She pulled up her virtual wallet and slid it under the scanner so she could start the long walk down to the plane. It felt like an escape, because that’s exactly what it was. She’d barely even told Hope that she was leaving for the weekend—well, really the night—because they hadn’t had any time alone together and it just hadn’t come up beyond that.
When she was finally seated, Angelica pulled up her iPad and scrolled through the emails she’d ignored in the last week. At least the ones she’d put off for a later date, which was now. Her lawyers had emailed nearly nonstop in the last week, no doubt responding to the forced outing. They wanted to know how forced it was, they wanted to know what Josef had done thisweek, as if everyone anticipated that something was going to go awry every three minutes with him.
Well, they weren’t necessarily wrong.
Josef kept popping his way into her life even if she didn’t have to see him. Angelica sighed as she began answering those emails, one after the other, with long explanations of what had happened and as much detail as possible. That’s what they’d asked for, so that’s what she’d give them.
When she finished with those, she turned to the lawyers she’d hired to help her close on Mountain View West. While the property was mostly hers at this point, there were still finer details that needed to happen, paperwork to be signed, contracts and the like shifted. She’d thought initially that she could handle most of it, but with the intensity of the filming schedule and more, she’d realized that hiring someone else was exactly what she’d needed.
The hours on the plane passed quickly, and by the time she landed in Los Angeles, Angelica had her life put back together. At least, it felt that way for a bit. She’d gotten caught up, and she hadn’t lost much time either since the time zone change worked in her favor for this round.
When she arrived at her hotel, everything eased into place. This was her home, her comfort. And being here, even if it was for less than twenty-four hours, would give her what she needed to head back into the fray that was filming.
Her phone buzzed.
Hope
Did you get back safely?
Angelica’s lips curled upward. She should have texted. Hope had warned her before that she was supposed to do that, but she was so long out of relationships, that often these little momentsof connection weren’t things that she thought about. Angelica glanced up, seeing Mr. Kartali coming toward her. She hurriedly typed.
Angelica
Yes, I did. Thank you. Meeting.
She slipped her phone into her purse and canted her head to the side. She hadn’t expected him to be here. The emergency she’d been called back for was certainly something that she could handle on her own, and he never?—
“Angelica.” He grinned at her, that comforting grin she’d become so familiar with over the years. He held his hand out, but instead of shaking hers, he covered hers with his large other one. “We need to have a conversation.”
“Oh? About what?” She tried hard to keep herself from tightening her grip on his hand. She wanted to seem relaxed, like she’d expected this. But she hadn’t. She figured if they were going to let her go for purchasing Mountain View West, that it would have happened already, that they would have sat her down to have this conversation well before now.
But they hadn’t.
“We’ll talk in your office.” He pointed toward the door.
Angelica looked over her shoulder at her office admin’s desk. “I really should check on?—”
“The situation with Matthias Bryan has been resolved.” Mr. Kartali’s voice was so calm and measured.
For some reason, Angelica didn’t want to trust it. It was such a struggle to not force her feet to carry her to the main offices where she could see Matthias himself and address the problem at hand. Because why else would she have flown all the way back here?
“Come along.” Mr. Kartali nodded toward Angelica’s office. “We have much to discuss.”
Well, now that sounded ominous.
Bracing herself, Angelica followed him into the conference area of her office. Everything on her desk was as she left it, which was a good sign. No one had boxed up her belongings to force her out of her position, so maybe he wasn’t here to fire her. They sat down in silence, Angelica ruing the moment that he’d actually tell her what was going on.
Because she needed to know.
“My wife should be here momentarily.” Mr. Kartali put his phone on top of the table, screen side down.
He was being decidedly withdrawn and evasive, which wasn’t like him. He was typically the one who came right out and told her what was what, and his wife was the one who showed up to play hardball. Angelica shifted in the chair, crossing her legs and wishing that Hope was here with her. Maybe then she’d feel a bit more of a sense of ease.
Or at least have a safety net.
“Angelica!” Mrs. Kartali stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her. “I’m so glad you were able to come here on such short notice.”
“We may have told a fib,” Mr. Kartali started, leaning back in the chair.
