Page 50 of Stolen

“It’s all part of their brand,” I explained. “And anything that might affect the brand has to be pre-approved. Plus, for all we know, Diego’s team already sold him as a baseball obsessivesince he was a kid. The soccer thing is fun, but it could also possibly blow things up.”

“Blow things up with?”

“The sponsors—Hi! Sorry. I wasn’t talking to y—Is Mr. Watanabe there? He’s not? Can I leave a message?” I held up a finger toward Jacob, motioning for him to give me a minute. “It’s about one of his clients, Diego, and it’s urgent. You can just have him call me back whenever he’s in the office. Thanks!”

“I think you might need a break, baby.” Jacob stared at me, his eyes filled with concern. “Did you even eat lunch? Or at least, an early dinner?”

“You’re right. I do need a break. I need for someone to give me a green light to go ahead with this photoshoot idea.” I lightly laughed at my own joke. “Once we have that figured out, everything else should be smooth-ish sailing?—”

“Come with me.”

“Jacob, I can’t.” I frowned. “I need to get this taken care of?—”

“Yeah? And someone needs to take care of you.”

“You’re becoming an expert in distracting me from my work. You know that?”

“Good.” Jacob smirked. “You need someone to remind you to come up for air.”

Jacob stood up from his seat beside me and held out his hand. “Come on. I’ll have you back in time to slip right back into stress mode.”

“You’re not going to stop until I go with you, are you?”

“Bingo.”

I smirked back at Jacob, right before I closed my laptop and took his hand. A few moments later, Jacob and I were all the way down the hall, our fingers intertwined. Jacob stopped in front of a slightly larger door, with no light coming from behind it. I watched as he pulled it open, a set of steps leading down into a tunnel of darkness.

“Oh.”

“Oh?”

“Is this the part where you murder me?” I looked over at him. “Because that’s definitely a murder basement.”

“I would never murder you, Leo.”

“That’s exactly what a murderer would say.”

Jacob playfully rolled his eyes before he flicked on a light switch, one that must’ve been hidden behind the door. “It’s a basement. I found it the other day after you finished giving me the grand tour.”

“I didn’t know this place had a basement,” I murmured. “Although, I didn’t know there was a Pickleball court here, either.”

“The lodge is full of surprises,” Jacob said, as he reached for my hand again. “And we’re not even done yet.”

Jacob began to head down the basement steps, with me following his every move. Once we reached the bottom of the steps, I noticed a ladder on the side of a wall, the top of it cut off from view. Jacob moved toward the ladder, his hand leaving mine as he gripped either side of it.

“You’re not afraid of heights, are you?”

“Not when I’m around other people, no,” I said, even as a shiver of fear ran through me.

Jacob suddenly moved back from the ladder. “Here. You go first. If anything happens, I’ll be right behind you to catch you.”

“You sure about that?”

“Do you trust me?”

“You already know the answer to that.” I walked up to the ladder, gripping onto one of the higher rungs. I took in a deep breath as I began to climb it, trying my best to not think about how high up I was going or for how long. When I finally reached the top, I realized that I was still inside the lodge, justunderneath a roof that I didn’t quite recognize. I shifted away from the ladder, confusion running through my veins.

“Where are we?” I turned to look back at Jacob as he finished climbing up the ladder.

---