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“To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?” Alex asked, tipping back in her chair.

“Oh, nothing. I just stumbled across why you hang out with people you don’t really like,” she replied coyly as she sat in the chair across from her desk. “The Thatchers pay a crap ton of money for your services. A detoxifying algae wrap sounds amazing, but for eight hundred bucks I might take my chances rolling around on the beach.” She laughed, taking care to keep her body relaxed and casual. “Or the Himalayan Pink Salt scrub. Would anyone really know the di erence if you got it from Costco? I guess the twenty-four-karat gold facial might be pretty cool.”

Alex tipped her head to the side, her expression blank and inscrutable. “What made you look them up?” There was no anger in her tone, no defensive edge either.

“Curiosity I suppose. You said they’d been some of your first clients and I wondered how often they visited the spa.

That weekend retreat thing they go on must be life changing.

An hour and a half with Candy and I believed angels were real. I can’t imagine a whole weekend of stu .”

Charlotte didn’t dare speak another word. She didn’t mention the independent contractors or that the packages always totaled the same amount despite having di erent

treatments. If Alex didn’t o er anything, she’d have to leave it alone and try again another time.

Alex glanced at her cell phone. Checking the time? Expecting a message? Charlotte forced herself to remain calm and wait.

When she was finished debating whatever she’d been weighing in her mind, Alex picked up the phone in her o ce.

“Prepare Room Nine please,” she said authoritatively. A pause. “No, for me.” Another pause. “Ten minutes.” She hung up.

“What’s Room Nine?” Charlotte asked, thinking that she would ask if she had no idea what Alex was up to.

“Don’t you want to see what’s worth ten grand?”

Charlotte swallowed hard. Alex’s words were too matter of fact, her dark eyes too sharp. Was she mad at her?

Annoyed at her questions?

When Alex stood, so did Charlotte, but the wobble in her knees was considerable. Had she been hasty? Should she have played this di erently?

“Meet me upstairs,” Alex demanded when they emerged from her o ce. “I’ll be right there.”

Charlotte’s stomach tensed. Alex was being so dry; she couldn’t predict what might happen next. Was she taking her upstairs to break things o and fire her in a more private setting? Was she going to call her mob friends and have her taken

out permanently? Charlotte’s imagination went into overdrive. It was all she could do to keep moving.

Loitering near the elevator on the second floor, Charlotte waited anxiously for Alex to appear. As she did, a woman and a man dressed in matching khaki pants and white Ataraxia polos emerged from Room Nine with a room service cart

stacked high with sheets and towels. Had they freshened up the room or prepared it Dexter-style for something more nefarious?

“Ready?”

Alex’s question nearly forced Charlotte out of her skin.

She regretted having jumped.

Room Nine was at the end of the hall, one of two rooms overlooking the golf course below and the city beyond.

Charlotte knew that from the floor plan, but what she didn’t know until Alex pressed her card against the electronic lock was that it was a sprawling suite. A bedroom separated by closed doors on one side and an impeccably furnished living room right next to it. There was also a tiny kitchenette and a gorgeous marble bathroom with a freestanding tub and large walk-in shower.

Alex took her by the hand as she strolled to the bedroom where a plush, white robe was strewn on the bed.

“Change into that,” Alex ordered before hitting a button on a remote control resting on a long dresser taking up an entire wall.

Instead of being impressed that the shades were rolling down on their own to cover the view, Charlotte was fixated on the dresser. It was triple the amount of space anyone could possibly need during their short stay.

When Alex disappeared after telling her to wait for her before emerging, Charlotte bolted for the dresser. As soon as she opened the first drawer, her eyes widened in disbelief.