When he saw me approaching his desk, he stood up and stuck his hand out to shake mine. I slowly and suspiciously shook his hand.
“Hiya, friend,” he said.
I laughed.
“Grant, why didn’t you tell me Maggie’s gone?”
“I didn’t know. I left early yesterday to get to you, and apparently the security team came over with Colin and escorted her out at the end of the day. I found out this morning when I came in.”
“Wow. Well, congrats, I guess. You cracked the case, though not the one you were trying to solve,” I said.
He frowned. “I don’t like this one bit. Come on. Maggie? Maggie’s incredible. There’s no way she acted alone. There has to be more to it.” He sat on the edge of my desk while I logged in.
“Now what? You’re going to clear her name?” I laughed.
“I’m convinced that guy, Landon, made her do it.”
I winced. “I forgot to tell you,” I said in a whisper. He drew in closer. “Landon is Colin’s brother. He’s Landon Gordon, and Maggie showed up at the wedding on his arm.”
His eyes widened, and guilt gnawed at me that I hadn’t shared this earlier.
“But would Landon ruin his father’s company?” he asked himself.
“There doesn’t seem to be much brotherly love. And Charles Gordon spoke with Colin for all of five minutes on a boat the entire weekend. Let’s just say that I wouldn’t be shocked if Landon is behind this and can somehow exonerate your Maggie.”
“My Maggie. If she were mine, she wouldn’t be in this mess,” he said, looking off toward the elevators.
I cocked my head to the side.Could it be that the one Grant has had a crush on this whole time is Maggie?
“Well, leave me out of it,” I said, before getting dragged into even more office drama. “I simply want to do my job and go home.”
“We have a meeting in an hour. Up in the conference room. Led by Colin.” He raised an eyebrow as if waiting for my reaction.
I had logged into my email and was now seeing the meeting invite myself.
“Well, I guess I should catch up. If you don’t mind…” I pushed him off my desk and shooed him away with my hand.
Grant left for lunch, and I took a few quick notes on new accounts and developments on existing accounts that needed to be looked at, blocking everything but what I was being paid for from my mind.
When it was time to go up to the meeting, Grant and I walked up together. By the time we walked into the conference room,I’d convinced myself I was fine. Normal. Centered. A woman immune to blue-eyed executives with devastating cheekbones.
I saw Kaitlin by the door, and I remembered what she’d been through with Kirkman.
“Hi,” I said as I walked toward her with a genuine smile. She blinked a couple of times and replied with half a smile.
Grant kept his head down until he sat next to me, where he began fidgeting with his pen and looked toward the front of the room, away from Kaitlin. We exchanged greetings with people from other departments as they arrived, and I resolved to stay in the moment. Focused.
Then I heard his voice outside the door.
The words weren’t intelligible because everyone around me was talking, but it was unmistakably Colin’s voice.
My heart rate shot up. My hands were clammy and almost as if they were not my own. I grabbed one hand with the other in an attempt to make them feel normal. My vision seemed to narrow, and I was sure I’d have to excuse myself.
Untilhewalked in.
Colin strode into the room as if he owned the place (which wasn’ttoofar off the mark). His suit looked painted on. His expression was inscrutable.
He looked around the room as he said, “Good afternoon. I’m sure you’ve all heard the sad news that Margaret Flame has left us.” When his eyes landed on me, there was an almost imperceptible slowing down of his voice before he continued on, his attention divided equally among all of us in the room.
