“I’m not staying here!” Kaitlyn looked around at the opulence in revulsion. “This is the last place I feel safe. Don’t you get it, Gray? Landon did to 1358 exactly what Randolph did to LeClarks. He’s his father’s son, through and through.”
“But why?” Gray asked logically. “And how does he even know Basil Hampton? Did you tell him?”
“I haven’t said a word to him, so this has nothing to do with me. I’m sure they run in similar circles in New York, and Basil must have pissed him off.”
“Let’s talk to him in the morning.” Gray put the papers back in the envelope and set it on the dining room table. “He deserves a chance to explain, doesn’t he?”
“No,” Kaitlyn said through her teeth. “I was right about him all along. We should have never let him get so close.”
Gray gave her a penetrating look that she had to look away from. They both knew who had let him get the closest. Gray had let him into the restaurant, but Kaitlyn had been far stupider. She’d let him into her heart.
But she was done with that.
Kaitlyn slept on the luxurious couch that night. She was so used to the brilliant sun streaming in through the picture window that the dawn didn’t wake her. A phone call at 8 am did. It wasn’t the low ring of Gray’s cell phone, rather it was the way his voice went from sleepily relaxed to tight with tension.
She sat up, still half asleep, and strained to hear his words. The conversation was short, but moments later, he came out of the bedroom, his mouth a hard line, his brows knit a deep V.
“What’s wrong, Gray?” Kaitlyn asked, worry spiking in her voice.
“That was Gilles. He’s heard a rumor.”
Her stomach tightened. Rumors. She hated them more than anything. They’d started the wave that sunk LeClarks, and they’d done the same to her after Le Fontaine. “About what?”
“He heard that two people ended up in urgent care early this morning.”
Kaitlyn shook her head. “No.”
“Food poisoning.” Gray squeezed his eyes shut tightly and pinched the bridge of his nose. “And they both ate at LeClarks last night.”
They went to the restaurant because there was nothing else to do. They had to open for the morning shift, or things would look worse. Gray called Landon twice on the way over, but with no success.
They met Gilles, Ana, and the rest of the morning staff for the pre-shift meeting. Gray didn’t mention the food poisoning, but his familiar, easygoing pep talk was stilted and short.
“Push the chocolate croissants,” he finished and attempted to smile at Ana. “They’re delicious.”
With that, he turned and went to the back room.
Ana looked after him, and then back at Kaitlyn. “What’s going on?”
Kaitlyn shook her head, unable to explain. It would take too long. She might start crying. God, was it happening all over again? Where the hell was Landon?
She checked her phone when she got a free minute, which wasn’t often. It was Saturday morning, and they were packed. It eased the tightness in her chest a little to watch the screen fill up with orders and the sales totals climb on the monitor. Clearly, word still hadn’t spread, or they wouldn’t be so busy.
When they closed the doors behind the last customer, Landon still hadn’t called, and Gray had more news.
“I pulled the credit card receipts from last night,” he told Kaitlyn when she found him in the back office. “They were at tables 31 and 42. They paid at 8:30 and 8:42, so they were here around the same time, in the same place.”
“Tables 31 and 42?” Kaitlyn pictured them. “Landon delivered their food. Martha was at table 33.”
“That doesn’t mean anything, Kait.”
But fury was rekindling in her chest. “It’s a hell of a coincidence.”
“It’s a hell of an accusation,” Gray said quietly. “And we have no basis for it. What does he get out of hurting LeClarks? Hurting people? He could lose everything.”
Kaitlyn laughed bitterly. “No, he wouldn’t. Not Landon James. He’d hire an army of lawyers. In the end, his victims would be so scared they’d confess to poisoning themselves.”
Kaitlyn drove home numbly. She had two hours before she had to be back for the evening shift, and she needed a nap.
Landon was on her doorstep when she pulled in. He frowned at her uniform. “I thought you weren’t working this morning.”
Kaitlyn jerked a shoulder. “I decided to. Why were you just standing in front of my door? Did you think I was in there?”
Landon studied her face and said slowly, “I wasn’t just standing here. I knocked.”
“What about last night? Did you knock then, too?”
“I wasn’t here last night. I was trying to reason with Martha, and then Carter called. I spent the night trying to save a deal we’ve been working on for months.”
Kaitlyn pushed past him and unlocked her door. When he moved to follow her in, she whirled around. “No.”
Landon stepped back, his hands up, shock written all over his face. “Kait, what’s wrong?”
For a moment, doubt and hope flickered in her chest. But even if he hadn’t delivered the article about the sabotage of Basil Hampton’s restaurant, he’d sure as hell been behind it. And of course, he could act. He’d probably picked up a thing or two from Simone’s wife. Another lie. Kaitlyn’s head hurt almost as much as her heart. Had anything been real? Who was Landon James?
“I don’t know what game you’re playing now, Landon,” she said slowly. “But leave me the hell alone. Haven’t you done enough?”
Landon searched his memory for anything he could have done to put that look of disgust back in Kaitlyn’s eyes, but he came up short. “Is this because I didn’t call last night?” he hazarded. “I told you, I went home to talk to Martha. I don’t want her slamming LeClarks to the entire yacht club just because
