Princely Passions

Whatever. My mind has already switched back into work mode as I cross the street toward where the Carter Jeffries headquarters sits.

I mean, I wonder why Nadia called me in for a meeting. I'm thinking about it every step of the way. Even in the elevator. And with each step to her office.

"Alicia, good you're here," Nadia says getting up from her desk when I step foot in her office. She walks over and closes the door as I sit down. "We only have half an hour so I'll keep this brief," she says.

I nod. Most internal meetings usually last for half an hour nowadays. Ever

yone is always so stressed out with too much to do.

"I know you've been...close...to Derek Lowell," Nadia starts and I look up at her with alarm. Is she going to chew me out for yesterday night? My heart starts to beat. Adrenaline starts coursing through my blood.

"And that's why I need you to work on a special project for me," Nadia finishes.

I look at her with curiosity. What could she want from me?

"There's a delicate situation with the Lowell accounts, and I need someone I can trust to do a line by line and thorough analysis on it," Nadia says.

I can't believe it.

Am I being given like more responsibility?

"This is a great deal more responsibility for you," Nadia says, almost reading my thoughts. "And it's very sensitive. You can't tell anyone what you're working on. Including Derek Lowell, himself."

I nod. A lot of things the company does are on a need to know business. I can handle that!

"Because of the higher level of access required, I'm promoting you from an Analyst to an Associate, effective immediately," Nadia says, her eyes twinkling. I sit there in shock as she continues. "HR will get all the paperwork by the end of the week and your new title will be effective in two weeks. I'm sure they'll have to bump your salary to match the promotion," she says.

All I can do is sit there and nod. Like an idiot. I mean, you're usually supposed to spend three years minimum as an Analyst before even being considered for a promotion. I've spent a year and a half.

"That's all," Nadia says. "Go celebrate for a few minutes. Call your folks if you want. Then get to work. And congratulations."

I walk out of Nadia's office in a daze at so much good karma happening.

I mean, the best sex of my life last night.

Promotion this afternoon.

What could possibly be next?

169

Derek

“How much?” I ask Anderson, one of the most loyal lawyers in my retinue. We’ve been working hard on trying to track down the embezzler—and the extent of the damages—but the whole thing is proving to be trickier than I thought.

“From what I’ve gathered so far… I’d say $30 million at least, and that just over last year. Of course, that’s just an estimate; I’m not really sure on how deep the rabbit hole goes at this point.”

“Jesus…” I whisper, leaning back against the chair. I tap my fingers against the flat surface of the desk, trying to consider the implications of what Anderson just told me. $30 million doesn’t even make a dent on my net worth, but the fact that someone has managed to steal that much money under my nose… Well, that’s worrying, to say the least.

“The worst part is that whoever is doing this really knows what they’re doing,” Anderson continues, folding his finger as a scowl takes over his face. I can’t help but worry; he’s always been one of my most levelheaded and rational advisors, and to see him this preoccupied … “So far, the only thing we’ve managed to ascertain for sure is that the problem lies inside Carter Jeffries.”

“We need to keep this under wraps, Anderson. We proceed on a strictly need-to-know basis from now on.” It’s a pain in the ass to launch a secret investigation like this ... especially when I handed over $4.4 billion of my own money to Carter Jeffries, confident that having them manage it would take some work off of my plate ... But this can’t be helped; I need to know what’s happening, and I can’t risk raising any red flags before we get to the bottom of this. But you know what pisses me off the most about this whole thing? The fact that I can’t tell Alicia.

My knee-jerk reaction would be to run this whole situation by her; she’s part of the team running my funds after all, but I can’t risk it. I already told her that someone was embezzling money from me, and I should’ve kept my mouth shut. Nothing good will come out of this, and I don’t think that putting her right in the middle of a clusterfuck of a situation like this will help matters.

I don’t even know why in the world I’m so worried about her, but I am. And to think that nothing would've happened between us if my limo hadn’t broken down in the first place. Bad things happen for a reason, sometimes.

“We’ll figure it out, sir,” Anderson tells me, getting up from his chair and extending me his hand. I shake it, and then lean back against the chair as he leaves from my office. I sigh loudly, trying to push away all concerns from my mind. If it weren’t for the fact that I met Alicia, hiring Carter Jeffries would prove to be one costly mistake.