There was no one in the hallway when they stepped out of her apartment. Teya frowned. Had Rachel given up on them and gone ahead? Before they made it to the elevator, Rachel’s door opened and she rushed out.

“Sorry!” Rachel called. “I’m so sorry!” She pulled the door shut and hurried toward them. “I hope you haven’t been waiting long.” She came to a stop beside them in front of the elevator as the door opened. “I called Neo and invited him to join us.” They stepped into the elevator, and Teya hit the button for the main casino floor. “Then, as I was headed out the door, the front desk called about a problem with a guest.”

“It’s not a problem.” Teya laid one hand on Rachel’s arm. “We were running a few minutes late and just got here ourselves.”

“Oh, good.” Some of the tension seemed to drain out of Rachel.

“Did you get the front desk taken care of?”

“I did. It wasn’t a big thing, but there’s a new girl on the desk who got flustered over a minor issue.”

Teya nodded. “Is Neo coming?”

“He said he was, but I expected to meet him at the elevator like I did you.” Rachel shrugged. “We hadn’t decided where to eat, so we can’t count on meeting him there.”

“I thought we’d hit the buffet today.” The elevator dinged as it reached their destination. “It will give us all whatever we want, and Jericho can look things over and decide what he wants.”

“That’s fine.” Rachel pulled out her phone. “I’ll send Neo a message and let him know.” The door slid open, revealing Teya’s brother standing there.

“Don’t bother—” Teya stepped out of the box that had brought them to the right floor “—he’s here.”

“Oh.” Rachel looked up. “I assumed you meant downstairs when you said the elevator.” She looked at Neo as she stepped out of the elevator.

“I was already up here.” He turned to Teya. “Hey, sis.”

“Good morning, what are you up to?” Teya gave her brother a hug.

“I had a couple meetings with restaurant managers this morning.”

“Any problems at the buffet?”

“No, there were no issues, just a regular management meeting for the two places.”

“Oh, good. I thought we’d go to the buffet for breakfast.”

“Sounds good. Things were going well there this morning,” Neo said. “What are you doing today?” He glanced at Teya as they made their way through the casino floor. It was relatively quiet this time of day; only the die-hard gamblers or the occasional tourist were at the machines or tables. The big partiers and drinkers would have quit for the night and found somewhere to pass out a couple hours earlier.

“I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it yet.” She turned to Rachel. “Do you know offhand what’s on my schedule today?”

“You’ve got a couple meetings but nothing cross-Fraction,” Rachel replied without pulling out her phone.

“Casino business?” Teya smiled at the restaurant hostess. “A table for four please.”

“Right this way.” The hostess turned and led them to a table. “How’s this?”

“This is fine.”

“Your waitress will be right with you. Have a good morning.”

“Thank you.”

“No, your appointments today are inner-Fraction stuff.” Rachel pulled out a chair and sat down. “You guys go ahead. I’m going to stay here and order drinks first.” She looked at Teya. “Coffee and water?”

“Yes.”

“Iced tea, right?” she asked Neo. He nodded and she turned to Jericho. “What about you?”

“I would like to try that tea that Teyacapan’s brother is having.”

Neo shot him a puzzled glance then shrugged.

“Come on.” Teya tugged on Jericho’s arm. “I’ll show you how this works.”

––––––––

“GIVE ME A FEW MINUTES to settle in and buzz me when my first appointment gets here,” Teya said to Rachel on her way into her office. The waiting room had been empty when she’d come through, so she figured she could have had a few minutes to herself. “Did Erin say what she wanted to see me about?”

“No.” Rachel glanced up from her computer. “Just that she needed to see you.” She picked up a stack of papers and handed them to Teya. “Here are the plans I’ve made so far for your birthday party next week. I thought it might be a good opportunity to introduce Jericho to the Fraction.”

“All right.” She took the papers without looking at them. “I’ll look them over and let you know if I find anything that needs to be changed. Anything else?”

“Not so far.” Rachel checked the surface of her desk for anything else that needed Teya’s attention.

“All right. You know where I am if something comes up.” She went into her office, closed the door, and sat behind the desk. She set the stack of papers on the surface and spun the chair around to face away from the desk. She’d had the entire wall painted to look like a sunrise over a small, Mexican village. The scene reminded her of simpler times, when she didn’t have an entire Fraction and all its assets to run. She stared at the painting and felt herself relax. After a few minutes, she turned back around and picked up the first page that Rachel had given her.

Teya was halfway through the stack of papers when the intercom buzzed.

“Erin is here.” Rachel’s voice came through with only a little electronic garbling. Teya reached over and hit the button.

“Send her in.” Teya set the stack of papers aside and waited for Erin. As the younger dragon came in, Teya stood and waited for her to reach the desk. “Good afternoon, Erin, what can I do for you today?” Teya shook her hand then motioned for Erin to take a seat before sitting herself.

“I had an idea—one I thought would help the MesoAmerican—and I decided you would be the best person to approach with it.” Erin sat, folded one ankle behind the other, and placed her clasped hands on one knee.

“What is that?”

“I want to throw an event, a huge one.

“What’s the event?”

“A Mardi Gras ball. A costume ball. I also want to run concurrent specials in all our dining facilities as well as a players club special. The ball will help get people in the door, as will the discounts. If things go as well as I think they should, it will make the MesoAmerican a good deal of profit, despite the discounts.” Erin was confident without being arrogant.

Teya glanced at the calendar on one corner of her desk. “You only have about a month. That’s not very long to get something this big put together. Do you think you can pull it off?”

“I do.” Erin nodded once and pulled a folder from the slender briefcase she’d brought in with her. “I have several things already done, just in case you were interested. The advertising, as well as several other parts, just need your approval and I can get them sent to the printer in the next twenty-four hours. I’ve gotten estimates from contractors. I just need to give them the go-ahead and finalize plans.” She handed a stack of pages to Teya. Teya took the pages and watched Erin for a moment.

“You have this all set up, then?”

“Mostly, pending your approval. Each of the vendors I’ve contacted are aware that the whole thing is pending approval. I wanted to be sure I could pull it off. The last thing I want is to get your approval for something then not be able to do it. I’m hoping to move into Katrina’s position when she leaves.”

“Katrina’s not leaving for three months.” Teya frowned. The woman in question was the events coordinator for the MesoAmerican, but she really did so much more. It was going to be a loss when she left Las Vegas to transfer to their New York hotel.

“I know, but I want to prove myself now so I have a real shot at the position when she does go.”

Teya flipped through the pages in her hands, scanning what was on them, glancing at Erin as she changed pages. The proposal was well put together, but there were a few minor issues.

“What if I have changes to the ads and such?”

“Just let me know what needs to be changed, what it needs to say, and I’ll be happy to get it done and out.”

Teya looked through the rest of the pages. There was a list of advertisement venues, along with the cost of each one, proposed ads, and more. It looked like Erin had put together a comprehensive package to convince Teya to let her do this event.

“All right.” She looked up from the papers in her hand and watched Erin as she spoke. “I’ll let you do it. I do have a few changes, though. I’ll go over all this—” Teya lifted the pages “—today and have Rachel get it back to you no later than first thing in the morning. What I need is a separate ballroom. It can be the one on the first sub-floor since this will be a supernormal event—a cross-Fraction event. Same night, same type of event. Food, drinks, and decorations...the whole shebang. No need to worry about the invitations for that one. I’ll have Rachel take care of that.” She knew Rachel wouldn’t be doing it. She’d assign someone to take care of it, but that was another matter. “Can you handle that? The increase in food, decorations, and the rest?”

“I’ll have to double check with each of the vendors, but we’ve got enough lead time that it shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Great.” Teya watched her for a moment. “Did you have anything else?”

“No, just the event.” Erin met her gaze without hesitation.

“All right then.” Teya set the stack of papers on her desk and stood. “I’ll check these over and Rachel will be in touch with any changes, as well as the details for the cross-Fraction party.” She waited while Erin stood.

“Thank you for giving me this opportunity.” Erin extended her hand. Teya shook it without hesitation.

“I’m not giving you anything. You made a sound proposal, with details to back up your plan and how it would benefit us. You earned a chance. We’ll see how it goes from there.” She shook Erin’s hand and walked her toward the door.

“Thank you, anyway.” Erin gave Teya a shaky smile then opened the door and stepped out.

Teya watched as she headed down the short hallway to the waiting area and elevators. She turned to Rachel. “Is Sloan here yet?”

“No, he’s not due for almost an hour,” she said after checking the clock.

“Good, can you come in here for a few minutes? There’s something we need to look at together.”