“I don’t know why I even pay these people.”
“Don’t fire him—I’m in the middle of planning a July Fourth BBQ with him.”
“No. I already told Linton no BBQs, no picnics, no Fourth of July.”
Fitz reaches out to pat my hand, the red pen leaving a line on my pristine white cuff.
I swear.
“You can’t be afraid to get a little messy,” he says. “Change is good. So, who’s the lucky girl? She cute? Where’d you meet?”
At least there is still some discretion among my staff, though I can’t get too mad at Linton. We were friends before he started working with me. “None of your business.”
Fitz jumps up. “Crawford will find out.”
Our half brother is in the hotel’s mission-control room. Windowless and dark, it has a wall of TV screens showing feeds from all the security cameras and a computer screen with a running log of the staff key-card swipes.
Crawford sits on a rolling office chair in front of his laptop, reviewing a report. A slow smile spreads on his scarred face when Fitz and I enter the room.
He leans back in the chair, lacing his hands behind his head. “Dare I see a man come, hat in hand, to ask for a favor from his brother?”
I bite back a curse. “I need”—I grind my teeth—“your help.”
“He needs my help. Now this, I want to hear. Dazzle me, Salinger.”
I straighten my back. “My assistant is being stalked, and she won’t divulge the name. I’d like for you to identify him and help me neutralize him. Of course, I will pay your usual rates.”
“Well, well, well. And he said this day would never come.”
“Dude…”
“Are we all going to ignore the fact that you took your assistant to your island?” Fitz is incredulous.
“Stop making it weird,” I snap. “Mandy needed a place to stay. I told you, there’s a stalker. It wasn’t a romantic thing.”
“Of course not, you’d never be so crass as to fall in love.” Crawford sneers.
“Crawford,” I bark. “Will you take the job or not?”
“Hmm.” My brother taps his chin. “Will I take this job?”
“I’ll…” I force the words out. “I’ll pay the tithes, of course, as a gesture of goodwill.”
“A gesture of good will,” he repeats. “I’m honored. Unfortunately, I talked it over with the group, and yeah, we actually don’t want your blood money, thanks. Find your own stalker.”
I kick his chair. Hard. He does some kind of judo twist in the air and lands on his feet as the chair crashes to the floor.
“Crawford, you’re seriously not going to help? Mandy could be in trouble!” Fitz demanded.
“I’m seriously not going to help. You don’t get to betray your family then expect a handout when you need one. Get fucked, Salinger.” He flips me off.
Fitz shakes his head, his normally happy demeanor gone, replaced with the type of dark anger more at home coming from me. “Man, this family is full of assholes.”
My mood is dark. “Yeah, that’s why I kept you away from them.”
Mandy’s stillat her desk when I return to the office. Pepper seems antsy at her feet.
I’m going to kill Crawford.
