Page 98 of The Billionaires

I reach for my phone so I can call the place, but then I recall that I forgot the stupid phone.

Ugh, I need to get it back.

My new destination—Lucius’s grandmother’s house.

A few seconds after I not-so-gently bang on Pearl’s door, Aleksy opens it.

“You just missed him,” he says without preamble.

Grr. “Him” must be Lucius. I didn’t realize I was risking bumping into him.

Or maybe I did realize it.

Maybe I wanted it.

No.

Unlike Aleksy, I’m not a masochist.

“I forgot my phone on the coffee table in the living room,” I say, and blush as I recall what else that table was involved in.

Aleksy opens the door and gestures for me to come in. I rush in quickly, praying to saguaro I don’t run into Pearl. The last thing I want is to cry again if she asks me anything to do with her robot of a grandson—that wouldn’t be good.

Not at all.

“The phone isn’t here,” I say to Aleksy, looking around the room.

He shrugs.

“Did Lucius take it?” I ask.

He scratches his chin. “It’s possible.”

I exhale in frustration. “Where do you think he is?”

Another shrug. “Work?”

Right. Of course. The only thing he really cares about.

Stomach tightening as I anticipate that encounter, I nonetheless head out to my new destination.

I step into the fateful building where I first saw Lucius.

The lobby is just as I remember it—a wannabe Ancient Rome museum.

Crap. Why didn’t I dress to impress? It might’ve made Lucius regret being such an asshole, but more importantly, it would be nice to fit in with all the stylish worker drones for a change.

I feel a chill down my spine that is only partially related to the overzealous AC.

To calm myself, I approach the green wall and locate the star cactus there. “Hey, little guy,” I croon. “Are you being taken care of by whoever got that job I didn’t get?”

After a quick soil check, the answer seems to be yes. Good. Not everything is shitty in this awful universe.

Turning to the security desk, I spot the same guard who checked my ID the last time. I head over to him.

“Juno,” he says excitedly. “You’ve made me a celebrity around here.”

I blink at him. “How?”

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