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Still, what my watchers saw was more important than what they couldn’t see. So I didn’t bother investing much in my office.
However, leading Hale to it, for the first time, I was embarrassed by it.
I entered, he came in after me, and I turned to him just in time to watch him shut the door in a way that was both controlled, and still furious.
When he turned his attention to me, I began, “I know I haven’t been returning your tex—”
He cut me off by asking, “What the fuck is this shit, Elsa?”
I tried again. “I was just about to explain—”
“I bought the fucking building having no idea you could relocate to Syria and be safer going to work.”
I shut my mouth in surprise.
Hale didn’t.
“Jesus Christ, there’s not even a security system in this fucking place.”
Nugget of news: we’d spoken on the phone, exchanged texts, and as mentioned, I’d been in the same place as him. But we’d never officially met.
So much forhow do you do.
“I—”
“I’m shutting it down until I can get some security measures installed.”
I felt my eyes get huge and my heartrate spike.
“Coded doors. Outdoor cameras. Indoor cameras,” he continued. “New windows with wire in them. Uniformed personnel conducting drive-bys and random checks. And it’s fucking freezing in here and your guy out there said the heating is constantly on the fritz. I’ll be seeing to that as well.”
My eyes stayed huge, but this time, my breath went funny.
“I’ll have my assistant inform you when you’re safe to reenter the building,” he finished.
It took some effort, but I found my voice. “Hale, you can’t shut me down. This is where I do my work. If I don’t have access to this space, I can’t do my work.”
“You can take a week.”
What?
“I can’t take a week,” I snapped. “And furthermore,youcan’t tell me I can take a week. You don’t know the first thing about my business. So allow me to educate you, celebrity news is a twenty-four seven thing. It never stops. You have to be on it all the time. I haven’t had a vacation in three years.”
“Now’s your shot.”
Was he crazy?
“Hale—”
“This isn’t up for discussion, Elsa,” he stated dismissively. “The world can live without youron-ditsfor a week.”
Myon-dits?
“I take what I do seriously,” I informed him.
“I can tell. However, we both know what you do isn’t actually serious.”
Oh my God!
