Page 35 of Boss Level

“To keep my game funded. To keep my Director of Development from bringing down our company without losing him. To cover our asses.” But none of those answers carried a solution.

“Elliot’s one of us.”

Something I didn’t need to be reminded of. He wasn’t just an AcesPlayed employee, he was as much a part of the beginning as I was. As much as Xander. “I’m not planning on hanging him out to dry.”

No one was taking my people from me.

13

xander

Itold Judith to wrap up what she was doing, check out, and head over so we could make a plan. There was no doubt in my mind she already had something brewing, but I needed her here. I needed to know she was…

Safe? A bit.

Not going out of her mind? That was more like it.

Dominic was sympathetic and ready to help as well, and I loved him for it.

Most of what I was doing involved answering calls from the other partners, from associates, that stemmed from texts and messages. Most started along the lines of, “I know this isn’t on your side, but if you have any information…”

I started on the easy end of the spectrum, and worked my way toward the calls that had the potential to be more frustrating.

“How’s everyone holding up?” Liz asked when I called her back.

“About as well as can be expected. Judith has a plan, and she’s adding details now.”

The sound Liz made was somewhere between a cluck and a sigh. “I expected that. I mean have you started climbing the walls yet because it’s not resolved? It was more of an emotional question.”

“She’s good. As far as I know the people involved are too.” I actually doubted that was true. Elliot was probably real close to climbing the walls.

“Hmm. Well, send them my sympathy. Via proper channels and all that.” Liz had been through this kind of fire-by-social-media before, and so had her boyfriend and girlfriend. She probably knew better than a lot of people what Elliot was dealing with.

I remembered the day Rinslet let Jordan go. Judith had been furious. Though she’d never said, I suspected that was one of those moments that pushed her closer to spinning off her own gaming company “Thanks. I will,” I said.

There wasn’t time for much small talk, because I had a list to work my way through. Jonathan and Kandace were sympathetic to the bad publicity, but wanted to remind me this was an investment, not something I could make personal.

Fuck them. This was most definitely personal, and their warnings made me want to publicly announce I was the one fucking Elliot.

Or simply tell the truth about how I felt about J—

A call rang through before I could pick whose to return next, and I decided now was as good a time as any to talk to Grant Lent.

I knew the older man through multiple channels. First meeting had been decades ago, when my father introduced me. Grant was the reason I’d accepted Wade’s proposal when he wanted to start The Raphael Group. I saw the impact Grant’s companies—the companies he’d supported—were making on technology, and I wanted to be a part of that.

There was no friendly banter where I answered. Nohow are you holding up? OrHow’s your Sunday?

“Don’t go down with this ship,” Grant said.

Ah, yes. One of his long-standing pieces of advice. Don’t go down with any ship. Grant believed if the captain couldn’t steer the boat away from icebergs, it was best to be on the first lifeboat.

Once upon a time, I thought that was brilliant advice. Today, it made me want to deck him. “I’m good with the decisions I’m making.”

He let out one of thoseI’m very disappointed in yousighs. “Your changing direction now doesn’t mean the investment was a bad one. No company stays on top forever, and some never quite make it there.”

He wasn’t only talking about punishing Elliot. This was about me pulling my money.

Fuck that. “I’m good with my current decisions,” I repeated. “If I need your input, you’ll hear from me, but otherwise assume I don’t.”

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