Free A Shot of Red by Tracy March Page B

access to his safe-deposit box and could find out what was going on. She owed it to her family’s company, and to Nora and Brent. And she might owe it to even more people if something was going on with the vaccine.
    It was all she could do to keep her concerns to herself as dinner proceeded with more talk of vaccines and metrics and demographics. She’d been around this business all of her life, and felt confident about her role in the One Shot program. What had her edgy was sitting one seat away from Gio and trying to act unaffected. When she’d come in, she caught a tinge of his cologne as she walked past him. The scent alone sent tingles swirling through her and an aching desire to touch him again. Although she couldn’t really see him unless she turned her head sharply and looked past Ellen, she was completely aware of him just the same.
    But Ellen wasn’t going to be between them 24-7. While she sorted out what to do about Brent’s claims, she’d have to sort out her feelings for Gio, too. His life could’ve taken lots of turns while she was away. She had no idea how he felt about her, if he felt anything at all.
    Mia barely touched her dinner and declined dessert, using her and Ellen’s flight as an excuse for them to leave. Surely Gio wouldn’t be far behind her since he had to travel, too. Ellen would fly from Dulles airport since it was closer to her home, yet Mia was scheduled out of Reagan National. She hadn’t asked Gio about his plans, and she didn’t intend to.
    Alone in her car, Mia tugged in a deep breath and let it out with a sigh. After her late-evening flight to New York, she’d face a middle-of-the-night wake-up call before her appearance on the Today Show in the morning. Nearly every minute was planned. Had that been someone’s intent? Because such a frenzied schedule left her no time to investigate Brent’s claims.

Chapter Seven
    In a little over three hours, Mia stepped into her room at the Algonquin Hotel in Times Square, recently renovated to its original grandeur. Staying there was like traveling back in time, but with all the modern conveniences. The original marble on exposed staircases with decorative wrought iron railings showed the wear of the years.
    Mia’s grandfather used to talk about how Dorothy Parker had gathered at the Algonquin with her Vicious Circle of writers and critics at the fabled Round Table.
    “Back in the early twenties,” he’d said. “And they’ve got the New York magazine to show for it . ”
    A complimentary copy of the latest edition had been placed on the desk in Mia’s room. Hyped up from travel and stress, she took the time to flip through the pages, tears welling in her eyes as she remembered her grandfather reading the magazine, and then her dad. She’d even picked it up herself now and then before she went to Haiti. No doubt Lila still had a subscription.
    Her room had a cozy old-world feeling that couldn’t be replicated even in some of the most luxurious New York City hotels, but Mia longed for Haiti. Life had been so much simpler there, and she was overwhelmed by how quickly it had become complicated again. She wasn’t naive enough to think that coming back would be easy, but she’d never expected anything like this. She’d never expected Brent to be dead. Or her feelings for Gio to still be so alive.
    Mia considered making the first move with him, and trying to clear the air so that working together would be less of an emotional drain on her. And on him, too? But what explanation could she offer him at this point? Running from him and her feelings had only been a temporary solution. Now that she was back, they’d caught up with her.
    She’d do better to focus on trying to justify or refute Brent’s claims. Now that she’d had time to process the shock of seeing Brent’s video last night, she was ready to have a more critical look. Was there something there that she hadn’t seen during the several times she played it? She hadn’t