[Invitation to Eden 21.0] Falling or Flying Read Free

told me often enough.” She raised her voice to make sure he was listening as he turned the card around in his hand in thoughtful silence. “So often that I’m completely confused as to why you chose to use one as a practical joke. This is a joke, right? It has to be, since this never happening was part of our verbal contract when I agreed to stay on.”
    The large, scarred man walked over to his desk and set down the envelope, reaching for a slender brass key in his pocket to unlock the top drawer. It was where he kept them, she knew. The invitations that were sent only to those he’d carefully selected to be guests of Eden. He pulled one out and compared the two. As if he didn’t know they were identical in every way.
    As if he didn’t know.
    A chill raced up her spine and the truth hit her so hard she nearly stumbled. How could he not know?
    “How?” she repeated out loud.
    Theodosius was not a happy man. “I honestly have no idea. This is impossible. It is an invitation, and the writing is mine as well, but I didn’t do this, Joely. You know I didn’t. You always know.”
    “I do now.” She started pacing, shaking her head. She should have sensed it right away, but her emotions had gotten the better of her. Her fear and the feeling of betrayal that had engulfed her when she thought Vardalos was behind her unexpected invitation.
    “Well, that’s a load off,” she said to break the tense silence that had descended. “This is good, right, big guy? It’s a copy. A fake. A fake doesn’t count. Someone in your employ is playing a prank on me, completely oblivious to the fact that I have no sense of humor and could have them thrown out of my plane for mutiny.”
    Theo was still rubbing the stock between his fingers. “It’s not a fake, Joely. I helped create the stock myself, remember, for the sole purpose of these invitations. The man who designs them for me is only given enough material to make what I require, and he is paid handsomely enough to be exclusive. It is the same.”
    Joely wasn’t sure how he knew the difference. How he could feel it. “It’s still just paper, isn’t it? It’s harmless.”
    “Harmless?” Anger transformed his face into a fearsome mask, his scars stretching and jaw tightening. “Someone forged one of my invitations and recreated my handwriting flawlessly. If this is a prank it isn’t harmless. It’s dangerous. But I can’t begin to guess who would do it, or why. Perhaps we should get Security involved.”
    She didn’t like where this was heading. He had his paranoid beast face on again. He’d get everyone involved and talking about her. She tugged it out of his hand. “It doesn’t matter, big guy. You didn’t send it. You didn’t sign it. It isn’t an actual invitation.”
    Joely made sure he was watching as she tore it up into as many pieces as she could and let them fall on the floor around her. She ignored his flinch at the action.
    “You are destroying evidence.”
    “I’m solving a problem.”
    Unless it was the island…
    She definitely needed a personal day. Soon. The island was miraculous, but she doubted it would go to the trouble of forging Vardalos’ scrawl and sending mail to her rooms. She needed to forget about it entirely, its arrival and her reaction to it, and focus on her work. That was what she did best. That was all the fantasy she needed.
    “Since I’m here and I didn’t get a chance to look at the files—rough outline—who do I need to be today? Invisible pilot, humorous distraction or supportive ally? And please tell me I’m not transporting a werewolf anytime soon. Wanda is a small craft and she doesn’t do wild animals.”
    He stepped away from her, avoiding her eyes, an expression of concern on the unmarred side of his face. “You never have to be anyone but yourself, Joely.”
    Vardalos didn’t understand how much she enjoyed her job. She was the gatekeeper, the first stage of the Eden experience for most of the guests,