Emma knew she’d made a mistake the second the elevator doors opened. The clean, crisp reception area she looked out at seemed so calm and peaceful and quiet. In her mind, she saw herself confidently striding up to the receptionist and giving her a cool stare. “I’m here for Victoria Green.” The receptionist would stutter, and Emma would calmly brush off her protests and insist that she bring the CEO out. From there, she and Victoria could finally sit down and talk...
The elevator doors started to close and Emma quickly stumbled out into the lobby. The receptionist was now full-on staring at her and she knew she couldn’t wimp out. She clutched her purse even tighter to her side as if it were a shield as she approached the desk.
“Hi there. How can I help you?” asked the friendly woman behind the desk. Instead of the hot, twenty-something woman Emma thought she’d be facing off with, the receptionist was a woman in her late fifties or early sixties whose hair was dotted with bits of gray and whose smile lit up her entire face.
“Um, I’m here to talk to Victoria Green.”
“I’m sorry, but Ms. Green isn’t in the office today. Is there someone else I can get for you, or can I take a message?”
Emma’s mouth dropped open before she abruptly closed it. This wasn’t part of the plan! “I can wait. Will she be back soon?”
“Unfortunately, she’s not scheduled to be back today.”
Great. This entire stupid trip over to Hunt Tower was for nothing. “I’ll probably just go then.” Emma tried to look as though she hadn’t just made a fool of herself. Who walked into a billion-dollar corporation and asked for the CEO with no appointment set? But for some reason she’d been so sure that Victoria would be there and she could get the answers to her questions.
She mumbled a thanks before she turned and retreated back to the elevator she’d just come from. Once she got in and the doors closed, she was confronted with her reflection.
“Way to go,” she said to the door. “You’ve been in the city all of twelve hours and you’ve already made an ass of yourself.” Of course, it wasn’t really as bad as she made it out to be. It wasn’t as if the receptionist pointed and laughed at the silly woman who thought she could just waltz in and talk to Victoria Green.
If Emma wanted to find out the truth about what happened between Victoria Green and her sister, she’d have to take a different approach. Emma adjusted the scarf around her neck, trying to get used to the feel of the excess fabric against her skin. She hardly ever wore scarves back home in Georgia, but she wanted to fit into the stylish crowd of the city.
But the fact that it was suddenly bothering her now was probably more to do with her embarrassment, considering the itchy material hadn’t bothered her before. She untied the delicate white and blue floral patterned fabric and let it hang loosely around her shoulders. She took a few deep breaths. It wasn’t as though she was out of options. She still hadn’t visited Joslyn’s apartment to look for clues about what she had been up to in the city. And it was possible that Victoria would agree to a meeting. Not a good chance, but Emma might be able to appeal to her sense of family.
Though Emma couldn’t promise how she would react had their places been reversed. If Victoria’s sister had tried to kill Emma, Emma wouldn’t want to be within a ten-mile radius of any of Victoria’s family members. That was why she wanted to surprise Victoria. Just a few quick questions about the circumstances that led up to Joslyn’s apparent psychotic break.
The elevator doors opened on the first floor and Emma adjusted her scarf once more. Her cousins were big-time city businessmen, or at least they loved to act the part. Maybe they could finagle a meeting with Victoria.
With every step she took in the lobby and then out the door, she felt like more and more of an outsider. All these normal people around her with normal lives and normal jobs. Whereas Emma had a psycho for a sister and extended family that could compete with any of the reigning reality show casts out there.
But she wasn’t back home in Georgia now. This was New York, where no one knew who she was. So one receptionist thought she was crazy. No big deal. She could still play the part of the rich, sophisticated heiress. Two of the three were true anyway.
With her head held high, Emma passed through the revolving door into the busy city streets. But before she could strut to the waiting cabs as though she owned the city, the wind promptly caught her scarf and blew it clean off her neck.
“Damn it!” Abandoning all hope of looking dignified, she ran after the rapidly retreating scarf.
Jace leaned back against the doorjamb and looked over the wall of monitors and computer screens that covered the security office of Green & Sons.
He might actually miss this little job. He’d thought playing babysitter to the head of a hardware store chain would be boring, but Victoria had been interesting as hell, and her schedule was anything but dull. Not to mention the fact that she wasn’t just some paranoid lady with too much money. Someone really had tried to kill her.
But now that Joslyn Devereaux was locked up tight, he wasn’t going to stick around. As soon as Gordon and one of the HR reps got back with his exit paperwork, he’d be gone.
The phone on the desk rang and Jace looked over his shoulder. It didn’t look as though Gordon would be back any time soon, and the other guy who worked security was out for the day.
As the phone rang for a fifth time, he leaned forward and snatched up the headset. “Jace here.”
“Oh, I thought this was your last day,” said Denise in her trademark cheery voice.
“I’m heading out any minute now. What’s up?”
“Well, it’s probably nothing. There was just the oddest woman in here asking for Ms. Green. She left, but I still wanted to let you guys know.”
Jace pulled the chair out to sit down and keyed his password into the system. “When was this?”
“Not thirty seconds ago. She just stepped onto the elevator.”
His fingers flew across the keyboard and he brought up the monitor from the reception area. The woman didn’t look all that threatening. From what he could see through the black-and-white monitor, she was tiny and not exactly the dangerous type.
But she did seem anxious. Her wide eyes and hesitant walk definitely told him something was up. Something about her seemed familiar too, but he couldn’t put a finger on it. “Did she leave a name?”
“No, nothing. As soon as she heard Ms. Green wasn’t in, she bolted.”
“I’ll check it out and make sure she leaves the building,” he assured her.
“It’s probably nothing, but I appreciate it, Jace.” Denise hung up.
Jace twisted off the chair and rushed out of the security office and down the hall to the service elevator. The woman was probably in the lobby already, but the service elevator was much faster and less crowded than the main elevator bank.
When the doors opened, he scanned the lobby of Hunt Tower. It would’ve been easy enough to spot one tiny woman wearing an oversized scarf. But he didn’t know what color her hair or clothes were, so it wasn’t as easy as he would’ve hoped.
Jace crossed through the lobby, keeping his eye out. Even if he found her, he didn’t know what he’d do. It wasn’t as if he could pull her back in and interrogate her. He just couldn’t drop the nagging feeling that he should know her.