over her shoulder as he answered. “When I started, there were already two other Alexes on staff. My manager was going to call me by my last name, but it got shortened and stuck. That’s how everyone there knew me for years. Once the other two Alexes left, it was too late to ask people to change what they called me.”
“I like Alex better.”
That icy gaze shot to meet hers. “I like having a job better.”
Okay. Guess they’d just fast-forwarded to the fight. Or rather, the grovel that, in a perfect world, would derail the fight.
“I know. Alex, I’m so sorry. I didn’t intend for anyone to get hurt. I wrote the article, in fact, to keep my crew from losing their jobs.”
“Really.”
She could explain. She could make him understand. “It’s a long story. Short version is that the host of our show was a nightmare of a mess. A major liability who had to be shipped to rehab with handlers. I’d been working to make the jump from producer to host myself for a couple of years.”
“You did this for a promotion?”
That sounded selfish. “Not entirely. There was a very real risk they’d permanently keep me on the magazine side if I did too good a job on the article. Which would’ve been a huge career demotion from the TV side. I risked that to save the show for the rest of my team. Only in the best-case scenario would they see it as proof that I was ready to make the leap. Then they’d give me his show—or a different one—and I could save our whole crew from being laid off.”
He crossed his arms. “Oh, I get it. You decided to fix your life by ruining mine?”
Wow. Alex wasn’t making this easy on her. He was about two thousand miles from receptive, in fact.
But Sydney hadn’t expected this to be quick or easy. And she was prepared to hunker down here and talk through it until the inn opened, if necessary. Until he understood how guilty and sorry she felt.
So she’d just have to keep going. “No. I had no idea there’d be repercussions for you.”
“Isn’t that the point of an exposé? To effect change?” he shot back.
“Well, in this case, I was challenged to make a good story out of a place that doesn’t, well, make it to the top of the bucket list destinations. One that went beyond usual sights. Something deeper. A covered-up theft at a big resort hotel was juicy.”
Dropping his arms, Alex stalked forward until he loomed over her. “It wasn’t covered up. It was handled. Internally. Because a woman’s life was at stake. Changes were made so it couldn’t happen again. And I still had a job until you shined a freaking light on it. Then the Orion had to act. They had to publicly fire me. They had to give the public a scapegoat to calm their guests.”
Sydney lifted her chin. But she didn’t back away. No, she was here to absorb whatever he hurled at her. It was part of her penance.
It was what Alex deserved. A chance to rant and yell and get his anger out of his system. Then maybe, maybe they could move forward.
But it’d be better if he was truly listening. If he gave some indication he understood that she’d done it to help others.
“I’m very sorry your situation escalated. Our MO is to drop into a spot somewhere in the world, do a story, and then fly off. I didn’t think about what would happen after I put your hotel in the spotlight. I just moved on. I swear I had no idea the manager—you—was fired until a month ago.”
His hand moved up to stroke down his chin, in obvious rumination. “Your name’s not on the article.”
Aha! Did this mean he was coming around to realizing she’d had no idea about his involvement?
Sydney shook her head, so hard that her hair whipped at her cheeks. “They kept it under our show host. I did most of his work for him, by then. He had the name recognition. If it went over well, I’d get the promotion. If it flopped, they’d tell everyone about his trip to rehab and use that as an excuse.”
“My name’s in there, though. You knew who I was.”
“Well, I didn’t know your name at first. It’s not like you handed me your business card when we met and I destroyed your muffin. Plus, it turns out that you don’t go by