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“You heard her, they were safe until I came back into her life. What is happening here?”
“I don’t know, but between both our companies, we have the means to figure it out.”
“I guess I’m working with Elora.” I shake my head.
Remi chuckles, and I turn to stare out the window as we go the couple miles to the corporate headquarters for BUTEE.
We park a couple blocks away and walk the remaining distance. The tall structure is listed among the top ten of tallest buildings in Seattle. The building was already under construction when Elora swept in and bought it and the company building it. I’d looked at buying it, but she beat me to it. I’d mentioned it to my board. They were in the process of deciding whether we would go forward with putting in an offer when we found out that BUTEE had purchased it. It was one of the first times I was pissed at Elora, and it started my hatred for her. She’s been cutting around me ever since. I swear she’s a thorn in my side and has one of my board members on her payroll.
We step through the entrance and find the security rivals the TSA. Everyone is directed to go through a security scanner similar to what you see in courthouses and federal buildings. Dogs with their handlers are weaving around the floor along with additional guards. I’ve never been in the building before and look around.
“Dang, are we meeting the president?” Remi jokes, and a man in a suit walks up to us.
“Hello, Mr. Prentrick, and, Mr. Oakley. If you could follow me, I’ll get you checked in. I’m Justin, the head of BUTEE security.” Both of us look at him in shock. He knew who we were right away. For Remi, that’s not surprising. But unless this guy is reading the most eligible and richest bachelors in Seattle blogs, he shouldn’t know what I look like. “Ms. Danvers contacted me and let me know you were coming.”
We nod and make a face at each other before we follow him toward a set of scanners off to the side.
“This area is for employees and people who work in the building.” He points to the other area. “That one is for visitors.”
“Do you always have your security on high alert?” Remi looks around.
“We always have the scanners because of the potential for corporate espionage. But we upped our security last night after Ms. Bennington was attacked and the threats began.”
“What threats?” I go to grab the man, but he turns to me and looks down at my hand, stopping me. Justin is as big as I am but probably way more trained than me. I’ve been boxing since I was a young boy, but this man looks like he was trained in the military or something more.
He directs us to go through the scanner. We walk through it one at a time. When it beeps for me, I look around. Justin then takes a handheld scanner and runs it over my body from head to toe. It beeps when he reaches my shoes.
“I’m going to have to see your shoes,” he says, and I slip them off. He runs them through a machine and then hands them back.
“Well, did you find anything, and are you going to tell me about the threats?” My patience is wearing thin now.
“I’ll let Ms. Danvers explain both situations to you. I’m not sure what I can and can’t share with you.”
“You’ll share whatever you know. Briar is mine, and that’s my son.” I raise my voice, and Justin’s eyes flare wide for only a moment.
“Yes, sir. Ah, here is Ms. Danvers now,” he says as Elora walks up.
She’s dressed in an all-white pantsuit that hugs her subtle curves. Her striking red hair is pulled back into a low ponytail hanging down her back.
“Thank you, Justin. Thor, it’s nice to hear you say that, but you need to prove it to all of us. We’ve watched for years as Briar does everything on her own.”
“Now, wait. I didn’t know about Orion.” I jump to defend myself.
She holds up a hand to stop me. “I know that, but again, you have a lot to make up for.” She turns and heads toward a hallway with a large bank of elevators. “This way.” She leads us to the one at the end and waves a badge in front of it. The doors open and we step inside. “This is the express. It will take us up to the executive offices.”
“Tell me where Briar is and what happened.”
“We’ll discuss it when we get to my office. I have a feeling this building has ears that it shouldn’t.”
“I know the feeling. I’m sure you’ve had someone on my board for years by how you are able to underbid and get deals before I can.”
She turns to look at the elevator doors and doesn’t acknowledge my accusations.
We are silent until the doors slide open. I see a woman sitting at a desk with two offices behind her. One is larger than the other. Elora heads for the slightly smaller one. Once we are through the doorway, she closes the door behind us before she moves to her desk. I watch as she clicks several keys on her computer.
“Okay, the room is secure for now. The tracking chip in your shoe was disabled by our machine downstairs. The person tracking you will know you were here though. I can’t change that.”
“Tracking chip?” Remi asks before I can gather my words.
