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I can only imagine what they’re saying at Chanler and Cort. There’s no way our PR department is going to put out a statement about my love life. Or whatever the heck this is.
If you grab a dictionary and look up ‘stick in the ass,’ you’ll see the logo for my grandfather’s bank. Old. Wealthy. Zero sense of humor.
This whole situation probably has them worked into a lather because whatever their feelings about employees having a personal life, their standard response is no comment.
Questions of impropriety by a C-level executive? No comment.
Chairman of the board having a stroke? No comment.
They’re like the British royal family. Stiff upper lip and silence. They only tell investors enough to keep them from selling their stock.
Gabe shakes his head. “The head of the department thinks the whole auction thing is archaic. A throwback to the Middle Ages. But she’s the least of our problems right now.”
I grip my phone tighter. There’s a bigger problem? Maybe I should have looked. Like I said, pulled on the big girl panties and checked the damage. Was it too much to hope that the fire burned itself out overnight?
Gabe cuts a look at Alex.
He waves a hand at the old but delicate pink Louis XV chair. “Have a seat.”
Those words in that voice put my nerves on edge. But I do as he suggests, folding myself into the chair, crossing my legs at the ankles and tucking my phone beneath my left thigh. Alex claims the bucket to my right, dwarfing it.
“Because no one’s heard from you, they’re claiming we might have kidnapped you,” he says.
“What?” My jaw drops, and I stare at him. Then at Gabe and back. “You’re joking.”
He gives a single shake of his head.
My temper flashes hot. Bright.
“I haven’t been gone a full twenty-four hours.”
“No one’s called in a missing person’s report or anything like that. It’s just speculation on social media and whispers in some rags.”
I sigh and shake my head. “I didn’t think it could get any weirder than last night, but apparently, I was wrong.” My voice rises with each word.
I glance at Gabe. The tech tycoon looks adorably baffled. Like he’s trying to figure out how the world works. And Alex is still steady as a boulder. Unflappable.
And that calm seeps into me.
I grab it with both hands and pull myself up above the mental waves crashing over my head. It’s like he’s comfortable being uncomfortable. And if anyone knows how to fake comfortable, it’s me.
I take a deep breath and nod, letting my mind run. Damage control. Because I’m not letting these men take the heat for everything.
“Should we try to go back to the city?” Gabe asks.
“Don’t love that idea,” Alex says, holding my gaze.
“Surely our building isn’t surrounded still.”
I’m with him on that one.
“It’s not that.” He finally glances at his best friend. “We need to get a security detail worked out for her.”
“What?” My gaze skips to Alex, brows jumping toward the ceiling.
He leans forward, elbows on his knees. “You just had two of Manhattan’s wealthiest bachelors bid a million dollars each to date you, Katie Bird. That’s put a big target on your back.”
22
