Anger won.
He pushed to his feet, resolve tightening his jaw. If Hannah cared more about little green aliens than about the life they could’ve shared, so be it. But he would not surrender to that damn curse. He’d lost a girlfriend over this. He would not lose the business too. Gus placed his trust in Xander, and for Gus’s sake, he’d fight to the end.
Xander nearly ripped theBeacon’s front door off its hinges.
Hannah flinched. Damn, he must’ve seen theTimesarticle.
Mara Choi had warned her the story might not even make the regional news section, but promised to do her best. They’d hit it off at a conference in Bellevue a few years back, so Hannah was surprised and delighted when Mara contacted her. Seems word of theBeacon’s potential demise had garnered sympathy among theTimesstaff, many of whom had started out at small-town newspapers.
Xander waved a crumpledTimesover his head like a club, his blazing glare hot enough to torch the old newsroom.
He smacked the newspaper down on her desk, along with a document bearing the Pacific County seal. Arms crossed, muscles bunching, he glowered down at her. “I can’t believe you’d lie to my face. Was anything between us real? Or were you just playing me the whole time?”
“Xander, I swear—”
“Now all of Seattle sees me as a loser. My family’s burning up my phone, thanks to your nasty little story.”
Heat flashed through her as she pushed to her feet and poked his chest. “I didnotwrite that article.”
His lip curled in a sneer. “Of course not. You’re too smart for that. You got one of your reporter buddies to do your dirty work.”
Flabbergasted, she spluttered, her tongue too thick to form words. She’d never seen this raging beast side of him, and she didn’t like it one iota. “Do you really think so little of me, Xander?”
“I don’t know what to think.” He stabbed the paper on her desk. “This arrived this morning by overnight mail.”
She bent over to read the document. “Someone filed an injunction?”
“Yeah,” he smirked. “Your Colonel friend and his sidekick are trying to halt the demolition. Thanks to your interference, I have to postpone the demo and go to court tomorrow.” He jabbed a stiff finger toward Main Street. “Meanwhile, that building isdangerous.Do you not get that, Hannah? This morning I caught a couple of kids poking around. What do you think’s gonna happen if someone gets hurt?”
“I—”
“I’ll be ruined, that’s what. I’ll lose everything before I even got the chance to try—all because you want to hang onto the little green aliens you clearly love more than me.” His voice caught, but his eyes blazed with fury.
“Hannah?” Her mother’s thin voice came from the stairwell.
“Mom, you’re not supposed to be on your feet.”
Mom’s worried face poked into the newsroom. “I heard yelling.”
The force of Xander’s exhalation stirred Hannah’s hair. “I apologize, Mrs. Leone.” He leaned in close and hiss-whispered, “You broke my heart, Hannah, but you won’t break my will. Souvenir Planet is coming down.”
And then he whirled on his heel and stormed out.
Mom hobbled resolutely to where Hannah stood rooted at her desk. “What on earth?”
For a long moment, Hannah could only shake her head. A lone tear slid down her cheek.
“Oh, Mom, I thought I was helping.” She wrapped her arms around her mother’s shoulders and sobbed into her hair. “Now I’ve ruined everything.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Whatthehellisgoing on across the street?” Mom asked, limping to the front window to peer outside.
Hannah hunched over her laptop, working and reworking her job posting on the headhunting website. She would not, could not bear the sight of yet another bulldozer rumbling past. Too many gut-wrenching memories. She’d watched one beloved building splinter—there was no way her battered heart could stand witnessing the end of Souvenir Planet.
Apparently, the rest of the town didn’t share her misgivings, though, because people had been streaming toward Xander’s place all morning, like villagers on their way to a public execution.
Better to focus on this job-posting site. Hannah was taking a hell of a chance, hiring reporters for a newspaper on the brink of collapse, but if the Xander debacle had taught her one thing, besides the foolishness of listening to her heart, it was that sometimes, the only way out is up. Either the expandedPacific County Beaconwould fly, or it would flop, but at least she’d know she gave it her all. And right now, a clean conscience was all the comfort she could hope for.
