Page 69 of Discretion

“No. Wait.” I grabbed the edge of the door, not willing to let it close again.

Halle needed to get back to her room so she could call her son. Whatever we needed to discuss could wait until later. For now, it was enough that we’d started the conversation. She knew what I wanted, and I’d promised to be patient if that was what she needed.

The waiter paused, holding the door open for us while we gathered our things. Halle slipped on her shoes and gripped the trash from the protein bar in her hand. I waited for her to go through the door before following.

“Thank you,” I said to the waiter. “We really appreciate you rescuing us.”

“Yes. Thank you,” Halle said, her cheeks flushed with color. She turned to me. “I have to go call Kai.”

“Yes. Go. Go.” We could talk more later, if that’s what she wanted.

She held my gaze a moment, and I wondered if I imagined the look of regret in her eyes.

Halle excused herself, her phone already held to her ear. As she rushed down the hall toward the elevator bank, I hoped Kai was okay.

I removed several bills from my wallet and handed them to the waiter. “Sincerely, thank you.”

He laughed, staring down at the cash in shock. “All I did was open the door. But hey, you’re welcome.”

“Take it,” I said, pushing it toward him. He hesitated for another moment before finally accepting the money with a quiet thanks. “Tell me something. Is the door at the bottom always locked?”

The waiter furrowed his brow. “I don’t usually go to thatlevel, but it should be unlocked. It wasn’t?” I shook my head. “I’ll have the maintenance staff check into it.”

“So will I,” I said. “It’s a safety hazard.”

The waiter returned to his duties. The party was still going strong, but I was in no mood to socialize. There was only one person I wanted to see, and she’d already left. As much as I wanted to see Halle again, to know what she was thinking, I didn’t want to push too hard. If experience was any indication, that would only make her run away.

Instead, I forced myself to focus on my responsibilities. If I was serious about balancing my relationship with my new role in the company, I needed to find out why that crash bar at the bottom of the stairwell was locked and get it rectified immediately. It was a safety hazard and a fire code violation.

I glanced at my phone, my eyes bulging at all the messages I’d missed. I skimmed them while waiting for the elevator. My new assistant, Charlie, had sent me a few updates. The family text thread was going wild with auction updates from Knox and Nate to Graham and Sloan.

I opened a text message to Graham. It was nearly three in the morning in France, but I knew he’d probably silenced his notifications. Now that he was no longer CEO, he had the luxury of unplugging. And somehow, knowing that he might not be up to respond made it easier to send my text.

Me: We missed you tonight.

There.It was a start.

I went to the hotel control center and spoke with security, management, and operations. A group of us went down to ground level and discovered that the door had been blockedfrom the other side. A pile of things had been stacked in front of it, essentially using the area as a storage space.

“This is unacceptable,” I seethed, enraged. To think that people could have been trapped in the stairwell in the event of a fire made me sick. “I want this cleared immediately. And I want all the other stairwells checked.”

“Yes, sir,” the manager rushed to respond.

“I also expect a report by Monday, explaining how this happened and how it will be prevented in the future.”

“Absolutely.”

He was lucky I wasn’t going to fire him—for now. But I would certainly be keeping a closer eye on things at this location—and every location. Right now, my priority was making sure he understood how serious this was. I was satisfied that he seemed just as appalled as I was by the situation.

With that done, I headed back to the elevators. I needed to update Halle and Mike, who was standing in for Jackson as chief of security during Jackson’s paternity leave. I opened my email on my phone and sent them both a message about the stairwell situation, asking Mike to look into it at every location.

Then, I navigated to my text messages, tapping on Halle’s name. I didn’t like to leave things unfinished, especially not with her. I was so tempted to rush up to her room, to demand she tell me what she’d planned to say before the waiter interrupted us in the stairwell. But I knew she had responsibilities of her own, and I’d never encroach on her time with her son.

Even so, I wanted her to know that I’d meant what I’d said—I was here for her. Her and Kai. I was worried about him after everything she’d told me. I could only imagine how she felt as his mom. When I got back to my room, I texted her.

Me: I hope you got to talk to Kai and that he was well.

I knewI’d drive myself crazy if I sat by the phone waiting for her to respond. So I tossed my phone aside and headed for the shower. As soon as I was out, I heard my phone buzz.