I can't argue with her.

"See you later," I say and we air kiss before she gets into her car.

I leave, my stomach in a knot, and take my car to the office. I plan on putting in a few hours before I head home for an evening visit to see my mom, then to Marina's and finally, to see Jon. When I slip the car into my spot in the parking garage, I turn off the car and sit there for a moment and just cry.

I don’t know why I'm crying.

I wipe my eyes and shake myself mentally. Quit overanalyzing. Just enjoy Jon.

I take out my makeup mirror from my bag and check my makeup, which has smeared a bit. I touch it up and apply some powder to my nose to cover up the redness and take in a deep breath.

I have work to do. I can't let myself be a sniveling female worried about some man. I'm a successful businesswoman, CTO with a multimillion-dollar tech company. I'm smart, attractive, and a good person.

I'll give Jon time.

But I'm not waiting forever.

When I get to the office, I see that Chris, our CFO, is in his office working on a Sunday. He takes care of all the corporate matters for Pacifica and is usually a straight nine to five kind of guy because of family commitments. It's Sunday so he must have something coming up. Today, he's wearing a Hawaiian shirt, a straw hat, and dark-rimmed glasses. It looks like Bing Crosby slipped into the office during the middle of a game of golf.

"What's up, India?"

I sit in the chair across from him.

"If I were to sell all my shares in Pacifica, how much would they be worth?"

He raises his eyebrows, but doesn’t say anything. Instead, he turns to a third monitor on his desk and clicks on a keyboard.

"Let's see…" He clicks through a few screens. "Considering what the company is worth, you're looking at about $3.2 million, if you sold them all."

I sit and consider. "What could I do with $3.2 million?"

"You could invest it and live off the interest if you don’t mind living off $120,000 a year. That's about one quarter of your income from Pacifica. It would be quite a decline."

I sigh. I knew it. We’d have to expand Pacifica a lot before I could quit, sell my shares, and move away.

It's not like I want to leave my mom, considering, and my friends are here and I like the climate. But I’ve always wanted to move out East.

"Thanks," I say to Chris. "I was just wondering how much longer I need to stay with Pacifica. I'd like to get into something else – maybe biotech, so I was wondering how much of an investment I would need to make."

"You could invest as a partner in a startup with the seed money you would get, but it wouldn't be a certain thing like Pacifica. With the potential new defense contracts we're looking at down the road, Pacifica is set to take off in the next couple of years. Your shares will likely quadruple at least. Maybe more if you stay."

I nod. "I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon. Just wondering. Don't say anything, okay?"

"Mum's the word."

I leave his office and return to mine. Jon's door is closed so I'm not even sure he's in. I didn’t ask when I came in so I go inside my own office and close my door.

While $3.2 million is a considerable amount of money, it's not enough to live off. I need more if I also want to start a new business. I hadn’t planned on leaving Pacifica until my shares are worth at least a hundred million, so I could really do something big.

If things don't work out with Jon, it'll be really hard to stay.

I have to rethink things.

Chapter 16

JON

I go for a run after India leaves to clear my head and get ready for an afternoon at the office. Although it's Sunday, I usually don't take the day off unless I have out of town travel.

Tags: S.E. Lund Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net