Hotel queens, p.26
Hotel Queens, page 26
Hard Lessons Learned from Working Undercover in My Own Hotel.
Kai inhaled. “Are you serious? She’s going to dump entrails all over her own company? Doesn’t she know that the national media covers the keynote speech?”
“She knows. She said if she can’t fix things as CEO, she can at least prevent it all spreading.”
Kai stared. “She said what?”
“She said she won’t stand by while evil flourishes.”
Stunned, Kai muttered, “I don’t believe it.”
“Ask her yourself.” Milly wandered over to the adjoining doors and gave them a nudge. “It doesn’t sound like she’ll be much longer on her Skype call.”
There was a definite twinkle in her assistant’s eye, and Kai wondered what joke she was missing.
She peered into the adjoining room. Amelia was in an armchair, her back to Kai and her laptop on her knees as she video-chatted with a little girl. The child looked maybe ten?
“I doubt you’d actually see a coyote in New York,” Amelia was saying. Her voice was soft, warm, and gentle, and a shiver went through Kai. “I know you say there was a story about one on a roof in Queens but—”
“Auntie Lia, can I get one as a pet?”
“I thought you wanted fish?”
“Can I have both?” The child’s face was so hopeful, Kai almost laughed.
“Coyotes are wild, darling. It wouldn’t be good for either of you. It might eat you!” Amelia laughed.
The girl joined in laughing. “It wouldn’t eat me! I’m all skin and bones. It might eat Dad!”
“I think he’d be too salty, all the surfing he does. Sorry, we have to rule out coyotes. How’s the packing going?”
“Done. And Sally’s going to take my fish and send me photos every day!”
“Every day? She sounds like a good friend.”
“She is. I’ll miss her.”
“I know darling. You can call her, though.”
“I will.”
“All right, I have to go—I have a speech to memorize, and I can’t believe how late it is for you. You shouldn’t be up all hours.”
“I can’t sleep because of the move!”
“You certainly can’t if you’re talking to me. Bye, Imogen. We’ll talk soon.”
“Love you, Auntie Lia. Night!”
“Love you, too.”
The screen went black.
So hard-ass Amelia had a secret soft streak. Kai wouldn’t have believed it.
Amelia stood and turned, revealing that she was wearing a simple but flattering navy skirt and a white blouse, unbuttoned three buttons. Oh Lord.
Amelia turned, catching sight of them. “Visiting hour at the zoo?” she inquired.
“Sorry.” Kai grinned. “And I have to say I’m on the kid’s side. Who wouldn’t want a pet coyote?”
“Of course you would, chaos agent that you are.” Amelia glanced over her shoulder to Milly. “Where’s Quinn? I need my speech printed in a bigger point size. My eyes are useless.”
“Shower,” Milly said. “I could get that organized for you.” She glanced at Kai. “I mean, if you don’t mind, Ms. Fisher?”
“Go on,” Kai agreed. “I want to have a chat with Amelia anyway. It seems I slept through some interesting developments.”
“You did.” Amelia’s eyes glittered. “Come on in. We’ll talk.” She flicked a glance at Milly. “Don’t disturb us. I suspect your boss has a lot of apologizing she’d prefer to do in private.”
Milly shot them both curious looks.
“I…” Kai began to protest. She gave up, nodded at Milly, and followed Amelia into the suite, closing the door behind them.
Amelia took in Kai’s stunned expression. Her amusement built at the self-righteous woman, so sure she knew the Duxtons, lost for words.
“Drink?” she asked. “Snack? Perhaps…humble pie?”
Kai snorted. “Water, please.” She sank onto the end of Amelia’s bed.
Amelia fished a bottle from the minibar and found a glass. “I’m sure there’s something you’re dying to say.”
“Are you really doing this? The speech?”
“I am.”
“When I said fix your family, I didn’t think you’d choose the thermonuclear option!”
“I’m exposing bad business practices before they spread—not just to Duxton hotels, but who knows how many other unscrupulous businesses might be inspired and decide it’s worth copying?” She poured the water. “It was your idea to fight this. I don’t know why you’re so shocked now that I am.”
“There’s no walking this back if you do this.”
Amelia handed her the glass. “How else to enact change? How else to be heard? I talked to my father and found out he already knew. Claimed the situation is in hand.”
“They’ll fire you. You, the only decent Duxton, and they’ll toss you off a cliff.”
“I thought all Duxtons were the same?” Amelia lifted an eyebrow.
“Yes, well.” Kai took a sip. “I was wrong.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear that. Surely my ears are failing me…”
With a roll of her eyes, Kai repeated: “I. Was. Wrong.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“An apology for misjudging me. Please make it good. I have so little to amuse me these days.”
Kai sighed. “You’re loving this way too much.”
“Perhaps. It’s infuriating how you leap to conclusions. Calling me evil, for instance. I particularly resented that.”
“I’m sorry. I did make assumptions that you were like the rest of your family.”
Amelia winced.
“And I’m sorry they’re like that. It must be hard.”
Sympathy? Amelia didn’t like the taste of that. She paced for a moment until she found herself standing in front of Kai.
Kai peered up at her.
Amelia met her eye. “So…you run Scorched Earth.”
Kai gasped. “What? Who told you that?”
“You did. Just now. I wasn’t entirely sure. Although it occurred to me earlier that Milly’s dossier on abusive work practices reads like a Scorched Earth primer. Then I realized that all Scorched Earth’s Duxton horror cases were in the folder, too. Did you think I wouldn’t figure it out?”
Kai took a deeper gulp of water.
“I always wondered at The Dragon’s hatred toward all things Duxton,” Amelia continued. “As if they’d been personally injured by us. Quite slow of me not to join the dots sooner, actually.”
Kai looked away.
“A bit unprofessional, isn’t it? The Dragon heckling me from the cheap seats? You used my core values quote on Twitter to mock me. My words about guests feeling at home in hotels were heartfelt and you twisted them. And hashtag Dunceton is still trending, by the way.”
“I’m sorry.” Shame filled Kai’s expression. “I didn’t know you then. I thought you were just another entitled Duxton.”
“Well, I’m not! You made me look a fool, then suggested my hotels were second rate. My hotels exude excellence, damn it!” Amelia’s hand curled into a fist and she sank down onto the edge of the bed next to Kai.
“I’m so sorry I said that.”
“It was petty.”
“It really was. I was so mad at Oliver.”
“So you decided to attack me.”
“I was really only thinking about getting under Oliver’s skin.” Kai dipped her head. “I’m sorry I hurt you in the process, Amelia. You are not someone to be mocked.” She reached for Amelia’s hand. “I respect you. I was a total smart-ass on Twitter, and you didn’t deserve it.”
Amelia stared at her for a moment, assessing her authenticity. Seeing only sincerity, her shoulders sagged. “God, you’re annoying.” Amelia’s words lacked fire this time. “So annoying.”
“I really am,” Kai conceded with a grin. She gave Amelia’s hand a small squeeze.
Amelia glanced down, suddenly noticing the warmth of fingers around hers. She extracted her hand and said, “Finally, something we agree on.”
“Oh, I’d say we agree on a few things.”
“Really?” Since when?
“Well, we both think what your brother does with hotels is wrong.”
Amelia had to concede that.
“We both enjoy each other’s company in swanky bars called Prohibition,” Kai continued, “Oh, and we hate the way Tim makes a Negroni.”
Amelia snorted.
“And, the big one, we both find the other inconveniently attractive.”
Amelia froze. “Speak for yourself.”
“Come on, we have a spark. It’s always there, every time we’re in a room together. I loved it when you kissed me, and I know you did, too.”
“Why are you so presumptuous?”
Kai smiled. “I’m not saying any of this as a come on. I’m just being honest. I don’t know how this happened. God, you’re the sister of the man who ruined me!”
Amelia sighed. “I’m sorry about whatever Oliver did,” she murmured.
“You believe me now?”
“I asked him about it. He didn’t deny it.”
“Did he…” Kai paused, “at least sound regretful?”
Amelia pressed her lips together. “No. He sounded glad.”
Kai’s eyes hardened. “Did he tell you what he did?”
“Not in exact terms. He said there was an NDA…”
“That non-disclosure agreement is between me and Hotel Duxton. He could have told you if he wanted. The fact he didn’t means he knows how underhanded he was.”
“Will you tell me?”
Kai drew in a breath. “If I do, you’ll hate him. It’s why I didn’t tell you before.”
“I already hate him. He’s the architect of the points system.”
“Deeper than that. You’ll hate all of him.”
What has my little brother been up to? Amelia braced herself. “Tell me.”
Kai drew in a steadying breath and began.
“In high school, I had a good friend who spent a few months, on and off, couch surfing with us when his parents kicked him out. When I left for college, Remi called me often, telling me all about his various jobs. He worked all over Manhattan’s bars, clubs, restaurants, and hotels. Some of his stories were awful. We talked about what we could do but drew a blank because he didn’t want a rep as a troublemaker. But within a few years, suddenly the internet was exploding and he called me up all excited with the idea of a whistleblower website. He had a friend who was good with computers create Scorched Earth for me.”
“Did Remi work for Duxton?”
“Not back then, but later he wound up as a cleaner at Duxton New York. He was who convinced his coworkers to approach me about the abuses they experienced.”
“You took that as a pro bono case, right?”
“No.” Kai paused. “I only said that so you’d think they approached me as a lawyer. They didn’t. They wanted Scorched Earth to expose their conditions. So The Dragon began naming and shaming Oliver for the abuse, given he was the boss of Duxton USA.”
She shook her head. “My two worlds were separate—corporate lawyer and whistleblower. Then to my astonishment, one day Oliver turns up at my office wanting to see me. Just me. In return, as I mentioned before, he told my bosses he was considering them for all his legal work.”
Kai’s stomach twisted. “When he got his meeting, he pulled out a tape recorder, told me he wanted a personal record of our confidential meeting, then reeled off all the ways he screwed over his staff. Every case he could think of. Awful, cruel, ruthless, illegal crap. Far beyond what I’d ever suspected. I was staggered. I asked whether all his victims were suing. I said I hoped they were.”
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘No, I’m destroying Scorched Earth.’ I was shocked. Turned out he’d hired an investigator and found out who was behind the site. He said recording our conversation provided proof of what he’d shared with me confidentially. So any story I put on Scorched Earth about Hotel Duxton in the future, he’d say I’d heard it from him. Therefore, I’d disclosed confidential information that should have been protected by attorney-client privilege. He’d get me disbarred and also reveal who The Dragon really was.”
Amelia’s expression became pinched. “He hadn’t even hired you at that point?”
“Ah,” Kai said. “You think someone who hasn’t officially hired a lawyer can’t demand attorney-client privilege? No. The presumption of privilege exists in most US states, whether money has changed hands or not. It’s not like on TV.”
“I see. So, what was in the NDA you signed?”
“The deal was he’d never out me as The Dragon or as being affiliated with Scorched Earth. He knew that my being unmasked would decimate my career, given the rich and powerful were most often my targets. And they’re who regularly need lawyers. I’d be political poison to employers. In return, I agreed to close Scorched Earth’s website and never break stories on Hotel Duxton. I put up a Twitter feed, sure, but all it does is respond to news already out there. Essentially, Oliver broke The Dragon’s back.”
“You were blackmailed.”
“Yes. Then he salted the earth so I’d never work in law again, demanding my bosses give out suspiciously unenthusiastic references in exchange for his future legal work. And Oliver did actually move some of his business to them, so they complied.”
“I’m so sorry.” Amelia sounded appalled. “How did you go from there to hotels?”
“I couldn’t find a job, couldn’t make rent, and I’d sold everything that wasn’t nailed down. Finally, I conceded defeat and moved back in with my mom. The next week, I received an anonymous ‘welcome home’ parcel filled with homemaker goods, like a Martha Stewart stand mixer. The note said: ‘To help with your new career. Cheerfully yours, Oliver.’”
Amelia ground her jaw. “Sounds like him.”
“Not long after that, when I was looking at job ads for Bed Bath & Beyond, a hotelier turned up out of the blue.”
“Stein?”
“Yes. He’d loved Scorched Earth and when it disappeared, he wanted to know why, and whether it could be resurrected.”
“Of course he loved it; all it did was attack the Duxtons twenty-four-seven.”
“No argument. Anyway, Mr. Stein had hired a private investigator to determine where The Dragon went. Get this—he hired the same investigator Oliver had. So Mr. Stein was at my door within the day. He sat down and said, ‘My investigator says you’re an excellent lawyer who wins many cases, yet your former employer warned me off hiring you. I know what that means. So I want to help, Kaida. While I’d love to hire you just to annoy Oliver, I also hear you have people skills and make good deals, and these are things I’m less good at. So, I’m thinking we should start you in Marketing? There’s a vacancy there.’”
Kai drew in a breath. “Marketing? I almost threw him out on his ear. I was a trained lawyer, good at what I did.”
“A trained lawyer looking at Bed Bath & Beyond ads.”
“Well, there was that. But my ego was bruised. Anyway, he told me his hotels were expanding and soon he’d find something better suited to my skills. He kept his word. And that’s why he has my loyalty. Mr. Stein rescued me when I was at rock bottom. He is a decent man and a good boss. I love him. I don’t like to think where I’d have ended up without him.”
Amelia digested that. “What happened to the cleaners? The ones who started your crusade?”
“They were all fired.”
“And Remi?”
“He’s now a trained masseuse at the Wellness Center at Grand Millennium Fitness.”
“Quite a coincidence,” Amelia’s lips quirked. “Almost like he had a friend in high places. Would I be right that all those cleaners now work at Grand Millennium?”
“Funnily enough, most of them do.”
Amelia smiled. “Good. I’m sorry my brother is such a bastard. I knew he had the streak in him. But hearing that…”
“You believe me?”
“Of course.” Amelia gave her a startled look. “Aren’t we beyond doubting each other by now?”
Kai met her eye. “Yes. We are.”
“I…trust you.” An uncertain expression washed Amelia’s face. “I don’t know how you accomplished that. I find myself in awe of how you picked yourself up again after what happened. I’m glad you didn’t let my brother crush you under heel. I can see now why you were so angry when I blew in on Twitter, defending the Duxtons.”
“Still, you were right: I was being petty.”
Amelia’s smile widened. “Obviously. But from your point of view, it would have been salt in the wound.”
“Look at us…both on the same page.” Kai reached for Amelia’s fingers and tangled them with her own. “We certainly went places I never imagined.”
Amelia shook her head. “No? I got the impression you imagined us extremely close when we first met.” Her eyes glittered.
Kai laughed softly. “Well, yes. And I’ve never been shot down like that before. Your proposal is lacking. It hurt, don’t get me wrong. But you forced me to consider who I was that night—the games I play, how often I play them, and why I do.”
“That’s why you’re being more honest?” Amelia looked thoughtful. “Self-examination is a difficult thing. It’s why most people don’t do it. You’re impressive.”
Kai warmed at the compliment. “I’m impressive? Woman, your speech tonight is going to be incredible. It’ll do more good than Scorched Earth ever could. You are putting everything on the line. This new spontaneous streak of yours is getting bolder by the minute. I can’t even predict what you’ll do next.”
“Is that so?” Amelia looked pleased. “I’ve never been called unpredictable before.”
