Daring Dixie - Tara Crescent
Prologue
Dixie
Six months ago…
It’s Wednesday. I’ve been at my new job at Leforte Enterprises for ten days, and already, I’m having second thoughts.
When Xavier Laforte hired me to be the General Counsel of his sprawling empire, I’d been under the impression I would be working directly for him. I was wrong. While Xavier is nominally the CEO, the daily decisions are made by Pierre Valade, the Chief Operating Officer.
Pierre is, to put it kindly, a disaster. Xavier is competent; Pierre is not. Xavier respects his employees; Pierre is condescending, difficult, and incompetent. He doesn’t read his emails. He shows up to meetings unprepared. Things sit on his desk for days on end.
Things like the Ito contract, for example.
Pierre looks up from the stack of paper on his desk. “Xavier needs to sign this contract,” he says, giving me a glare.
“Yes,” I agree, keeping the annoyance out of my voice with superhuman ability. Sadly, I have a lot of practice at that. “I sent you an email about it last week.”
“Xavier isn’t here,” he says, stating the obvious. “When does this need to be signed by?”
He hasn’t read my email. He’s ignored the subject line that said: Urgent—Mr. Leforte needs to sign the Ito contract by the fourteenth. I grit my teeth. “Today.”
He blinks in confusion. “Today?”
I count to ten in my head. “Yes, today. If you recall, we had a conversation about this last Wednesday. These documents need to be shipped today to get to Tokyo by Friday.” Pierre has dithered for weeks. Akihiko Kawahara, my counterpart at Ito Corp, is losing his patience and is on the verge of recommending that his firm walk away from the deal.
“But Xavier isn’t here,” he says again.
I have no idea how this man keeps his job. “Do you know where he is?”
He frowns at me as if I’m inconveniencing him by asking him to do his job. “Let me ask Elisa.”
Elisa Bucur is Xavier’s assistant and is, as I’m quickly finding out, as competent as Pierre is not. She picks up the phone on the first ring. “Elisa Bucur,” she says, her voice crisp. “How can I help you, Pierre?”
“Do you know where Xavier is?”
“Yes, he’s at the castle. He flew in from Bangkok last night.” There’s a brief pause. “I'm quite sure I sent you a copy of his travel schedule."
Pierre lets that rebuke sail past his head. "I have Dixie Ketcham in front of me," he says. "She needs Xavier to sign a contract. Is he planning to come into the office today?"
"He has spent thirty-six of the last ninety hours on a plane. I highly doubt it."
The thought of picking up the phone and explaining to Akihiko that we've missed yet another deadline makes me cringe. I take a half-step forward. "Elisa, hi. This is Dixie. I'm sure Mr. Leforte is exhausted, but I really need him to sign this contract today. If I drive out to the castle—"
"Yes," she interrupts. "That will work. Are you leaving now? I'll give Xavier a heads-up that you're on your way."
Thank heavens for competent people. "Thank you."
Pierre hangs up. His eyes rest on me, and I see sly amusement there. "You're going to the castle," he drawls. "You do know there's a sex club in the basement?"
"I'm aware, yes," I say stiffly. I haven't been to the castle yet, and I'm a little nervous about it, though there's no reason to be. After all, the private sex club in the basement is only a small pa t of the castle, and most of the space is taken up by Summit, a luxury resort. Pierre Valade is baiting me, and I refuse to give him the satisfaction of responding.
It takes me an hour to get to Summit. Following Elisa's directions, I drive around the back, park in the employee lot, and knock on the back door. In less than a minute, an older gentleman opens it. "Ms. Ketcham?" he asks.
"Yes."
He gives me a welcoming smile. "Mr. Leforte is expecting you. Please follow me."
I follow Henri down a narrow corridor, feeling a little bit like Alice in Wonderland. It's a strange rabbit hole I've fallen down. Xavier Leforte's castle is a boutique resort catering to the rich and famous. It also houses an exclusive sex club in the basement. When I first found out what the yearly membership dues were, I almost had a heart attack.
Henri stops in front of a staff elevator. We wait for it to arrive in silence. When it does, Henri gestures