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“Perfect,” I blew out a sigh. “So… how do I get rid of it?”
Renata shook her head. “Don’t worry. You’re in the right place.” She looked away from me, out into the open area. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. “You see him? That’s Chad. Smartest guy in here – thebesthacker we’ve got. We’ll get you down on the schedule, and he’s gonna come out and get your network cleaned upandprotected, so this never happens to you again.”
I followed her gaze to broad shoulders in a polo that I was sure wasFIVE STAR TECHbranded like Renata and Quentin’s tee shirts. Only, “Chad”s back was turned to me, so I couldn’t see the logo – but Icouldsee how perfectly tight and perfect and tight his ass was in his tailored gray khakis. He had biceps like Quentin’s too, only his were coated in smooth mahogany skin. When he turned, I noted similar black-framed glasses and beautifully sculpted features, down to the neatly trimmed facial hair.
“What is this place, a damn sexy geek factory?” I muttered, and Renata laughed.
“Something like that. Chad is actually Quentin’s cousin, andheis single. No small children. Tall, smart –”
“I’m married,” I interrupted, and her mouth immediately stopped moving. But then, after a few seconds…
“My bad. I just—”
“No need to apologize. It’s not… I don’t even know why I still wear this,” I said, without meaning to. “I’m sorry, that’s not—”
“Uh-uh,” Renata shook her head. “No need to apologize. But… I will say… and I hope I’m not overstepping…Five Star Legal Servicescould handle that for you,ifit needs handling. Just saying.”
I let out a dry laugh. “I… will keep that in mind.”
Renata gave me a comforting smile as she stood, stepping out of the door to grab “Chad”. I forced myself to look away, not wanting to be caught staring. Instead, I played with the tiny platinum cross that served as a constant fixture around my neck.
Until I felt eyes on me.
When I glanced up, he was looking right at me as he listened to Renata speak. Not wanting to be awkward, I smiled and gave him a little wave – actions that ended up being awkward anyway, because he looked away as if I hadn’t done anything.
A few minutes later, Renata breezed back in, with a still-boxed smartphone and an appointment card in her hand.
“Well, I got your phone, which we can setup now, but Chad is acting like he’s too busy to come in and consult right now, so we’ll get to that later. For now, I’m going to write down my contact information so we can set up a time and date, and I’ll talk to Marcus for you about an appointment with the police, okay?”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“Perfect,” she smiled. “Now, let’s get your phone set up, and you’ll be back on the path to normalcy.”
I sat back in my chair, thinking of everything that had transpired in the last two days. “Back on the path to normalcy soundsgreat.”
The simple act of pulling into the parking lot of the building that housedVivid Vixenheld a certain sense of fulfillment that never seemed to go away. I was no perfect wife, no perfect daughter, maybe not even a great friend, but when it came to this company, it could never be said that I hadn’t put in the time.
Kellen had his mistress, and I had mine.
When I considered things in those terms – and I did, often – I could almost bring myself to sort of understand the way things so far south between us. Kellen’s departure from Barker Financial had been sudden, and ugly. There were charges, indictments, search warrants, frozen financials, scrutiny from the FTC.
Kellen’sdreamjob.
Here one day, and gone the next.
He struggled with it, mightily.
We used to stay up late at night, laying across the bed in our tiny off-campus apartment, daydreaming out loud about the future. For Kellen, it was alwaysBarker Financialthis,Barker Financialthat. His singular focus worried me, but who was I to put a damper on what he obviously wanted so bad?
His focus paid off though. An internship right out of college, and then a low-level position. For ten years, he worked his way through the bullshit and office politics and landed himself a coveted senior financial advisor position. He was so,sohappy.
But then he was so, so broken.
No one wanted to hire him.
Just him, out of all of the upper-level employees fromBarker.Long after the public was done with the scandal and had moved on to something else, his name alone was tainted. It wasn’t as if he could just leave it off his resume, because how in the world would he have explained a missing ten years?
So he stayed home, and I didn’t mind.
