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I held her gaze long enough to see her cheeks redden. “Nice try.”
“Okay, guy, you know why I’m not concerned? Maybe it has to do with the fact that I have roamed these exact halls since I was eleven years old. Most of the time by myself. I know almost everyone here. There is nowhere on this earth that I know better.” She straightened her spine and threw back her shoulders as she gave me the business, which put her only a few inches shorter than me. She only lost some of the effect of her tirade when the sleeves of my jacket fell past her hands, and she had to shove the material up to free them.
There was a lot to unpack there, but it would have to wait.
I’d come to a decision.
“Well, it won’t be a problem anymore anyway.”
“What does that?—”
“I’m going to go find Liem now and see what he wants to do with the rest of his night,” I said, cutting her off for the second time tonight as I took my phone out to pointlessly try calling him. Any goodwill she’d felt toward me for extracting her from that velvet platform had probably turned to dust now. I shoved my phone back in my pocket when the “voicemail box full” message started. “Can I walk you to your car?”
“Umm, no.” She blew out her cheeks, mimicking me again, but I couldn’t tell if this time was intentional. “I just take the shuttle when it’s this late. It runs close enough to my street that it’s only a short walk after that.”
“You—” I stopped myself and ran my hands over my face as another surge of protective anger consumed me. Of course Liem’s new friend had the same disregard for safety as he did. Of course she did.
I kept my eyes on the floor, watching my feet eat up the length of the bridge as I simply walked away.
This does not need to be my responsibility.
I can let it go.
It is within my power to not police this woman’s well-being.
Let. It. Go.
For the first time in recent memory, I disregarded my own self-talk.
I reached the end of the bridge and looked to the ceiling, hoping for some kind of divine guidance.
And then turned back around.
12
BREE
Something had flipped in Vinh Lott.
He almost made it to the next hallway that led to the conference rooms before stopping abruptly, throwing his head back, and turning right back around.
His reaction was mystifying, and I didn’t just mean his impromptu and unfairly graceful runway walk. It was everything that had led up to it. His visible embarrassment at being complimented. The instant fury about Fortuna’s perceived lack of security. His insinuation that I should have a personal security detail, as if I were some sort of top-tier VIP act.
Those kinds of privileges were reserved for performers who frequented the casino circuit, like Carrot Top and Sinbad. Being Lady Luck as well as Miss Barb’s granddaughter didn’t get me Sinbad-level personal security. It just got me out of wearing a polyester cleaning uniform.
And some Carrot-Top-level anxiety.
“No, I don’t think I’m wrong, Bree. I think the only way we can be truly safe is with someone we love and trust watching our backs.”
His words had prodded at a wound that I hadn’t known was so large or so raw. By those parameters, I wasn’t safe. Cody wasn’t here. AJ was, but I certainly didn’t love or trust him, nor him me. I loved Grandmother, of course, but did I trust her?
No.
The answer rang through my mind in that crystal-clear way that only absolute truths could.
My reaction to Vinh was just as perplexing. The only thing that kept me from melting down into a full-blown sob fest was the full body, mind, and spirit experience of hearing my name on his lips.
He called me Bree.
