His eyes hold mine with a tender glow. “You were a hit with our parents last night.”
I smile. “Really?”
“My mother was gushing about you this morning.” He smiles as he holds his pen in his hand and swivels on his chair.
“I just wanted to keep you updated on a few things.”
He frowns. “Okay.”
“I’m going to keep my relationship with Jameson completely unrelated to work. I feel he needs a break from it.”
“I agree. He does.”
“So, therefore, there are a few things that I wanted to discuss with you.”
“Great. Fire away.”
“Well, you know how we’ve been suspicious of Hayden?”
“Yes.” He frowns.
“I found out from Molly—and this is just rumors—that Hayden was fired from the Gazette for a phone-tapping scandal.”
He sits forward in his seat. “Like what?”
“Apparently—and honestly, I have no idea if this is true, but Molly said it was what circulated at the time—he was tapping Keely May’s phone and stealing her stories.”
“What?” he snaps. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“No.”
He smiles broadly. “This is excellent. This gives me enough ammunition.”
“To do what?”
“To get a search on his computers. We haven’t tapped him yet.”
I smile proudly. “Hopefully this will help us.”
“Good work, Em.” He swivels on his chair and makes a note.
I watch him for a moment. “There was also something else.”
His eyes rise.
“I haven’t said anything to Jameson, but Gabriel Ferrara made a pass at me last night.”
His face falls. “He did what?” he snaps.
“Don’t get excited,” I stammer.
“What did he say?”
I frown as I think back. “I was at the bar, and he asked me who I was. I thought he was just being nice, and I replied Emily.”
Tristan frowns as he listens.
“Then he picked up my hand and kissed the back of it and said, ‘My name is Gabriel Ferrara, and I like to take over all things owned by Jameson Miles.’”
Tristan’s eyes widen.
“Then he said, ‘Women included.’”
“What the fuck?” Tristan snaps. “Are you fucking serious?” He stands in a rush.
“But I don’t know if I read it the wrong way or . . . ,” I stammer. “I don’t want to be making more of this than it is, but I felt that it was really quite off.”
Tristan’s eyes blaze with anger. “What did you say?”
“I told him he was insulting my intelligence and to go away.” I curl my lip in disgust. “He makes my skin crawl.”
“Fucking hell.” Tristan sighs as he turns and puts his hands into his suit pockets and stares out the window, deep in thought.
“I didn’t say anything to Jameson because I feel like that’s exactly what Gabriel wanted me to do.”
Tristan’s jaw ticks in anger. “He wants to start a war.”
“That’s what it felt like . . . there could be no other explanation,” I whisper.
“He’s trying to rattle him by attacking him on a personal basis.”
“Yes.” I sigh as my heart bleeds for my Jay. “I worried about whether I should say anything to you all night.”
Tristan’s eyes come to me. “Don’t tell Jameson.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s keep this between us.”
I exhale heavily.
“I’m concerned about Jameson,” he says. “He’s about to fucking crack.”
“I know; I’m going to try to get him out of the city for the weekends and get him offline. I’m doing all I can to keep him calm.”
“Good idea.” He nods, still deep in thought. “If you had told him about Gabriel, he would be over there strangling the fucker right now.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I know.”
“You did the right thing.” He smiles. “Thank you for telling me.”
My eyes hold his. “I hate not telling Jameson, but I feel like I need to protect him from this. Gabriel is just trying to rattle him.”
“My thoughts exactly,” he agrees. “Thanks, I’ll get on this now. Can you do me a favor and try to find out as much about Hayden’s personal life as you can? Where he hangs out, partner, that kind of thing.”