Page 159 of Bona Fide

? Wonderwall — Oasis ?

“Sir.”Deep into the stack of bills and charts that Heidi has given me, I glance up at the door to see Mitchell standing there stoically.

“Yeah?”

“You’re needed by Miss Emmy...immediately, sir.” I look back down at my pile of ideas and all the hard work Heidi put in. I promised her we’d talk about it tomorrow over breakfast, and I haven’t been giving her as much attention as I should. She agreed to run with me and stand behind my decisions. Heidi has been one of the best decisions I’ve made since...forever.

“Can she wait, Mitch?” I press. “I really have to—”

“I’m afraid not, sir. The Oval Office has been breached.”

“Breached? Nothing is kept in there.”

“But someone was looking in there.”

“Like?” I cock my head to the side, but he straightens his spine and persists that I go find Em. Rising from my chair, I round my desk. “Alright, I’ll bite. Where is she?”

He opens my study door and waits for me to walk out. “In the Oval, sir.”

I make the daily walk down the same two hallways and same people that I’m sure pass me every day, but I can’t seem to keep all their faces categorized in my head. I extend my hand in greeting, wish my “good mornings,” and make it appear that I’m glad to see them all.

Em wouldn’t let me put name tags on people so it’s her fault that I can’t personalize.

Cracking open the Oval Office door, I find Em sitting on one of the couches with her hands clasped together. Once she sees me, she shoots up.

“We have a problem,” she asserts. I immediately notice her small frame again and frown.

“Are you not eating again, Em?” I blurt. “If we need to make it a daily thing for you to shove carbs down your mouth, I’ll do it.”

“Demi has been snooping in here.” Her ignoring my comment isn’t lost on me, but I don’t press it. She’s clearly upset about it, and, for what, I have no fucking clue.

“Okay.”

Em blinks her brown eyes at me. “That doesn’t wave a red flag in your face?”

I lift my shoulders. “Not really. She’s always been a conniving bitch and a nosey one.”

“You just had a meeting with China.”

I nod. “Yep.”

“So why is she in here all of a sudden?”

“Probably looking for information for blackmail or something. I’m not sure, Em, what’s wrong with you? Why are you so worried?”

“How can you not be worried?” she chides with slitted eyes. “She’s going through government property. Since when does she care about—” I cut her off with a step in her direction.

Something is off.

Way off if Em is freaking out over Demi, number one. Two, she knows we don’t keep any important information in here because—well, it’d be fucking dumb.

“Tell me why you’re bent out of shape so I can follow along with you,” I order. “Honestly, Em, ever since we got here…”

Her brows draw together before she fixes me with a challenging look at my next words. “Continue.”

“You’re not the same,” I deadpan, shoving my hands into the pockets of my Tom Ford suit.

“This position isn’t the same.”

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