Page 2 of Nothing to Win

Here’s hoping Brogan Spurn agreed.

Said friend leaped up and rushed toward the men en route to the double doors behind the blonde.

“Brogan!”Shanna called out like they were friends rather than strangers.“Brogan!”

By reputation, Spurn was not one for theatrics.Add to that the private executive floor probably wasn’t accustomed to overt displays of distress.Which would be why all eyes swung their way in time with the elevator clique stopping.

Spurn addressed the blonde.“She is not on my schedule,” he drawled.“And if this is a prank, you’re fired.”

The blonde didn’t speak, just raised the arm crooked near her body to extend a manicured index finger not at Shanna, but at her.

And there it was, everyone’s scrutiny.

Mortifying.

“That one is?”Spurn asked, no less impressed.

“She’s a Sear.”

Nothing covert about this anymore.

Deep in enemy camp, her nerve would have to hold.Hold.Hold.

“Show them in.”

Breaking away from the others, Spurn continued into his office.Whispers and mumbles rose when he departed the outer chamber.The pause felt practiced.How many times had Spurn blown his stack before his people learned to keep their speculation private?

Stuffy offices and flashy suits reminded her too much of her father and brother.It might be in her blood, but the uptight environment with its restrictive manners had never appealed.Their desperate cause was the only thing that drove her across the threshold of his flashy office.

“A Sear on my schedule, I expected your father or brother.”In the corner, back to them, Spurn poured three drinks from the Waterford.“The prized daughter didn’t enter my mind.”

“Do you start all your meetings with alcohol?”Gia asked.

“Meetings after a big win, yes,” he said, replacing the stopper and picking up two glasses to cross to her, ignoring Shanna.“We signed the Lang deal.”

Gia took the glass he put in her hand, failing to give him the desired reaction.Subdued and sinister, the triumph on his face expected something she couldn’t provide.Poor guy didn’t know she was oblivious to official Sear business.Official and unofficial.All business, Sear or not.

“Congratulations,” she said and his head tilted.“You despise my family and only deal with each other when one of you has something to gain over the other.That’s the extent of my knowledge on the subject.Petty games don’t interest me.That’s not why we came.”

“Does your father know you’re here?”

“No.”

The side of his mouth twitched.“Now I’m intrigued.”

Shanna got the other drink on Spurn’s way back to the decanter to retrieve his own.

Her friend spoke, “We’re here about Jarrod.”

The glass in his hand stopped rising.He mumbled something she didn’t hear, cast the liquor aside, and went to his desk to press a button on the phone.

“Get security in here.”

“No,” Shanna said in a panic, rushing to the desk, slamming down her drink.“You have to listen, he’s in trouble.He’s gone!They took him, someone, they took him.We have to find him!”

“I don’t have to do shit,” he said, returning to the alcohol.

“He’s your brother!”Shanna wailed.