Page 70 of Forged in Peril

“No,” Jaclyn snapped. “I’m not waiting any longer. He’s going on early paternity leave next week!”

Bristol gripped the edge of the machine, her head spinning. She was talking about Reilly, of all people–but why?

She waited, wishing desperately that she could hear anything from the other side of the conversation, but she didn’t dare get any closer to the lawyer’s door.

“Just look at what almost happened with Bristol! No more carelessness, Albert. I mean it. Okay. Yes, I’ll be good to go on my end for Friday.”

She heard Jaclyn give an exasperated sigh.

“I know, but as I keep trying to tell everyone, it’s a waste of time. She doesn’t know anything about it. Fine. Fine. Just make sure Grapas does what they’re supposed to.”

Bristol frowned.

Grapas.

The name stuck out, but for the moment, she was too distracted to give any thought to where she’d seen or heard it.

Jaclyn said nothing for several long seconds, and then Bristol heard what she could only assume was the click of the phone being placed back in its cradle.

She could have made it to her office, but instead, she crossed the legal department in three steps, heading back out toward the hall.

She still had fifteen minutes of lunch left, and even though there had to be a logical explanation for everything she’d heard, the conversation had sent up red flags that she didn’t feel she could safely ignore.

She had to talk to Cam.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-TWO

CAMERON

Cameron leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, drawing several long breaths before he opened them again.

He had allotted his lunch hour to organizing his office, but if his current progress was any indication, there was absolutely no way that he’d be getting it done today. If anything, he’d be lucky to finish it in a week.

He gathered up the wrappers of the two takeout burgers he’d had delivered and tossed them across the room into the trash, imagining Gabe’s smug ‘I told you so’ if he dared complain about how messy the place had gotten.

The cleaning service did their best, but he supposed it was pretty difficult to work around the mountains of clutter that filled the place.

He peered down at his smartwatch and frowned. He still had enough time to get more done, and he figured that he may as well try before the calls started coming in and colleagues started showing up at his door.

He reached for a drawer near the bottom of his desk at random. It looked more like a second recycling bin than anything, with papers stacked and rolled haphazardly until they almost prevented the drawer from closing fully.

Taking hold of one, he squinted at it, wondering how it was possible that he had zero memory of what it was or why he had it.

The Forge & Sons logo stared back at him, the little blue tractor puttering along over a hill of bright yellow corn. He flipped the page and found the same thing on the next one, and then the next.

He groaned, dragging the rest of them out and stacking them on his desk, trying to straighten the bent corners as he remembered what they were. He had promised to bring these files to his father’s office at least a month ago, if not before that, and he doubted that Gabriel Forge Sr. was going to be amused when he finally received them.

To make matters worse, he wouldn’t be able to put off the conversation for long.

According to Reilly, his dad had already heard through the usual Silver Grove gossip mill that Bristol was back in town, and he’d told Reilly to invite her and her mother over for Sunday dinner. And Reilly had told Cam that she’d agreed.

He’d argued against the idea, of course, citing security concerns that convinced no one. His father’s home was nearly as fortress-like as FBS, and Reilly was more than capable of keeping watch over Bristol without his help.

No, deep down, he was just upset that it wasn’t him bringing her home for dinner, preferably as his girlfriend.

Not to mention the fact that his own father hadn’t bothered to invite Cameron at all.

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