“We’re fucked?”
His gaze snapped to mine. “Let’s just say I’m worried.” He dropped his hand. “Where’s Blake? And why isn’t he with you?”
“He’s on the fifth floor.”
His brows snapped down over his bright blue eyes. “He’s got a wild hair for a design now?”
“Well, that’s what he wants everyone to think. He’s combing through the data on his system.”
“Gotta hand it to that guy. Not an idiot.”
“No.” I twisted my keys on my bag. “Should we tell him what you found?”
“At lunch. We’ll see if he finds the same things I did.”
“Okay. Good idea.”
Jack opened the door. “Ready?”
I smoothed my hand over my middle. “Yeah. Let’s get this charade over with.”
We both moved into the corridor. Jack’s assistant, Derek, waved on his way into Jack’s wing of the top floor.
“I have three calls this morning I can’t miss. And you’re covering for Blake on the Los Angeles call with Lila?”
I nodded. “Yeah, it’s just a check-in so the assistants are all that’s necessary.”
“Okay, good. Let me know if you need anything.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You always are. We were lost when you were gone for those few weeks.”
I grinned as I dumped my bag into my drawer. “Thanks. Blake would rather saw off his tongue than say that.”
“You know him all too well.”
“Yeah, I do.” I dropped into my seat and booted up my system. “I think nutty chicken should be on the menu for later.”
“I think that can be arranged.” Jack gave me a little salute.
The morning went into fast forward after that. Lila Shawcross—now Crandall—and I met via vid conference at eleven. Otherwise, the entire morning was filled with administrative duties that left me far too much time to think.
How on Earth was my grandmother involved with something so nefarious? The biggest conversation piece we had around the dinner table was which family was throwing the bigger summer bash. Who was sleeping with who, and who got the bigger divorce settlement.
I rarely cared about the goings on of the Marblehead rich, but I listened to my grandmother because that’s what you did when you loved your family. And she always seemed to get such a kick out of the gossip.
But now it looked like she’d been stirring half of it.
My lips twitched as the messenger box blinked, dragging me out of my overactive mind.
Blake
Have you crumbled my empire this morning?
Only a quarter crumbled. I think we’ll be able to fix everything over nutty chicken this afternoon.
Blake