Page 116 of Wicked Dreams (Fallen Royals 1)

Caleb approaches the front desk and leans toward the receptionist.

She nods, pointing to a bank of elevators to her right. He pushes through a turnstile, goes down a hallway to the elevators, and waits. When he glances back at me, I pretend I wasn’t watching.

He steps onto the elevator a second later, and I shoot to my feet.

“Hi,” I say to the receptionist. “Can you tell me where he was going?”

She raises her eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“I just—”

“We can’t give out that information,” she says, lifting her chin. “Are we going to have a problem?”

I take a step back. “No.”

As I slink back toward my seat, I scan the placard of companies and the levels. Where would Caleb go to sign paperwork?

There aren’t too many names listed. Half of them take up several floors. There’s a PR firm and a real estate office that might be promising. Besides that, there’s a law firm, a plastic surgeon, and an investment firm. Oh, and insurance.

I shake my head and sit.

Caleb reappears twenty minutes later. He comes over to me and offers his arm.

“That took longer than expected,” he says.

I slip my arm through his and shrug. “It’s okay.”

“Do you want to do anything else? Or should we call it a day?”

We’d already walked around Times Square, took a selfie together under the glowing screens, and found masks. The day catches up to me, and I yawn. “Food, then home?”

He nods. We round the corner, almost smashing into a man walking toward us. He freezes, staring at Caleb. His face goes pale.

“Mr. A-Asher,” the man says.

“Tobias.” Caleb inclines his chin, staring at the man with cold eyes.

“I wasn’t aware you were in the city.”

“I wasn’t aware I had to notify you when I wanted to get away from Rose Hill for an afternoon.”

Tobias shakes his head. Once he’s started, he doesn’t stop. His whole body trembles, like a strong wind is rushing through him.

My curiosity is officially piqued.

Caleb glances down at me, and Tobias follows his eyes. He flinches when he registers me.

I tilt my head. “Do I—”

“Don’t,” Caleb snaps. He puts his hand on the small of my back, propelling me around the frozen man.

“I’ll call you later,” Tobias says to our backs.

Once we’re half a block away, I force us to slow down. “Who was that?”

Caleb shakes his head. “I thought we were still not asking questions.”

“You can’t just—”