“Butwhy?” I hear myself asking. “How could you do this?”
“Let’s move this conversation outside,” Tom murmurs. “There’s a detective outside that will be taking you in for questioning, and we don’t want to make a scene.”
“I’m not goinganywhere,” Portia spits out, crossing her arms over her chest. “How could I when mybestieis about to receive her award. I think you’ll find it veryenlightening.”
The way she says it has dread slithering down my spine, and I look to Tom, but he’s locked in a wordless exchange with Jace who just says, “I’m on it,” before walking away.
“Are you all right?” Emerson says, her hand sliding into mine.She looks fierce, her shoulders back and the killer black dress hugging her every curve. This whole situation had nothing to do with her, but she’s shown up without question.
Loyal.
Confident.
I want to be her when I grow up.
The thought has me standing taller with a shake of my head.
I don’t need to be anyone else. I just need to finally be proud of being me.
I’m Kat Harrington, badass author of children’s books and romantic suspense, sister, friend,lover,philanthropist.
“We will start the presentation in just a minute; we’re just experiencing some technical difficulties.”
The announcement is made from the podium, but it’s Portia’s stance that steals the show. Her mouth is set in a hard line, eyes wild, and her hands clenched at her side. She looks furious, and the second Jace appears, I know why.
“Any other presents we should know about?” he says to Portia, a thumb drive in his palm before whispering something to Ozzy I can’t hear.
“That’s not mine,” she snaps but there’s a lazy smile that slides over Jace’s lips.
A knowing one.
“No? So, the little slide show you put on here to expose her wasn’t you? You madequitethe impression on the tech guy. Oh,and we found that neat little social media blitz you had planned too.” Leaning in, he adds, “But we won’t be letting that happen.”
“I’m going to go check on Royce, make sure everything is all set for therealpresentation,” Ozzy says, excusing himself as my head spins. I didn’t even know Royce was here. Tom said he was supposed to be running everything today from the office.
As if sensing my distress, Tom dips his head, speaking low into my ear. “Samson said that while they were en route to the hospital, Amelia was making comments about Hazel alluding to a big surprise today.” Pulling back, he grins. “Always have a plan for the backup plan.”
He might think that answers everything, but now there’s just a migraine blooming behind my eye with all these unanswered questions.
“Hell of a plan,” Jace muses. “Incapacitate your aunt so she can’t sound the alarm, drug Katjustenough that she’d seem heavily intoxicated while accepting the award with your little smear campaign rolling in the background. You’d get everything you wanted. Ruin her career and reputation while slowly slipping into the spotlight yourself as a victim in all this. You’d garner sympathy from the community and step into her success without doing any of the work yourself. ”
I gape at Jace but everyone else wears a hard and furious expression.
Except Portia whose eyes spark with amusement while her lips twitch the slightest bit.
“Emerson, will you please take Kat to one of the side conference rooms to freshen up?” Tom looks at Grimm and there’s no real exchange, just a nod of understanding as Emerson leads me from the table with Grimm on our heels.
I can’t believe this is my life right now.
“Hell of a plot twist,” Emerson deadpans as we disappear down a long hallway, her eyes widening innocently when I turn to her. “What? Too soon?”
My mouth hangs open as Grimm grunts out his disapproval, and because there’s nothing I can do, I laugh because she’s right—it was a hell of a plot twist.
49
TOM
After Portia was shuffled out of the venue by a Chicago detective, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. Dealing with her would undoubtedly be a nightmare, but Royce had compiled every breadcrumb that led us to this moment.
