Chapter Seven

Rory took a breath and then walked through the door. The office was empty except for a large wooden desk placed in the middle of the room. There wasn't art on the walls, only a few certificates and some newspaper clippings, a few Rory noticed were Time's pieces. There was a pair of plush chairs facing the desk, where those who were having meetings would sit. Otherwise, there was no other furniture of décor of any kind. Apparently, Logan didn't see the need for excess, which was not the Logan Rory had known.

She was nervous before, but now she was absolutely petrified. She had planned for this interview with the Logan Huntzberger she had known and loved over a decade ago. But that Logan would have filled the office with pointless crap to display his wealth. The Logan she had known was a peacock; he'd owned a suit of armour for heaven's sake. But this Logan had absolutely nothing of excess. The only thing that seemed a little bit like the Logan she had known were the framed articles.

"Rory, glad to see you," Logan spoke, smiling up at her. He then stood from his desk and greeted her further with an awkward hug. Rory wasn't quite sure how to reciprocate, so she just stood in the hug. However, Logan didn't seem to notice and, when he released her, smiled warmly at her.

"I have to say," Logan spoke walking back around to his desk, "I was quite surprised when I got the call from Richard asking to schedule an interview with you. You could have reached out to me on your own."

Rory took her seat in one of the plush chairs and busied herself by taking out her notebook, pens, and recorder. She smiled warmly at Logan, trying not to take offense to the implied notion that she didn't contact him because she either still had feelings for him, or she was too worried about their past relationship and what it meant to reach out to him.

"Yes, well, my grandfather got a little over-zealous when I mentioned that I was doing a story on you. I was still doing research, trying to figure out my angle, how I would go about the story. There are already a lot of very similar stories about you and your new company floating around and I didn't want my article to be the same as all of those. Once I'd figured out my story, I was going to reach out to you," Rory explained. She didn't want to be on the defensive, explaining herself to him, instead of being in charge. However, if she didn't address this unspoken assumption out front, that he still had some hold over her, she wouldn't be able to ask the questions she'd prepared.

In response, all Logan did was continue his small, knowing smile, and lean back into his chair. "Well, let's get this over with," Logan spoke, motioning to the notebook and recorder in Rory's lap.

Wanting nothing more than to do just that, Rory opened her notebook to her list of questions. She'd tried to craft questions that seemed innocuous, run-of-the-mill puff-piece sort of questions but that would mean backing Logan into a corner when she found out the true dealings of his company. If she got him on the record now lying about his business, he couldn't back down later.

"So, what was the initial spark for Huntzberger Enterprises?" Rory began, her first question a soft-ball to try and put him at ease. Logan leaned forward in his chair and smirked at Rory. It was the smirk she had seen a million times before, every time he had flirted with her. Seeing it now, when she was in the middle of investigating him, was a little jarring but she tried not to let it affect her.

"That's a little soft, Ace? Where's the hard hitting questions. Don't hold back; I can take them," Logan spoke, his smirk still on his face. It combined with the nickname, one she hadn't heard in years, and nearly sent her head spinning. It was already hard enough, being this close to him after so many years. She had almost considered marrying him at one point; they had a child together (even if no one knew that fact). There were definitely still feelings between them, even if Rory had told herself there weren't, and being in his presence, while he flirted with her, was bringing them bubbling up to the surface.

"You didn't answer my question, Logan. There are many business ideas and companies out there, what made your online platform speak to you?" Rory wouldn't be deterred by Logan's flirting, or his evasive answers. Rory needed some intel, needed to know if there were people that she could exploit or if Logan would inadvertently give up some information she could use in her investigation.

"Online is the place to be; it was a burgeoning market with a lot of spinoff potential. The business had a sound growth plan and a fairly large presence, so I invested in it and, after some time, became the CEO. That was the cornerstone that led me to other business and the rest, as they say, is history."

"And where do you see the business going, in say ten years? You've had such a meteoric rise; do you think that growth is sustainable?" Rory couched her real question in a slightly unsubstantial question. Business growth was a run-of-the-mill question, but depending on how Logan answered the second question, how he would sustain his growth, Rory could gain some insights into his business practices and the potential legality of them.

"I have great people around me with a sound ear for business. They can track trends and know when an idea or business will be profitable. Some people think it's just blind luck but, the amount of times I've gotten lucky makes it seem more like they have an intuition about these things. So, as long as I keep my people happy, and they keep doing what they do so well, I'm sure we'll be able to sustain our growth." Rory made note of his words, sure that they meant that he had people giving him insider knowledge or the like.

In the gap that passed while Rory scratched out a few notes and decided on her next question, Logan sat back and eyed Rory. His smirk, which seemed ever present slipped slightly as he watched her, slightly hunched over, working hard on her interview. He felt a strange feeling, one he'd spent years trying to repress. In this vein, Logan took the opportunity to ask Rory a question, maybe catch her off guard and keep his strange feeling at bay.

"Where do you see yourself in ten years?" he asked coyly. Rory was surprised. She was the interviewer, the one who wanted answers to her questions, not Logan. Also, she had no idea where such a question had come from. Why would he want to know that?

"I haven't really thought about that question too much…" Rory answered hesitantly. She felt on edge, wondering where Logan was going with the conversation. "Anyway," Rory continued, trying to regain control of the conversation. Adlibbing around Logan would not end well for Rory.

"Because I've done some research on you," Logan responded, lifting his eyebrows suggestively. "Very career oriented. Do you want to be editor of the Times? I remember the ambitious girl who took over the Yale Daily News back in school. Do you remember?"

Was Logan trying to derail this interview? He was bringing up her past, their past, and obviously trying to see how Rory would react. She was a little flustered, though tried not to let Logan see it. She flipped through her questions, trying to find the next one she wanted to ask.

"Alright, how is it that a business so new as yours has been so successful? Did you have help from your father?" Rory asked. She hadn't wanted to ask that question, especially not so early into the interview; it was an accusation, that he couldn't be successful on his own, but Rory also needed to regain control of the conversation, to put Logan on unsure footing while she once again found hers.

Logan's smile faltered for only a fraction of a second before his cocky, flirtatious smirk returned. "I can assure you; I can handle things on my own." The tone of Logan's voice suggested that he wasn't just talking about business.

Rory sighed deeply, hoping that she would be able to maintain her control of the interview and get the background information that she needed in order to figure out how to go about her investigation. Though, judging by how the first fifteen minutes had gone, that task would be easier said than done.

"What's your biggest regret?" Rory asked. They'd been at it for almost an hour at that point, Rory's tense interview of Logan. He kept trying to derail her, flirting with her, making suggestive comments, and trying to bring up her past. Rory had been forced to resort to short questions that allowed Logan to talk. If she ignored all the rest of his words and allowed him to go on about himself and his business for as long as he could, she found that she was actually able to glean small amounts of information. Logan seemed so focused on the flirting, the suggestive comments, and the recollections, that he wasn't been as careful as he should with the brief snippets about his business.

The question Rory had asked was meant to be another such question, another opportunity for her to provide Logan with the rope to hang himself. However, as soon as she asked it, Logan's demeanour changed. His previously playful, lackadaisical act vanished and was replaced with a serious, piercing look. Rory felt her breath catch in her throat at the look.

"I think you know what my biggest regret is Rory," Logan spoke, his tone low and husky. Questions raced around Rory's mind, but before she could focus on one and try to vocalize it, a small voice at the door broke the strange tension in the room.

"Mom are you almost done?" the soft, slightly sleepy voice of Ricky asked. Rory's posture instantly went ramrod straight. She was in protective mode. Her difficult interview with Logan had driven this fear from her mind, the fear that Ricky and Logan would meet. She had been so careful before to keep them apart, but she'd forgotten all about her son as she dealt with Logan.

"Yes. I'm done. Thanks for your time, Logan," Rory asked, jumping up and ushering her son out of the room. She figured that Ricky had been in Logan's office for all of twenty seconds. Hopefully a short enough time to not register in Logan's mind. She was also banking on her rushed exit being written off as a reaction to Logan's behaviour and words around her last question. The tension, and his strange response, were definitely factors in her departure.

"Are you okay Mom?" Ricky asked as the pair quickly made their way out of the twisting hallways of Logan's offices and towards the bank of elevators. Rory looked flustered. She'd left the office so quickly that she still had her interview tools, a pencil, pad of paper and recording device, still in her hands. She was frantically shoving them into her large back and walking at a faster pace than was her normal.

"I'm fine, Ricky. Just, you know, want to get out of here." She gave her son a look that she hope conveyed the correct message. That being Rory's dislike of being around the entitled, stuck-up set that were associated with her grandparents' circles. Rory hoped that Ricky would draw the conclusion that Logan was one of those people because it had been Richard and Emily who had set up the interview. Anything other than that interpretation would mean a too long explanation that Rory definitely didn't have time for at the moment.

Ricky shrugged, buying her explanation, or at least choosing not to question his mother further, and continued along the hallway at the same rapid pace. Rory sighed in relief, as the thought 'out' repeated itself over and over in her mind.

She was only a few steps from that, a mere ten feet from the elevators, when her shouted name froze her in her tracks.