In the doorway, I pause and out hold my hand. “It’s a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Lowe.”
He shakes my hand, and his smile grows wider. “I’m sure you and the mayor will have plenty to talk about. He could use a good dose of reality.”
I chuckle and withdraw my hand. “Indeed.”
Conniving little shit.
After more than a year of circling and poking, I can’t believe I finally have a foot in the door.
You should have vetted the people around you more thoroughly, Mr. Mayor. You have no one to blame but yourself.
With a smile, I lead Mr. Lowe down the hallway. Carlisle is waiting for us by the back door to escort Mr. Lowe out. I shove my hands into my pockets, giddy with anticipation, until I round the corner and see Katia on the other side of the floor, standing next to an older man and woman.
The woman is wearing a long skirt and clutching her purse.
The man has wisps of hair that are plastered to his forehead, and he keeps shifting from one foot to the other.
They both look vaguely familiar, but I can’t place them right away.
It doesn’t take long for a few of the other clients to realize they’re out of place.
Katia marches over to me with a scowl, the couple in tow. She stops in front of me, steps to the side, and gestures to them. “I thought you’d prefer to take care of this problem yourself. They were going to make a scene upstairs.”
“So, you brought them here?”
“You’re going to want to hear what they have to say,” Katia maintains. “Trust me.”
“We don’t offer a couples membership,” I say. “And since you’re down here, you’ll need to sign an NDA. I’ll draw up the paperwork—”
“We’re not signing anything until we’ve come to an understanding.” The woman steps forward. “You have something of ours, Mr. Payne, and we’re not leaving until we get what we came for.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“We won’t say anything about all of…this.” She waves a hand before clutching her purse tighter. “But you owe it to us to hear us out.”
“I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but I don’t owe you shit. You have a few seconds before security throws you out on your asses.”
“Don’t talk to my wife like that.”
“Ex-wife.”
The man waves off her comment. “Now isn’t the time for semantics. We’re London’s parents, and we’re here to get our daughter back.”
My blood turns to ice as I motion to them, and they follow me down the hallway and to my office.
I can’t decide if they’re stupid, desperate, or both.
I have no idea how they found me, but it doesn’t matter.
They don’t know I’m not going to hurt them.
They know too much, but if I lay a finger on them, word will get back to London.
She might forgive me for Noah, but her parents are another matter.
Goddamn fools.
“London is free to go whenever she wants,” I tell them flatly. “You shouldn’t have come.”
