AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Seven
“It’s good to have you back, Red.” Scott squeezed my shoulder as he sat next to me in the conference room.
It was weird to be back in the office. Good, but weird.
“I figured it was the least I could do after moving up the opening date for The Palace. Now that the press has gotten bored with me and decamped from in front of the building, I should be able to resume my normal schedule.”
Ashley handed me a bottle of water. “They packed it up after someone leaked that contract you had Jazz write up to sign over your shares of SA Designs.”
“Ka Chan wrote it up.”
“Fine. The contract you had Ka Chan write up. Know anything about that?” She tilted her head, a perfect eyebrow raised.
I shook my head as I uncapped the water. “No idea.” The Moretti PR team advised me to not leak the contract since they were showing support for their wrongfully accused CEO. Still, I couldn’t stand the thought of my friends being harassed by the media. Eventually, they relented, leaked the contract, and we were free of the bloodsucking assholes, at least for the time being.
“Mhm. Just know I destroyed the contract. You’re stuck with us.”
“Yeah. Yeah.” I tossed the cap at Ashley, and she caught it out of the air. “Miranda.”
Her head shot up at the sound of her name.
“I think it might be time to move you up to the offices. With me coming back, I don’t want you to be shoved back into reception.”
“Yeah?” She gave me a cautious smile as Ashley slid a nameplate engraved with Miranda Garcia across the table.
“Welcome upstairs, Ms. Garcia.” Ashley clapped, and Scott joined in.
Miranda picked up the silver rectangle and held it to her chest, wiping away a fake tear. “You like me. You really like me.”
“It’s more than like, lady. We love you. We need you. You stepped up big time over the last month while I was out. And for that, I will be forever grateful. It’s time for you to find your replacement at the front desk.”
“On it.” She tapped away on her laptop with her long-manicured nails, her ponytail swaying. Knowing her, she’d have interviews scheduled for that afternoon and her replacement onboarded by Monday.
Axel strolled in, surprisingly late. “Sasha.”
“Axel. It’s good to see you.”
“Same.” He sat next to Ashley and opened his Moleskin notebook. When he looked up, I started the meeting. “I wanted to check in with you on the new timeline and ensure you weren’t plotting my death.”
Scott dramatically flipped open his laptop, and his fingers flew over the keyboard. “From where I’m sitting, we should be fine. It’ll be tight, and I’ll have to hire some temporary help, but we're good as long as the construction crew keeps to their schedule.”
“I’ve made a few alterations to my designs to allow for the time crunch. The updated files are in the project folder.” Axel jotted a note, no doubt already working on the next project.
“Perfect. Ash?”
She smiled and leaned back in her chair. “One perk of all my binders is I have a plan for every possibility. We’re now operating on the ‘everything is perfect, and money is no object’ timeline.”
“You’re a goddess. A saint. I should’ve never been worried.”
Thanks to my amazing team, about two tons of stress melted off my shoulders. I was relieved to not only have this project well in hand but to still be able to call these people my friends and co-owners. In the end, I was grateful Ashley didn’t accept my offer to walk away.
Scott shut his laptop. “Now that we’ve gone over all the work stuff, why don’t you fill us in on what’s going on with you?”
I sighed as everyone cautiously watched me. “Not much has changed since you saw me flee my own wedding. We hired new counsel, but I still haven’t seen Luca.”
“It’s been a month.” Ashley tilted her head, a frown creasing her brow, her full lips pulling down.
“Just about. I have a meeting with Fern and the Morettis this afternoon to see what’s being done, but I’m tired.”
