Page 66 of It Starts With A No

“How about being glad that you’re safe?”

“Okay. I’ll accept that for now.”

“For now?”

Her brows flicked up as she smirked.

“You still haven’t told me what happened today, apart from this.” He moved over to the package and kneeled down next to it.

He turned the head so he could see the mannequin’s face.

The fake blood on the face was painted in cut-like streaks. The black wig was glued to the head, and the short length of it seemed to be haphazardly snipped. Just as the letter threatened.

“I messed up a meeting with the fraud victims,” Clary said. “The boys’ club, of course, gloated over it.”

Seth closed the flap of the box and studied the UPS label. This could probably be traced back to the sender.

“Then Neil was … inappropriate.”

Seth jerked his chin up and waited for her to continue.

“I’d prefer not to talk about it.”

He stood and strode over. He opened his mouth while questions raced through his mind. In the end, he decided on one. “Were you hurt?”

“My pride and dignity were damaged, and I feel like gagging whenever I think about what happened.” Her chest rose sharply. “But I’ll survive.”

He drew a breath through his nose. “I’m serious.”

“I’m okay.” She tucked her hair behind her ear.

Seth drew a deep breath through his nose. “Tell me you at least threw something at him.”

“I slapped him, kneed him in the groin, then stomped on his leg with my heels,” she said with a proud smile.

“Good.” He ran his tongue under his teeth. “Do you want to get out of here?”

“Yes, so much. Can we go play with more of Movement’s machines?”

“No.”

She pouted.

“I do know of a really good burger place—best burgers in San Francisco.”

“Ooh.” Her eyes grew wide. “Yes.” She turned to the door when it beeped and opened.

“Do you need anything?” her assistant asked as she peeked into the room. “If there’s nothing else, I’m going to leave for the day.” Her eyes widened when she noticed the watch on the coffee table. “Is that Hugh’s watch?”

“What makes you think so?” Seth asked before Clary could say a word.

Clary’s assistant opened and closed her mouth. Then she cleared her throat and said, “It looks expensive.”

Seth picked up the watch. “And I can’t own an expensive watch?” He already had a watch on his wrist, but it was covered by his shirt and jacket, so Clary’s assistant had no right to assume the watch was Hugh’s.

Hugh Eolenfeld might have a lot of watches, but he wasn’t the only one in the world who could own them.

“I don’t mean that,” the assistant said, her gaze scrutinizing the watch he was holding.

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