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KEVIN
“I took this meeting as a courtesy to you, Gianni. Because of our twenty-year friendship. But I’m not going to take another look at the numbers.”
“Kevin, come on. You know me. You know how reliable I am. I will make those payments. But this new security system will give my clients a sense of ease. It’ll get me back on my feet.”
“That isn’t how business works and you know it,” I said. “Clients don’t come because they feel safe. They come because you have a product that works. The only way I’m looking into the numbers is if you let me give you advice on how to salvage your business.”
“I know damn good and well how to run my business, Mr. Spencer.”
“So it’s ‘Kevin’ when you need a favor and ‘Mr. Spencer’ when you’re pissed? Come on, Gianni. You already have my answer to our contract. But I can help you come back from this. I can help you regain your footing. I’m a consultant on the side, you know this.”
I watched Gianni’s eyes as they went from pleading to dark. His face became stoic and his back grew a little stiffer. I cleared my throat and readied myself to leave. I knew this side of Gianni. He was a good businessman, but he sometimes used strong-arming tactics. He was readying himself for a fight.
“I think you should take another look at things,” Gianni said.
“I’m not one of your business partners that you can intimidate,” I said. “I’m your friend. And if you don’t want my help, then this meeting is over. I have two kids who are begging for my time and I can’t waste any more of it on you.”
“Did they enjoy the museums?”
I squinted my eyes as I held his gaze.
“Yes,” I said. “They had a good time.”
“And the girlfriend?”
I bit down on the inside of my cheek. That was his angle? Brooke? She was only six years younger than me. There was no story there.
No blackmail he could hang over my head.
“Goodbye, Gianni.”
“I suggest you take another look at the numbers. It might be in the best interests of your vacation.”
“I don’t like your tone and I don’t know what you’re suggesting, but we are through here. As a courtesy, I will inform you that all of the emails sent to Owen have been forwarded to Legal, and I’ll be informing them of this conversation as well.”
“Hope you enjoy the rest of your stay.”
I didn’t like the way Gianni was grinning at me. It made me nervous. I stood up from my chair and buttoned my suit coat, then pulled my phone from my pocket. I called Legal on the way out of the restaurant and told them to prepare a lawsuit against Gianni.
While I didn’t know what he had up his sleeve, I knew his tactics well enough to know something was coming.
I slipped into the back of a cab and started toward the house. But before I could get there, my phone rang. I sighed and picked it up, ready to bat away whatever work it was Owen wanted me to do.
But instead, it was Brooke.
And she sounded frantic.
“Kevin. It’s me. I’ve looked everywhere, and I can’t find her. I don’t know what happened. She was just in the bathroom.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, Brooke. You can’t find who?”
“Sydney. I can’t find Sydney, Kevin.”
“What do you mean you can’t find her? Where did she go?” I asked.
“To the bathroom. The kids and I were swimming in the ocean and she had to go to the bathroom. But Daniel didn’t want me to leave the water. I watched her all the way into the house, but then I turned around and a current had Daniel farther away than I liked, so I went to get him and bring him back. Then I went into the house to check on Sydney thinking she might need help with her suit, and she isn’t here.”
“Did she go to her room?”
