Page 127 of Tasty Cherry

I consider gunning it, but I don’t. She’s probably right to come as a buffer. She and Mila have totally hit it off. She’s been showing Mila how to paint while Mila teaches her interior design principles. They’re always up to something when I’m cooking.

I grip the steering wheel. Am I prepared to jettison this job over her?

Totally. Absolutely.

Arya launches back into the car, a pair of yellow Converse in her arms. “Let’s go.”

I race to the hotel, cursing myself for accepting Jessie and Raya’s insistence that I leave for the day. I should have been there. Mila is bound to be upset.

When we get to the hotel, I get my first shock of the evening when my ID won’t open the back door.

What the ever-loving hell?

It’s five-twenty, and most of the professional staff will have left already. Housekeeping and the kitchen staff will be there, though.

“Should we drive around front?” Arya asks.

We might have to.

I stand there, knowing that only Raya currently has the level of access to cut me out with Havannah gone. The only other person is Hank in security, but he was off today.

Why would she do this? They can’t make a decision as big as firing me without Havannah’s involvement.

Unless they are planning to put me on a leave of absence until she returns.

“All right,” I say. “Let’s go around.” It won’t help much, as I’ll only be able to go into the lobby without my own ID badge working. Sasha will be there, though, and her clearance is pretty high.

We only take about three steps when the door pops open. I turn around.

It’s Maverick of all people, holding a bin of what appears to be chopped hay.

I grab the door before it can close. “What do you have there?” I ask, mainly to stop him so I can judge if he knows anything.

“Jed had the kitchens mix some greens into the hay for the pregnant donkeys.” He heads on, but manages to toss back, “I heard you finally got busted.” He laughs. “We’re all black sheep.”

I exchange a glance with Arya.

“He didn’t even say hello to me,” she says.

“Well, we learned two things,” I say. “People know about Mila, but not that I’m pushed out.”

We walk inside the hall to the competing smells of laundry detergent and cooking, which is like home to me.

“I haven’t been up here in a while,” Arya says.

I text Mila again. I’m at the hotel.

Still nothing.

An additional concern hits me. What if they told her she couldn’t talk to me anymore? How did they threaten her, exactly?

My anger surges. Now I’m pissed.

“Who do you think leaked the information?” Arya asks. “It should only have been a very small group who knew.”

“Raya came in with someone. They might have seen.”

Anna’s office is locked up and dark.

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