Page 43 of Billion-Dollar Attitudes

"This guy has it all planned out," I growled.

"Might explain the long periods of time between the incidents. He's careful, knows we're watching. He keeps a close eye on everything. Just be careful. We'll send a car by your house…."

"No need. I live on the top floor of a tall building. We have excellent security. But if you could reach out to the police precinct where my parents live and just ask them to have someone keep an eye on the place from a distance, I'd appreciate it."

"Already done, brother. It was good to see them. I hadn't seen them since we were in high school."

"They've been asking me to come to dinner, but I'm wary about heading that way right now. But, eventually, if something else happens, I'll have to let them know. I just don't want to worry my mother if I don't have to."

"Understood," he replied, phones ringing in the background. "Listen, I gotta run. I'll let you know if we find anything. If you need me, call me right away."

"Thanks," I replied, hanging up the phone.

I sat there staring down for several seconds, a knock on the door drawing me back to the present. Straightening up, I tossed my phone on the desk. "Come in."

Daniel poked his head in. "Hey man, did you forget about the meeting?"

Looking at my watch, I stood up quickly, grabbing my laptop. "Shit, sorry, man. I was just checking in on the case."

"Anything?" Daniel asked.

I shook my head. "No. Nothing. Not a damn thing."

We walked down to the conference room, and Daniel put his hand on my arm. "Hey, there's something I wanted to ask you in private."

"What's up?"

"Everything is getting close, and Sicily said I needed to …."

Guy stuck his head out the door. "Hey assholes, you wanna stop making out in the hallway and get in here? We all have other things to do today."

I walked past Guy, slapping him hard in the stomach. He let out a grunt and laughed. I took a seat around the table and glanced at Mitch, his hair perfectly coiffed, as usual. Brad and Chase had loosed ties, looking like they had too much to drink the night before. Guy was rubbing his stomach. Daniel slid a notebook over a copy of Men's Wedding. I felt terrible for the poor dude. Weddings were hell to just attend, but to be helping to plan one, was the worst. He didn't seem to mind, though, and wanted Sicily to have everything she ever wanted for the event. He did hate when the guys picked on him, though.

"Now that we're all here," Guy said, glancing at me. "Let's get through this. I know Daniel has dresses to try on, and there's a sale on hair gel Mitch probably needs to get to."

Daniel rolled his eyes, and Mitch flipped Guy the bird. I chuckled. Guy looked at me. "Let's start with you since you decided to waltz gracefully into the meeting fifteen minutes late."

"What are you? My father? I was on the phone with the detective."

Everyone went eerily quiet, even Mitch, who had taken a nonchalant attitude at the beginning. Guy nodded at me. "Anything to report? Your family okay?"

I nodded. "My folks are okay. Doesn't look like it came from them. The kid who delivered was a dead end. They're still working on it but right now, nothing."

Guy puffed out his cheeks. "Well, I'm glad your family's alright.”

Brad tapped his hands on the table, sitting up. "And we're not gonna let this douche canoe affect our company. We want to give him the least amount of satisfaction we can."

I nodded in agreement. We launched into our meeting. We all ran the company. But instead of having the traditional roles, seeing as we were all equally invested, we all focused on our own areas of interest or expertise. Daniel worked with clients, using his charm and wit to really hook companies into our services and tech. Guy worked in accounting, budgets, and human resources. Chase was on the innovation floor, usually hands-on in our labs working on future products. Brad worked in marketing and advertising. And I was at the top of the research and development totem pole. It wasn't as hands-on as I had hoped, but the full workload was substantial. I got to work closely with Daniel, ensuring his clients were well informed and keeping him up to date.

We all went through our weekly updates on the different departments, and nothing changed from the previous week. We were in a heavy period of creation. Moving forward in the tech industry took a lot of work and constantly evolving our services. It wasn't a place we could set it and forget it. Everything was always trying to keep up with the advancements in technology, and even more so, we tried to be innovators in the field. I liked my gig because I didn't have to be charming and personable to many. I could do my thing, direct a few people, and work mostly at my desk.

"Well, looks like everything's going good," Guy said. "Daniel, next week you're at the tech expo in San Francisco, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah. We have some prospective client meetings scheduled while we're there too."

"I'll send you the notes from the R&D meeting tomorrow," I said. "If you have any questions, you can stop by."

We dispersed, Daniel, walking me back to my office. We stepped inside, and he shut the door, sitting in front of my desk.

---