AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I know," he said, "but you've got an eye for business. And, well, I want you to head up our office in South America."
"Oh."
"There would be a significant bonus, of course."
"Oh like ...?" I said, asking.
"Five hundred K salary, and depending on how the funds do, a bonus of ten percent of all profits."
Ten percent? That was unheard of. I could make millions if it did well. I sat back. "Wow. And ... so what? I'd just be running it from here?"
"Oh no." He shook his head. "You'd have to move to South America."
"Oh." I stared at him. "I didn't realize that."
"Yeah. Our main office will be based in Rio. That should be fun. You could go to Carnival."
"I have heard of Carnival."
"And then we'll have an office in Georgetown, Guyana. You only have to go there once a month or so. And then we have another partner in Caracas in Venezuela, but I'd still like you to go every couple of months."
"So you want me to live there permanently?"
He nodded. "At least for the next two to three years."
"But I have an apartment here, and ..."
"I know. But you're single, right?"
"Yeah." I nodded.
"So what do you have to lose? It's an amazing amount of money, and I think this will be a great experience for you. I know you had planned to open your own hedge fund one day. And, well, if you go there and you do well, you can basically do whatever you want."
I stared at him, nodding. I knew he was correct, and the amount of money was absolutely crazy. But could I leave New York? Could I leave Oliver and Rosalie?
I thought about Alice. I hadn't seen her in years, yet she'd already come to mean so much to my day-to-day life. She was funny and quirky. And every morning that I woke up and saw her, my heart just felt fuller. And of course, I couldn't stop thinking about the lap dance she'd given me and, well ... I sighed. "Can I let you know? How much time do I have?"
"A week," he said thoughtfully. "I don't know what the hesitation is."
"Well, my sister just moved to New York with her best friend, and I feel like I'm taking care of them, you know? And it would be weird to just..."
"Didn't you say your sister recently got engaged to Oliver?"
"Well, yeah, but her best friend's living with me, and—"
"She still has your sister, right?"
"Yeah." I nodded.
"I mean, this is a really good opportunity, Foster. I don't think you want to pass it up." He shrugged and stood. "Well, I've got a phone call with the Hong Kong office in five minutes. So we'll talk later?"
I stood then, too. "Sure," I said. "And Travis?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you for this opportunity. I know that you would be putting a lot of faith in me to run the office."
He shook his head. "It's a calculated risk, but all my calculations usually pay off. And you're someone I'm willing to take a risk on."
