Page 60 of Fake Dating My Billionaire Boss

“You’re right,” I grumble. “Let’s not talk about Damian. Let’s focus on getting this drone thing into his grandma’s house. What’s all over this puppy, anyway?” I reach out to touch one of the protruding bumps.

Fizzy snatches the drone out from under my fingertips. “Don’t touch! She’s meticulously crafted and highly delicate. In other words, superglue can only withstand so much pawing and prodding.”

“ So, you superglued… what? A camera?”

“Of course. A camera, a parabolic microphone, a bionic ear, bionic gripping talons, and a dual Wi-Fi audio transmitter app.”

“Honestly—how do you come up with this stuff?”

“A precise mixture of research, intuition, and trial and error. This is the fourth iteration of this particular gadget. Myfirst attempt crashed and burned. Literally burned. The Silver Springs fire department wasn’t happy with me.”

“I don’t doubt it. So, we’re going to fly this thing in through that opening in her patio door?”

“I’mgoing to fly it, actually. It takes practice to steer these things correctly, not to mention use the claw.”

“The claw?”

“Right. Didn’t I mention the claw? It’s called a bionic gripping talon, and I bought it from a guy I met at Comic-Con in San Diego three summers ago. The thing works like a charm. I’m going to use it to grab the envelope when we spot it.”

He drops to his knees again, sets the drone down carefully, and then pulls a remote control from his bag. “I’m going to have to concentrate while I fly this thing—so no chit-chat about the intricacies of yourblossomingrelationship with Damian, please. I’d hate for it to knock into any walls. This beauty cost me two grand to build. If she breaks, I’m going to have to start saving up all over again.”

A soft whirring sound starts as he fires up the drone. The sound gets fainter as he steers it over the hedge.

I drop down into a squat next to Fizzy, my eyes pinned on a gap in the hedges. Through the frame of dark green, stiff, prickly holly leaves, I can see Minerva’s patio, plus the glass sliding door Fizzy scooched open earlier: our entry point. I hold my breath as he works the buttons of the remote, and the drone dips down and in through the opening.

“And, we have access,” Fizzy whispers triumphantly. “Now, start listening. It’s going to pick up sounds. And for visuals…” He hands me his phone. “The app I’m using is going to show us a livestream. Touch that little button that looks like an eye.”

“You know, spying used to be simpler.” I muse, as I do as he’s instructed. “We used to peer over windowsills.” A panoramic view of the condo’s interior pops up on the screen. I feel like I’mwatching video game footage as the drone hovers in a space that looks like a living room.

At the same time, the audio feed starts up in the earbud I’m wearing. Fizzy, who has the other earbud in, flashes me an excited smile and a quick thumbs up. Minerva’s talking, and it sounds like she’s on the phone.“... I know, Charles. And that’s why I’m so very glad I’ve kept you on retainer all these years. Other lawyers don’t have the courage that you have or the good sense.”

Fizzy watches his phone as he steers the drone in a complete rotation. Together we take in the footage of the room.

And there it is, out in plain view: the envelope.

It’s lying on a desk, near a closed laptop.

Minerva’s voice sounds sharp and snobbish.“Now, for the reason I called. The business about the Sinclair family has surfaced again… Yes, yes, exactly, Charles. I knew you’d remember.”

Fizzy steers the drone toward the desk. Once he’s hovering over it, he rotates the drone so that the camera is pointing toward an adjacent room. Through a narrow doorway, I can see Minerva, perched on a pink loveseat in her living room. Hair rollers form a cap over her skull. She’s draped in a flowy satin dressing gown, filing the nails on one hand as she speaks into the cellphone pinched between her ear and bony shoulder.“... listen carefully, Charles. I have what I believe is the only physical copy of the paperwork in my possession now, but I need to know what other paper trail there is out there. I don’t want any nasty surprises down the line. I need all records of the Sinclair’s ownership of that spring ferreted out and destroyed. Just between us, I want this taken care of no matter what it takes. There’s a handsome bonus in it for you if you can get the job done.”

And she called me sneaky!I think as I adjust the earbud. I don’t want to miss a word of this. But then Fizzy lurches, and his shoulder bumps against mine. He twists his body as though leaning to the right might help the drone lean that way, too. “I’m losing her!” he whispers urgently, with his eyes on his phone and his fingers working the remote.

“No, no!” He throws his body to the left, but then utters a strangled cry. “It was the office chair! I had the prize in the gripping talon, but then we hit the office chair!”

He peels off the shoulder strap of his bag and then dumps his bag on the lush grass. “I’m going in!”

“Wait! You can’t go in there…” I can still hear Minerva on the phone, in the earbud I’m wearing.“That would be wonderful, Charles. And do give me an update, as soon as…”Fizzy’s charges through the thick wall of holly shrubs. “Ow… ow, ow, ow!”

I groan and then throw myself at the barrier, too. I utter the same sounds as the branches scrape my arms. Soon I’m halfway across the lawn, hot on Fizzy’s heels. When we reach a little patio area off the side of Minerva’s condo, Fizzy steps toward the opening of the sliding door. “Wait, Fizzy,” I whisper to him,

“Two. Thousand. Dollars!” he mutters. Then he slips past a wall of gold and beige damask drapes.

I’m not about to let him do this alone. That’s not how Fizzy and I operate. We’re a team.

So, I dive through the gap in the sliding door, push through the wall of luxurious material, and then find myself standing in Min erva’s living room.

And now I can hear her voice coming at me from two directions: the earbud in my left ear, and the room nearby.“Would you excuse me, Charles? I think I must have left a door open and some sort of critter got inside. I swear, this place is far too lenient about squirrels. If it was up to me, they’d all betrapped and exterminated.” Across the room, Fizzy scoops his drone and my envelope off the high-backed leather office chair near the desk.

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