Page 11 of Burning for You

Levi

After spending almost a month in Montana, my lungs seem to have forgotten about New York City’s air quality. But pollution doesn’t seem to be the reason for my breathing organs to retaliate. They’re convulsing because they’re telling me the office of Brilliance Holding is the last place on earth I should be. But I’ve got to uncover the truth about the Random Valley takeover, whether I’m breathing or not.

“Holt!”

Much as I don’t want to call my childhood neighbor ‘midget,’ when the guy stands up to your chest and grins like George Costanza, it’s hard not to. When we were kids, people used to say Jesse was the Incredible Hulk, I would be his Bruce Banner version, and Grant was Baby Groot.

“Gee, you scrubbed up alright,” Grant says, inspecting me. I don’t think he’s ever seen me in a shirt and tie before.

“Come on.” Grant leads me to reception. “Just be discreet.”

“Is Bright in?” I ask.

“Yeah. He’s in a meeting with his fiancée.”

How can you have a meeting with your fiancée?

Grant hands me a lanyard, saying, “If anyone asks, you’re a freelance architect who’s helping the New Fountain team.”

I frown at the name printed on the swipe card attached to the lanyard. “Georg Mueller?” I whisper.

“Just run with it! You look German. Wear it all the time. If you’re caught without it, we’ll both be in trouble,” Grant says. “Did you get what I said earlier? You’re a freelance—”

“Got it.”

At level 35, the elevator opens up to a sparse space that looks more like a contemporary art gallery than an office. The floor is black marble, and the ivory walls are lined with oversized architectural photos. So far I haven’t seen that many desks, or people.

As we go into the heart of Brilliance’s ‘filing wing,’ as Grant told me, the corridors narrow and the vibe turns rather dour. While the flooring is still the same, the walls are now plain, painted in a terracotta color. It feels like they’re closing in on us, as if we’re headed into an Egyptian tomb.

Only the pharaoh is still alive.

Framed behind a meeting room door is the snake spearheading the Random Valley takeover. Joshua Bright, hands on hips, is talking to someone who must be his fiancée. I can only see her hands, moving fast, apparently explaining something. The rest of her is obscured by a blind.

“It’s them. Don’t look!” Grant warns me as we get within a few yards of the meeting room.

Bright had better be the scared kind—one who will shit his pants at the threat of a gun. Jesse and I are going to kidnap him, and I hope we won’t have to work too hard to get him to abort the acquisition.

How we’re going to execute our plan remains to be seen. One thing’s for sure, Jesse won’t hesitate to take advantage of his connection to the Pit Vipers, a mercenary kind of organization in Random Valley.

“So, his fiancée is in the business too?” I ask Grant.

He nods.

Perfect. This gives Jesse and me an alternative. If Josh Bright is too hard to handle, perhaps we can hold her for ransom instead.

The revelation also clarifies why the couple is ‘meeting’ instead of dating. I wonder what their relationship is like. Maybe they’re the kind who keep their lives independent, being busy professionals.

The woman talking to Josh Bright keeps moving her hands. Our close proximity now allows me to notice her perfectly manicured nails, and that big rock. It looks stunning on her delicate ring finger, yet it appears out of place. That hand looks like it’s about to slap Bright’s face.

Passing the glass door, my head turns as if there’s a string tied onto my nose, and those hypnotic hands of the soon-to-be Mrs. Bright are pulling the string toward her.

Christ.

She can’t be real.

Look at her!

If a woman looks that good when she’s scowling, I can only imagine her angelic face when she’s happy and sated.

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