And with that, she’s gone. Charles is left standing there, gaping after her like a fish out of water before he, too, walks out the front door without even a glance at me.

I should follow Scarlett. I know I should. But I also can’t help but think I caused this, and I have to do what I can to make it right before I talk to her again.

So, I get back in the elevator and go right back up to the offices. Casey and Trina are still in the hallway outside of the conference room, talking with their heads bowed toward each other. When I burst past them, they both look up, wide-eyed with shock and almost looking a little guilty. But I don’t have time for that right now. I march right up to Anastasios Martis’s office door and knock loudly.

“Come in,” I hear from inside. But when I open the door and he sees its me, he stifles an exasperated sigh. “Whitlock, I think you and I both have had enough of this today—”

“All due respect, sir, I know who outed Scarlett.”

His chair creaks as he sits up straighter. He leans his ear toward me slightly, as if he isn’t sure he heard me right.

“What? Who?” Trina says behind me. I hadn’t realized I had an audience, but when I turn around, she and Casey are standing there. Margie is lurking in the distance, too, but close enough that she can hear me.

“Charles Hall,” I say, still breathless with excitement. “He’s been in talks with us and JMP for his new book.”

“Last I heard, JMP wasn’t interested in his book at all,” Casey said.

I raise my eyebrows. That figures. He likely panicked when he told his publisher he was shopping around, only to not have any deals waiting for him at all. “Well, they’re interested now. I just overheard him telling Scarlett he had been secretly meeting with both them and us and planned to have us compete against each other for bids without knowing our fellow imprint was the one in talks with him. They offered him a deal for his book in exchange for the information he had.”

Casey snorts with a shrug. “They can have him. Why would we want to work with him after something like that?”

“Does the man have an agent?” Trina asks. “What reputable agent would agree to this?”

“Like attracts like,” Casey mutters.

“To hear him tell it, he was lying to us and them. Using the deal with JMP as leverage to try to get us to offer more.” I direct this to Anastasios. If I’m reading the room right, he’s just as angry as any of us because he’s also in hot water for signing Scarlett in the first place.