Page 106 of Family Bonds- Kelsey & Van

“Good for you,” she said.

Ten more minutes went by and nothing was changing.

No security to talk to them yet and the noise was almost getting louder in defiance for getting talked to.

She and Van were watching from the window.

“Shit,” he said.

“What?” She looked over and saw two people getting into it.

“Looks like another guest is going to take matters into his own hands.”

She watched Van get up and walk out the door. She left Frankie where he was and followed after him.

“Wait up,” she said.

“Go back to the room, Kelsey.”

“No,” she said. “It’s not just you that owns this.”

She had no problem throwing her name out there if someone gave Van a hard time.

He was racing down the stairs and out the door and by the time they got there, a security officer had shown up and was screaming at the party to settle down and holding the guest back.

There was no control over the situation and the security guard almost seemed to escalate it more.

Van got out there and stood in front of the security office. “Everyone. Enough!” he shouted.

“I’ve got this,” the security officer snapped at Van.

“Obviously you don’t. If everyone doesn’t settle down I’m calling the police. In the meantime, as the owner of this hotel, I’m giving you one warning. Go back to your rooms and call it a night. If you don’t settle down I’ll be forced to have you removed from the premises.”

There were a lot of grumbles, but everyone left and went to their rooms. Kelsey could tell the men had a bit too much to drink. Some of the women too, but the tone of Van’s voice actually got them in order.

“Listen,” the security guard said, coming over to Van. “I don’t know who you are, but you had no right to do that.”

“I’m Van Harlowe,” he said. “I own half of this hotel.”

The security guard shook his head. “Kyle Raymond owns this hotel now and Christian Cromer runs it. I’ve never heard of you.”

“You should get your facts straight then,” Kelsey said. “But it seems to me you can’t handle your job enough to know who owns what. I’m Kelsey Raymond. Kyle’s daughter. Van does own half of the hotel with my father. We can call him and verify right now if you’d like?”

She pulled her phone out and the guy’s face paled. “No,” he said. “That’s fine. I wasn’t aware you were on the premises. But that isn’t how we handle these situations. You don’t know that. Maybe you should go back to letting your father run things. We could get a bad review now.”

She frowned. “Over the noise or the people causing the noise? If I were you I’d be more concerned about what I’ll make sure is done to you for not doingyourjob as we’ve been watching this party since before the noise ordinance hit.”

“The ones you just threatened,” the guard said, sending a look to Van. Maybe she should have just kept her words to herself, but she wasn’t one to hold back.

“I’d be more worried about those guests that called to complain about the rules not being followed rather than the ones breaking the rules and being told to cut it out,” he said.

Van turned and left, grabbing her arm and urging her to go too. She wouldn’t fight him off in front of people but wasn’t thrilled she didn’t get to say more than she had.

“Well, my father is going to find out soon enough. I’m sure Christian will too,” she said.

“I expect it,” he said.

“Why did you pull me away and not stay longer?”

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