“Someone set us up,” I said.“Call Ace.Now.”
Keaton’s fingers pattered across the buttons on his desk phone.He looked up at the smallest motion of my hand.He hesitated.
“I need you to set up a call with Caleb Coleman for me,” I said.“After Ace arrives.Maybe an hour from now.Send an email to his secretary.You should have the information in your files.”
His eyes were round as saucers.“Caleb Coleman from the Coleman Group?”
“Set it up,” I repeated.I gestured to the phone.“Ace first.”
He nodded quickly and dialed.
I didn’t have time to answer his questions.The questions everyone inevitably had.The head of the Harvey Agency calling the head of the Coleman Group sounded like a scandal.Any press outlet out there would turn it into one.
But I needed Coleman’s help if we were going to get out of this with a shred of dignity intact.
Someone made the West Morson Resort think we wanted to work with them.Tricked both me and Ace.Turned us inside out in knots.We could have been trapped if we’d signed the contract.Now we were trapped because we’d already signed with someone else.
If we wanted to get out of this without a lawsuit…
I needed all the resources at my disposal.
I looked up at Keaton.Watched him end the call with Ace and spin to his monitor.He frowned slightly and caught his lower lip in his teeth as he searched for the contact information.His fingers rattled over the keyboard to send the email.The glow of the monitor gave a faint light to his face.
I leaned back in my chair.The calm before the storm.From here I could take in my office.The throne room of my castle.Filled with my possessions.
And Keaton Dunbar looked right in his element amongst them.
But somewhere outside the castle walls was a dragon who wanted to burn all of it to the ground.
Keaton
“How did this happen?”
Mr.Harvey’s face was set in stern lines as if he was carved out of stone.In fact, he could easily have been a Roman statue, like the marble replica he had sitting on one of his shelves – but one made to commemorate a moment when someone was really, really angry.
Ace was sitting opposite him.It felt odd to be part of their meeting but not – witnessing it from my desk but not invited to join them at the coffee table.There were reams of paper scattered in front of them: all of the contracts Mr.Harvey had arranged for Ridley Angus, plus a copy of the bogus contract highlighted all over with bright orange pen.
“It must be malicious,” Ace said, shaking his head slowly.“I can’t see any way that this happens, otherwise.I don’t imagine the sponsor’s law firm would have invented a contract between us just to get themselves more business, would they?”
Mr.Harvey directed his stony gaze in my direction and I felt myself sitting up straighter, sitting to attention.I had an absurd and immediate urge to start typing something, anything, so it looked like I was working.“Keaton, email the sponsor and ask them for a copy of the contract they have.Tell them we need to check some details.They don’t need to know why.”
I nodded and quickly navigated to the email server.I typed a message to Leo Couvon, asking him to send over the file and including a quick, lighthearted comment about his vacation plans.I wanted to hide the request in civility so that he wouldn’t question it too much.It seemed like this was really important, and I didn’t want to be the one to screw things up by not getting the needed documents in time.
“Who would do this?”Ace quirked an eyebrow.“Coleman Group?”
Now my ears were burning.I pretended not to be incredibly interested as I stole a look at Mr.Harvey’s face.He was as stony as ever, giving nothing away.“Coleman plays fair,” he said with a shake of his head.
“All of his team, though?”Ace asked.
Mr.Harvey only sighed heavily.
My computer made a small ping, alerting me to a new email in my inbox.
Hi Keaton,
Thanks for your email.I’ve attached the PDF here.It’s lucky I already had it on my desktop!I’ll be sure to check out those passes you recommended.If they save me time on check-in, they’ll be worth every penny!
Leo
