Page 120 of No Holds Barred

If they could get Mark and Alexis to actually talk to each other, then it would solve a lot of problems.

But Angelica certainly wasn’t the best person to do that.

Hope would be much better at it.

She stepped into her room and pulled up her new secondary iPad, which she reserved for all of her normal work duties. Lyric sat in the back corner of the room with a notebook in hand, ready to take notes.

“Mr. Kartali.” Angelica smiled at the man on the screen. “It’s good to see you again.”

It’d been a long time since she’d had a face-to-face conversation with her boss, the owner of all the hotels she managed in California, but she’d always take a call from him when he needed her.

“It’s good to see you as well,” he nodded at her.

“What can I do for you?” Angelica got straight to the point. She still had an episode to film and needed to get back to it.

“I’m looking to retire in the next eighteen months.”

Shock ran through Angelica’s chest, a cold rush. She hadn’t expected this. She hadn’t planned for it at all. She thought there was still time. “Oh.”

“I didn’t want to wait too long to tell you, since I knew you’d need time to absorb the information.” He smiled at her, but it came with pity.

“Right. Thank you.” Angelica twisted her hands together in her lap. “I appreciate it. Who will be buying the chain from you?”

“I don’t know yet,” Mr. Kartali answered. “I haven’t gone that far yet.”

“Okay.” Angelica’s mind spun. Working with new owners could set her up for a lot of complications, especially if she was still going to be filmingHotel Bombshell.She’d need more time off than the average manager, and she and Mr. Kartali had an agreement.

“Nothing’s been decided so far,” he said, his voice in that soothing fatherly tone that she knew all too well. She just wasn’t used to him using it on her.

Angelica nodded again. “All right, thank you for letting me know.”

“We’ll talk soon, Ange.”

“Yes. Thank you.” She blindly ended the video call. Her ears rang and her skin was cold and clammy.

“Ms. Shields?” Lyric’s voice reached her ears.

“Yeah?” Angelica turned around in the chair to meet Lyric’s gaze.

“Are you okay?”

Angelica started to say she was, but she stopped herself. She honestly had no idea. “I didn’t expect this.”

“It seems like he knew that.”

“Yes.” Angelica had to give him props for that. Mr. Kartali knew her well enough to prepare her for this transition and allow her enough time to make plans not only for her future but the future of the hotels. “Yes, he did.”

Brushing her hair behind her, Angelica relaxed into the chair and sat in the silence. But it wasn’t enough. She truly needed to be alone for a bit to gather her thoughts.

“If you wouldn’t mind, Lyric, I think I’ll take the rest of the hour. Will you tell Rex that I’ll be back then?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Thank you.”

Lyric gathered her notebook and left.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Angelica lifted her hands to her face and closed her eyes.