“I don’t know them all,” Mr.Harvey was saying.“But Coleman wouldn’t sign off on this.”
Ace snorted.“Do you think I’ve asked you to sign off on everything I’ve ever done?”
Mr.Harvey gave him a very hard look.Not even stony anymore.More like flinty.
I cleared my throat, not exactly wanting to turn that look on myself but needing to get their attention.The printer started whirring behind me as the full force of Mr.Harvey’s gaze hit me, making me shrink involuntarily in my seat.
It was intense – but my god, his eyes.They were so… blue.
“I have the contract from Leo Couvon,” I said.
“Print us a copy,” Mr.Harvey ordered with a snap.
I reached wordlessly over to the printer and lifted the still-warm pages into the air.It had just finished printing the full load – only a few pages long.
With a crafty look thrown sideways at our mutual boss, Ace was the one to leap up and grab it out of my hand.He winked at me before he sat down as if to celebrate the fact that I’d gotten one over on Mr.Harvey’s expectations.It was pretty hard to hold back my own smile, but the serious mood in the room meant I just about managed.
Ace spread the papers across the coffee table and both of them bent their heads over it, craning from each side of the table, both of them joined in silent reading for a moment.I held my breath as I watched their eyes rapidly scanning over line after line.I already knew from feel alone that it was a far lighter contract than the one I’d seen them passing back and forth earlier.Something had to be different.
They both reached the end of the last page at the same time, and I watched their eyes snap up to meet one another.Something silent passed between them and I felt the temperature in the room drop by at least a full degree.
“Keaton,” Mr.Harvey said.I almost jumped to find his attention suddenly on me again.“We’re going to be staying late tonight.As late as it takes.”
I waited for him to ask if I was alright with that, but apparently, it wasn’t a request – it was an order.I nodded gamely.What else could I do?I’d already agreed, literally earlier today, that I would stay as long as he needed me to, whenever he needed me to.
But there was one thing I needed to make him aware of.“Sir?”I asked.“I don’t want to contradict you, but there’s a meeting scheduled in your calendar for thirty minutes from now.”
“Cancel it,” my new boss ordered immediately.If I had wondered how serious this was, the fact that he didn’t even hesitate – or ask who the meeting was with – told me everything I needed to know.There was nothing more important than this, right now.Thiswasthe meeting.
I grabbed the desk phone and started dialing the number listed in the contacts card attached to the calendar notation.It was too close to the time for an email.I had to catch the other party now, in case they were getting in a car and driving across town already to get here on time.
“Get Ridley in here,” Mr.Harvey added, but I realized from the curt jerk of his chin in Ace’s direction that the instruction wasn’t for me.Thank god – because my heart was thumping in my chest at the thought of having to call Ridley Angus.
Then I realized I was going to bein the same room as Ridley Angus, and it thumped all the harder.
I made the call I needed to make quickly, tuning out Ace’s voice as he made his own call.I made a few quick apologies on Mr.Harvey’s behalf and rescheduled the meeting for a clear spot he had on his calendar a couple of days from now, frowning lightly as I did so at the fact that the calendar was a little disorganized.I was going to have to do something about that.
I looked around once I was done, but no one was shouting orders for the moment.I grabbed my phone off the desk while I didn’t seem to have any more instructions to carry out and brought up my text chain with Clara.
Clar, will be late again tonight.Late meeting… with RIDLEY ANGUS!!!!!!
I glanced up, making sure I wasn’t getting caught looking at my phone.Ace and Mr.Harvey seemed to be going over the fine points of the contract that West Morson had sent over.
“What about the metadata in the file itself?”Mr.Harvey asked abruptly, staring at me again.Christ, the man was like a tiger, always pouncing.Only he was definitely a Siberian tiger because those blue eyes were stronger than any amber.
I hurried to move, right-clicking my mouse on the file I’d been sent and examining all of its properties.“It says it was created by L.Couvon,” I said, disappointment gnawing at me.I wanted to give them an answer that would help.“Actually, looking at the edges of the pages, I think maybe he scanned in a paper contract to create the file.”
Ace and Mr.Harvey leaned over the pages again, each of them picking one up and bringing it to eye-level.“I see what you mean,” Ace said.“The contrast was increased enough that it doesn’t look like a scan at all, except right at the edge where some shadow crept in.Good work.He must have a great secretary.”
I wilted a little under hearing praise for someone else – particularly since the start of the praise had sounded like it was meant for me.I could be that good at scanning.I really could.Lining things up and getting the settings exactly right was the kind of thing I enjoyed doing.
My phone buzzed under my hand.OMG, lucky Keat.You’ll finally meet your crush!Are you gonna “trip” and fall right into his arms?
I tried to hold back a blush.SHUT UP, I texted back immediately.
Then again…
Now that she brought it up, this was exactly the kind of thing I had wanted to see.Corporate sabotage, the boss working overtime to get to the bottom of it before it became a scandal, the biggest star at the company being brought in.I hadn’t had time to figure out what kind of camera I could hide around the place here.All I had was my phone.
