Page 61 of Savage Ruin
Jameson leans over. “When you figure it out, let me know. We’ll make sure you have whatever you need. Let’s get you both upstairs.” He raises a hand and Mitch comes over, along with another guy… Russell, maybe?
They hold the service elevator for us, and we take it directly to the executive floor without stopping. Mateo pulls me into Grayson’s office.
“What are we doing in here?”
“I’ve been avoiding the fourth floor and working from this office,” Mateo informs me.
I glance at the digital frame on the wall and notice the NFT is different. He must have changed it. “What about Grayson? Is he working in here too?”
“I don’t mind sharing,” a smooth voice murmurs in my ear.
I whirl around and face the man who had me in such turmoil when I left. “Grayson.” Without thinking too much about it, I launch myself into his arms and hug him tightly—the same way I did Mateo.
“Rose, you fucking scared the hell out of us,” he mumbles into my hair.
“I can tell,” I remark pointedly, the litany of curse words a sure sign of his worry. “It scared me, too. One second, she was standing in front of me smiling, and the next, she was gone. Then Thiago disappeared.”
“Only because I had to,” Thiago states softly from the doorway. He comes in and closes the door. “Only two good things came out of this trip—our deal with Epic Entertainment.” Prowling toward me, he leans down and gives me a hard kiss on the lips. “And Henley and me.”
He shakes his head in response to Mateo’s silent question. “We’ll all talk later. God, it’s good to see you two, but we don’t have time to visit. There’s a lot to go over.”
We move to the couch and chairs. “The meeting with the ATF went well. We crafted a solid cooperation message, and they’re willing to be here to deliver it at our press conference tomorrow. In addition, they’ll give an update on their investigation into Diego and his whereabouts.” The three men exchange silent glances.
Thiago’s face hardens. “They asked why I thought Diego might have wanted to murder Marcos. I told them we didn’t know. Gave a bit of history of how he’d been a good friend growing up and a good employee until this point, how shocked we were when we saw the video, and we could only guess his motive was money. Make sure you stick to the same.”
Mateo and Grayson both nod in agreement.
“Any updates while we were gone?” Thiago asks them.
“Party supplies are on board. Once we have a date, we’ll need two days to get the food prepped and invitations delivered,” Grayson replies.
“The fake bid is set up in the system. When we’re ready, we need to schedule the live demonstration. Philip is aware something new is coming,” Mateo adds.
“Oh, your gut was right… David Perry is in on this somehow,” I exclaim. “We saw Philip Carlton and him chatting in the courtyard this morning. Mateo says Philip introduced David as his son during a pitch last year. Although who knows if that’s true or a just a cover. If it is true… we might be able to use that information to catch them both.”
Thiago winces and runs a hand over his head. “I completely forgot about Sterling’s text when I got back last night. Totally slipped my mind.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out his phone and relays the information on David. “Could he be your stalker, Henley? It was his mother’s farmhouse.”
The gut punch is brutal. It’s one thing to think of David as a bad guy, but another to think he might know my stalker, or worse, helped him kidnap me.
“He’s not my stalker. Too short. Wrong voice. I honestly thought he was the first victim of my stalker,” I stammer. “David and I dated at MIT. I was crazy about him. Someone sent him videos of me and another guy. I tried to tell him it wasn’t me, but he wouldn’t listen and dumped me. Everything with my stalker snowballed after that point. He started sending me messages and videos of me on campus.”
“He knew him,” Grayson speculates. “But how well? Maybe Sterling can dig a little more into David’s life at MIT and see if there is any indication of whether Philip is his father.” He darts a look at Thiago, who replies to Sterling’s text with Grayson’s suggestions.
Thiago leans forward. “The press conference will be held at eleven a.m. tomorrow morning. Outside in the courtyard. We expect quite a big crowd. Jameson is calling in a few favors to make sure there aren’t any incidents. All of us need to be there, including Henley.”
Mateo folds his arms across his chest. “Henley doesn’t need to go.”
“I agree. Why in the world would you want her there… unless.” Grayson’s voice cracks and a look of disbelief takes over.
Mateo catches on quickly and jumps up. “Tell me you aren’t intending to use her as bait!”
Thiago stares steadily at Mateo.
“No fucking way,” Grayson interjects.
Mateo shakes his head. “What the hell are you thinking, Thiago? I can’t believe you, of all people, would want to put her in danger.”
Thiago jumps to his feet. “She’s already in danger. You didn’t see how quick it happened. Seconds. There was no time to react or protect her. If Melissa hadn’t followed protocol and shielded Henley’s back…” His hand covers his eyes. “It was so fucking close.”
