“Yes, ma’am.”
“Find it and bring that and your phone to me.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Miller dashed away. She returned a minute later, huffing but with a beaming smile. “Got it!”
“Excellent.”
Moments later, Bronwyn was on the phone with their local electric company, Miller was on the phone with their lead maintenance engineer, and Meredith was on the phone with someone she’d decided needed to be awake at 4:00 a.m.
A few guests wandered over, but no one was upset or frustrated. They were curious and returned to bed once their questions were answered. Fifteen minutes after she’d arrived on the scene, the maintenance crews were preparing the generators, the electric company was trying to hunt down the source of the outage, and Miller was proving to be an even better employee than Bronwyn had realized. She’d taken it upon herself to call their twenty-four-hour room service and ask them to deliver coffee, hot chocolate, and any available pastries to the lobby.
Bronwyn munched on a doughnut and stared at her phone, willing it to ring with good news.
“It’s so weird.” Meredith took a sip of hot chocolate. “I mean, it’s summertime. It’s not like we’ve had snow or ice. The last time itrained was three days ago. There’ve been no thunderstorms lately. I wonder what would have caused the power to go out.”
“That’s what I’d like to know as well.” Bronwyn’s uncle William came around the corner. He looked like he’d just left a business meeting. His pants had a crisp crease, his button-down shirt was wrinkle-free, and his shoes gleamed when hit by cell phone flashlights. “Bronwyn.” He stepped into her line of sight.
She didn’t respond. Her mother would have a hissy fit over what she would perceive as rudeness. But Uncle William had pushed every button Bronwyn had for so long, she simply didn’t care anymore. This was a power play, and he was about to find out who held the reins.
“I’m speaking to you, young lady.” His voice was low, his tone aggressive and hostile, and his breath reeked.
“Uncle William, before you come out in the middle of the night again in a situation that might involve interacting with our guests, do us all a favor and brush your teeth. Or, at the very least, grab a mint.” And with that, she walked away.
Meredith slid into step beside her a moment later. “You’re a rock star.”
“I’m done, is what I am.”
“Well, he isn’t. Round two incoming.”
“Bronwyn!” Uncle William’s voice boomed out. She continued on her path. She could hear him getting closer, his feet pounding as he ran up to her. She expected him to step in front of her again. She wasn’t prepared for him to grab her arm above the elbow and yank. Hard.
She stumbled back a step and then caught her balance. Before she could react further, a large body slid between her and Uncle William. One masculine hand wrapped around her waist. The other gripped Uncle William’s arm above the wrist.
In a tone that she’d never heard and hoped she would neverhear directed at her, Mo said, “If you want to maintain the use of that hand, I strongly suggest you let her go.”
Uncle William’s fingers immediately relaxed their grip on her arm. “I’m not sure what business it is of yours, Mr. Quinn. I need a word with my niece, and she is treating me with disrespect.” Despite his big words, he stepped back ... or tried to.
Mo didn’t release his arm, and he leaned into Uncle William’s personal space. “She’s been my business since we were five years old. And you can sell that spiel to someone who might believe it. I saw and heard the entire interaction. You don’t get to demand respect just because she has the misfortune of sharing DNA with you. Respect is earned, and you haven’t earned it.”
Bronwyn experienced a flicker of fear when Uncle William looked at Mo. Her uncle generally regarded her with disgust, but the look he gave Mo was one of full-blown hatred. “You’ll regret this, Quinn. I’ll see to it that you never step foot on this property again.”
Mo’s smile was so cold, it could have frozen the Amazon solid. “Another suggestion for you tonight. This one’s for free. Before you threaten me or anyone I care about, you might want to do a better job of covering your tracks.”
Bronwyn had no idea what Mo was talking about, but based on Uncle William’s expression, he did. It didn’t help that he spluttered and tripped over his words in a pitiful attempt at a comeback. He eventually landed on, “I have no idea what you mean.”
Mo turned and walked away from him, and in the process, Bronwyn went with him. After they took a few steps, Mo called over his shoulder, “Make sure you don’t try to claim that little trip to Greenville as a business expense.”
Mo kept his hand at her waist until they were back to the spot where Meredith stood, cell phone out and pointed in their direction. “I got the whole thing on video.” Her grin was a little scary.“I’d like to see him try anything like that again.” She pursed her lips. “I’m not sure what your dad would say, but your grandmother would lose her mind if she saw this.”
“We can’t show that to Grandmother.”
“Duh. I would never. But that doesn’t mean we can’t use it for leverage. What’s his problem, anyway?”
“He hates me. He always has.”
“Bronwyn!” The call came from Emory, The Haven’s maintenance engineer who kept everything running.
“Excuse me.” She stepped away from Mo and Meredith. Or she planned to. Mo was no longer touching her, but he stayed beside her.
