I’ve been away from my desk for too long. Now everyone knows how much of my professional life has mingled with my personal life. I can’t lose face. I have a company to run–well I have several.
I check on my usual channels for watching over my enemies, but there’s no real movement anywhere. The Deviant dipped off my radar for a few hours last night, but now he’s back in a coffee shop three states away. I prefer knowing exactly where he is. I also added Terk to my watchlist so I can gather information to use later.
My phone chimes.
Little Pain in My Ass: Hey Sis, what’s that movie I like about a guy on a train. It’s got those other guys I like.
Jesus, could he be any more vague. I run through a long list of movies about trains.
Me: It’s either Bullet Train, Train to Busan or Snowpiercer.
Little Pain in My Ass: That’s it! Thanks.
I stare at my phone. Which one is it? Now I’m going to be stuck playing all three of those movies in my head. I’m about to yell at him but a new text message comes in.
‘My Biggest Mistake.’
Yeah, I don’t click on it. It’s better to leave him unread for a little while until my brain can figure out exactly what I want to do about Grae. I toss the phone to the side of my laptop and try to get back to work. Which lasts about ten seconds before Macie knocks on my door.
“Three things boss.” I glare at her over my laptop screen and blink a few times until she talks. “Your doctor is on the phone again…”
“Tell her to fuck off.”
“I’m not using that language, but I get the message.” Macie dips her head, “Next the staff wants to know if you will be holding some meeting about recent relationship changes between upper management and clients.”
Shit.
“Are they asking for my resignation?”
“God no!” Macie jumps back like I punched her. “Mostly I think they want the hot gos. There are several common statements… Do you want to hear them?”
I pinch my lips together, bracing myself for the verbal assault.
“In no order of relevance," Macie twirls her fingers around her hair, “‘OMG they would make the cutest couple!’” She starts putting her hand to her chest, “Can you imagine how she must have felt when Phoenix was almost killed? I can’t even.” She fans her face, holding back fake tears. “And he’s been looking for her the whole time, and she’s been protecting him.” Then she states in a grumpy voice, “No matter what she says, I still think she bought the company because of him—that one was Lance.” Macie deepens her voice. “‘I bet the sex is crazy hot.’ I will be reporting that staff member to HR, but we all are thinking that. And lastly, ‘I hope she’s happy and I wonder who's going to design the wedding dress.’ That one is mine and there’s a vision board if you want to see it.”
“I do not,” I state flatly. While I hate that everyone is talking about me, it is sort of sweet. “Tell them some of those are valid and some aren’t and I will not be clarifying anymore.”
“Are you going to tell me?”
“No.”
She frowns and pouts. “Last thing, Uri wants to talk to you.”
I rub my temples to push off the growing headache. “Send him in.” There’s a long list of things I need to speak to him about.
Uri walks in, pulling his suit jacket down and straightening his tie. There’s a painfully serious expression on his face as he sits across from me. The clock on the wall ticks and my laptop fan kicks on as I wait for him to talk.
“I understand if you are going to fire me.”
I raise my eyebrow.
“You committed several serious and termination worthy infractions. You illegally broke into a client's home to threaten him, and then later tried to assassinate him. I’m not even going to talk about not disclosing that you had a physical relationship with him.”
“That’s the one I want to talk about.” He meets my gaze.
I raise my hand. “I need to know if you are Mastodon or Four Families.”
“Four Families is my past… Mastodon is my future.” He swallows and asks, “Which side are you on?”
