Page 61 of Shadow

It took another hour to finish the briefing, but by the time it was done, a protection detail of two men had arrived to escort him back to the hotel. At least he didn’t have to take another Uber.

On the ride back, he tried to call Olivia, but she was in a workshop and didn’t answer. At least he hoped that’s why she didn’t answer. She was pretty pissed at him when they parted at lunch.

In the lobby, he slipped his lanyard over his head and made his way to the convention center where he found her shadow team standing outside the main entrance.

He gave them a terse nod and introduced them to the protection detail that had arrived with him. “I’ll let you coordinate while I step inside and find Olivia.”

According to the schedule, she was in the Gold room, so he headed for the small auditorium. Inside, he scanned the crowd for Olivia. She was sitting with Niki near the back. When he approached their seats, he leaned down and whispered to Niki, “Go find a different seat.”

“Don’t listen to him, Nik.”

He pulled out his wallet and took three crisp hundred-dollar bills out and handed them to her. “Find another seat.”

Niki looked at the money and looked back to her boss who rolled her eyes. “Fine. Take his money. You should ask for more.” She crossed her arms in front of her and refused to look Ripley in the eye.

Niki laughed and snatched the bills before Ripley could change his mind.

“You’re an idiot,” Olivia hissed as he sat down and draped an arm around her.

“Keep talking, baby girl. I’ll find a dark corner to blister your ass in as soon as this workshop is over. You clearly need it.”

She glared at him but didn’t say another word. The workshop was only half over, so he had to sit through another forty-five minutes of someone droning on about glassware and proper cleaning. How anyone handled one of these conferences for more than half a second he didn’t know.

When it was over, he stood and held his hand out to her.

She huffed but put her hand in his. Outside, she looked around at the extra security. “Ripley? What’s going on?”

“What’s next on your schedule?”

Olivia looked at her phone. “It’s not important. I can skip the next session and get notes from someone later. Tell me what’s going on.”

Ripley squeezed her hand. “Let’s get up to the room and I’ll tell you everything I can.”

“You’re not leaving town?”

He shook his head. “No. I told you it was going to take me a few hours, but that I would be back. But I can understand why you have a hard time trusting me.”

In the elevator, he pushed her to the back of the car so the rest of the detail could pile on.

“This reminds me of being on the red carpet with Mario,” she whispered.

Ripley scowled. “I don’t want to think about him.”

She laughed nervously. “Sorry. Now, tell me what’s going on.”

He put a finger to her lips. “In the room, baby.”

She stayed quiet as they rode to their floor. In the room, they went through a round of introductions, and then the group of security stepped into the hallway. Ripley was tempted to move them to a suite on a higher floor, but after Olivia’s anger at the way he’d called in a favor during Mario’s presentation, he was sure she wouldn’t be OK with him using his friends anymore today. They were going to have to cut their trip short anyway.

When they were alone, he motioned for her to sit on the small sofa near the window.

“What’s happening, Ripley?”

He picked up her hand. “One of my old aliases has been compromised and the team out there thinks the people I was going after under that name have found my real identity. They wanted to put me in protective custody, but I said no.”

She jerked her hand away. “Why the hell would you say no? Let them protect you, damn it.”

He cupped her face and narrowed his gaze. “Watch your tone, baby girl. I’m still your Daddy and I won’t hesitate to put you over my knee.”

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