Sinful Pleasures

Chapter Fourteen

The room was silent and everyone was staring at Damon. I saw him pissed when he saw Jason hurting me. This was a whole different type of anger. Everyone was looking at each other. I was trying to see if I noticed anything off about those standing in the room. My eyes immediately fell on Amanda. To my surprise, and annoyance, she looked shocked. She didn't look like she had done this.

"Well, if nobody is going to admit to this, I will just check the footage and see who accessed this room. Blaire and Damon will decide if the authorities will be involved."

With that, Derek and Jacob both left the room. Everyone got a nervous look on their face, but I think that was more with learning just how serious this was. Lexi took it upon herself to take the pictures of Jason pinning me against the elevator off the walls. There must have been about 20 copies throughout the room.

"Well, this is not how I wanted to meet the new Event Coordinators. If you haven't figured it out by now, I am Blaire Green and this is Damon Black. We are the new owners of this hotel. We are both thrilled to have you on our team. The two ladies on your left are Haley and Amanda. They are our current Event Coordinators and they also happen to be sisters. What are you names?"

Out of the three new faces, the girl in the middle stepped forward. She had long platinum blonde hair that was pulled back in a braid. She was dressed very professionally in black pants, a cream colored long sleeve and flats. To her left was a red head who had long hair as well and looked like she could play a live action Ariel in Little Mermaid. She had on a black pencil skirt with a green tank top. The third new face had shoulder length black hair. She looked to be the youngest at maybe 23. She was dressed in a knee length royal blue dress with sheer sleeves. They all presented themselves well, but it seemed like the blonde was used to taking control.

"My name is Danielle. The red head is Rose and the other is Ciara. We all went to New York Institute of Art and Design. Rose and I graduated three years ago and are now mentors with the school. Ciara graduated last year and I was her mentor. We have heard about the incident involving what happened in those pictures. But we are still excited to be a part of the hotel."

I watched as Amanda rolled her eyes before Danielle took her place between Rose and Ciara. I wasn't sure how she would act with the new ECs alone, but I knew I didn't have a choice. I just had to hope they could see through her act.

"Now that introductions are over, make sure you take some coffee and donuts. Feel free to hang out in here, or out in the lobby. Blaire and I will just be down the hall in her office. Let us or Lexi know if you need anything."

I grabbed more coffee and a donut before we headed to my office. I went straight for my desk while Damon shut the door and leaned against the edge of my desk. I focused on my donut, not really wanting to talk about what happened. I knew he wouldn't let it go for long. After I finished my donut and started on my coffee, he apparently decided enough time had passed.

"Alright Blaire. I can tell that you don't want to talk about it, but we need to. Do you think Amanda did this?"

I slowly shook my head. "Honestly, I don't think she is the one who physically put the pictures up. But I wouldn't be surprised if she found someone to do it for her. I have a bad feeling it was another guard. Who else could have gotten their hands on the security footage?"

As if his ears were burning, Derek knocked and walked into the office. He didn't look like he had good news. I groaned and buried my face in my hands.

"Well guys, I don't have an exact name yet, but I can tell you that it had to be one of my guys. There is no other way that anyone else could have gotten those pictures. Unfortunately, the footage from an hour ago is missing. Which means I can narrow it down to two guys. I will figure out which one it is. If I can't, then I will fire both of them and you can decide if you want the cops involved."

"Bring them both here." Derek nodded and left the room. I sent a text to Lexi and asked her to come to my office as well. Damon walked around the desk and placed a hand on my shoulder. I was going to find out who was wrapped around Amanda's finger.

After about five minutes, Lexi entered the room and stood beside Damon. After another five minutes, Derek came back with two younger looking guards. Neither of them looked familiar to me. Derek introduced them as Zach and Todd. Neither of them looked fazed in the slightest to be in my office. Maybe this would be harder than I thought.

"Alright guys. I'm just going to cut to the chase. We know that it was at least one of you that got the pictures of my assault off the security footage, and helped post them in the conference room. You also managed to delete the footage that would show the person that entered said conference room to put the pictures up. Now, are you guys going to cooperate and tell me which one of you did it?"

At first, I didn't think either one was going to answer. Then the one that Derek introduced as Todd stepped forward.

"With all due respect, it doesn't sound like you have actual proof that either of us did anything wrong."

All I could do was stare at this guy. Was he being serious right now? I really wanted this to be simple. I just wanted to know who was behind the incident this morning. I even considered not getting the police involved. I guess I have no choice now.

"In case you forgot, we do in fact know that you and Zach were the only one's in the security office. That means that it did have to be at least one of you, if not both. But if neither of you want to help us, then I have no choice but to get the police involved."

I nodded to Derek, who already had his phone to his ear, and he stepped into the hall. I put my hands over my face and wished I was anywhere else. I really wanted to get work done, but I knew I wouldn't be able to do it in this office. Once the police got here, and we attempted to figure everything out, I was going to go back up to my room. If I hoped to be productive at all, it would have to be from there.

Derek returned about 15 minutes later. I was thinking that some patrol cop would be the one to show up. I was surprised when I saw it was the captain who followed into the office.

"Good morning Ms. Green. I hear you have had quite a week already, and it is only Wednesday."

I couldn't help but laugh at his ironic statement. It had already been a long week, and it was only halfway over.

"Good morning Captain Ross. It has definitely been eventful so far. I am so sorry that you are the one who had to come down here today. But we have an issue that needs taken care of."

"Don't apologize Blaire. I am the one who chose to come down here. You know that I take assault and harassment very seriously. I want to get to the bottom of this just as much as you. Now, why don't you explain to me what happened this morning?"

I watched as he took out a notepad and sat on the couch across from my desk. Zach and Todd had moved to one side of the desk, so that they weren't standing in front of Captain Ross.

"As you are aware, one of our former security officers assaulted me Monday night by the penthouse elevators. This morning, we discovered almost twenty copies of stand still images from the security footage showing me pinned against the elevators hung in one of our conference rooms. Derek was able to narrow it down to these two guards, who were the only ones in the room with the cameras. Unfortunately, they also deleted the footage that would show us who actually hung the pictures."

Ross nodded along while he wrote down the details I gave him. He reread the notes, and then looked between both guards in question. He slowly stood, and positioned himself in front of them.

"Do you guys realize that it is against the law to tamper with evidence? You can go to jail for it. If you decide to help us figure out who is behind all of this, maybe Blaire will decide to go easy on you. Maybe she won't press charges on you. If you make this hard, then I will make sure you get the max sentence available."

I watched as Zach began to falter. He was visibly becoming nervous. Todd still seemed to be unfazed. Why were they protecting this person? Was it really worth a jail sentence? I was becoming more frustrated by the minute.

"I want a lawyer." Todd crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me. I didn't notice when he first came in, but he looked oddly familiar. I have no idea where I would know him from though.

"I think I need one too." Zach was very close to cracking. The mention of jail time really spooked him. Hopefully, we could eventually get some information out of him.

Captain Ross motioned for Derek to walk the two out of the room. Once they closed the door, he turned to look at me.

"I have a friend in the FBI that can try to recover the missing security footage. I can't promise that he can do it, but I am certainly going to have him try. Is there anyone that you think could possibly be behind this? I can try to see if I can dig some dirt up on them."

"Our Event Coordinator, Amanda. There is no way to prove it, of course. But she has had it out to get me since I started last week."

He jotted her name down in the notepad where he wrote today's incident.

"I will do my best to get to the bottom of this. I'm sorry you are having to go through this when you just got back home. Do you still have my number? Call me if anything else happens. I will be in touch."

I nodded and watched him leave the room. Lexi and Damon both sat on the couch across from me. We all just looked at each other. I was at a loss for words.

"Blaire, are you okay? You look a little pale?"

Lexi was the one to bring me out of my thoughts.

"Do I? Maybe I just need some water. I just know that I can't work down here today. I am going to work from the penthouse. I hate the fact that all I have ever wanted to do was run this damn hotel, and only two weeks in, I can't even work here. What the hell am I going to do?"

I buried my face in my hands. I heard Lexi get up and wrap her arms around my shoulders.

"We are going to get to the bottom of this Blaire. You know how well Captain Chuck Ross does his job. You can't let this ruin your work. Just focus on the upcoming stay of Jennifer Aniston. We also have that private party in the bar in a few weeks. You can still do this Blaire."

Lexi was right. I had too many important things coming up to let this bother me. I had to trust that Chuck would handle this. I quickly got up from my desk and made my way to the door.

"You're right Lex. I need to focus. Let Chuck do his job. I am going to go down, get a fresh coffee, and get to work. I will be working in here today. I can't let whoever is trying to hurt me see me falter."

Lexi smiled and gave me a tight hug. She said something about having some paperwork to file and promptly left. Damon wrapped an arm around my waist and kissed my cheek. We both walked down to the restaurant and got coffees. When we came back upstairs, he went to his office. I sat down at my desk, took a long drink of my coffee, and got to work.

Jen's manager had sent a list of requests for their stay. I was expecting some outrageous things on this list, but they were some of the simplest things: let housekeeping know they do not to clean her room while she is here, make sure there is Folgers coffee available, stock only Dial Himalayan Salt soap in the bathroom, and make sure there are extra towels in the bathroom.

I sent a quick email to the housekeeping manager about the towels and inform them of the room they do not need to clean during her stay. Since the coffee and soap were easy things, I decided I would just run out and get those. I needed to go to the store anyways. I made note of a few more event requests and closed down my computer.

As I was leaving my office, Damon was just coming out of his. He shut his door and turned towards me.

"I see that you managed to work for a whole day down here. What are you up to now?"

He wrapped his arms around my waist and I couldn't help but melt into his touch. I had to admit, it felt good to work in my office again. It might only be week two, but I felt like I had worked from the penthouse more than my own office lately.

"Jen's manager sent over some requests for her stay. It's just some soap and coffee. Since I need to go to the store anyways, I figured I would just pick them up myself. Want to tag along?"

He nodded and gave me a quick kiss. He grabbed my hand and we headed to the lobby. He called for a car and it was out front within ten minutes. I rested my head against his shoulder and must have dozed off. Before I knew it, Damon was nudging me awake. I told the driver that we would only be about twenty or so minutes. Damon decided that we should have tacos for dinner. He went off to get the ingredients for dinner, while I grabbed what I needed for Jen's stay.

After grabbing what I needed, I found Damon as he was grabbing some beer. We quickly paid for our items and found the car waiting in a close spot for us. There wasn't much traffic and the ride back to the hotel felt a lot quicker than the ride to the store. We took everything up to the penthouse, and I made myself comfy at the counter while Damon started to make dinner.

Fall was quickly approaching and it was becoming chillier at night. I decided to make some warm tea and light a fire. I grabbed a blanket and made myself comfy on the couch beside the fireplace. Damon joined me with a beer. We settled into a peaceful silence. I don't know how long we sat there, but I noticed that it was pretty dark outside, and that the fire was starting to die down. I looked at the time and it was going on 9:30.

Damon put out the fire while I took my mug into the kitchen. We took a quick shower and got into bed. I fell asleep in no time, and was happy when I didn't have any nightmares. I was sleeping so well, that at some point, I thought I had overslept. I jumped out of bed and checked the time. 6:30 am. I rolled my eyes at myself and put my phone back on the side table. I stretched and actually felt well rested for the first time in a week.

I took advantage of the energy I felt and took a hot shower. I took my time and let the hot water just run over me. I got out, wrapped a towel around me, and decided to blow dry my hair. I figured since I was up so early, I would take my time getting ready. I decided that I didn't want to spend my whole day in the office either. I wanted to go around and meet the guests that were staying here. I put some curls in my hair and actually put some makeup on.

I made my way to my closet and tried to find the perfect outfit. I remembered seeing that it was going to be fall like this week, so I decided on a black knee length skirt, an emerald colored sweater and black knee high boots. I went to check myself in the mirror and noticed Damon standing in the doorway. He was watching me with his trademark sexy grin.

"You look gorgeous this morning. What's the occasion?"

"I have decided to spend the day getting to know the guests. I plan to make rounds in the restaurant and the bar. I want to know what people think of the hotel, and if there is anything that we can do better. I don't want to spend the day in the office again. I will go crazy."

I watched as his eyes glazed over, and I instantly knew what he wanted to do. But there was no way I was letting him ruin all the effort that I put into my appearance this morning.

"I don't think so lover boy, it took too much time and effort to look like this. You are going to keep your hands off this morning."

I winked and sauntered by him. I made sure to sway my hips a little extra as I felt his eyes on my ass. I laughed to myself as I heard him groan and make his way to the bathroom. I decided to get a coffee from downstairs and promptly left the penthouse. I had a good feeling about today. I wasn't going to let anyone ruin the momentum I had this morning.