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Vince snatched the phone. The other two marshals left, and Charlie checked the windows, the exits, the balcony. Vince hated room service. It was too dicey, but at the end of the order, he said, “Don’t send it up. I’ll be down to get it shortly.”
Fedorov scowled at him. “That’s going to take forever.”
“Do you want to eat or not?” he snapped.
The man rolled his eyes and turned away. Vince clarified the order, then hung up. “Said to give them fifteen minutes, but they’d call when it was ready.”
Fedorov nodded and Vince paced the room. He wasn’t usually so itchy, but this case had him scratching and pacing. And rechecking the windows. Going down to get the food was an extra precaution. If he got it directly from the kitchen, it would change hands only one time, which made it less likely for anyone to get to it.
Fifteen minutes later, when the phone rang, he jumped. Charlie glanced at him, a question in his blue eyes.
Vince waved him off. “I’m fine. I’ll be right back.” He answered the phone, confirmed the order, checked his weapon, reholstered it, then slipped out the door. Once in the hallway, he paused and tapped out a text to Raina.
I’m thinking about you today. A lot. Are you okay?
He walked to the elevator and stepped inside when the doors opened. A glance at his screen showed she’d read the text, but no three little dots appeared to indicate her responding. Maybe she was just busy and would respond later when she had a moment. He needed to quit assuming the worst. The problem was, he’d never been so insecure about asking a woman out. He almost smiled. His sister would say he deserved every insecure moment that came his way, that he needed to be taken down a notch or two. The smile slid away. What was it about Raina that tugged at him so hard? If the woman wasn’t interested, then she wasn’t interested, right?
Grabbing the food from the kitchen interrupted his internal debate only for a few minutes and then he was back on the elevator and heading up.
So ... fine. Move on.
But he couldn’t and that very fact was driving him nuts. He had to figure out why, then maybe he’d be able to let it go. Let Raina go and quit chasing her. He tucked the phone into the clip on his belt and wondered what would happen if she actually let him catch her?
The mental picture of his heart shattering into a million pieces was not exactly encouraging.
????
MONDAY AFTERNOON
LOS ANGELES
Simon Baldridge pinched the bridge of his nose, huffed a sigh, then closed the spreadsheet on his screen. No matter how many times he went over the numbers, they weren’t going to change. Real estate could be a tricky business, and in the beginning, when he’d first gotten involved in developing, he could seem to do no wrong. His fortune had accumulated quickly, and soon he and his wife had been living the good life. He’d never expected that to come crashing down, so he’d lived well and spent more than he brought in. Now he was in danger of losing everything.
Thankfully, the recent sale of the Burbank property would keep him afloat for a couple more months. Maybe three if he was careful.
Susanna, one of the cleaning ladies with the service he used, stepped out of the bathroom, the lemon scent of whatever she’d sprayed coming with her. She tossed him a slight smile, even though her forehead wrinkled. “All done in there, Mr. Baldridge. So sorry to have to clean while you’re here.”
“It’s okay, I had a change of plans.”
“Thank you, sir, have a good day.”
“Thank you, Susanna. You have a good one too.”
She slipped out of the office. His mind returned to his financial situation, and he closed his eyes, wishing he could just go to sleep and forget everything. But the reality was, if something didn’t happen to turn things around, he was going to have to say goodbye to Susanna and start cleaning his own bathrooms.
He snorted. Like that was going to happen. He had a plan. A good plan. He just had to make sure it played out.
A knock on the door pried his eyes open to see Christopher, his eldest son, just inside the entrance. Simon forced a smile. “Ah, there he is. The future governor of California and, hopefully,future brother-in-law to Daph—” The ominous expression on Christopher’s face stopped him. “What?”
“We may have a problem.” Christopher walked toward the desk and perched on the edge of the chair across from his dad. He placed both elbows on his thighs and clasped his hands between his knees.
“Of course we do.” Couldn’t anything just go how it was supposed to? “Does this have to do with the Granger case?” Christopher was in day two of negotiations to keep Senator Granger from going to prison. The senator had hired Christopher’s firm when he was charged with embezzling government funds. “You have a few more gray hairs than you did yesterday.”
Christopher rolled his eyes. “Funny. No, nothing to do with that.”
Simon lifted the picture of his deceased wife from his desk. “I guess it’s a good thing your mother isn’t here to have to deal with all of this. I still can’t believe she left me.”
“She died, Dad. It wasn’t exactly her choice to leave.”
