Page 98 of The Arrogant One

He glanced around at each of us. “I’ll wait to hear back from you.” He stood from his chair. “Unless you have questions or anything else you’d like to discuss with me, I’m going to send in Troy to chat about the contract for Horned.”

I waited for one of my siblings to speak up, and when they didn’t, I said, “I don’t think we have any questions. You can go ahead and send in Troy.”

While Jenner worked his way around, shaking everyone’s hand, I took out my phone and checked the notifications.

Sadie

It’s much more fun waking up at your house than waking up at mine. Alone. And without you.

Me

Sounds like you missed me this morning …

Sadie

I did. Sob.

Me

Spend the night at my place tonight. I need you.

Sadie

You just read my mind. See you tonight.

Me

I can’t fucking wait to pull you into my arms.

I flipped through the rest of my notifications, and a message from my assistant, CC, really caught my attention.

CC

I assume you haven’t read Seen’s article? If not, when you get out of your meeting at The Dalton Group, look at it. Immediately.

As Jenner was stepping out of the conference room, closing the door behind him, I quickly pulled upSeen’s website. There was a picture of our signature porcini-rubbed rib eye at the top of the page with the headline,Charred, A Night That Ended with a Standing Ovation.

Jesus fucking Christ.What is this? And why didn’t I know about it?

I drew in as much air as I could hold and tapped the headline. A new page loaded, which showed multiple photos of Charred’s food, along with a review.

All written and posted by Dear Foodie.

I quickly skimmed the first of two paragraphs, a smile dragging across my goddamn lips as I said, “I need all of you to pull upSeen’s website. Right now.” As I watched my siblings takeout their phones, I added, “Did any of you know thatSeenwas reviewing Charred this week?”

“Seenreviewed Charred?” Walker barked.

“Apparently—and I had no idea,” I told him, knowing that was probably going to earn me an earful.

Walker didn’t like surprises. He relied on me to find out these kinds of things before they happened, especially if the result was going to end up in print.

With everyone listening, I read from my screen, “From an appetizer list that would satisfy lovers of seafood or meat and even vegetarians, I chose the tuna tartare and the fresh burrata and tomato salad. My hope was that the cheese would balance the salt and tanginess of the fish, and the fish would even out the richness of the cheese plate. What I hadn’t expected was that the two were self-sufficient. They needed no help whatsoever; they didn’t even need grated pepper—although that was offered.

“Chef Walker Weston has taken traditional offerings and woven extremely unique spins on both. These dishes were so packed with flavor they could stand as main courses, and you would be more than satisfied. That’s quite a powerful introduction, I would say.

“Now, let’s discuss the main course…”

As my voice trailed off, Walker instantly took over, reading the rest of the article out loud while I focused on the pictures. The first shot was a perfect angle of the tuna, showing the vibrant red of the fish, on top of a pop of ginger and avocado, with a nest of wontons on the side. But as I stared at the appetizer, switching between this one and the burrata, I couldn’t help but notice a third plate off to the side.