Page 57 of Shadow

“This isn’t what I agreed to. I’m supposed to be teaching, not selling Novak’s tequila line.”

“I understand the frustration over the last-minute change, but I’m just doing what I’m told by Mr. Novak. He wants this change to the program.”

“Novak isn’t in charge of this conference.”

The stranger laughed. “Actually, he’s on the planning committee. That’s how it winds up in one of his hotels every year.”

Mario’s face turned red.

Olivia had heard of Hunter Novak before. He wielded a lot of power in Las Vegas and around the world.

“Fine,” Mario huffed. “But I want an hour to cover what I intended to cover. You can have thirty minutes.”

“We’ll split the time evenly, Mr. DeBarr.”

Olivia cleared her throat, and the woman looked at her. “You must be Olivia Harrigan.”

Mario narrowed his eyes. “You’re using your maiden name?”

Olivia scoffed. “Of course I am.” Ignoring him, she turned back to the woman.

“I’m Olivia. Does Mario still need me?”

“I’m Amalia Sanchez-Hartley. I run every bar and nightclub in this place. Mr. Novak asked me to step in and change the programming in this workshop a bit.”

Mario’s phone rang, and Amalia motioned for Olivia to come closer when he stepped away.

“I thought you might want to be aware that this was at the request of Mr. Ripley. It seems he doesn’t want you up here alone. I’m not supposed to tell you that part.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. She’d been prepared to step aside but knowing Ripley had interfered in a way that he had no business doing made her mad. So, she smiled. “Thank you. But I’m looking forward to assisting Mario. Do what you need to do, but don’t feel like you need to protect me.”

Amalia leaned in and whispered, “Listen, I might be stepping way out of line here, but I recognized the type immediately because my Dom-slash-husband is the same way. Stand your ground. He’ll never stop being overprotective, but he’ll get the picture eventually and learn to live with not always being in control, especially when it comes to your career.”

Olivia opened and closed her mouth, unsure of how to respond. She definitely liked Amalia, though.

“Thanks. I appreciate it,” she finally said. “Now, what are these changes to the program?”

Amalia gave her a brief rundown of how things would go before she called Mario back over and the threesome worked out the last details of the presentation as the auditorium filled. Mario still seemed grumpy, especially when he realized Amalia planned to stand between him and Olivia most of the time, but he didn’t protest the changes anymore.

Olivia suspected it was because of the phone call he had stepped away to take. Somehow, she was sure it was Hunter Novak on the phone.

Halfway through the workshop, she spotted Ripley sitting in the very back of the auditorium. He winked at her when their eyes met, and she didn’t react.

In fact, she avoided looking at him for the rest of the presentation, which she really did enjoy taking part in. Especially with Amalia there. She made things fun and wasn’t nearly as stuffy as Mario was.

When it was over, she took her time making her way back to Ripley, stopping to talk to people she knew, and introducing herself to people she didn’t.

He didn’t look happy when she finally reached him, but she didn’t care. Amalia was right, she had to stand her ground about some things.

“You looked comfortable up there,” he said, leaning in to kiss her.

She turned her face, so he kissed her cheek instead of her lips. “No thanks to you,” she muttered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Amalia ratted you out. You called in a favor with the owner of the resort to make sure I wasn’t alone on stage with him? That’s bullshit, Ripley. Interfere in my business like that again, and we’re done.”

“Don’t make ultimatums like that, Liv. You can’t keep them, and we both know it.”

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