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“Take the cruise in my place. I need you to keep my Instagram full of enviable photos for darling Mikey.”
Thank god she wants my help, but my heart rate skyrockets. I’ve always had potent feelings about cruises. I’ve summited Mount Kilimanjaro, sky-dived Interlaken, scaled El Capitan with my bare hands, and flipped a car off the London Bridge. Can you imagine me sitting around eating buffet with a bunch of retirees?
“Please, Zoey.” Anna’s face goes pale. “I need this.”
* * *
SEBASTIAN
Mike Bryson’s office is massive, and the chairs across from his desk are so soft that I sink down low in my seat like a child. Mike towers above me from his three-thousand-dollar Herman Miller desk chair. I’ve been working for myself too long. I want an office like this.
“Nice to meet you, Sebastian,” says the man I hope is my future boss.
“Can I get you two a coffee or a sparkling water?” Mike’s gorgeous assistant pokes her head into the office. I shake my head no, but Mike orders a green tea for himself. Seems that Senior Vice Presidents of Retail Operations sure have it good at Ulla Beauty.
“Tell me why you’re interested in quitting your private investigator business and heading up our anti-fraud department here at Ulla. That’s a big change.”
I clear my throat and take a long, cooling breath. I’ve prepared for this question. But I’ve also never interviewed for a private sector job before. I need this to go well. Turns out, my network in LA is way too small. Ulla Beauty is the first company to contact me after the hundreds of resumes I’ve sent out. My stomach is all twisted up.
“I’m ready for my next challenge,” I say. Mike nods. “A few years ago my grandmother fell ill, and I needed to be closer to home to help care for her. I left my career in military intelligence and started my own P.I. firm because I needed to be up and running, fast. But things have changed at home. Now I’m ready to get back to higher-level intelligence work.”
“Sorry about your grandmother.” Mike interrupts my canned speech. “Is she alright?” He furrows his brow. I like him.
“Yeah, she needed daily kidney dialysis for several years, but a few months ago, she got a new kidney. She’s doing a lot better now. This kidney’s a keeper.” Mike grins at this, looking happy for me. “Since my grandparents raised me, I owed it to them to be back in LA once they started needing my help. And I’m glad I came home.” Mike looks impressed, even though anyone in my shoes would do the same.
“My firm has been doing well.” I go on. “Almost too well. I’ve caught a myriad of cheaters and ended hundreds of marriages.”
Mike blinks, shifting his eyes around the room, landing on random objects. My lungs shrink a size. Mike’s a cheater too? I am so tired of how no one seems to value marriage anymore. How wedding vows mean nothing to these people.
“I’m ready for something bigger, something challenging, and high value.” Not to mention less emotionally exhausting. Something that’s less like digging humanity’s grave every day of the week.
Growing up, I always thought my philandering parents were unusual, the exceptions among married people. They’re now out of their third and fourth marriages. But after a few years as a P.I., I’ve learned that my loyal, honest grandparents are the exceptions, while my parents are the norm.
“Now that you know you want something bigger, what are your hopes?” Mike says, interrupting my cynicism. Oh geez. I’ve gone AWOL in the middle of my interview.
“I want a new challenge. Something that applies my experience. I’d like to lead and train a high-performance team that can track suspects in person and trace suspicious behavior online. Plus, I have extensive military leadership training that has prepared me for large-scale operations. Busting up multi-million-dollar retail fraud rings, with a national team of fraud investigators under me, seems like the perfect next step in my career. Besides which, Ulla has one of the most respected anti-fraud teams in the retail industry.”
I heave a sigh and sit back in my chair. That was a mouthful, but Mike nods until a text on his phone distracts him. He reads it, frowns, and then slams his phone down, shaking his head.
“So back to your P.I. business for a minute. What will happen to it if you work at Ulla?”
“I close up shop. But that’s alright with me. I’ve had my fill of trailing bored housewives on their lunchtime visits to Beverly Hills hotels.”
At this, Mike’s face goes haywire again, but he trucks on.
“Of course, that makes sense.” He nods. “Well, Sebastian, I have a good instinct about you. The feedback from your interviews has been great and your background is an excellent fit for our needs.”
“For real?” Is he going to offer me a job on the spot? My hands itch with desire to work on something meaty and meaningful. I grip the arms of my chair.
Mike’s phone vibrates again, and he half coughs, half snorts, like a horse.
“How do you like cruises, Sebastian?” His eyes narrow.
“Cruises?” I frown. “I mean, I love them. Got some great memories from childhood trips with the grandparents.” I cock my head. “Why do you ask?”
“I’d like to see you in action,” he says.
“Action?” I’m not following.
