Page 38 of The October Arrangement
I’ll wait then.
Someone will come down for you.
Wow. Very fancy.
Bella.
Simon.
A reply didn’t come, so I tossed my phone back into my purse and sat down again. As I was scrolling on my phone, I heard my name.
“Bella?”
I looked up and saw Simon’s father walking toward me with a leather portfolio tucked beneath his arm.
“Hi.” I smiled as I stood up.
“Well, this is a surprise. What are you doing here?”
“I was having lunch with Daisy and decided to walk around for a while afterward. I ended up on Park Avenue, saw your building, and thought I’d stop in and say hi to Simon.”
“You came to visit Simon at work?” His one brow arched.
“Yeah. Why not? I’m curious to see his office.” I smiled.
“Does Simon know you’re here?” he asked.
“Security called upstairs. He’s in a meeting.”
“Then why are you sitting down here?” His brows furrowed.
“They won’t let me up because I don’t have an appointment,” I said.
“Bella, you’re living in the man’s home. I think you can go up without an appointment.”
“Temporarily living in his home,” I said, gripping my purse strap.
“Right. October 31st. No exceptions,” he smirked. “Come on.”
He led me over to the reception desk.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Montclair,” the man behind the desk said.
“Good afternoon. I want you to memorize this woman’s face. Whenever she walks through those doors, she’s going straight to the elevator, no questions asked. She doesn’t need an appointment. Understand?”
“Yes, sir.” He nodded.
“Good. Now enter her name in our system with a note that she’s cleared to go up to the offices without an appointment. Come on, Bella.”
“Thank you, Mr. Montclair. You didn’t have to do that.”
“Of course I did,” he said as we stepped into the elevator. “I wasn’t going to leave you sitting in the lobby when you could wait in Simon’s office. And stop with the formalities. You can call me William.”
Chapter Sixteen
Bella
The elevator reached the thirty-eighth floor, and the doors opened into an entirely different world from the lobby.
