Chapter 161
The babies went down for their nap, freeing Emma, and Sabrina to further immerse themselves in work. In the meantime, Alex was contacting Margie and trying to get a copy of the airline tickets will had gifted her.
“Mr. Rossi!” Margie sputtered. “It’s an honor! My brother is an artist and he’s talking about your galleries and how amazing they are. He is going to die when I tell him I talked to you.”
Alex chuckled internally. Will had always said his assistant was sweet and bubbly, and efficient. He’d be the judge of that.
“What kind of art?”
“All kinds. Portraits, murals, sculpture. Everything,” she gushed.
“Interesting. How about you give your brother my business contact information? I’d love to feature a local artist in my next gallery.”
“Oh my God,” she squealed. “You are too kind, sir! Much too kind!”
“Please, it’s my pleasure. As exciting as this all is, I called you for a favor.”
“Of course, Mr. Rossi!”
“Call me Alex,”
“Oh, my,” her voice fluttered. “Okay… Alex. How can I help you?”
“Will gave you a pair of tickets to Costa Rica. He was wondering if perhaps you made a copy of them.”
“Yes, I did. I can’t wait to go! What’s wrong? Is he in some sort of trouble?”
“I can’t say much, except that he needs your help. Can you send me that copy of those tickets? Along with your brother’s contact info, of course.”
“Right, of course! It’s already sent!”
“That was fast!”
“Mr. Stewart had your contact information in his files, so I used what was there.”
“He was right about you. You’re the best. Thank you, Margie.”
He checked his email, and sure enough the file was there. He downloaded the copy to his computer. He looked over the file and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“Hmm,” he mused. “Two flights to Costa Rica. What’s wrong with them?” He looked at the file, trying to find what might be strange about those tickets, but nothing seemed to stick out. Until…
Emma and Sabrina were doing their own work when Alex careened into the dining room.
“The tickets!” he shouted. “The Costa Rica tickets!”
“What about them?” Sabrina asked, looking at her man as though he’d lost his mind.
“They’re one-way tickets. When these tickets were purchased, whoever purchased them wasn’t going to come back.”
“Why didn’t anyone notice that before?” Emma asked.
“Think about it. No one buys one-way tickets. Not really. That’s a very purposeful thing to do. So, unless someone was doing it on purpose…”
“You wouldn’t even look for a return date,” Sabrina finished.
“Grace was planning to run away?” Emma pondered.
“No, I don’t think so. I think these were for Ghost. He’s planning to run to Costa Rica. I’m going to call the captain!” Alex rushed back out.
“Hurry back!” Sabrina called after him. “We have to get ready for your press appearance this afternoon!”
“Wow,” Emma giggled. “I think we’re rubbing off on him.”
“We just might be.”
That afternoon, a crowd of news reporters, gossip bloggers, media moguls, and journalists all gathered around one of Alex’s art galleries. It was a small, beautiful building with majestic, sweeping landscaping in front of it. It made a perfect backdrop for Alex. He wore a clean, tailored, white suit with a royal blue shirt underneath. Artistic, casual, but powerful. Sabrina had chosen his wardrobe and had done an amazing job. People clamored around him. Cameras flashed and he stood with a dazzling smile, like a prince charming ready to swoop in and save the day. He wore an earpiece, so Sabrina could help him field any questions he couldn’t answer. She had coached him to be fun, conversational, and charismatic. Borderline flirtatious. Alex Rossi was a prominent figure in the city. He was known as cool and mysterious.
“Play that up,” Sabrina had instructed. “You’ll have these people eating out of the palm of your hand.”
“Good afternoon, citizens of Queensbury City,” he called out. A hush fell upon the crowd as he began to speak. “Thank you all for coming out today. I’ll keep this short and sweet and then I will answer your questions after. Sound good? Great. As you all know, the Rossi family values the artistic soul of this city. We have done everything in our power to restore, maintain, and grow this city’s beauty and rich artistic history. We have always backed endeavors and enterprises thar share these ideals with us. So, it is my great pleasure to announce today, that we are partnering with Stewart Industries.” The crowd burst into excited whispers. Alex raised his hands to continue speaking. “Both families are amongst the oldest in the city for too long have lived in competition. William Stewart’s new direction is perfectly in line with my family’s tenets. There is no better time than now to begin our partnership with such a prestigious name.”
“Perfect,” Sabrina said into the earpiece. “Now open the floor for questions, and don’t forget. You are the mysterious, sexy prince of the Rossi family. Go.”
“I’ll be answering your questions now,” he said with a wink. The crowd went wild, questions fired all at once, everyone vying for his attention. He pointed at a reporter from a celebrity gossip magazine. “You first.”
“Thank you,” she said coyly. “There is talk that you and William Stewart have been best friends for years. Why haven’t you two taken over this city together yet?”
“Go ahead and answer,” Sabrina instructed. “But punch it at the end.”
“Yes, it’s true. William Stewart have been friends since we were very young. However, we decided to keep our business lives separate. Our circles were two different. But then we decided that as princes of the city, we needed to unite and create one empire. It was about time, don’t you all think?”
The crowd laughed and then Alex picked another reporter for a question.
“Hello, I’m Channel 16 News. We’ve received reports that a parcel of land recently purchased by Stewart Industries has been placed up for bidding again because the company has not been able to pay for the parcel in its entirety. Is this sudden partnership at all related to that?”
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