The elevator opened, and I stepped into a dark hallway. “Grant?” I called. Everything was quiet. The sounds of the copy machine, the phones, the clicking of keyboards, and conversation were notably absent. The nervousness I’d felt about speaking with Grant was overshadowed by something else. My body was on alert. Something was off.

A faint glint of blue light trickled from under my office door. I blew out the breath I’d been holding. Get a grip, Nina. You bested Claire today. Whatever is behind that door, you can handle.

I gripped the knob and turned, trying to keep the fear at a manageable level. When I realized who was at my desk, I was instantly angry.

Sasha, leaned back in my chair with her ankles crossed and on top of my desk, held the phone to her ear with one hand, and curled a strand of her ginger hair around a finger of the other. “Oh stop,” she laughed, slightly swaying back in forth in my custom-made Aero chair.

I swung the door open, hoping to surprise Sasha so much that she fell onto the floor. Instead, she glanced at me and then continued talking without pause. “Ugh, and did you see the shoes she wore? I thought about giving her a mercy-nudge into that mud puddle just to cover them up!”

“Sasha,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm. “Hang up the phone, please. We need to talk.”

Sasha rolled her eyes. “I need to go, Mom. Someone needs her office for the first time this week—coincidentally when I’m on the phone. Okay. Bye,” she said, returning the phone to its cradle. “You have the last cord phone in this entire building.”

“It was my father’s.”

“So?”

My first reaction was to run at her full speed and tackle her bony ass to the floor. Then she wouldn’t be in my chair complaining that it wasn’t fit to her standards.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and began again. “I’m not changing anything in this office. I like it the way it is…because it is, in fact, my office. Which begs the question: What are you doing here at ten o’clock at night?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Answer the question, Sasha,” I replied, exasperated.

“I was working,” she snapped. She pulled a file off the desk and held it against her chest as she approached me. “Trust me, your office was happy for the change.”

I started to cross my arms, but forced them to stay at my sides. “What exactly do you hope to accomplish here by insulting the CEO of the company? How far do you expect to get here, Sasha?” I hated how arrogant that sounded, but I was genuinely curious.

“Grant is the CEO as far as we are all concerned.”