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The shift was immediate in a visible, yet unexplainable way. The aggressive forward lean in Holb's posture folded back into itself. His hands came off the chair arms. Something in his face went uncertain in a way that had not been there two minutes ago.
Auden tilted their head slightly to the side. They said nothing. They simply looked at him with an expression that was somehow both challenging and impartial.
Holb cleared his throat. "I was just leaving.”
"Safe travels," Auden replied pleasantly before shifting to let the other man out.
He was gone nearly as fast as he’d arrived. All the bluster the man held evaporated like a drop of water on a summer sidewalk. I felt unsteady in the aftermath.
I looked at Auden. They took a sip of their coffee, which did nothing to hide their smirk.
Moseley materialized in the doorway seconds later, because of course he did. Cheyenne was directly behind him with her arms folded and the expression of a woman who wanted answers.
"What just happened?" Moseley looked between me and Auden. "He came in here ready to burn the building down, and he left looking like he'd been told off by the school principal."
"He was told off," I said. "Technically."
"That's not what I mean." Moseley pointed at Auden. "You walked in and didn't say anything and he just—he folded. Who does that?"
Auden set their coffee on the edge of my desk and opened their laptop. "Holb Nekman has a number of business interests that benefit significantly from certain relationships remaining intact. He is also not particularly careful about the methods he uses in those interests." They glanced up. "Let's say we have a mutual acquaintance who finds him considerably less charming than he finds himself."
Cheyenne narrowed her eyes. "That is not an explanation."
"It's the explanation I have available. Some connections aren’t for sharing," Auden replied.
Moseley looked at me like I was going to be able to demand answers. I was still too lost in the seismic shift of everything to even consider pushing for more details.
Auden pulled up what appeared to be the contract revision and began reading it as if the matter fully closed. "I have my ways," they said, without looking up. "Now. We have a call in forty minutes, and I have notes I'd like to go over before we dial."
Cheyenne made a noise that communicated her feelings about incomplete information and went back to her desk. Moseley lingered for another moment in the doorway, visibly turning the whole thing over in his head, before he followed her.
I sat back down.
Across the desk, Auden made a small annotation in the margin of the contract. They were acting as if nothing had even happened.
I thought about the question I didn't have an answer to yet: Who exactly had I hired? What history did they carry that could make a man like Holb Nekman deflate and leave without another word? What was the mutual acquaintance situation? Would it affect business?
Maybe this was one of thosetime will tellsituations.
CHAPTER 38
Grizzly
Though I knew these people very, very well, I still had an immense amount of nerves going to the Bellports’ house for dinner. Jake’s invite had been put off over and over again. There always seemed to be something more vital to go over.
But putting it off any longer wasn’t an option. Not when Mama Bellport herself stopped me in the grocery store to tell me a date and time to come over. I’d been shocked at the time, both from running into her and also because I could no longer hold off.
We were standing on the front porch of the Bellport family home, seconds away from joining them for dinner when my phone pinged. Normally, I would ignore it on a night like this, but it pinged a second time.
Auden had adapted this pattern of texting for when they wanted to get my attention, so I took a look, hoping it wouldn’t be anything too urgent. Maybe a signature or an opinion on something.
Auden:Meridian — Fully Executed. Congratulations.
I froze. Daddy immediately noticed because he had his arm wrapped around me. He’d been hyping me up all day since he knew I was nervous. I shouldn’t have been. I knew all these people. Had dined with them before.
It felt vastly different with my Daddy at my side.
"Baby? Everything okay?”
