AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I sit straight up so fast my chair creaks.
“Yes!" I pump my fist.
At once, a dozen pairs of eyes shoot at me.
Cullen blinks in confusion.
Carmichael snorts.
Mosely gives me awhat’s going on?look.
I clear my throat. “Gentlemen, this conversation is not going anywhere, and Mr. Cullen needs to return to the hospital. Since you’re all reluctant to discuss, Cullen Tech and I will continue to run point on this project. If I need the board’s opinion, I’ll ask for it.”
Carmichael’s eyes darken. He hears the dismissal.
Cullen nods at me.
“Mosely,” I turn, “please see to it that Cullen reaches the hospital safely?”
“Yes, sir.”
The room clears out, but Cullen walks over, pushing his IV bag. “I’ve got a new angle. I’ll try coding the blocked infrastructure for a fresh response.”
“Don’t overtax yourself.” I reach out to give him a handshake.
“Death isn’t ready for me yet. I’m eager to put in some real work.” He gives my hand a dark look before offering the kind of squeeze a germaphobe would give to a bacteria-infested toilet.
Like most of the coding geniuses I’ve met, Cullen is withdrawn and socially awkward. It doesn’t help that he’s on edge because of the disease that ravaged his body. But he’s a brilliant mind. Stubborn too. He refused to give up his company completely and I respected that fight.
I pull back the hand Cullen barely touched. “Let me know if there’s anything you need.”
Mosely gives me another curious look before he sees Cullen out. The moment I’m alone, I lean back in my chair, lift the phone in the air and stare at the notification.
Finally.
A victorious grin spreads on my face as I tap on Yaya’s profile. She posted a photo of us at the TV studio. I’m staring at her like if I look away she might disappear. In contrast, she’s sitting confidently, shoulders back and hands lifted mid-sign.
I press the heart beneath it.
There’s a knock on the door.
“Mr. Sullivan?” My secretary pokes her head in.
“Call me Dare. Mr. Sullivan was my father,” I murmur by rote, still looking at Yaya’s profile.
“You have a visitor.”
I snap to attention. “A visitor?”
“Yes, sir. I-I told him you were busy, but he said you’d want to speak to him.”
My secretary is new and still unsure about how things work around here. It doesn’t surprise me that she let someone in. Instead, I’m stunned that my bodyguard didn’t keep him out.
“Who is he?”
“Um,” she nibbles on her bottom lip, “he says his name is Sazuki.”
* * *
