Page 132 of Not In A Billion Years

She shrugs. “I figured it wouldn’t be classy to rub salt in the wound.”

I take the coffee and pastry and give a mock bow. “I appreciate your pity very much.”

She smirks.

I open the paper bag and bite into the croissant as we walk to the elevator. “Do I have any meetings today?”

“You did, but they were mostly useless and you would’ve hated sitting through them, so I took the liberty of clearing your calendar.”

My knees almost buckle with relief as we step into the elevator. “I know I don’t say it enough, and that I can be a little gruff sometimes…” Mila arches an eyebrow as if that was the understatement of the millennium. “But I deeply appreciate you, and I would be lost without you.”

She finally cracks a genuine smile. “Apology accepted, boss.”

We stop at her desk, and instead of sitting right away, she looks at me like she wants to say something.

“If you’re going to give me the look, you might as well say I told you so.”

“Not that,” she says seriously. “Whatever happens today, stay out of Blake’s business. She might forgive you once, but she definitely won’t if you mess with her stock again.”

My jaw tightens, but I nod. Mila is right.

Still, when I sit at my desk, the first thing I do is turn on my computer, open the NYSE website, and click on Blake’s stock.

The market will open in an hour, so I finish my croissant and coffee and wait.

The closure value for last night was 30.12 dollars a share.

As the market opens, immediately a red arrow appears next to the stock. The value plunges over a dollar in the first minute.

She did it.

How, I don’t know, but she did it.

My elation is short-lived as the price continues to freefall. In an hour, it has dropped over 10 per cent.

She wanted to keep the price per share as far from thirty-five dollars as she could, but is this drop intentional?

I don’t ask Mila to call Haltman; I’d never hear the end of it. I disconnect the interphone and dial the number myself.

“Gabriel,” my friend greets me. “Twice in as many days. I could get used to being courted by you.”

“And you know I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Say no more, I’m listening.”

“Same stock as yesterday; do you know what’s causing the turmoil?”

“Let me have a look.”

I wait on the line as Robert works his magic.

“Ah,” he says. “It looks like there were a bunch of sales from small investors at opening. The orders must’ve been placed last night. Makes sense people bought at fifteen, twenty dollars a share and took home the gain the next day.”

“But why is it still going down?”

“Ah, that’d be Fidelity Credit Union risk management kicking in. They have a strict policy that if a stock they own big quantities of drops by 10 per cent in a single hour, they have to sell.”

“All of it?”

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