Page 10 of Peyton's Price

Of course he had. Peyton was an institution here. He’d built this hotel with her and his siblings. She’d been with them since the very beginning, doing whatever was needed.

When they’d been struggling to keep his parents B&B open, he’d complained their website was buggy. Their archaic online reservation needed an overhaul, but they couldn’t afford to pay a programmer. A ten-year-old Peyton had taught herself to program in HTML on his old laptop to code a new one. She’d later learned Java, Python, and C++—all before finishing high school. Peyton was irreplaceable.

Liam leaned over to put a hand on the front of his desk. Inexplicably, he suddenly felt a little lightheaded and his skin felt clammy. “Peyton can’t leave the Caislean. This is her home. We’re her family.”

His brother snorted. “Technically, we’re not…and I don’t think we can top the offer she received.”

Liam scoffed. “If it’s a question of money, we can up her pay. That’s not an issue. We’ll offer her stock if we have to,” he said, suddenly wondering why he hadn’t thought about it before.

Trick was strangely quiet, just watching him. “I don’t think that’s going to be enough. Eva headhunted her personally.”

Incredulous, Liam said, “Sergei’s Eva?Shepoached Peyton?”

Trick avoided his eyes. “I don’t think it counts as poaching if the person is ready to leave. This job is at Adstringo—the tech company that’s in the news all the time. It’s kind of a big deal, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, yadda, yadda…”

So what? Peyton wouldn’t leave for a flashy start-up. She was too smart to put her eggs in a basket that might declare bankruptcy in a year or two.

Except Sergei was behind the company, which meant it wouldn’t be floundering any time soon—if ever.

“This is insane,” Liam groused, waving a hand as if he could ward off more thing he didn’t want to hear. “I’m going down to her office to talk to her in person.”

“It’s too late. She’s gone.”

“What? She didn’t even give two weeks’ notice?”

“Nope. Not that she could have. You know how the start-up world is. When they want something, they want it yesterday. Maggie and Jason helped her pack up and ship her place over the weekend. She’sgone. Moved to California late last week…and she’s not coming back.”

Liam had an overwhelming urge to get up and deck his brother, but that would have been shooting the messenger. “Is she still mad about Caroline usurping her party? I know it was bad timing, but Peyton can’t be holding a grudge. If she is, I’ll make it up to her.”

Shaking his head, Trick stood. He put his hands on his hips with an air of frustrated exhaustion. “Don’t bother, Liam. We were on borrowed time with her. She’s determined to make a new life in California, one that won’t include us. Just…just let her go.”

Stunned, Liam clenched his fist. Peyton was one of Trick’s best friends. “I don’t get how you can be so—so blasé about this? Why aren’t you willing to fight for her?”

His brother’s laugh was sharp and short. “Liam, I love you, but you’re a fucking idiot. About this matter, you always have been.”

Trick went to the door, opened it, then pivoted to scrutinize him hard. “Can I ask you something? Did you really think Peyton was going to stick around to watch you marry someone else?”

His brother didn’t wait for an answer. A moment later, the door swung shut behind him, leaving Liam alone, gut-punched. He staggered to his feet, pressing a fist against his belly until the urge to be sick all over his desk passed.

Chapter 6

One month later

Liam gripped the steering wheel, scanning the street for approaching cars.What the fuck am I doing?

He sat in a parked car, stalking his little sister’s best friend. He’d been here for four hours, and he didn’t even know why. It wasn’t as if he could talk Peyton into moving back.

It had been a hellish month since she had moved. Maggie was miserable, and both Trick and Jason were short-tempered. It felt as if the entire staff of the Boston Caislean was downcast. No one smiled in Liam’s presence anymore.

Except for Caroline. The woman had been looking at an endless stream of linens, table settings, and flowers. She was probably buried in pattern books at this moment. Needless to say, she hadn’t noticed that anything was off.

It was going to be all right, he thought, uncomfortably aware his words felt like a lie. Trick had been right when he’d said they couldn’t keep someone of Peyton’s caliber stuck working in their IT department.

He fingered the check his accountant had sent over a few days ago. It was from Peyton. She’d addressed it to the Caislean instead of to him personally. However, the memo portion of the check made what it was supposed to be for clear.

50% tuition + 50% DC debt.

The reference to tuition had been self-explanatory, but the accountant had wanted to know what bill Peyton had run up in Washington D.C. that hadn’t been comped by the hotel. Liam ordered the check to be sent to him directly, without explaining that D.C. stood for Donald Carson, Peyton’s father.

---