn’t given up his dress slacks. I grinned a bit at that before schooling my expression into one of curiosity. “Am I early? I expected the others to meet me here.”
“Others?” Alexander slid his hands into his pockets and motioned for me to pass him.
I crossed the threshold and almost staggered to a stop. For a remote cabin in the woods, it definitely fit their higher social standing. A large chandelier hung overhead, the crystal and chrome muted in the afternoon light that filtered in from a wall of windows on the second floor.
Wooden staircases swept upward on my left and my right, leading to a large balcony that overlooked the foyer. My heart skipped, then settled in a too-fast pace.
“Where’s everyone else?” The hollow ring of footsteps echoed, and no one else came to greet me.
Dante closed the door with a solid thud. “There is no one else.”
“What?” I whirled to face them. Wrong move. I should have kept my back to them. Looking them in the eyes brought back every memory, every moment we’d spent together. “You brought me here under false pretenses, pretending this was a marketing meeting, when all you really wanted was to wait in the shadows and ambush me?” A chill skittered up my spine, and I clutched the folder tighter.
“Ambush you?” Julian prowled toward me. “What are you talking about? I asked you here for a strategy meeting. I assumed you knew what that meant.”
“I thought I did.” I lifted my chin and let the anger run through me in a hot haze that stiffened my spine. “I’d decided to put some distance between us. I needed space, but you couldn’t handle that, could you? You clearly ignored my wishes, even after all your promises that you would.”
Alexander’s frown deepened. He held up a hand in a full-stop motion. “What the fuck are you talking about? You completely shut us out. The last time we talked, you were on board with this. You wanted to be discreet, but you were all in.” He pointed at the space around us. “This is us being discreet. Exactly as you asked.”
