Chapter Thirteen
Vivian and Gaylord distracted Alex from the fact that she was practically an ex-con on house arrest.
And the house wasn’t even her own.
When Monday morning arrived and Alex watched Chase prepare to leave for the office, a good hour before she would, reality set in.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Chase said over the kitchen island as he filled his travel coffee mug.
“Like what?”
He pointed at her face. “Like that. Like I’m the one that got to pick the biggest piece of cake for myself and you got what was left.”
That made her smile. “I don’t even like cake.”
“Liar. You don’t want to like cake. There’s a difference.”
Alex rolled her eyes.
“I’ll be there by nine.”
“I know.”
“Remember ... as many department heads as we can gather for the eleven o’clock briefing,” she ordered.
They’d formulated a plan over the weekend.
Piper had constructed an email that was sent out to every manager on every floor, from the mail room to Accounting. The message was to clear their schedules and be able to jump to management meetings throughout the day.
Alex would arrive at nine, and at nine thirty the executive management would meet with the company lawyers and the heads of Human Resources.
By eleven, they’d break into two groups, where she could preside over a briefing while Chase did the same with the other half.
Then they would make a point to walk every floor, split into two groups .
.. and assure the staff that it was business as usual.
When that was completed, she’d make her departure.
The only people that would know of her exact schedule would be the members of the Stone family and Hawk. And to a certain extent, Dee.
“And the woman in Marketing. I want to talk with her directly.”
Chase tilted his head to the side. “Anything else?”
“Sarcasm isn’t sexy.”
“Good thing I’m your brother.” Chase smiled. “I gotta go.” He walked up, put both hands on her shoulders. “It’s temporary, Alex.”
She snarled, and Chase walked away.
With coffee in hand, Alex walked out into the outdoor room that overlooked the back gardens.
The fresh February morning air hinted at rain.
But the cool felt good and helped Alex clear her head.
Much as she hated to admit it, she liked the quiet and privacy that her late father’s estate afforded.
Even with her entire family residing in the home over the weekend, there was still plenty of room for everyone to find their own space.
Halfway through her first cup of coffee, Sarah joined her. “Am I interrupting?”
“Not at all.”
Sarah took a seat on an adjacent chair and curled her legs under her. “Is it weird not rushing off to the office?”
“ Weird isn’t the word I’d use. Frustrating , irritating ...”
“At least my old colleagues haven’t been hounding us.” Sarah’s journalistic skills were lost as a tabloid writer.
“Only because it’s an election year.”
“Tabloids could care less about elections. They like sex, drugs, and leaked videos,” Sarah teased.
“That sounds like politics to me,” Alex said with a grin.
Sarah pushed her eyeglasses a little farther up on her nose. “How long do you think it will take before the office realizes that you’re avoiding the place?”
“Less than a week. Considering I’ve practically lived there since we took over.”
“That’s what I concluded. And as a recovering tabloid reporter, I know that someone will inevitably find out that this whole thing was targeted at you, making your time in the office even less appealing ... until they find our Play-Doh bomber.”
“Play-Doh bomber?” Alex asked with a laugh.
“Sorry. Occupational hazard.” Sarah stretched her arm out as if she was painting on the air. “Headline. The Play-Doh Bomber Strikes Again .”
“That’s funny. Sad, but funny.”
Sarah dropped her hand to her lap. “I asked Piper what your dad did in that CEO chair and how it compares to what you do.”
“He was on autopilot. I’m not.”
Sarah nodded. “I get that. However, it might be least conspicuous if you started to do some of the things your father did, business-wise, that would keep you out of the office.”
“The issue with that is I’d have to schedule meetings, which become public knowledge. And as much as I hate how annoyingly right Hawk is about this, a random schedule is safer.”
“Maybe ...” Sarah sipped her coffee.
They sat in silence for the space of two breaths. “What do you think about Hawk?” Sarah asked.
“Arrogant.” Alex tilted her cup back. “Smart, but arrogant. And bossy. He makes me look like a kitten.”
“But good-looking,” Sarah said over her cup.
“Hence the arrogance. He’s probably used to women taking his commands without question. Broad shoulders and strong jawlines have a way of decreasing women’s ability to think for themselves.” And Alex could think for herself.
“Those shoulders, though . . .”
Alex looked up to find Sarah grinning.
“I thought you loved my brother,” Alex teased.
“Oh, I do. I’m just saying ... if you have to have a personal bodyguard, you could do worse.”
“You’ve been talking to Nick.”
Sarah’s eyes widened. “Did Nick say something?”
Alex laughed and shook her head. “Oh, please. Don’t even pretend. Nick could care less what team a man plays on—he will ogle at the way they fill out a pair of jeans regardless.”
Sarah sat back. “You did notice the jeans, then.”
“Of course I did. I’m not blind.”
“Good.”
“Good? What good?”
“I’m just happy that there’s a woman in there somewhere.”
Alex set her cold coffee down. “There’s a woman in here. She’s simply dormant. I gave up on finding what you and Max have when I accepted Daddy’s bank account.”
“Why?”
Alex lifted her hands to the outside room of the mansion that was one-third hers.
“This emasculates men. This encourages disingenuous men to sniff around. The more successful a woman is, the less desirable she is to the opposite sex. Unless the man is thirty years older, and lord knows I have daddy issues ... but no. Just no.”
“Hmmm.”
“Hmmm, what?”
“I’m searching for the flaw in your logic.”
Alex unfolded from the outdoor couch and stood. “When you find it, let me know.”
“I will. Don’t worry.”
She turned toward the house and made it to the door before Sarah called out. “Those jeans, though ...”
Alex laughed as she walked away.
Walking into Stone Enterprises with Hawk at her side couldn’t have been much different than walking in with a German Shepherd. A trained one that wore a vest saying I bite on it.
Alex stopped at the front desk. “Good morning, Malcom.”
“Good morning, Ms. Stone.”
“You remember Mr. Bronson?”
Malcom cleared his throat. “I do. Good morning.”
“Mr. Bronson and his team are now in charge of our security. If he instructs you to give access to anyone, please see to it.”
“Of course, Ms. Stone.”
“And be sure and get him a permanent ID card without any access restrictions for the building.”
“Will do.”
Alex placed a hand on the counter and smiled.
“I wanted to thank you. I was told that our security and those of you at this desk were the first in the building to be told what was happening on Friday. It would have been easy to reduce yourself to panic, but instead, the evacuation of the building went as smoothly as it possibly could.”
Malcom looked between her and Hawk. “Y-you don’t have to thank me. I have friends in this building.”
Alex pushed away from the counter. “Still. I’ll personally make sure our thanks is represented in your paycheck. And those that were here on Friday.”
Surprise lit his face. “Thank you.”
Alex glanced at Hawk and then turned.
“Mr. Bronson,” Malcom said, stopping them.
He put a temporary badge on the counter. “I’ll have a permanent one sent up within the hour.”
Hawk took the badge with a nod.
Because the workday had begun a good hour before her arrival, the lobby was empty, as was the elevator when they entered.
“That was a decent thing for you to do,” Hawk said once the door closed.
“I’m happy to be in a position where I can.”
“The perks of a stressful job.”
“There aren’t many,” Alex confessed. “Most of the time it’s—”
The elevator stopped, the doors opened, and a young man, somewhere in his late twenties, stepped in. One look at her, and his shoulders pulled back and a polite smile washed over his face. “Good morning, Ms. Stone.”
“Morning.”
When the elevator started moving again, Hawk said, “Most of the time it’s what?”
Alex looked at the back of the man in front of her and shook her head.
Another floor, and another person stepped in.
A stressful smile, a curt nod ... and tension followed them to the top floor.
Alex’s shoulders pulled back with every step she took through the executive floor.
Floyd Gatlin’s executive assistant and close friend to Piper, Julia, was the only one to offer a genuine smile. “Good morning, Julia.”
“Hello, Ms. Stone.”
“Julia.” Of all the people in the office, Julia was one of the few she wanted to use her first name.
“Nobody else calls you Alex,” she said under her breath. All the while sneaking peeks at Hawk, who hovered.
Alex glanced at him. “Julia, this is Hawk Bronson. He’s with the new security team. You’ll see him around quite a bit.”
Julia nodded several times. “That’s good. It feels weird coming to work today.”
“I’m sure.” Alex didn’t add her own unease to the conversation.
“Dee called in. I was going to get a temp, but Chase said not to bother. I cleared your schedule and his. And cleared the conference rooms for your meetings today.”
“Thank you.” Alex glanced over her shoulder. “Is Floyd here?”
“He is. But he’s downstairs with Human Resources. A lot of people called in today.”
Alex glanced at Hawk. “I suppose that’s to be expected. The authorities wouldn’t have encouraged us to resume today if they believed there was a threat.”
“Piper told me.”
“Good. The more people that understand that, the better.”
Julia smiled. “I’ll do what I can to spread the word.”
Alex tapped Julia’s desk and started down the hall.