Page 44 of Culinary Chaos (Hotel Bombshell #1)

Chapter

Thirty-Three

“ W hat was that about?” Hope pulled on Rex’s hand to get his attention as he walked swiftly back toward the room.

They’d stopped filming.

Hope had quietly finished up what she’d been working on, and then she went to find her husband. Because the look on Angelica’s face when she’d walked out of there, the words she’d spat at Josef, Hope was in the dark completely. And she was damn tired of it.

“They need you to fight more, I told you that.” Rex tightened his jaw and squinted his eyes, a true sign that he wasn’t very happy with something. Whether that was Hope, or Josef, or the entire situation, Hope wasn’t sure, but she was determined to find out.

“Fight more?” Hope flashed her keycard to their room and stepped inside, holding the door for him. “Yeah, you said that. But what was that? ”

Rex shook his head, confused. “That was a fight.”

“Rex…” Hope put her hands on her hips and stared him down. “That wasn’t a fight. That was an ambush. And she knew it. The question is, why didn’t I?”

“Kyle was supposed to talk to you.”

“Kyle?” Hope shook her head wildly at him. “Kyle doesn’t tell me shit apparently, because no one said anything about Angelica coming down there to throw nasty shade at me!”

“I didn’t know she’d take it that far.”

“Take it that far?” Hope raised her eyebrows at him and then stopped. The knock on the door was distinct. She wrenched it open to find Eva on the other side of it with her nanny. “Hey baby.” Eva ran to give her a hug and then Rex.

“Hi Mama!” Eva grinned as she looked at each of them and smiled, holding their hands. “What are we doing?”

“Uh… can you go take your bath?” Hope glanced at the watch on her left wrist. It was a bit early, but it’d get them started, and it’d give her and Rex some more time to actually have this argument, because she didn’t want to let this go.

“You mean shower!” Eva giggled and headed for the bathroom.

Hope nodded at the nanny, who stepped out of the room and shut the door behind her. That woman was a godsend. But this wasn’t a fight that Hope wanted plastered all over the film crew for them to know about it either.

She waited until the water was turned on before she turned her anger back onto Rex. “What did you think she was going to say to me?”

Rex shook his head and walked toward the bed, plopping down onto a mattress. “I didn’t know what she would do. Josef handed her the papers, and basically said, Go! ”

Hope glared. “Go?”

“He needs you two to be at each other’s throats.”

“Needs us?” Hope didn’t buy that one either. She really needed Rex to own up to this, and he was hiding something. And she didn’t like it. “Did you know about this?”

“I…” Rex’s lips parted, his jaw dropping. “Only because Josef told me what was going to happen, not because I had any hand in planning it.”

“Are you kidding me?” Hope’s voice rose loudly.

Rex shifted a look toward the bathroom, where Eva was quietly taking her shower.

“You let her come in there and tear me down repeatedly? You let her accuse me of things you know I’m not capable of all for the sake of a good episode?”

“I didn’t know she was going to do that!”

“No, but you knew she was mad, and you knew that was the intention behind giving her those papers. Did you know they were forged? Did you know that Josef had changed the dates on them?”

Rex shrugged slightly.

“Oh my God. I can’t believe you right now.

” Hope pulled her hair loose and dropped the clip onto the top of the dresser.

She pulled sharply at the buttons on her chef’s coat and ripped it off, throwing it onto Eva’s bed.

These close and confined quarters weren’t helping them any.

“You know, I thought working with you might be good for us, but I can see that I was so very wrong.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Is this how you are on other shows?” Hope put her hands on her hips again, staring him down as he sat like a scolded little child on the bed. “Do you purposely go out of your way to intentionally hurt people just so you can get the shot?”

“That’s not what happened?—”

“It’s exactly what happened!” Hope’s voice rose even louder, and she didn’t care that Eva was so close.

He needed to hear this, and she needed to let it out.

“You goaded her into coming after me, and you didn’t even warn me!

It’s one thing to let me know what’s going to happen, to let me play into it, but Angelica was the only one who did that! ”

“What?” Rex looked confused at that.

“Yeah, Rex, she’s not an idiot, and she figured out your little plot before you could even make it happen.

Did you know that?” Hope had no clue how early on Angelica had figured out what was happening, but she did know it was before she walked into that kitchen, that was for damn sure.

“Did you really think that you could trick her?”

“Josef did,” Rex muttered, looking down at his hands.

“What a fine producer we work for,” she said in a mocking tone. “God, I still can’t believe you.”

“What did you want me to do, huh?” Rex stood up, but he didn’t seem imposing. Not to her. She was so used to fighting with him, to their arguments. “Did you want me to let this show fail and all of us be out of jobs?”

“I expect you to stand up for what’s right!” Hope poked her finger into his chest to make her point. “Not to cower behind whatever the man in charge tells you to do.”

“He’s not wrong, Hope. We need the drama. We need the tension. We need something other than what you two gave us in Colorado.”

“Compassion?” Hope jerked her head back, crossing her arms. “Actual colleagues working together to solve a problem that could actually save jobs instead of just firing people from them?” She waved her hand wildly to encompass the hotel where they were.

“I get that not everyone deserves to keep their job, but you can’t tell me that giving us a one-week deadline means that more people will lose their jobs than if we had proper time to train them.

And I get that I signed up for this. But that doesn’t mean I’ve lost my heart or that I think you’re making the right decisions! ”

“You don’t get a choice!” Rex’s voice barreled through the room. “And neither do I.”

“I’m choosing not to believe that.” Hope glared. “There’s always another choice.” Hope started toward the door. “I need a breather.”

“Hope?” Rex stepped closer to her. “Will you be back tonight?”

She sighed heavily. “I just need to think, because this version of you that I’ve never seen before… I don’t like him.”

She reached for the door handle and froze. The bathroom was steamed up with water way too hot for what Eva would like to shower with. She furrowed her brow and pushed the bathroom door all the way open and stepped inside.

“Eva?”

No response.

“Eva, turn the temp down. That’s too…” she trailed off, pausing. The shower was running, but Eva wasn’t in it. “Rex! Is Eva out there?”

“No?” he asked as he stepped around the corner to look in the bathroom with her. “Shit.”

“Eva!” Hope said louder. She ignored the shower and pushed past Rex toward the bedroom area. She looked around, finding no sign of Eva. When the hell had she left? Where had she gone? “I’m going to look for her.”

Hope didn’t even look at him. She snagged her phone and walked right out of the room. She was still so mad at him.

“Eva! Come out from where you’re hiding.

This isn’t funny!” Hope called it down the hallway loudly, but she wasn’t greeted with any kind of response.

Not that she expected any. This wasn’t the first time Eva had run away, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. The problem was they were in a strange city and Hope honestly had no idea just how long it had been since Eva had run off.

Was it at the beginning of the argument?

The middle?

The end?

God, she hoped it was the end. Then Eva couldn’t have gotten that far. She pulled up the nanny’s cellphone number but paused just before she was about to call. There was a group text that flashed through with her and Rex.

Well, at least he was doing one thing right today.

Then again, if he’d just done it right in the first place they probably wouldn’t be in this situation. Because there wouldn’t have been an argument, and there wouldn’t have been a problem between them that scared Eva into running away in the first place. Hope hated that this was her go-to lately.

“Eva!” Hope called again, turning down the hallway and dodging in and out of every nook and cranny she could think to find. But Eva was nowhere.

The nerves in the pit of her stomach took over, and she could barely think straight.

Stepping into an elevator, Hope nervously chewed on her lip as she waited to arrive at the main floor.

Where the hell would Eva have gone? Hopefully not out of the building itself.

But Hope wouldn’t put it past her. She breathed slowly, trying to keep herself steady and calm.

Because the last thing she needed was to be the frantic parent.

The elevator door opened, and Angelica stood on the other side. Completely drenched, head to toe. Her hair hung past her shoulders, clinging to her cheeks and neck. Hope stared at her wide-mouthed and confused.

“What’s wrong?” Angelica asked.

Hope shook her head, words not forming.

“Hope. What’s wrong?”

“Eva ran off.” Her voice broke on the word. “I-I can’t find her.”

“When?”

“Just like ten minutes ago maybe?” Hope couldn’t drag her gaze away from Angelica’s face, from her wet clothes. “Did you see her outside?”

Angelica pursed her lips. “No. Did you check the cameras?”

“Cameras…” Hope sighed. She hadn’t even thought of that. Hotels had cameras everywhere.

“Come on.” Angelica took Hope’s hand and led her straight to reception and the small back room there. She immediately sat down and started to pull up the cameras for the lobby. “Where did she leave from?”

“Our room.” Hope shivered.

“We’ll find her.” Angelica reached over and pulled Hope into the seat next to her, squeezing her hand. “Does she do this often?”

“Lately, yeah.” Hope’s cheeks heated. She felt like such a shitty parent. This was why they were so strict with where Eva went and who she was with—because she had this bad habit of slipping out of sight when she got upset or when she sensed Rex and Hope were upset.

Angelica hummed, flipping through the cameras. Still, Hope didn’t see Eva on them. “How long do you want to wait until you get the entire crew on the search for her?”

“I don’t know.” Hope glanced at her phone and the text thread between the nanny and Rex. Neither one of them had found her yet. “Maybe another ten minutes?”

Angelica nodded. “Sooner the better. Maybe it’ll help Eva realize just how terrifying this situation is. Stay here.”

Angelica got up and walked away. Hope kept her eyes glued to the screens in front of her.

People came and went, they moved around the lobby, the hallways, everything.

But not one of them was Eva. The panic she felt built, and she trembled as she moved cameras around to try and view the whole room instead of just the small area where there was most traffic.

Eva liked to hide. And she’d often crawl into tiny spaces just to get away from everything and everyone else. Hope had no idea how long Angelica had been gone, but she came back in and put a hand on Hope’s shoulder.

“Let’s hope she’s still in the building,” Angelica said.

“Uh-huh,” Hope answered, biting her lip and continuing to stare at the cameras.

“I want you to stay here and still look, all right? I’m going to talk to the staff and Josef and see if we can get people looking for her.”

Hope gripped Angelica’s hand tightly, squeezing. She was nearly in tears, and she had no idea what she wanted to say or what she could do. “Thanks.”

Angelica furrowed her brow.

“Just for…being here.” Hope trembled.

Moving in swiftly, Angelica slid her arms around Hope’s back in a light hug, pulling Hope’s face against her chest for a split second before she stepped back. “We’ll find her.”

“I know. She’s done this before. It’s just…” Hope brushed the tears away from her cheeks. “…we’re someplace strange and everything’s been a shitshow since we arrived.”

“Agreed.” Angelica sighed. “We’ll talk about that later, all right?”

Hope nodded. She didn’t want Angelica to leave though, as much as she knew it needed to happen. Angelica was pure comfort and peace in this moment, the calm that Hope had been trying desperately to find.

“Do you want me to bring Rex down here?”

“No,” Hope said firmly. She absolutely blamed him for this right now, and she needed to sort through some of that or resolve the issue before she saw his face. She just needed another thirty minutes before she saw him again.

“You sure?” Angelica asked again.

“I’m sure.” Hope looked up at her and forced a smile onto her face. “He’s staying in the room in case Eva goes back.”

“Think she can find the room?” Angelica asked, curious.

Hope nodded. “She has an affinity for numbers, so she memorizes the room number and repeats it.”

“Good. That’s a good thing, then.” Angelica touched Hope’s shoulder lightly. “I’ll be back in a bit, all right?”

A well of unease opened up again, and Hope had to try her damnedest not to drop herself into it.

She went back to looking at the cameras, focusing on those.

She rubbed her lips together, checking her phone on and off to see if there were any other texts that had come in or gone out.

She saw the one from Angelica to the production crew, the one that said Eva was missing and everyone needed to be looking for her, the one that said the front doors were being watched by hotel staff.

Hope hadn’t even thought of that.

She wiped more tears as they fell, the overload of emotions and stress from the week finally breaching the walls she’d created to keep it in. They spilled down her cheeks, blurring her vision, but she refused to look away from the cameras for long.

They had to find Eva.

She had to be here somewhere.