Page 22 of Elliot

“I am.” Elliot shook the woman’s hand. “And I know your son.”

“Oh, really, which one?” the woman asked.

“Don’t do it, Elliot. Don’t say my name.”

“Conner.” Elliot smiled at the woman.

Olivia Solomon smiled. “I’m so proud of that young man. He flew the coop and made a wonderful life for himself. Have you met his wife?”

“Wait a second, whoever you’re talking to isn’t my mother. My mother doesn’t say nice things about me. I need a visual. I’m tapping into the cameras.”

“No, ma’am. I haven’t had the pleasure.”

“They’re absolutely perfect together. Oh, there’s Calvin Lethrow. He’s been avoiding me.” The woman laughed. “It looks like he’s out of luck. It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Sawyer.”

“Now,that’smy mom. Run, Calvin, run!” Con laughed.

“She’s remarkable, and I wouldn’t be nearly as successful without her,” Maya said. “Shall we get a drink?”

“After talking to my mom, everyone needs a drink. Just saying. I’m running that douche canoe, Kates, now.”

Elliot nodded, and they walked to the bar. After he retrieved her a glass of champagne and seltzer water for himself, they moved to the side of the room, and Elliot asked, “Tell me more about Chandler Kates.”

Maya rolled her eyes. “I made the very unfortunate mistake of going out on a date with him. Once. We had dinner and drinks. He was nice, charming, and a complete ass to the servers. That told me all I needed to know about him. Unfortunately, he thought that entitled him to open access to my bedroom and me. After a very heated argument, he left. But he’s never stopped calling. I block his number, and he gets a new one. He’s shown up at the office. I’ve told him never to come to my office again, or I’d have him arrested.”

“And yet he thinks the two of you are in love. That you’ll come back to him.”

She sighed. “He’s delusional. We had one date. Yes, I talked to him on the phone. I wasn’t going to leave the situation between us as a rift, but I’m not too worried about him. He’s harmless.”

He didn’t disagree with the delusional description. It was the harmless portion he had an issue with. Elliot kept his eyesmoving. There were faces of people he recognized from the national news and one or two A-list actors in the crowd. He did a double take when he noticed a man he’d seen many times before. He held up his finger, halting Maya’s conversation. “Smoke, are you working this event?”

The guy turned to look at him. “Hey, Elliot. We had to come. Charley deemed it necessary because she doesn’t get out in the field much anymore, so here I am with short brown hair instead of my usual long blonde, ducking the people who think I look like my dear brother.” He spread out his hands and smiled.

Elliot chuckled and glanced down at Maya. “Sorry, the boss’s boss or something like that is helping us out tonight.”

“When you figure out what I am, would you let me know? Right now, it seems like I’m a jack of all trades and ace of none,” Charley said as she moved up next to Smoke.

Elliot nodded. “Ma’am.”

Charley groaned. “Gag. Do you really need to call me that?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She stressed, “My name is Charlie.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Elliot said again.

“I don’t know who you’re talking to, but that means you’re not discussing it anymore, doesn’t it?” Maya said, hiding her mouth with her champagne flute.

Elliot winked at her.

“Whatever.” Charley flipped her long dark hair over her shoulder. “They’ll be opening the dining area in two minutes. We’re at the rear of the dining room, so we’ll have a good field of view. Con, did you get anything on that jack-off talking to Elliot earlier?”

“Nothing too disturbing. Trust fund baby. Had several startups that failed miserably. He’s got a sealed juvie record, and I’m digging into that. He set off warning bells. Maybe just because he’s a smarmy, slimy bastard, but still.”

“I agree,” Elliot added to the conversation. “It looks as if the program is about to start.” That was said to Maya.

“We’re seated with Olivia,” Maya said and motioned toward Con’s mom.

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