26. Chapter 26
Chapter 26
“See? Everything went smoothly.” Magnolia smiled up at Ezra, who hadn’t wanted to let her come into the office this morning.
And if she was being honest, she’d have preferred to stay at the safe house and work from her laptop. But she’d wanted to show everyone at work that she was okay, especially after yesterday.
They’d all been prepping a huge deal and she was the lead. The owner. Everyone needed to feel confident right now. If they didn’t get this bid, they’d be fine, but she wanted the challenge of this one. And fine, she wanted to stick it to Austin Jameson.
Maybe she was as petty as him. Ugh.
Ezra’s expression didn’t change as he stood from the seat in front of her desk.
She’d left him in her office while holding a conference call with her team about the architect they’d scored for this bid. And they were very excited. Christmas Eve was in one week exactly and they were to have their bids in by the twenty first.
The Gray Corporation planned to go over everything over the holiday break and let everyone know who’d won after New Year’s. Then if her team won the bid, it was time to get to work.
And the rest of her meetings had gone smoothly as well. Plus she’d put out a few fires for a handful of other projects. It was good she’d come in, but she was definitely ready to call it a day .
Her desk phone beeped, then Alice, the firm’s admin, came over the line. “There’s an Austin Jameson at the front desk to see you. I’ve explained to him that you’re in a meeting but he’s been insisting—”
“It’s fine, Alice, I’ll be out in a minute. Don’t offer him any refreshments.”
“Absolutely not.” Magnolia swore she could actually hear the smile in Alice’s voice.
“I’m coming with you.” Ezra fell in step with her, and while she had no problem dealing with nuisances, she was glad for his presence now.
Going into anaphylactic shock after over a decade of not dealing with an allergic reaction had shocked her system. A server at a restaurant had made a mistake years ago and given her the wrong dish. Luckily she’d had her EpiPen—always did now. She carried it in her purse religiously. After her recent attack, she now had one in her pocket for good measure.
She let the glass door to the main set of offices click behind her before she and Ezra strode across the lobby toward an annoyed-looking Jameson.
He shoved up from the couch he’d been lounging on while angrily typing something into his phone. “Did you tell the cops I poisoned you?”
She blinked in surprise. “Excuse me?”
He took a menacing step toward her, his normally handsome face mottled with rage. “I got pulled out of a meeting by some bitch detective asking if I poisoned you.”
She doubted it had happened that way at all. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I do know that the police were planning to question everyone who was here yesterday morning after I went into anaphylactic shock.”
Next to her Ezra was quiet, but his presence was a comfort to her.
“Bullshit! You told the cops I poisoned you—”
Ezra moved in front of her when Jameson took a step closer, waaaay too much into her personal space. “You need to leave now and you’re officially banned from this building. If you don’t comply, we’ll be taking out a restraining order against you.”
The man turned all his ire on Ezra, who was a lot bigger than him. And a lot more dangerous, though Jameson might not realize that in his agitated state. Or maybe he did, because he took a small step back.
But Magnolia saw it. Internally smirked. That’s right, big tough guy wants to get in my face, but not Ezra’s.
Jameson looked Ezra up and down but didn’t say another word. He simply sneered, then swiveled on his heel and stormed out.
“Do you want me to call the police?” Alice was out from behind her desk, eyes wide. “He’s always been creepy, but that was scary.”
“You don’t need to call anyone, but he’s not allowed in the building again. Please send out an all-staff message that no one is to allow him inside.”
Alice nodded, then turned, her heels clicking quickly as she hurried back to her desk.
She glanced back at Ezra, saw him pocketing his phone with a smug expression. She wanted to ask who he’d been texting, but simply said, “Let’s get out of here.” She’d done everything she’d needed and anything else she could handle from the safe house.
He just grunted as he placed his hand at the small of her back, using his body to protect hers as they stepped out into the gated parking lot. She wasn’t even sure if he was aware of it, but he used his body as a shield, and good god, universe, she was only so strong!
Maybe she could bribe the universe. Hmmm.
Once they were in his SUV and pulling out, she said, “So who’d you text back there? Because you looked like the proverbial cat that ate the canary.”
“It was nothing,” he said a bit too quickly.
“Oh, was it your girlfriend?” she asked, hoping for a reaction.
He shot her a confused look. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“I know.” Or, she’d been pretty sure he didn’t have one. “So what did you do? Because I know that look. You did something.”
“I might have asked Berlin to snag the recording of Jameson cursing at you and calling Detective Flores a bitch from your security feeds.”
She hadn’t been sure what she’d expected, but it hadn’t been that. “Why? ”
“It’s going into a file we have on him. Over the last six years he’s had a handful of women quit his company after complaints of sexual harassment. He’s currently being sued by two of them. We’re saving this and sending it to their lawyers to help their case. The disrespectful way he speaks to you and about a female detective on that recording could help add to the picture they’re trying to paint of him. A very accurate picture, I might add. Maybe it’ll never make it to court, but it could force him to settle.”
Okay, now she was truly surprised. Speechless, at least for a moment. “I’ve never even heard a whisper about him like that. Sure, he’s a jerk. A big one,” she admitted.
“One you dated?” he asked as he merged into the heavy traffic.
There was construction on the opposite side of the road—because there was always construction here—so four lanes were now two and the congestion was going to be bad the whole way home.
“Oh my god, we didn’t date! I don’t know why Kendra said that. We went to one gala together and I hadn’t even realized it was a date. I thought it was a professional, networking thing—” Her words ended as Ezra cursed.
“Hold on,” he ordered.
She jerked forward under a bone-rattling impact as someone slammed into them from behind. They didn’t fly into the flow of heavy traffic as Ezra slammed on the brakes. She jerked forward, but the seat belt held firm, holding her in place with bruising force.
“What the hell?” She turned around and realized that this wasn’t an accident.
A black pickup truck with a grill on it reversed, then slammed into them again.
Ezra kicked the SUV into reverse, held the wheel tight, the tires squealing as he pushed back against the force of the truck.
“He’s trying to push us into traffic!” Oh god. She whipped out her phone, called Camila instead of 911.
“I’ve got this,” Ezra gritted out, his eyes on the rearview as he pressed on the gas. Their tires continued to squeal loudly as he revved it.
Just as suddenly Ezra threw the SUV into drive as the pressure stopped .
The oversized truck swerved onto the sidewalk, then over the grassy, tree-lined median, knocking out an azalea bush as he flew into the opposite direction of traffic.
Horns blasted, and people shouted obscenities, but the guy kept going, shoving his way through cars, knocking little ones out of the way until he ran up on another sidewalk, then took a hard right turn out of sight.
“Magnolia, are you there!”
She realized Camila had answered. “Wh… Yeah. I’m here. We need help.”