Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Quincy
My nerves were completely shot even before Chester walked into the large conference room, where his presentation was all set up and ready to go.
“Do you have the microphone ready for people to ask questions?” I asked Steven as he worked with the control panel at the side of the room, making sure the microphone Chester would wear had batteries and was ready to go.
“Senator Salisbury said he didn’t want questions,” Steven said, not looking very pleased about it.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up. “There have to be questions,” I said. “I mean, I know people are going to want to know a lot more about this app and its possibilities.”
“I’m sure they will,” Steven said. “I have a microphone here that we can use if Mr. Monk decides he wants a Q&A, but Senator Salisbury was pretty clear that he just wants Monk to do his presentation and get out of his way.”
I tried not to scream. I tried not to burst right out of my skin. I couldn’t shake the feeling that Jack’s dad knew what we were up to and was one step ahead of us.
Either that or he had other reasons for not wanting people to question Chester’s app too closely, or to question their association. There could have been a million reasons why the two of them wanted to keep everything as innocent and unquestioned as possible.
“Just make sure there’s a way for someone to speak up if they need to,” I said, turning away.
“Quincy,” Steven stopped me with a cagey look. When I turned back to him, he went on with, “We all know something fishy is going on.”
“We?”
“The whole team,” Steven said. He stepped away from the control consol and rubbed the back of his neck. “Word got out that you used to be bonded to Chester Monk.”
I felt like I’d been hit by an electric arrow. All I could do was nod silently and swallow the bile that rose up in my throat.
“What he did to you was shitty,” Steven went on. “If I thought I could get away from it and keep my job, I’d cut his mic in the middle of his presentation or show his slides upside down or something. Hell, I’d electrocute the stage. The man is a first-class asshole.”
“Yeah, he is,” I said, my voice hoarse.
“But he’s friends with a senator.” Steven said less with those words than he did with his eyes as he stared at me.
I understood the meaning of that look. Steven knew as much as I did that we were in a dangerous situation, dealing with powerful people.
“Just make sure someone, a reporter, maybe, can ask questions at the end of Chester’s presentation,” I said. “Maybe in the middle of it.”
Steven took a breath like he knew I was planning something big and risky, but he nodded and went back to work.
I walked away, glancing around the room as it continued to fill with people.
Ideally, I wanted to find a quiet corner or blend into the crowd to watch how things unfolded as Jack’s reporter friend challenged both Chester and Salisbury.
It was nearly impossible to blend in with pink and purple hair, though, even though I was short.
Since I couldn’t blend, I said a quick prayer that Jack would arrive on the scene soon so I could stand by him. The next best thing to being invisible as a plan unfolded was to stand by the side of someone who knew what was happening and could protect me from any fallout.
But Jack wasn’t there yet. Neither was Chester, for that matter, and the presentation was supposed to start soon. The room quickly went from crowded to packed, and the sound of that many people chattering excitedly about what they were about to learn was deafening. Or maybe that was just my nerves.
Those nerves got another jolt when I spotted Mr. German and Mr. Schubert walking into the room from one of the doors that led to a service corridor.
Walking in with Senator Salisbury.
“Shit,” I hissed, pressing a hand over my roiling stomach.
I watched them intently, trying to make out what German and Salisbury were saying as they walked casually to the side of the stage.
Maybe it was nothing. Maybe German was getting an early jump on the story by talking to Salisbury beforehand.
Schubert seemed particularly interested in their conversation, and by the way he held up his phone as he walked a step behind the alphas, he was recording things.
Any hope I had that things would work out easily withered as Salisbury broke into a smile and shook German’s hand before stepping away from him.
“No, you are not going to—”
The desperate thought didn’t make it past my lips. Salisbury glanced my way, and even though I was relatively certain he was looking for something or someone else, he spotted me. His expression darkened, and he changed directions to stride toward me.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I whispered. I glanced around, desperate for Jack to show up and save me, but I was completely on my own.
There was nothing to do but stand straight and face Salisbury boldly as he reached me.
“I would advise you to leave before things become untenable for you,” Salisbury said as soon as we were face to face.
His comment was haughty, cold, and probably meant about fifty different things.
“I work here,” I said, immediately feeling stupid. I hated the feeling that I was outmatched by the nasty alpha deliberately towering over me.
Salisbury huffed a small laugh and smiled tightly. “Do you?”
I swallowed. That was definitely a threat.
“You can’t intimidate me out of protecting what’s mine,” I said instead, proud of how ferocious I sounded without tipping over into feral.
Salisbury just kept smiling. “Omegas are so soft in the head.” He leaned closer to me and said, “You are outmatched and outclassed. The best thing you can do right now is walk away and forget you ever knew my son.”
Yep. The man definitely knew what was going on behind the scenes.
“I don’t think that’s up to you to decide,” I said.
“It most definitely is,” Salisbury countered.
I wanted to say more, to keep fighting, but Salisbury straightened and glanced past my shoulder. I turned as well, and nearly swore out loud when I saw Jack marching into the room.
The fact that he marched in about ten feet behind Chester, with both of them looking like they’d just come from a fight, didn’t settle my nerves at all, though. Especially since they both saw us and were heading right toward us.
“Are you ready for your presentation?” Salisbury asked Chester, barely looking at his own son.
“Ready as I’ll ever be, sir,” Chester said with a fake smile.
“Good,” Salisbury nodded. “Come.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood up as Salisbury escorted Chester away from me and Jack and across to the stage.
The lack of any sort of confrontation between Salisbury and Jack, the way the two of us were more or less ignored in favor of Chester and the presentation, didn’t sit right with me at all.
“I have a really bad feeling about this,” I said, gesturing for Jack to go with me to the side of the room where Steven and the control consol were.
“Why?” Jack asked. “Has something happened?” Before I could answer, he went on with, “German is here. That’s good.”
I shook my head. “I’m not so sure. German and your dad were talking earlier.”
“Oh.” That was all Jack said, and the single syllable did not sit easily on his lips.
“Are we about to watch our salvation or a train wreck?” I asked, subtly taking his hand, even though I had to hide the fact that I was holding it.
Jack looked down at me, all kinds of emotion in his eyes. Some of it was intriguingly hopeful, but mostly he looked as worried as I was.
“Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention,” Salisbury said from the stage, which he’d mounted with Chester while Jack and I had taken up our positions.
The room was quick to quiet as everyone took their seats. Steven dimmed the room’s lighting a little so the screen on the stage showed up better. It made Salisbury the focal point of the room, which gave me about twelve different kinds of bad feelings.
“Welcome to the keynote presentation of the Barrington Technology Expo,” Salisbury said with a wolfish smile.
“I suppose you’re all curious about why a state senator cares so much about technology.
” He got a small, eager reaction for that.
“I have always been fascinated by technology and the wonders that computers can perform for us,” he went on.
“This sort of technology holds the keys to making all of our lives easier, to ending joblessness and food insecurity, to improving our skill sets and creating a better future for all.”
“He doesn’t care about any of those things,” Jack muttered beside me. “He just wants to make himself rich.”
“I am championing Mr. Chester Monk, today and as his business grows,” Salisbury went on, “because I believe his ideas and the applications he has for those ideas are the future of Barrington and beyond. And so, it is with great pride and honor that I present you with Mr. Chester Monk and his Fast Track app.”
Salisbury stepped back, and the crowd applauded as Chester stepped forward, waving to his audience. Even with all that approval and interest, Chester was awkward and tense.
“Thank you, Senator Salisbury,” he said, gripping the podium with white knuckles once he got to it. “Believe me, I couldn’t do any of this without the good senator’s assistance. Salisbury for governor, am I right?”
Chester laughed uncomfortably. About half the audience shared his awkward, stilted laughter.
Salisbury stood off to the side with a frown.
Everything within me bristled with urgency.
German could use Chester’s awkward comment and the way he kept glancing to Salisbury as he began his presentation with an overview of his ad targeting app.
It would be easy for the reporter to ask for clarification about the relationship between the two men, and then to go on from there.