Ending the call with his mother, Sam pulled up Ali's number and started typing.

"Hard at work, I see."

Sam pressed send on his text to Ali and glanced up to see Vicky leaning against the door to his office. Putting down his phone he greeted his former... well he still didn't know how to define what their relationship had been.

"Vicky. Is it time for our meeting already?"

"I'm early. Mr. Carlson and the others will be here soon." Vicky cocked her head sideways and gave Sam a look he knew all too well – she was up to something. "I thought I'd pop in and say hello to my old friend."

Pushing herself off the doorframe, Vicky moved into the room, checking it out. "So this is where you've been hiding."

Sam delayed answering by picking up his phone to see if Ali had texted him back. He had offered to get dinner on the way home and wanted to know what she was in the mood for. It felt so normal, now that they were finally in the apartment. And Sam wanted to do normal things.

But Ali hadn't answered yet. Sam put the phone down on his desk. "Hiding? Who, me? Never."

Vicky turned her attention towards Sam. Like a lion spotting her prey, she paused and drank Sam in before slowly sauntering towards him.

Playing with her hair with one hand and making a circling motion with the other, Vicky commented on the view. "Not too bad for a boy who didn't finish college."

Without asking, Vicky hiked herself up onto Sam's desk, so close that her swinging legs almost touched the armrest of his chair.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Sam created some space between them. "It helps when you have the right connections," Sam tried to joke.

"Oh right. How is dear old dad? Still making kings, I mean politicians?" Sam tried not to wince at the reference.

It had been a favourite pastime of Sam in his younger days to mock his father and brother's greatest love. Vicky had been his moaning partner on many occasions and they had established quite the routine.

But that was before his brother's death. Things were different now. Sam was older, experienced and had a newfound respect for what his father did. Sam saw the honour in it now, how his father was trying to do something good for this world, just in his own way.

Sam wasn't going to play old games anymore. Standing up, he pushed back his chair and started to gather his things. "I think we should head to the boardroom. Your boss will be here soon."

Vicky popped off the desk and moved towards Sam. "Why are you doing this Sam? This is not you."

She was so close. Too close. Sam could feel her breath on his face. The scent of spiced vanilla, the scent of Vicky, got caught in his throat and Sam's stomach rolled. He felt unsettled. Trapped. He urgently wanted to get away from the perfume and the memories it was dredging up. Pushing the chair out of his way, Sam scrambled to the other side of the desk.

"You don't know me, Vicky." You never did, Sam thought but didn't say out loud.

Vicky placed both hands on the desk and leaning across it, murmured full of insinuation, "I know you better than most people." It was a simple statement but Vicky made it sound like a condemnation...or a threat.

Sam stared at Vicky for a moment, stunned at her assertion and trying to understand what she wanted from this situation. Before he could make it abundantly clear to his ex that she was wrong, Sam's assistant entered the room. Sam had never been so happy to see her.

Ashley looked between the two occupants and it was obvious on her face she felt she had walked in on something. "Mr. Harrington, pardon the interruption but the front desk just called. The Borealis Group are on their way up."

Stepping closer to Ashley and the exit and further away from Vicky and her accusations, Sam thanked his assistant. Vicky was looking down at Sam's desk, her head popping up when Sam called her name. "Vicky, we should go."

"Coming," she called brightly. Sam considered going back for his laptop but that would mean moving closer to Vicky. Sam decided someone else could take notes.

It wasn't until they were all seated and the meeting had started that Sam realized he had also left his phone back in his office.

Without any concept of time, the discussion seemed to Sam to drag on for days. As the group batted back and forth ideas for fundraising opportunities they could partner on, the sunlight shifted across the grand granite table they were seated around. When they finally settled on the concept of a charity auction accompanied by a black-tie event, an uninspired but tried and true concept, Sam was itching to get out of the room and back to his phone. He felt somehow disturbed without it, like everything was lopsided or wrong.

Shaking hands with the gaggle of gentlemen, Sam promised that they would be in contact soon with some location and theme options. Then he was finally free and he practically jogged back to his office. Ali would think he was ignoring her.

His assistant stood up when she saw him coming. "Your mother is looking for you. She said to call her right away."

"Thanks, Ashley," Sam yelled over his shoulder as he entered his office. That was odd since he had only just spoken with her. Evelyn was not the dramatic type either or to insist on a prompt response. He felt a prick of panic.

Sam made a bee-line for his desk and grabbed his phone to call Evelyn back and apologize to Ali. His stomach dropped when he looked at the screen. There were 27 new text messages. The majority were from Ali and his mother but others including Charles and even Jonathon had reached out.

Not bothering to read anything, Sam clicked on Ali's name to call her. It picked up on the second ring, but the voice on the other end was not his girlfriend.

"Mom? Why do you have Ali's phone? Where's Ali?"

"Ali is here with me. Everything is fine now." She answered trying to pacify his nerves. Sam felt his heart pounding inside his chest. Why wouldn't Ali be fine? Had there been an accident? Sam fell into his chair, his legs feeling like they wouldn't support him.

"What's going on? I want to talk to Ali." Sam could hear the now full-blown panic in his tone and he didn't care. He needed to hear Ali's voice. Sam wanted Ali to tell him she was alright, not his mother.

"Sam, calm down." His mother's inflection was commanding and Sam felt himself respond, taking a deep breath to steady himself. "Ali is lying down. She tried to reach you..."

Sam cut her off. "I didn't have my phone."

"Ah, that explains it."

"Mom! Tell me what happened!"

"Sam, yelling isn't going to make things better." Sam clenched his hand and slammed it on the desk. He bit his lip to stop himself from yelling back and forced out an apology instead.

"Ali was downtown when the article broke. And she tried to..."

Sam cut her off again as he logged into his laptop at the same time. "What article?" 

He had a horrible feeling and it was confirmed when the first of Sam's alerts popped up.

"Where are you?"