Page 17 of Defenseless
“You’re right,” he said. “I’ll add my personal thoughts when I send his résumé and credentials. How about you? How’s your team shaping up?”
The facility wasn’t ready for new employees yet, but she had two people on board who were moving to Mystery Lake in the next few weeks. All she needed was one more. It would be a small team to start, just the four of them. But she, Colton, and Chad had agreed to no more than ten new employees total in the first year. If all went well, they’d grow to twenty in the second year. After that, they planned to stabilize for at least another year before considering whether to grow more.
“Leo Gallardo and Collin Zhang will be moving up in a few weeks,” she answered. “I have my eye on a potential candidate for my last hire, but I want to run it by Stella and Hunter before approaching her.”
Chad arched a brow in question, urging her to continue.
Sabina made a face—half wanting to talk to Chad about it and half thinking she might jinx things if she did. “She’s good,” she finally said. “I’ve had my eye on her for a few years. She’s the right kind of devious that will make a good counterpart to Collin’s more straitlaced approach.”
“But?”
“She’s from a well-known family. Her parents are Will and Cassandra Jones.”
“The director and actress?” Chad asked, both brows now raised.
She nodded. “You can understand the hesitation. She’d be a great addition.”
“But you’re worried about what kind of visibility she might bring,” Chad said, finishing her thought. She nodded. Will Jones was an extraordinary filmmaker and the first Black director to win an Academy Award. And with two Academy Awards to her name, one as best supporting actress and, more recently, a second as best actress, Cassandra Jones was no less impressive.
“Will she be interested in leaving LA and moving here? Assuming that’s where she lives?” he asked.
Sabina shrugged. “She was in the tabloids a lot until she was about sixteen. She got into some trouble, and it seemed to shake her up—scared her straight, if you will. Now she attends an occasional event with her parents, but she’s pretty much out of the limelight.” The records were sealed regarding Ava Jones’s criminal mischief, but Sabina knew exactly what kind of trouble she’d gotten herself into. No one other than Stella and Hunter needed to know unless Ava told them herself, though.
“You’re going to talk to Stella and Hunter then?”
“I am. I have a call scheduled with them tomorrow. If they give her a pass, I’ll need to go back to the drawing board.”
He studied her for a moment then nodded. “It sounds like you want her, so good luck with that.”
She smiled and rose. “You, too,” she said, nodding to Ethan’s résumé sitting on the desk.
“Sabina?”
She paused in the doorway and turned to face him. Chad’s dark eyes held hers for a long moment before he spoke.
“I know something happened in your past that you don’t talk about. And while I’m glad that you’re here, I don’t think you’re here because you want to be. I think something spooked you back in DC that made you change your mind about making this jump. If you’re in danger, or even if you’re not and you want someone to talk things over with, I hope you know you can trust me.”
With each word he spoke, her pulse kicked up. She was damn glad she’d worn a sweater with a big, high collar. The artery in her neck was currently trying to hammer its way through her skin. A reaction Chad would no doubt notice.
But as he couldn’t, she forced yet another smile. “Just wanted a change of scenery and the challenge of starting something new.”
Disappointment flared in his eyes, but he said nothing.
“Thank you, though,” she added. “I appreciate your concern.” Which she did and didn’t—knowing he cared was like being wrapped in a warm down comforter on a cold night. But knowing he cared also filled her with more dread than looking down a black diamond slope and not knowing how to ski.
She held his gaze, waiting for him to acknowledge her statement in some way. A nod, a shrug, something. Thirty seconds ticked by—and yes, she counted each tick of the clock on the wall behind him. When he neither said nor did anything, she accepted the stalemate for what it was. Giving him a small nod of her own, one that she imagined admitted some sort of defeat on her part, she turned and continued to her office.
She managed to keep a steady pace as she walked to the other side of the cabin. As soon as she shut her office door, though, she slumped against it. Closing her eyes, she willed her heart rate to slow down and sucked in a deep breath. Then another. And another.
It came as no surprise that Chad had recognized her decision to move west as being out of character. That she didn’t talk about her past, or that he used that fact to keep her at arm’s length, was also not news. She didn’t like the boundaries he’d set, but she had to respect them. Not to mention the fact that they benefited her, too.
But while they’d spent the last two years living with the repercussions of her evasiveness, he’d never explicitly called her out on it. Now, by naming it, she was very much aware that he’d changed the game. And she didn’t know what to think.
Her phone jangled in her pocket, and Sabina startled at the intrusion. Pulling it out, she read a number she didn’t recognize on the screen and her heart skipped a beat. In her experience, unknown numbers didn’t tend to bring good news. Bracing herself for the worst, she hit the button to connect the call just as she recognized the area code as local to Mystery Lake. It could still be one she didn’t want to receive, but perhaps not.
“Hello?” Sabina answered, hating the tentative question in her voice. She was a badass behind her computer, but in the real world, she didn’t feel quite so untouchable.
“Sabina O’Malley?” a woman asked.
