บททั้งหมดของ Off-Limits: The Billionaire's Deal: บทที่ 11 - บทที่ 15

 The hotel project had a Monday deadline for preliminary design concepts, which meant Sunday was spent at the kitchen table with my laptop, fabric swatches, and three different lighting catalogues spread across every surface Kai owned. He worked at the other end of the table. Laptop open, phone periodically buzzing, a coffee that had gone cold two hours ago sitting untouched beside him. We'd been in the same room for six hours and it hadn't been uncomfortable once, which was either a good sign or evidence that we were both very good at compartmentalizing. "The lobby needs a focal point," I said, not really to him. "Something that reads as luxury without being obvious about it." "Custom installation," he said, without looking up from his screen. "I had one commissioned for the Prague property. Local artist, mixed metal and glass. It became the most photographed element in the building." I

 The Crane meeting was at two o'clock Tuesday. Kai hadn't asked me to come. I showed up anyway, at one forty-five, in the lobby of Westbrook Hotels' corporate office with my portfolio under my arm because I'd come straight from the project site and hadn't had time to drop it. Derek saw me first. His expression did something complicated. "He didn't tell you to come." "No." "He's going to say something about it." "Probably." I smiled at the receptionist. "Can you let him know I'm here?" Kai appeared two minutes later. He looked at me, then at the portfolio, then back at me. "I didn't ask you to come." "I know. But Crane's argument is about our marriage. I'm your wife. It's a strange choice to leave me out of a meeting where someone challenges whether our marriage is real." He held my gaze for a moment. Then

  We got back to the apartment at eleven. Elena had left the gala early, something about an early meeting, but she'd hugged me at the door with a genuineness that made my chest tight in a good way. Derek and his wife had stayed until the end. Victoria Cross had circled back once more, talked to Kai for ten minutes about the merger while I spoke to a foundation board member, and left without incident. Brandon had sent no messages. His car hadn't appeared on any cameras near the West Village since Sunday. Derek said the restraining order serving had likely made him recalculate. I didn't trust the quiet but I was tired enough to accept it for one night. Kai loosened his tie in the elevator. I held my heels in one hand, having taken them off in the lobby because my feet had made their position clear. "Victoria Cross is going to be a problem," I said.