Chapter 108

Charles gave me an irritated look. “You can’t possibly be okay with this?”

“No. I’m not,” I said. I leaned in placing myself directly under his nose. At the same time, I drew a deep breath of his vetiver to steady myself. A moment later he did the same.

When his body relaxed, I continued.“What they’re telling us makes sense, though, and no one here seems to be acting with any sort of spite. It seems like they’re doing what they can. At least, right now, I think the best thing that we can do is go along with what they’ve said. It’s not like they’re leaving us uncomfortable.”

“That’s right. Aside from the fact that I don’t have access to my money, or my business, or you with your friends or your contacts, or even something as simple as our phones,” Charles countered.

“We should be patient,” I suggested. “If this is just one more trick to get us to submit to them, we won’t find out any faster by throwing around accusations than if we ride it out. In fact, they’re more likely to slip up and drop their guard if they’re doing something underhanded if they don’t suspect that we suspect them.”

Charles backed down some, biting at his lips. “You’re right,” he sighed. “It’s best to keep a poker face and keep your hand close.” He leaned over and kissed my forehead. “We make a good pair.”

He drew in a deep breath before sitting back in his own space. “I’m glad I have you to keep me level.”

“And I’m glad I have you to protect me,” I said. “I wouldn’t want to be too trusting.”

He leaned over and gave me a deep kiss, his tongue finding its way between my lips and asking for mine to meet it.

We made out from our own chairs, and I didn’t dare scoot any closer to him. He had such a tendency to want to do things publicly that I didn’t trust him to be decent when the governor and the administrator returned.

Sure enough. Just as his hands were starting to wander up my blouse toward my breasts, someone knocked on the door. We sat back, and I blushed, but he looked cool as a cucumber.

“We’re done discussing,” he called out.

The door opened, and the other four returned, the governor with papers in his hands.

“Who would like these?” he asked Charles and I.

“Elena, will they fit in your purse?” Charles asked.

“Yes, they will,” I said.

I tucked the papers I folded carefully in my purse.

“We’ll pursue those when we get back to the apartment,” I said.

“Excellent.” The governor gestured that both of us should stand. “In that case, why don’t we get you guys straight to work? Nothing makes a man feel more frustrated than sitting around doing nothing, especially when he isn’t on vacation. So why don’t we get you to work? And you can put all of that energy into solving this problem. Then you can get back to your old life that much faster.”

“Good plan,” Charles agreed.

“Ms. Laurentia, Minister Grey will escort you to the floor where the Palace Press operates,” Governor Allen explained. “And Charles, you may come with me.”

Charles nodded, and the two of them left the room, followed by David. Theo stayed with Minister Grey and I. Oddly, I felt comforted by this. If the administrator and the governor weren’t actually on our side, then having a witness would make me feel better, even if he was in their pay.

“Well,” Minister Grey said, gesturing towards the door, “should we get you settled and ready to report?”

“That sounds good,” I agreed, following him out the door.

The Palace Press turned out to have the entire fourth floor of the building that we were currently in. Seeing as how there were numerous floors in this building, maybe that shouldn’t have seemed so impressive to me. But I couldn’t help feeling a little thrill as we entered the offices.

It looked like most of the media companies I’d ever been in. A main desk separated the lobby from the newsroom floor, a series of cubicles occupied by writers, editors, and photographers. The heavy-duty computers identified those working on graphics or online content.

A few conference rooms and offices for lead editors and reporters lined the back of the otherwise open floor. It was to one of these that Minister Grey led me. He knocked on the door of the chief editor of the Palace Press.

The man behind the glass door stood and beckoned us in. The white lettering on his door identified him as Bruce Conroy.

“Welcome,” he said as I entered the office with Theo in tow. “You must be Ms. Laurentia.”

“Bruce Conroy. Chief Editor of the Palace Press.” He offered a hand to shake, wafting the disctinct scent of nacho cheese in my direction with his movement.

I took it and shook it.

“We’re so happy to have you here,” he said. “Imagine the prestige having such a lauded reporter on my staff will bring.”

I cocked my head and looked at him. “I thought of myself as more of the notorious sort rather than lauded.”

He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “Pot-ay-to, pot-ah-to. In the reporting business, that’s a rather ambiguous distinction sometimes, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yes,” I agreed.

Minister Grey addressed the editor-in-chief. “If there’s nothing else you need from me, I’m going to go.”

“I think we’re good. Thank you for bringing Ms. Laurentia up to my office. Since I didn’t know exactly what time you would be done. It saved me sending gophers back and forth or having to send someone running when you called.”

Minister Grey turned to me. “As the governor said before, if at any point there’s anything you need from me, feel free to call me.” He pointed to the box in my hand. “Those phones have been preloaded with some of the important numbers, and mine is among them. It’s a direct line, so you don’t have to deal with the secretary who screens my calls for me. Just leave me a voicemail, and I’ll help you in any way I can.”

He smiled. “I’ve got dozens of things to do. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be on my way. Good luck today.” He shot me one last grin and left Theo and me alone with Bruce Conroy.

“Um, this is my bodyguard, Theo. He’ll be with me all the time for the foreseeable future,” I told Mr. Conroy.

“Naturally,” Mr. Conroy said pleasantly.

He gave Theo a nod of acknowledgment, then pointed me to the chair on the outside of this desk while he sat behind the wooden behemoth.

I took the offered seat, and he pushed a laptop across the desk toward me.

“I understand your electronics are no longer safe to use,” he said. “So this one is a company computer. You’re free to use it until you either get a clean laptop or are cleared to go back to using your own.”

“Thank you,” I said, pulling the machine toward me.

“Feel free to swing by IT, and they’ll set you up with a case and all of the accounts that you need to run the machine, along with a list of passwords. And don’t worry about using it only for business. Since your other laptop isn’t clean, you can use this for whatever purposes you need to.”

He laughed. “Except maybe looking up porn. If any of my girls were looking up porn, my IT boys might blow a gasket. Because even though we’re loaning this to you as a personal and professional device, we’ll still have access to everything, and we’ll look if we think you’ve been up to something.”

He waggled his eyebrows at me. “Might have to look up your history personally if you’re up to that. But seriously, unless you give us a reason to, no one’s going to be checking in on you.”

“I’m not in need of sites like that,” I said, slowly and carefully choosing my words.

Something about that interaction seemed less jovial and more predatory than I was comfortable with. It wasn’t just his scent that was cheesy and off-putting. Fabulous. Just what I needed. Another lecherous boss.