"We don’t want to lose you," Grant said.
"It's your fault Danielle came back in the first place," Carter snapped. "If you hadn't joined forces with her to land that Ethiopian mining contract, she wouldn't have come after Kate."
Grant jerked back like Carter had slapped him.
"Carter," Kate admonished.
Grant held up a hand. "He’s right. Itwasmy fault. You were almost killed because of my hubris. And that is why, Carter, you are doing the internship and staying under the watchful eye of your family. We don’t want another repeat of the situation with Danielle."
"Or Alan," Carter muttered because he was feeling mean-spirited.
Kate's old professor, Alan, had stalked her for months then teamed up with Danielle and her contractor, Luigi, to kidnap Kate and Grant for money. Carter’s father had killed Danielle and her lackeys.
Carter knew these were sore points for Kate and Grant, and the car ride to the Holbrook Enterprises headquarters was tense. When they walked into the lobby, Carter looked around.
"You all updated it," he said, impressed. "It looks nice!"
"Yes," Kate said, "it's been a couple of years since you've been here. We recently renovated."
The lobby was bright and welcoming, with warm woods and contemporary chandeliers adding interesting elements to the high ceiling.
"I'm going to be making a speech to your group later on today," Grant told him.
"Well, la-di-dah, Mr. Big Shot Vice President is coming to impart some knowledge to the peons."
"Cheer up, cuz!" Grant said, playfully shoving Carter, then walked off with Kate to do whatever important tasks he had lined up for the day.
Carter checked his phone. Still no message from Allie.
He was almost late for breakfast, and he hurried to the meeting room. When he walked into the large space, there were about a hundred people in suits, milling around. Carter didn’t feel like interacting, so he grabbed a breakfast sandwich, slunk over to a corner, and slumped against the wall. From his vantage point, he surveyed the room. The women were being fake friendly to one another while the men were blatantly trying to one-up each other.
He turned his gaze back to the women. They were all pretty and well-heeled, except for one girl. She looked uncomfortable in her low heels. Her hair was pulled up into a severe military-style bun, and he could see a familiar tattoo peeking from under her blazer collar.
"Allie?" He was so confused. Was it just his imagination, or was she really here?
Before he could go confront her, a Holbrook representative ushered him toward the auditorium.
He followed the stream of people to the enormous auditorium a few floors down in the tower.
"Everyone take your seats," said a woman walking onto the stage.
Carter sat down behind the girl he thought was Allie. He thought about it for a moment then leaned forward and blew on her neck. The girl jumped and whipped around in her seat.
"Carter," Allie said, staring at him.
Carter grinned and opened his mouth to ask her why she was there, but the presentation was starting, and Allie turned back around to face the stage.
"Welcome to the internship program," said the woman. "We’re so glad to have you at Holbrook Enterprises. This is the internship program we run both in house and in collaboration with several universities around the country. We want you to learn the skills you need to succeed, but we also want you to know that we will hire all of you, none of you, or somewhere in between depending on your performance. This is a big recruiting tool for us. So do your best. We also want to see innovative thinking. For part of this internship, you will be in teams to come up with some cutting-edge solutions to problems at Holbrook Enterprises."
Carter couldn't pay attention to the rest of the presentation. His thoughts were consumed with Allie. How was she in this internship program? How long had she been in New York City? Why hadn't she told him any of this?
Maybe she didn't tell you because she doesn't actually like you,he thought. He frowned; he didn't want that to be true. Surely he hadn't imagined it that they had had a connection. She would send him pictures of her and the dog, and she'd slept with him, in her apartment, in her bed. That had to count for something, right?
Monique dismissed them for a break. Before he could talk to Allie, she had already hurried out of her row while Carter was waiting for the guys next to him to move.
"Hey, man," said one of the guys, "I'm Vance. This is Digby."
He stuck out his hand, and Carter shook it absently. He needed to talk to Allie.
