Chapter 2 - THE ROOM SHE THOUGHT WAS STILL HERS
Mason did not finish the sentence.
Elena, the receptionist, waited.
The lobby seemed suddenly too bright.
He exhaled.
“Tell her the room is canceled.”
Elena nodded carefully.
“And her belongings?”
“She can collect them.”
“Her name is on the reservation.”
Mason looked at the screen.
“Who paid?”
She hesitated.
“You did.”
“Whose card?”
Another click.
“Your Hartley Consulting corporate card.”
Mason’s anger sharpened.
He had not booked the suite through the company.
He had used his personal travel card.
Or at least he thought he had.
“Show me.”
Elena turned the monitor slightly.
The resort booking had been modified three days earlier.
Original payment:
Mason Hartley personal Visa.
Revised payment:
Hartley Consulting Corporate Platinum.
Additional authorization:
Talia Hartley.
Mason stared.
“What additional authorization?”
Elena looked uncomfortable.
“An upgrade request. Private excursion package. Extended guest access.”
His pulse changed.
“Guest access for who?”
She clicked.
Zayn Malik.
Mason went cold.
Talia had put the tour guide’s name on their anniversary reservation.
Not as a one-day guide.
As an authorized resort guest.
“When?”
“Two days ago.”
“Before we arrived?”
“Yes.”
That changed everything.
The sunscreen scene had not been spontaneous flirtation.
Zayn had been inserted into the trip before Mason ever boarded the plane.
Mason took out his phone.
Talia had texted him:
Where are you?
Then:
Mason, don’t be dramatic.
Then:
You CANCELED THE ROOM?!
Then:
Call me NOW.
He did not.
He called his CFO instead.
“Derek.”
“Mason? You’re supposed to be in Turks and Caicos.”
“I need you to pull the last thirty days of Hartley Consulting card activity.”
A pause.
“Why?”
“Because my wife just charged our anniversary suite to the company.”
Silence.
Then Derek said, “That’s not the only thing she charged.”
Mason stopped.
“What do you mean?”
Derek had noticed irregular expenses that morning but assumed Mason approved them while traveling.
A $42,000 “destination development retainer.”
A $16,500 “experience consulting fee.”
A $9,800 equipment deposit.
All paid to an entity called Blue Meridian Adventures.
Mason knew the name.
Zayn’s tour company.
His mouth went dry.
“How much total?”
“Sixty-eight thousand three hundred.”
“Authorized by?”
“Your secondary executive card.”
“Talia’s.”
“Yes.”
Mason looked across the resort lobby toward the sea.
Zayn was not merely touching his wife.
His wife had been paying him.
With company money.
Derek continued.
“Mason, there’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“Talia requested a $250,000 line-of-credit draw yesterday.”
Mason closed his eyes.
“Did it go through?”
“No. Needs your approval.”
“Freeze everything.”
“I can freeze her card. Not the corporate operating account without dual authorization.”
“Call Amanda.”
Amanda Keller was their outside counsel.
“Already doing it.”
Mason ended the call.
Then Talia appeared at the far end of the lobby.
Still in the white bikini, now wrapped in a sheer cover-up.
Zayn walked behind her.
She saw the suitcase.
Then the dead key card on the counter.
Her expression changed from anger to alarm.
“Mason.”
He looked at her.
No shouting now.
That seemed to frighten her more.
“You told me to go home.”
“Mason, come on.”
“So I’m going.”
“You canceled the suite!”
“Yes.”
“My things are upstairs.”
“Collect them.”
“What is wrong with you?”
He almost smiled.
“What is Blue Meridian Adventures?”
Zayn stopped walking.
Talia’s face changed.
There.
Mason saw it.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because my company paid it sixty-eight thousand dollars.”
Zayn looked at Talia.
“You said he knew.”
May you like
Mason turned slowly toward him.
That sentence was the first crack in their alliance.
