Chapter 3
By the time she stepped into her suite, Geri’s head was throbbing and she was ready to collapse. She didn’t dare take a nap—her sleep schedule would get too jacked up, and she’d be a wreck for the rest of the week—but staying awake until this evening was going to take some effort.
At least she had some time to herself now. Hotel staff had taken Andrew and Beth to their suites down the hall, and after a great deal of insistence that she could unpack her own luggage, plus a generous tip, they’d left Geri alone. The staff had seemed puzzled by that—no doubt they were used to accommodating people of her social stature who expected menial tasks to be performed by someone else. God knew Geri’s parents would have had half the hotel’s payroll in here making sure clothing was arranged in dressers and closets, toiletries were laid out according to specific instructions, and the refrigerator and minibar were stocked just so.
Geri preferred to settle into hotel rooms by herself, and that preference had intensified after she’d ascended to her father’s role as CEO. With her every word and motion being picked apart by a board searching for any reason to oust her, she was desperate for something private.
And, ironically given the power her title implied, she jealously guarded her privacy in hotel rooms as well as her bedroom at home because they were among the precious few areas in her life where she maintained control. In here, no one questioned her decisions, no one moved anything, and anyone who so much breathed an opinion could be booted without a second thought.
So, for a solid hour after she’d turned the deadbolt behind her small entourage, she made the suite into her temporary home. Putting her watch and phone on the righthand nightstand so they’d be within reach. Arranging her toiletries on the counter and in the shower stall. Mentally inventorying everything to be sure she hadn’t forgotten something. Hanging her pantsuits and dresses in the closet. Tucking all her more casual clothes into the deep drawers of the teak bureau and her suitcases into the back of the closet. Moving the colorful flower arrangement and Welcome to RightPriceTek’s Investor Getaway card to the dresser so she could put her laptop and peripherals on the coffee table.
The place was oddly minimalist, all things considered. The furniture was all luxury hardwood, but the walls—apart from the giant flat screen TV—were bare. No overly expensive modern art piece in sight. No excruciatingly bland watercolor prints. No monotonous landscapes in pale pastels. Just stark, bare walls painted a faint blue-gray that was so light, it was only a shade or two removed from white.
It was… weirdly bleak and cold. Not at all the kind of warm, welcoming environment she’d come to expect in high end hotels. Maybe that was something to point out on the inevitable how was your visit? survey.
She could live with it though, and while the suite wasn’t home, it was hers. Bleak, bare walls or not, this would be her oasis of calm and relaxation this week. When the meetings were over and she could bow out of the inevitable schmoozing, she could come up here, indulge in a cigarette or a little weed on the balcony, and lounge on the bed to watch a stupid movie on the giant flat screen. Who would’ve thought becoming CEO of a powerful organization would mean thrilling in these rare moments of no one telling her what to do or saying she couldn’t just kick back with a damn movie?
Surveying the room, she took and released a deep breath. Yes. She was settled in. She could face the week as long as she had this place to escape to when she hit her saturation point.
She couldn’t relax, though. In her mind’s eye, she kept seeing that flash of a gun turret on top of a Humvee. Kevin had had an explanation for it, one that made sense, and she still couldn’t be sure she’d actually seen the gun, but her stomach couldn’t quite calm down. Especially since while she didn’t know if she’d imagined the fifty cal, she hadn’t imagined the uncomfortable shift in Tyson’s posture. Though he hadn’t breathed a word, she’d felt the spike in tension.
But that wasn’t the only thing that didn’t sit quite right.
When the car had arrived in front of the hotel, staff had descended on them and the vehicle carrying their luggage. Kevin had chattered incessantly at Geri, telling her more about all the fabulous amenities, but she’d tuned him out enough to take in her surroundings.
Geri had been to more Caribbean islands and resorts than she could count. They were as familiar to her as the private schools she’d attended and the homes her parents had in Switzerland and the Hamptons.
Faraway Resort checked most of the boxes she was accustomed to, but one thing jumped out at her along with the apparition-like glimpse of the Humvee—the resort staff was conspicuously homogenous. They were all white, and their accents were strikingly similar.
They were strikingly white and American.
All of them.
There wasn’t even a lot of variation between their accents—nothing to place someone in the Deep South or New England or anywhere else. Nothing to hint at the Midwest or any other region. Just very non-descript American instead of the accents she expected to hear in the Caribbean.
Okay, so if there wasn’t anything else on the island except for the resort, then there wouldn’t be a local population to exploit for labor, but it was odd that everyone who’d been brought here to work was a white American.
She didn’t know if that was a red flag, a green one, or nothing at all. If it was a reason to be concerned or just a thing. She just knew it was strange, and strange was disconcerting.
A knock at the door startled her so hard she gasped.
Then she rolled her eyes. She seriously needed to ask someone about that joint. Stat.
Geri turned the deadbolt and opened the door. Beth was there, now sporting a short-sleeved blouse and a pair of shorts. Her hair was damp, and she had a half-sleepy, half-satisfied gleam in her eyes that Geri recognized from a mile away.
“Are you serious?” Geri laughed as she waved her assistant into the room. “We’ve been here three hours, and you’ve already gotten laid?”
Beth grinned unrepentantly. “Did you see the guy pushing the luggage cart? You’d have done him too if you’d had the chance.”
Geri turned the deadbolt again and huffed a laugh. “I don’t get how you even have the energy.”
“Because I didn’t spend the entire flight trying to Force choke Andrew.” Her assistant perched in one of the chairs by the balcony door. “I was tired just watching you and him staring each other down.”
Geri groaned as she took the other chair. “You’re telling me.” She shook herself. “And by the way, you’re sure you have enough of—”
“Geri.” Beth rolled her eyes. “I appreciate the concern, but for the billionth time, I promise—we’re here for a week, and I still have enough to last me two.”
Geri nodded. Her assistant was insulin dependent, and she’d once had her backpack stolen along with a week’s worth of her meds. She’d still had some in her toiletry kit, but it had taken longer than Geri liked for her to replace what had gone missing. So now, whenever they traveled, Geri fretted and worried about Beth running out.
But as always, Beth was on top of things and had herself covered.
“So what’s up?” Geri asked. “Or did you just come over here to gloat about nailing…?” She inclined her head.
“His name is Mark, and no, I didn’t just come over here to brag about the fact that he has a legit six-pack and—”
“Oh my God. Shut up.” Geri laughed again. Just this playful banter with her unapologetically promiscuous assistant brought some life back into her. Beth was excellent at her job, but secretly, half the reason Geri kept her around was for this.
Beth sobered a bit, and she shifted in the chair, lacing her fingers around her knee. “There was something a little weird about him, though.”
Geri straightened. “Weird, how?”
“Well…” Beth’s eyes lost focus, and she chewed her lip. Then she met Geri’s gaze again. “While we were, you know, taking a break between rounds, we were kind of chatting. He asked if I was looking forward to the boat trip tomorrow. You know, the one where the company is taking all the assistants and employees out while you guys have to go to that investor meeting?”
Geri nodded. RightPriceTek had been emphatic that everyone in an attendee’s entourage could expect star treatment as well, and after tomorrow’s breakfast, they were all going out on a day cruise. “Yeah?”
Beth fidgeted again. “I told him I wasn’t going to go. Because, I mean…” She waved her hand.
“Right, of course.” Anyone who knew Beth knew she was deathly afraid of the water, and going out on a day cruise would be pure hell.
“He got…” She quirked her lips as if she wasn’t quite sure how to word it. “Like, he got really insistent that I should go. Not like he was mad or insulted that I wanted to bow out, but like… I don’t know. It wasn’t like he couldn’t get his head around the idea that someone wouldn’t want to go on something like that—it was like he thought I needed to go. Like I have to go. It was weird.”
“And you still went a second round with him?” Geri asked dryly. “When he obviously doesn’t care what you want?”
“But that’s the thing—in bed, he’s totally in tune and always asking what I like and… Anyway. Like I said, it wasn’t forceful or mean. He was just really weird about that one specific thing.”
“I assume you still didn’t agree to go.”
“Oh God, no.” She shuddered and chafed her arms. “Not a chance.”
“And you still had sex with him. Again.”
“Well, yeah.” A little smirk played at her lips. “Once his mouth was busy, he shut up about the day cruise and he was amazing.” The smirk died. “But doesn’t that seem weird to you?”
Geri thumbed the hem of her blouse. Yeah, it did seem weird. And any other time, she’d have played it off as just another guy saying dumb things.
But the Humvee.
But the all-white all-American staff.
But the cold, blank walls that were just a little strange.
Her gaze drifted to the flowers and the Welcome to RightPriceTek’s Investor Getaway card.
Yeah. Something was weird.
Or maybe she was just getting paranoid. Hyperaware of anything that could possibly indicate this retreat was a scam and she was wasting time and money. She needed this investment to be everything RightPriceTek promised it would be, so of course she was jumpy about it.
Get a grip, she ordered herself. Yes. That was exactly what she needed to do. Calm the hell down, get a grip, and pull herself together so she’d be ready to bring her A-game to the negotiating table once RightPriceTek finished its sales pitch.
Maybe now would be a good time for that movie.
And some weed.