Eddie came out from behind the security desk. Hartleigh scowled and skittered to the elevator. Eddie, with an unfocused look in his eyes, watched her, then swiveled towards me, almost losing his balance.
"Package," he said. He reeked of alcohol. If Mark Holbrook did rent space in the tower, Jack was going to have to find a new security guard—though Hartleigh seemed to find him disgusting, so that was one plus in Eddie’s favor, I supposed.
He pushed a large box towards me. I thanked him and took it upstairs.
"Open it," Nina said. "I want to see what the outfit is. I bet Jack is going to be very happy."
I opened the box. Instead of a fun outfit, there were handcuffs, a rope, and a gag along with a typed note about tying me up like a Christmas present. It was all a bit sinister. I threw the package and its contents in the trash after taking a picture for evidence.
"You need to tell Jack," Nina said seriously. "And the police."
"This stuff is probably just from Hartleigh," I said, laughing it off. "She's trying to worm her way inside of my head and throw me off my game."
"Maybe, or maybe you have a stalker."
52
Jack
Mark called me while I was in my office at Platinum Provisions.
"I talked it over with my board," he said, "and we would like to proceed with negotiations for leasing space in Frost Tower."
"That is great news," I said, trying not to sound as giddy as a kid on Christmas.
"Under one condition," Mark warned.
"Anything."
"The restaurant in the ground-floor retail space."
"I'm working on finding a tenant," I promised.
"We want Chloe. Her muffins were a big hit. My cousin Grant gave my brother Carter a black eye fighting over the last of the French onion soup muffins. Also, all the women in my family adored the cookies. They spent about an hour photographing them then carefully eating them. They looked great, but I didn't want to risk my health asking for a bite. Chloe is a huge draw, and we need her to be there baking and cooking."
"Of course, she does want to open a bakery, so she would be delighted, I'm sure," I told him. I stood up to pace around my office. I could barely contain my energy.
"No, you don't understand," Mark said. "A café is not sufficient. We need a full restaurant similar to the Japanese restaurant you have in the Platinum Provisions tower."
"Wouldn't you rather have a restaurant from a proven restauranteur? I know Nick Mazur, he has several successful restaurants, and I'm sure he would be glad to open one in Frost Tower."
"No," Mark said. "The same fifteen people run all the restaurants in this city. I'm sick of corporate restaurant food that all tastes the same. I've informed you of my needs if I am to relocate my company to your tower. If you can't manage to secure one girl to run a restaurant then you may cause people to wonder what else you are incapable of doing, Mr. Frost."
"I can of course accommodate you, Mr. Holbrook. Chloe would be glad to open a restaurant," I said. I knew Chloe had told me she hadn't wanted to run a full-service restaurant, that her dream was a franchise of cute little bakeries. But I needed her to open a restaurant so that Mark would lease space in my tower. I would have to broach this with her carefully. She might be mad if I just told her right off the bat that I had pinned all my hopes and dreams on her running a restaurant.
Mark asked, "I am looking forward to it. Her muffins were—"
"I need more of those muffins!" another voice said.
"Carter, go away! I'm on a call!" came Mark’s muffled voice.
There was the sound of a scuffle, then I heard Carter shout into the phone, "I bet she can cook if she's living in your penthouse, Jack. We did research on Chloe, and she hasn't been in New York City that long. So either she's a witch and working a spell on you, or she's feeding you something amazing. Sex is magical, but not enough to have someone move in and play Christmas shows while having crazy loud—"
"Shut up, Carter!" I heard Mark yell at his brother. I wasn't sure if I should end the phone call.
"That’s what you said, isn't it, Mark?" I heard Carter say in a voice that sounded farther away. "They were having sex while watchingRudolph the Red-Nosed—"
"What the hell is wrong with you, Carter?" I heard Mark say. Then his voice became clearer. I assumed he had regained control of the phone.
