Page 79 of Saved By My Buyers

She looks as if she’s in her mid-thirties, and is wearing a dark-navy-blue jumpsuit. Somehow it manages to hit business attire with the high neckline, and she’s wearing a pair of heels with it.

It makes me wish I was a trendier dresser than I am. While she rides the edgier side of fashion, I wear things that are cute, comfortable, and can easily go from day to night, since sometimes Jack will take me out after class or work.

Oblivious to my inner thoughts, the woman walks over with her other team members.

“Thank you, Elira,” Jack says with a nod, taking the package from her. “I’ll show you how to use them, and you can practice, Dolly. They’re sometimes a bitch to get in until you get the hang of it. This is Elira Banks, ladies, and works with my current clients on a daily basis. She shuttles questions to me or whoever will best answer it, and also stays in communication with my business partners’ teams.”

“I also do whatever he adds to my list,” Elira says with a grin. “Next to me is Rivek, and he’s the Midwest liaison. He’s newer to the team, but Jack was adamant that he didn’t want to travel as far as he used to now that he’s making Michigan his home base. He works with the private security for clients, and manages Jack’s appointments.”

Rivek is tall and muscled, and has his locs back out of his face. His dark cocoa skin is heavily tattooed, and he has glasses on his nose to help him complete the multiple day to day tasks he does.

Shifting in his T-shirt and jeans, he waves with a nod as he’s introduced.

“You really stopped traveling as much?” Dahlia asks, turning to look at Jack.

“Yes,” he confirms. “After missing so damn much with you, I decided I was done. When I started the company with Greg, it was agreed that he couldn't be the forward facing person due to his military background. On paper, he’s a ghost. My other business partner prefers to work in the background for various reasons, so I’m still the face of everything, I just started taking more video calls. Anyone who wants to work with us, will have to suck it up.”

“Wow,” she murmurs. “I always had a feeling you were doing big things. How many clients do you have?”

“We have over five hundred clients in our area, which does include parts of Oregon and California,” a man I don’t know yet answers. “By the way, I’m Brady. I’m responsible for wiping your existence off the map. Have you ever noticed how everyone will remember an event in a way that didn’t actually happen that way? That’s what is going to happen. I’ll date news articles, social media posts, etc that state that you died. Gone will be Dahlia, and your new identity will merge instead. This will all go live as soon as all the brickwork has been laid.”

Brady is the classic emo-boy, and has dark hair that he’s constantly flicking out of his face. There are gloves on his hands that I recognize as compression gloves, maybe to compensate for the amount of time he spends on the computer?

His band tee and dark-washed ripped jeans speak to someone who enjoys comfort, which I can get behind. It’s one of the reasons I dislike pants.

“Yes, Brady works in the less savory areas of our business. I only care about the law enough to stay out of jail,” Jack says with a shrug. “Otherwise, I color happily outside of the lines.”

A woman with very straight, dark hair snorts as she begins to set up her things on the conference table. The others do the same, and I watch as monitors, a camera, and various other things begin to resemble the fantasy I originally had in my head about Jack’s company.

“We’re all here because we didn’t give a fuck about coloring inside of the lines as kids nor do we now,” the woman says with a shrug. “I’m Luna, and I stalk people. Meaning, I scout out people who may be in need of cyber security for personal or work related reasons, and then find a reason to contact them. Together, we work as a team to make everything possible for people to know their lives, businesses, or belongings are secure. Sometimes we charge for it, and others we chalk it up to good karma points. Your hair looks fabulous by the way.”

Luna managed to say all of that without taking a breath as she continued setting things up. She's wearing a boho maxi dress, sandals, and a vest over it that looks adorable and chic.

“Thank you,” Dahlia says as she curls her fingers to keep from touching it. “I think this was someone’s good karma points.”

Luna’s lips twitch as she nods. “Okay, let’s make you disappear. What name do you want for your new life?”

“Personally, I always suggest that it be a name you’ll remember,” a woman with her hair piled up in a messy bun says. Her hair is wild, and she has a pen stuck behind her ear. It’s giving me mad scientist vibes, and I love it.

Come to think of it, I think Jack has talked about her, but I can’t remember her name. I think it starts with an L.

“I am the last one in this group. I’m Lorrie. I’ve been looking all over the city for you, and I’m very happy to meet you.”

“Hi,” Dahlia whispers, overwhelmed by the reminder that Jack has been working tirelessly to find her.

“How about Deidra Demarco? My mother is Latina, though she didn’t teach me much of it. I can go by Dee, which will be easy for me to remember.”

The room bursts into activity now that they have a direction to go in, and I gaze around in amazement. Finding a chair, I take everything in, watching as Jack sends Dahlia to go wash her hands, to practice putting in her contacts.

Hours go by, photos are taken, until finally Deidra is ready to emerge.

“Alright, time to go home,” Jack says, pushing away from the conference table. “Thank you so much guys for working on this with me. I know you all understand how much this means to me?—”

“We would do this for anyone, Boss, but this is Dolly,” Brady says earnestly, not looking up as he works on the screen. “We’re all invested from the minute you told us she was missing.”

“Well,” Elira snarks, “Dolly technically went into hiding. By the way, when you do something, you seriously go all in, girl. I’m impressed. Welcome back.”

“She certainly does,” Jack murmurs, slinging his arm around Dahlia’s shoulders. I should feel jealous, but I don’t. Somehow, it always was supposed to be the three of us.

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