by Joyce Jordan
“Who is Ray?” he demanded.
“A client.” And ex-boyfriend.
“Tomorrow?”
“Uh! Not sure exactly when I will be done, I doubt it will be tomorrow though, but I will call you.”
“Why didn’t you call today?” he asked.
“Look, I said I was sorry. I got a call from a client and I had to leave to fix the problem.”
“Where are you, exactly?” Gabe asked wondering if he should send a car to pick her up after she was done.
“Dallas,” Ana whispered.
“You flew across the country, and you didn’t think you should tell me?” he boomed across the lines.
Was he going to keep circling around the same issue?
“Ana.”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to answer me?” he threatened.
“I already did.”
“Would you like to repeat the answer?”
“No.” Ana refused to be interrogated.
“Excuse me?” Was she for real, Gabe was asking himself.
“Look, I have to go. I will call you later,” she said and didn’t give him the chance before she hung up.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Gabe was livid. He needed to hit something.
Did she run away again or was this a real job emergency? What happened with Nate today? He remembered Nate saying she had received a call and left abruptly. He had assumed it was from someone close by. When he got to her apartment, and when no one answered the door, he had wondered if she was ignoring him or was still at her job. And when her home office phone went unanswered he assumed Kelly was still at work. Who the heck was Ray? He remembered seeing that name somewhere recently.
Going back to his office, he poured himself a scotch and pulled the background check on Ana and his mood turned worse. Ray was her first boyfriend. Were they still seeing each other? Ray was now married according to the report. Did Ana not respect the marriage bond? Was it his fault that she had run into the hands of an old lover. Why did he even care? He should forget about her and move on. New York was full of beautiful women. Except that none of them were Ana.
Calling Nate, he asked for a background check on Ray, “As of yesterday,” he said ending the call. Grabbing the paperweight in his desk he threw it and it landed on one of the flat screens, or rather in, and lodged in there.
After half an hour, Nate called Gabe. “Where are you?”
“I am still at the office,” he told Nate.
“I will be right over.”
Nate brought the report over. After hearing something in Gabe’s voice that had made him concerned, he had thought against e-mailing it. Walking in he noticed the flatscreen, “Who won?” he asked coming to sit down.
Gabe wasn’t sure what Nate was refering to, “What?” Then he saw Nate glancing at the broken flat screen.
“Don’t even say a word.”
“I wasn’t intending to. The flat screen speaks for itself.” Handing the report over, Nate stood and poured himself a scotch.
This didn’t tell him if they were secretly seeing each other on the side. How often did Ana go back to Dallas, and has Ray ever come to visit her here, or do they meet somewhere else so Ray’s wife was none the wiser?
“Something wrong with the report?” Nate asked.
“When Ana left you, did you know she was going to Dallas?”
“No. Although her call sounded urgent. I just assumed it was one of her local clients she was going over to meet.”
“Do you know if there is anything more than business going on with this Ray character?”
“From what I gathered, he is a happily married man. I doubt there is anything going on, but I can dig further if you need me to.”
“No, that’s okay. I will ask her myself.”
Laughing, Nate lifted his glass and made a toast. “To Ana. The woman who has brought Gabe down to his knees.” Swallowing the left over contents of his scotch, Nate stood and left the office. A glass shattered next to his shoulder, to which he only laughed louder.
Gabe wallowed in his misery another hour then left to go home.
Eight
The next morning Gabe was up at the crack of dawn and decided to work in his home office until the damage he had left in his office the night before could be cleaned. He e-mailed Andrea a set of instructions, and what reports he needed from everyone at the meeting that aftenoon. He would be coming into the office just in time for his afternoon meeting. He had hoped he would have spent the night and morning making love to Ana. Instead he was imagining her in the hands of an old lover.
Nate came to see him later that morning and was wise enough not to mention the night before. They discussed the progress his people had made. The most they could do in the meantime was to continue taking some precautionary measures to ensure that the damage would not continue to escalate. But if Ana refused again, they would need to start thinking of using her referal.
“When do you expect to hear back from Ana?” Gabe asked his friend.
“Tomorrow, hopefully. The sooner she can agree the sooner she starts and the closer we can get to this S.O.B. I wouldn’t be surprised if she found him in twenty four hours. Well, that is as long as you are still willing to pay her fee.”
Gabe had almost choked when Nate showed him the napkin she had written her fee. Ridiculous was his first thought. When he asked Nate what he thought about it, he had not even blinked, and had told him she was worth it. She was that good at her job. It may have seemed expensive before, but considering the size of Boyd Industries, it made sense to pay the fee. Especially with a guarantee that they would locate the hacker.
Although he had agreed to go along, not that he had a choice, since her fee was non-negotiable, Gabe had a feeling she had meant to deter him with that ridiculous fee and was hoping he would bow out. Unfortunately for her, he was made of stronger stuff, and was not about to chicken out. He wanted her, at any cost. The fee she had quoted was high by most standards, but the money was just a mere drop in the ocean. Gabe was sure his accountant was going to have a fit when he saw that figure. It brought the first smile to his face since Ana had ditched him the day before. Maybe ditched was not the right word, but he was going with that for now.
The afternoon meeting was a disaster. Nobody was prepared with the material he needed. Everybody was fumbling. Nobody could give him a straight answer. Finally he called an end to the meeting, he wasn’t getting anywhere. He gave them twenty four hours to prepare and come back for another meeting the next day. Everybody scurried out of the room. He knew some of his frustrations were because of Ana but unfortunately his poor employees paid the price.
At least his office had been cleared of all debri and the flat screen had been replaced. As he worked into the night he thought of Ana and wondered if she was avoiding calling him because of his high handed behaviour the night before. Now that he had had time to calm down, he could see why she had hung up on him. And why she had refused to answer his questions. It probably was none of his business but seeing as they were entering in an exclusive relationship he was sure to make it his business, but this time he would find a different approach to the subject. In the meantime he would try to prove to her what an understanding guy he was, by not badgering her. But the least he could do was apologize.
Not sure if Kelly was on day or night shift, he called her on the offchance she would be able to answer. He was hoping she wasn’t in surgery or with a patient. He managed to find out that she was staying with her parents. He had entertained the thought of her being at Ray’s house, in his guest bedroom, but didn’t think her parents would agree to that as they practically lived close to Ray.
A hotel sounded like a more viable option, if she intended on carrying on an affair with Ray. But after his talk with Nate, he didn’t think she was having an affair with Ray. That had just been his wounded pride speaking. Nothing seemed to be going right with this woman. It seemed fate was against him. Maybe this was his punishment for all the
women he had used over the years. Not that they also hadn’t used him, but still he was being punished.
Calling his florist he asked her to make arrangements for flowers to be delivered to Ana and gave her the address. Not wanting too much of an early delivery since this was not her home, he requested a delivery at eight hoping that her parents would at least be up by then and she would not have left the house. He knew Ana’s father worked full time, so chances were he would be up, and maybe already on his way to work, but Ana’s mother split her time between the library and some charities. Most libraries opened at either nine or ten, and charities opened their doors at either eight or nine. So the time seemed reasonable enough.
∞∞∞
When Ana came to the kitchen for breakfast and saw the huge bouquet of white tulips, she knew who had sent them. Trying to appear normal, she asked her mum, “Is dad sending you flowers now?”
“No, they are for you,” her mum said.
Praying Gabe hadn’t said anything she would need to explain to her mother, she asked, “Do you know who they are from?”
“Well, the delivery guy said they were for you, but there is no card.”
“No card?” Thank God for small mercies. Fortunately her mother didn’t think much about it and didn’t press the issue. She was distracted by whatever she seemed to be searching for. As soon as her mum left for the library, Ana jumped and walked over to the flowers. They were beautiful. She hadn’t called him since Tuesday night, he hadn’t called back either. Although it pained her to think about it, she had hoped he had decided to cut his losses, and move on to the next woman. But now she was glad he hadn’t. He was so unpredictable and she had come to realise that it was one of the things she liked about him. Since she had arrived in Dallas, she had already fended off two blind dates Ray’s wife had tried to set her up on. Not even an hour into her arrival, the woman was trying to set her up.
Two weeks ago, she may have made an effort to meet up with them, but now having met Gabe, been pursued by Gabe, she wanted to see where things went and ended with him. Besides long distance relationships were hard enough with few visits here and there. Even the guy she had sat next to on the flight to Dallas hadn’t held her interest. He had flirted shamelessly with her, but she had not felt that spark she felt each time Gabe was close by. A pity because he had been as handsome as the devil himself.
Calling his cellphone she hoped she didn’t catch him at a bad time.
“Hey, beautiful,” Gabe greeted her.
“Thanks for the flowers. They are beautiful.”
“How did you know they were from me?” he asked with a smile.
“I just know. And thanks for not including a card. I’m not sure I could have survived the twenty questions from mum,” she said.
“Anytime baby. I miss you.”
“You do?” she asked surprised but glad.
“Yes I do. I haven’t seen you since Monday evening and I am slowly going insane. All my department heads hate me right now.”
Giggling, she asked why.
“Well, let’s just say I haven’t been the best person to be around lately. Only Andrea and Nate are able to tolerate me.”
“Yeah, about that, I am sorry about Tuesday. I left New York in such a rush. I had intended on calling you but I barely made it to the airport, and then decided to call you as soon as I landed, but things happened and I forgot. I will make it up to you when I get back,” she told him.
Did she just says she would make it up to him? Gabe had all sorts of ideas of how she could do that.
“Gabe?”
“Yes, baby,” he said with a hoarse voice.
“Are you there?”
“I’m here. Just processing what I heard, and I am not sure what to say.”
“Speechless? I never thought I would live to see the day, I made Gabe speechless,” Ana laughed.
He smiled and enjoyed hearing her laugh. “When are you coming home?”
“Tomorrow or Saturday.”
“Hurry home.”
“I will. Bye.”
“Bye baby.”
Hanging up, Ana called Nate.
“Morning Nate. How soon can you send me a contract?”
“Ana, glad to hear from you. I have it ready, I was just waiting for you to accept,” Nate said with relief in his voice.
“You were that sure of me?” she asked surprised.
“No, just being prepared. I will e-mail it to you shortly.”
“Thanks,” she said and hung up.
Ana’s business with Ray had been completed yesterday. Visiting her brothers seemed a good idea. Ana got into her rental and drove over to their offices. If they were in court or with clients, she would just hang out and start working on Gabe’s issue. She would have prefered to get access legitimately, but sometimes it was best to be a true hacker in order to find another hacker so she decided to hack into their system. At least that way, she could find potential threats and give them freebies too.
When Ana walked into the receptionist area, she found Mark talking to the receptionist. She was new. The receptionists eyes almost dropped out of their sockets when Ana walked over and hugged Mark from behind. Turning, Mark saw Ana and grabbed her into a bear hug.
“Hey sis. What brings you here?”
“Can’t a sister come and visit her brothers?”
“You know you are always welcome. But you didn’t say anything last night when we came over to the house.”
“I know, it’s an impromptu visit. Is Matt busy?
“No, let’s walk over to his office. But let me introduce you to Amy. She is our new receptionist.” Turning back to Amy, Mark introduced them.
As they walked towards Matt’s office, Mark ruffled her hair like he used to when she was still a kid. “Stop that. I am not a kid anymore.”
“As long as you are my kid sister, no chance.”
“You need to find yourself a good woman, make babies and ruffle your kids hair instead.”
“Let’s live marriage and all that goes with it to Matt.”
“Does that mean you will stop having sex?”
“Not that I intend on discussing my sex life with my sister. But what does sex have to do with marriage?”
“It’s part of what goes with marriage,” she answered and poked him in the ribs.
“Ouch! For you yes, but not for me.” They had reached Matt’s office. Poking inside they found him pulling a book from his shelf.
“By now you should have that book memorized,” Ana said to Matt.
“Sis. What brings you here?” Matt dropped the book on his desk and gave his sister a bear hug. “You are skinny.”
“Not skinny. And what’s with you two? Can’t I visit my brothers without the inquisition?”
“Sorry, it’s the lawyer thing. You know you are welcome anytime. Please sit.”
Moving to Matt’s desk, Mark and Ana both sat opposite Matt. “I have some money coming in that I need you to handle,” Ana said while lifting her laptop from it’s bag.
“How do you want it handled and how much?”
Answering the second question first. “A million.”
“On a job?” both brothers chorused.
“Yes.”
“Care to tell us what it is you are doing for that amount of money?” Mark asked.
“It’s all legit. Don’t worry that you may need to bail me out of jail or something. I have a client who needs to find someone who has been hacking into their system. I just agreed to do the job.”
“And you are charging them a million bucks for that?” Matt questioned her.
“Well, it’s a dirty job.”
Whistling, Matt commented to his twin. “I guess we are in the wrong profession. You have never charged anyone that amount of money before. What’s so different about this job?”
“The less you know the better.” How was she going to explain the whole relationship between her and Gabe to her brothers and keep a straight face? “Anyway, I n
eed you to donate the full amount to mum’s charity, anonymously of course. And in disbursements as you see fit.”
“Okay. When should we expect this money?”
“As soon as I sign the contract. I have to check my e-mail for it.” She powered her laptop and opening her e-mail, Ana found the contract from Nate. “Hold on.” Not happy with a number of items she found, courtesy of Gabe she was sure. Instead of sending corrections, Ana decided to ammend one of her templates, which she e-signed then e-mailed it to Nate. “Done, and the amount just doubled. You should expect a wire transfer.”
“What happened?” Mark asked.
“They tried to change some terms we had agreed on before I left.”
“Looks like we taught you well sis.” Her brothers had taught her how to read a contract, what to look out for. Most simple contracts she was able to navigate her way through, and only had to ask for their assistance on complicated contracts. “Do you know who did?” Mark asked her.
“The client. Gabriel Boyd.”
“The billionaire? Are you sure?” his twin asked her.
“Yes and yes. But it doesn’t matter who did. Someone did and now they have to agree to pay double the fee if they still want me to do the job.”
Whistling again, Matt said, “New York has made you ruthless, sis.”
“If you can’t beat them, join them. How about I take my brothers to lunch? If you are not busy that is.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for a second,” they chorused.
After lunch Ana went to Ray’s bakery to make sure everything was still okay. She hung out for a few hours there before leaving to meet a friend for drinks and dinner. By the time she arrived home her parents had gone to bed.
Nine
Friday morning Ana got up early to catch her dad before he left for work. Walking into the kitchen, Ana saw that her dad was already sitting down drinking coffee and reading a newspaper.
Hugging him from the back, she said to him, “Hey dad, I am leaving today. So this is good-bye.”