by Nina West
A moment later:
You’ve got me here, now. What’s your question?
I roll my eyes. Over text is not how I wanted to do this.
I think you should give Rachel back her job.
I bite my bottom lip as I watch the three dots dance on the screen.
That’s not a question.
No, I guess it’s not.
Can you give Rachel back her job?
She went against company policy.
Okay... so not a flat-out “no.”
I purse my lips together, wondering if questioning him is smart. He’s never given me reason to believe I hold any sway in suggesting anything business related.
So have others, and they weren’t fired. I think you should give her a break.
My phone starts vibrating with a phone call. My heart swells when I see Henry’s name pop up. “Hello?”
“Why?” The single word as greeting, delivered in his deep stern voice, throws me off, and it takes a moment to gather my thoughts.
I drop my voice to a whisper, though Katie’s the only one here and she’s dead to the world, her mass of bleach-blonde hair splayed around her pillow. “With everything going on right now, the last thing you need is people questioning why you fired her and you didn’t fire me. Katie and I broke policy, too. Plus, people around here don’t like you very much right now. Everyone’s afraid to make a mistake and be shipped off. They spent a lot of money on plane tickets to get here.”
Several long moments of silence hang between us.
In a last-ditch effort, I add, “You once said you wanted people to be happy working here.”
“So?”
“So, if you really care about your staff, which I think you do, then you’ll make choices to win their respect back.”
There’s a slight pause. “They don’t respect me?” He says this like he’s surprised by it. Maybe he is. It’s one thing not to like the CEO of the hotel chain you work for because he’s hard-nosed. It’s entirely different not to respect him.
“Not exactly...”
“Why? What are they saying?”
“Right now? That you’re a spineless dickhead.” I hold my breath, waiting for his response, hoping he doesn’t ask me who said that. I don’t want to get Ronan in trouble or worse, fired.
“Fine.”
I frown, not sure that I heard correctly. “Fine, yes?”
“Where is Rachel right now? Can you get hold of her?”
“She’s still in Homer, trying to get a flight home. Katie has her number.”
“Get her on the next ferry back. But she’s on a short leash and I won’t give her another chance. Make sure you tell Belinda when you see her so she can get her set up again.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”
There’s a pause, and when he speaks again, his voice has dropped to that gravelly, intimate tone. “Thank me later.”
My blood starts pumping through my veins. I don’t want to hang up with him yet. “How are things? Were you with your father for long last night?”
He groans. “All night, and this morning. Him, telling me how to run things like I don’t know anything, and then my brother throwing his useless two cents in any chance he can, to try and prove he knows better than me. I’ll be so happy when they’re both gone.”
He’s more candid than he has been in the past. I can definitely feel a shift in our relationship since yesterday. It’s nice. “Hang in there. It’ll be over soon.”
“Gotta go. See you later.” He hangs up, leaving me smiling.
“Katie!” I yell, no longer concerned about her obvious hangover or the fact that she’s still sleeping. “Guess what!”
Chapter Eight
I’m smiling as I push through the staff entrance at the back of the hotel, on my way to meet Belinda. I have no idea what to expect today, but I’m sure I can get through it. I can get through anything. Connor was right. I do have some power, after all.
I’m still smiling when I round the corner and plow right into someone, earning his grunt.
“I’m so sorry, I—” My words fall short when I see Scott Wolf’s face. His eyes are more gray than blue, but just as steely as Henry’s. “Excuse me.” I take a step back to give him a wide perimeter, focusing on the long hall and not breaking out in a run to get away.
“Abbi, right?” he calls out.
My feet falter. “Yes. Again, I’m so sorry.”
“No big deal. Are you heading to the lobby?”
“Uh...” Say no! Say no! “Yeah?”
He falls into step beside me. “It’s a maze down here, isn’t it?”
I smile politely. “It’s easy once you figure it out.”
“My people tell me that every time I go into the mine, and every time, I swear,” he chuckles to himself, “I say a small prayer when I make it out alive.”
He’s making small talk. I can handle small talk. “That’d be scary, being so deep underground like that.”
“It is. You never really get used to it. At least, I haven’t, and I’ve been going down in there for over ten years now.”
Silence hangs between us as we make our way along the hall at the clipped pace that I have set. He doesn’t seem to be struggling to keep up.
“So, how do you like Alaska so far?”
“I love it, truly. It’s beautiful.”
“It is, isn’t it? The resort is nice. I’ve been wandering around all morning, scoping everything out.”
Is that the truth? I can’t tell. If it’s not, he’s very convincing. “There’s a lot to see.”
“Way more than there was when I was young, that’s for sure. We used to spend our summers up here.”
“Yes. Mr. Wolf mentioned that. At your grandparents’ cabin.”
“Have you seen it yet?”
“Yes. Actually, I was just there yesterday, making sure it was staged appropriately for the media.”
“Good, good. I’ll be heading over there later. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen it.”
“I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. It’s been well-kept and they worked hard to clean it up.”
“My grandfather would love to know that.” Scott seems charming enough, and genuinely friendly. But after Henry’s warning, the last thing I want is to be alone with him, which is why I speed up when I see the elevator ahead.
“So, where are you from?”
“Pennsylvania.”
“Ah, the great state of virtue, liberty, and independence. My ex-wife went to Penn State.”
Ex-wife. The one that became an ex because of Henry, as rumor has it? I clear my throat. “I’ve heard that’s a nice school.”
“Great school. One of the best. So, how’d you end up here?”
“A career fair in Chicago, where I go to school.”
“Oh yeah? Which one?”
Talk about twenty questions, but they seem harmless enough, and nothing I shouldn’t answer. “North Gate.” When he frowns, I add, “It’s a small Christian college. I’ll be starting my last year there this fall.” We reach the staff elevator and I hit the Up button. The doors open and he holds his hand out, letting me enter first before stepping in. A very gentlemanly thing to do.
Maybe Henry’s just being paranoid.
Maybe he isn’t so bad.
“So, has Henry fucked you yet, Abbi?”
I choke on my gasp. “What?” I manage to get out.
“You heard me,” he says in a calm, cool tone, all semblance of charm gone.
“I did. I’m just...” My heart is hammering inside my chest, the walls of this elevator suddenly closing in on me as the doors shut. He lulled me and then, wham! Completely blindsided me. “I’m his assistant.”
Scott hits the Stop button and the elevator comes to a jarring halt.
And now I’m trapped in an elevator with him. “So was the last assistant that he fucked. The one who’s now suing our company and pressing charges for sexual assault against him.”<
br />
I back away from him, genuinely terrified. “I don’t... know anything about—”
“In case you haven’t learned yet, my brother can’t keep his dick in his pants, and he’ll tell you anything you need to hear to let him under that skirt. So tell me, Abbi from Greenbank, Pennsylvania, population five thousand, daughter of Roger and Bernadette Mitchell, previously engaged to the reverend’s son before he found a girl who wasn’t saving herself for marriage,” he turns to level me with a severe stare, his gaze flickering down to my chest for a long, uncomfortable second, “what lies did he tell for you to lie down on your back for him? I’ll bet they were good.”
His words suck the air from my lungs. “How do you know so much about me?”
“It wasn’t hard. People love to talk, especially about their sweet Abigail Mitchell.”
Oh my God. Henry’s brother had me investigated?
“He’s just using you. That’s what Henry is: a user, a manipulator. So what did he say? That you’re special? That you’re different? That he’s never felt this way about any woman before?”
My blood is rushing through my ears.
“Oh, come on. Smarten up, Abbi. He said the same thing to that journalist last night while he was over there, fucking her to make sure he gets a stellar review of this giant waste of money that we’re all standing in.”
I use the elevator wall to support myself, my knees suddenly weak.
“You may as well admit to it all now because Henry’s days with Wolf Hotels are numbered. He’s already confessed to everything, and after his last fuck-up, my father’s done giving him chances. I’ll be taking over everything, including Wolf Cove, within the next few weeks. It’s already done. So if you want to keep your job, you better start showing your loyalty to me. Don’t protect him. He doesn’t give a shit about you.”
Roshana Mafi?
I can’t keep the shock from my face, his words like a swift punch to my gut. Is this true? Is this why Henry wasn’t willing to let me come by last night, and this morning? Because he was with another woman?
No. It can’t be. I just talked to him today. He agreed to let Rachel come back. He made it sound like he was looking forward to seeing me later.
“Use your head. I know you’re a smart girl, with that 4.0 GPA. You have real potential. I’d hate to see it ruined when my brother’s legal issues hit the media. It would be so easy for you to get dragged down with him. He’s got a real appetite and I’m guessing a lot of women will come out of the woodwork to share details.” Scott smiles, but it’s not at all kind. “Imagine what that’d be like, sitting in the front pew of church while the good reverend and everyone in there picture all the dirty, depraved things you must have been doing with him.”
I close my eyes against the threatening burn in my chest and try to calm my breathing. Henry warned me that his brother was a manipulative weasel who wants the hotel chain badly. Likely badly enough to corner his brother’s assistant in an elevator and try to manipulate her into admitting to sleeping with him, which would guarantee William Wolf pulls the hotels away from him.
And if Henry already admitted to it, I wouldn’t have to.
This is all bullshit.
It has to be.
Scott begins to laugh. “What did he do? Promise you a real relationship? Ask you to stick by his side? Of course he would. He needs to keep you happy and quiet while he tries to buy his way out of this mess.”
Scott is hitting too close to home now. Steeling my nerve, I reach past him and hit the release button for the elevator, all while swallowing against the bile threatening to rise. “I don’t care what Mr. Wolf does in his private life, and I don’t know what he could possibly have admitted to because I can assure you, I have a strictly professional relationship with him. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” I bolt out of the elevator the second the doors open. I can’t get away from Scott fast enough.
A wave of relief hits me at the sight of Belinda standing in the lobby, tapping her toe and glancing at her watch.
She frowns as I hurry toward her, but a quick glance behind me seems to give her the answer. “So I see you’ve met Scott,” she mutters, venom lacing her tone. “What did he say to you?”
“Nothing.” Only when I try to adjust my blazer do I realize that my hand is trembling.
Belinda grabs my forearm and pulls me into a corner. “Abbi? Tell me, now,” she demands in a stern voice, her eyes all the more severe behind those heavy-rimmed glasses.
And suddenly more kind.
But what can I trust her with?
She seems to read my unspoken question. “Henry hired me and has given me every opportunity to succeed in this company where his father and brother would not. I’m loyal to him, not them. So you can tell me what that piece of shit said to you,” she says in a calm, slow voice.
I swallow. “He had me investigated.”
Her pretty face twists up, displaying the shock that I feel. “What?”
“He knows where I’m from, my parents’ names. He knows... other things!”
“Fuck.” She shakes her head. “But, I’m not surprised. Look, there’s a huge power thing going on between those two, and their father isn’t helping any. Scott wants Wolf Hotels and he’s looking for ammunition.” She hesitates. “He accused you of sleeping with Henry, didn’t he?”
“Yes. And I told him I’m not but—”
“He doesn’t care. Henry’s in such deep shit with... this problem that I can’t talk about, but needless to say, if Henry were screwing around with you, William Wolf would flip his lid. He’d see it as the last straw, a final sign that he can’t trust Henry with Wolf Hotels.”
So, Belinda knows about Kiera, too. I remember her mentioning something about it to Henry last week. I wonder how much she knows. “Scott said he’s already made that decision.”
“No.” Belinda’s head shakes vehemently. “That’s bullshit or I would have heard about it already. Don’t believe a word Scott says. Not a word! He’s like a snake in long grass in a children’s playground. And he’s smart; he knows just what to say to get under your skin. He’s done it to me before, too.”
I exhale deeply, the first real breath I’ve managed since running into Scott. He’s lying about everything.
About Roshana and Henry, last night.
She pats my shoulder. A strange, comforting gesture, and something I’d never expect from her. Maybe it’s her preoccupation with all the media, but she’s being civil with me today, seemingly unconcerned with whether I may be sleeping with the boss and trying to get me fired for it. Or maybe we’ve just done a good enough job at covering it up that she actually doesn’t suspect anything anymore.
“Come on, we can’t let him derail everything. That’s what he wants, to make Henry look bad. We’re here to make him look good, and we have a lot of work to do before we can make sure that happens.” She glances at her watch with a groan. “And forty-five minutes to do it before you need to be with him.”
That’s forty-five minutes too long.
I need to see Henry right now.
I need to know that everything Scott said was a lie.
~ ~ ~
“God, I can’t wait until this weekend is over. I need a day off,” Belinda grumbles under her breath as we speed through the hall, her heels clicking noisily on the tile. We’re back in the underground part of the hotel, far away from the guests. I’ve been watching over my shoulder for Scott, but thankfully he’s not lurking down here.
“What will you do on your day off?”
She snorts. “What is there to do around here?”
“I don’t know. Go for a hike? Take the ferry into Homer? Borrow one of the staff kayaks?” What would I do on a day off? Get Henry to take me out for a drive, somewhere remote and beautiful, where we can take our clothes off and be as loud as we want without concern of observers. Ideally where there aren’t grizzly bears to interrupt us this time.
Or maybe I’d just lock the doors, draw the blinds,
and strip down and distract him from his work.
I bite the insides of my cheeks to quash the goofy grin from taking form on my face.
Luckily, Belinda doesn’t notice. “Bugs and wilderness. My two favorite things.” She jabs at the elevator button. “More like order room service and watch Netflix, and tell the world to fuck right off. I can’t wait to get back to New York.”
“You don’t like it up here?”
“I’m a city girl. The quiet drives me crazy. You have the schedule, right?”
I tap the screen of my iPad, where the media and interview schedule that Belinda laid out is ready. Henry is booked solid from noon until four, where he gets a quick break to change for the ceremony and dinner event. Four hours of talking and charming people in one setting or another, and answering questions. Not exactly glamorous.
“There will be a lot of people floating around, trying to grab his attention for as long as he’ll give it. He needs to be courteous and charming, but keep things flowing. He can’t be looking at his watch and worrying about time, because it makes people feel like they’re unimportant. He needs to give each person his undivided attention. Your job is to manage him. Keep him moving and on time. How good are you at interrupting people?”
Terrible. Absolutely awful. “I’ll do what needs to be done.”
“Good. I’ll be floating around, making sure everything else is going off without a hitch. Flawless operation is everything today.” She smoothes her hands over her business suit—yet another black jacket and skirt combo that’s probably too provocative for a hotel manager, but Henry’s not saying anything to her about it. She’s immaculate as usual, her blonde hair down in smooth waves today. I wonder how long it takes her to do that.
“Has anyone ever told you that you look at lot like Sharon Stone?” I blurt out, followed quickly by, “The much younger version of her. You know, Basic Instinct?”
She smirks. “Aren’t you like twelve? When would you have watched that?”
“Twenty-one. And it was on TV late one night.” My parents were fast asleep upstairs. I clutched the remote tight, ready to switch the channel at the first sound of a stair creak.
“Hmm... Yes, I’ve heard that. Once or twice.” She smiles to herself and I’m pretty sure I’ve just earned some brownie points with the Wolf Cove hotel manager.
