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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“And they weren’t here when you came in this morning?” Brick repeated the very question he’d asked me about a dozen time since he’d walked in the door. “None of them?”
I shook my head and bit my lip. “At first, I just thought you’d put them somewhere.”
“Where the fuck would I put them?” he exploded, losing his cool. “This was the best place to leave them. Christ.” He gripped his hair with both hands. “That was the best fucking portfolio my people had ever put together.”
Wringing my hands, I looked around the office as if hoping at least one of the prints we’d assembled yesterday would suddenly appear from thin air.
“You know who’s behind this, don’t you?” he raged, pacing the floor like a captured wolf, ready to tear out the throat of the first person who opened the door to his cage. “My vindictive bitch of a mother, that’s who. Well, this is crossing the line. Chasing away all my women was one thing, but this shit ain’t cool. She not only messed with my work, but my employees’ work. No one gets away with fucking over my people. Those were original, one-of-a-kind designs, and they put a lot of heart and soul into drafting them. Now we’re going to have to scramble to come up with some shoddy, second-best piece of shit presentation because Lana Judge cares more about her son’s misery than getting quality performance from her own company. God! The more I think about it, the more it just… Pisses me off! I’m going to go talk to her. I’m going to wrap my hands around her lying, wrinkled, old throat until she tells me what she did with my goddamn—”
“Hey. Hey!”
Ezra appeared in the opening of the office, his hands lifted, as he blocked the way to keep Brick from leaving. “What the hell is going on in here? I could hear you shouting all the way from my office.”
Cringing, I glanced out the glass walls to see more than a couple people curiously trying to get a peek inside. Whoops.
Meanwhile, Brick ranted loudly, filling Ezra in on everything.
“Our portfolio for the presentation tomorrow is missing. The whole damn thing. And I know exactly who took it. My pathetic excuse of a mother, that’s who. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a woman to choke.”
He tried to barrel past Ezra, but Ezra merely set a hand on his chest and pushed him back into the office. Then he entered with us and shut the door behind him.
“First off, take a breath, man, and calm down.”
Brick gaped at him as if he were insane. “Calm down? How the fuck can I calm down when she—”
“Calm… Down,” Ezra growled, pointing at him.
Brick shot him a look to kill and growled deep in his throat. But when Ezra narrowed his eyes, standing firm, he sniffed out an aggravated grumble and turned away. He paced the floor silently for nearly a minute, until he stopped walking and stood in the middle of the room with his hands on his hips.
“Okay,” he said, sounding tons better. “I’m calmer.”
“Good.” Ezra nodded. “How sure are you that Lana took them?”
“A hundred percent,” Brick started, only to glare at me when I shook my head over such a high number.
Ezra glanced between the two of us.
Relenting his first claim with a huff, Brick said, “Okay, ninety percent sure. But who else could it be?”
Nodding, Ezra rationally answered, “You’re probably right. But you can’t just blow into her office, making a claim like that.” When Brick opened his mouth to argue that point, Ezra went on. “This is business, so I’ll talk to her and ask if she knows anything about the portfolio.”
“Oh, I want to be the one to talk to her,” Brick said.
Ezra shook his head. “No. That’s not a good idea. Meanwhile…” He glanced my way. “Wouldn’t it be nice if someone had made copies of the entire portfolio, so you could use that as backup if you have to?”
“Ooh!” I hopped on my toes, realizing he was right. I’d totally forgotten. “Me! I scanned copies of every page.”
Brick whirled to me, his shock evident. “You did? Are you fucking serious?”
I nodded. “Yes. We might not have the originals, but we still have every design we wanted to present.”
“Holy fucking shit, kid.” He breathed out a drained breath and stalked toward me. “You’re a lifesaver. Thank you.”
He pulled me into his arms and gave me a bone-crushing hug. I met Ezra’s gaze over his shoulder, so I could mouth the words thank you
to him for reminding me all wasn’t quite as lost as we’d feared.
