Date in Disguise
Billionaires of Brighton City - Book One
by Laura Westbrook
Text copyright © 2019 Laura Westbrook
All Rights Reserved
This book is licensed for personal enjoyment only and is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to people, living or deceased, places, or events is purely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the author’s written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews. The people or person depicted on the cover are models, not related to any of the characters or actions, and don’t necessarily endorse or condone the book’s contents. Individuals pictured are used for illustrative purposes only.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
Chapter One
Faye
“The llamas are really taking a liking to you.”
I turned and brushed a few pesky strands of hair out of my face. “What do you mean?”
Chloe laughed. “I mean, last week they couldn’t wait to spit on you, and now they’re eating out of your hand. How do you do it?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea. There’s not really a special way I go about it.”
She put her hands on her hips, just below the sea otter printed on her uniform. The zoo stopped making that design right before I’d been hired, and I was a little jealous I never got one. “I’ve been working here for three years, and I can’t get the animals to do what I want. You stroll in and suddenly Faye’s the llama whisperer.”
I finished stacking the pails and wiped my forehead. The sun wasn’t at its full strength, which I was thankful for. The heat made everything harder. It had only been a few months, but I missed the cooler Minnesota weather. “I’ll take that as a compliment. But if it makes you feel better, I’ve been working with animals long before I started here.”
“I figured. This place usually doesn’t take on newbies. Where did you work at before?”
“I volunteered at the Como Park Zoo before I moved here. I hated leaving it. It has the best gorilla enclosure in the whole state.” I tried not to think about how hard it had been to say goodbye to my friends there, human or otherwise.
She used the hose on the bucket in front of her and got dangerously close to my feet. “That’s cool. I’ve always been too afraid to do feeding time in those. So far I’ve been able to dodge it. I guess working part time means you can cherry pick which exhibits you work on?”
“I’m a volunteer here too. I don’t care what status I am, really, as long as I get to work with animals. People pay to go see them, but I get to do it everyday…and with a better view.”
Faye scooted the now-clean pail with the tip of her shoe instead of picking it up. “Yeah, but the general public doesn’t have to shovel manure, though.”
I picked up the clipboard and wrote down the equipment numbers. I used my best penmanship instead of the scrawl I usually reserved for working with my brothers. “I don’t mind it. I prefer that over what I do with the rest of my week. Volunteering here is like my time off.”
“What do you do outside of here? I never asked.”
I pointed. “Look! Can you see the Bali mynah over there? I haven’t gotten a good look at it since the exhibit opened last week. It’s been very shy for the breed, probably still getting used to its new surroundings.”
“I don’t see anything.”
“Here, stand exactly where I am. It’s just down that little walkway there. I wish we had a better view right now.”
Chloe flicked her hand. “I’m sure you’ll see it again later. I’m surprised you haven’t scoped out every animal from every angle possible with how much you stare at them.”
“Is that so bad?”
“I’m just teasing. It’s good to see someone who loves what they do.”
“That’s why you’re here too, isn’t it?”
She shrugged. “I’m mainly here because it was the only job hiring at the time, to be honest. But it’s all right. Like you said, it’s better than other things I could be doing.”
I moved to the next stack of pails and dumped the contents of the first one, hopefully soggy food pellets and not anything else I could imagine. “True.”
“You never mentioned what you do outside of here.”
I’d hoped she’d forgotten about that. “I work with my two brothers, mostly admin stuff and tidying things up. They’re much more hands-on than I am. I moved here from Minnesota when they did.”
She looked over the top of her blue pen as she stopped writing. “If my brother said he’s moving to another state, I’d tell him to go enjoy himself. I certainly wouldn’t move along with him. You must be close to your family.”
Something like that, I thought. “They’re the only family I’ve got, really. They own the family business, so I help out with it.”
“Just them own it?”
“I own a piece of it, but much smaller than theirs.”
“Which company is it?”
“Quinn Enterprises. My father named it, of course. You’ve probably heard of the Avinnoxx Sleeve line?”
Her eyes went wide. “I’ve seen the watch commercials—the ones with the tiger in the background.”
“That was Audric’s idea. He usually gets his way on those types of things. Well, on most things, really. He’s the oldest, so it happens.”
“So, you’re invested. It’s in your best interest to keep the company going. And how old are you? You seem young to own part of a company.”
“I suppose.” I moved from pails to barrels. “I’m twenty-nine. And my brothers are much more into it than I am. It’s my…it was my father’s company, so I want to help, but I don’t know anything about business. I’m much happier here.”
“The monkeys are pretty fun come feeding time.”
“Not just that. They’re simpler. You don’t have to worry about an animal plotting or talking you into something.”
“As long as they’re not trying to eat you.”
“Few of them would, even if they had the chance. With how much perfume you wear, even the lions would pass you up.”
“Why do you think I wear it?” We both laughed. “No, but seriously, you never know when you might meet Mr. Right. Come for the perfume, stay for the personality.”
When writing out the number five, I spelled it out with a heart over the “i.” No idea why I did that. “Even at a zoo?”
She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “You never know. Better than a lot of other smells we deal with.”
“That’s the truth. Well, it’s the end of my shift.” I pulled out my phone.
“Nice. What are you going to do with the rest of your day?”
“I’m going to meet up with a friend for a late lunch. I haven’t seen her in forever, so it’ll be good to catch up. She’s driving through here on the way back home.”
“I need to do more of that. There’s this friend I was super close with during my freshman year of college, but she transferred. How long has it been since you’ve seen your friend?”
I didn’t respond right away, scrolling down through a text. “Actually, that might need to wait.”
She lifted her head. “Why? Is something wrong?”
“Maybe. It’s a
text from my brother, Audric. He and Brandt want me to meet them.”
“When?”
“Today. Basically, right now.”
She stacked the clipboards and folded them under her arm. “Must be important then.”
“It probably is. I need to call him.”
“I’ve got to get back to it anyway. Not all of us can work part-time, you know.”
“Okay,” I mumbled, already pressing the button.
“Hello?” Audric’s voice already had an edge to it. Whether it was concern or annoyance, I had no idea.
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Where have you been? I tried calling you three times.”
“I was at work. I work mornings during the week, remember?”
He made a noise on the other end. “You’re still doing that? I thought you gave that up when we moved.”
“I asked for a referral from my old place and found a zoo when we moved here.”
“Anyway, we need you to come down to the office and have a talk.”
“What did I do?”
“Not everything is about you,” he said. “We just need to talk.”
I glanced at the clock. “Okay, there will probably be traffic, so I’m not sure when I can be there.”
“Take the highway where you can and avoid the busy streets. You’ll get here in twenty minutes.”
I was about to tell him a half hour might even be pushing it at this time of day, but there wasn’t much use in it. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Then the line went dead. Audric wasn’t much for goodbyes.
Once I reached the break room, I glanced at the schedule on the wall and sighed. Only nineteen more hours until my next shift. I turned the key and opened my employee locker. If I kept dragging my feet, not only would I miss the twenty minutes but also the thirty. I couldn’t help it, though.
My feet were sore by the time I reached the parking lot, kept distant from the employee areas. Someone once told me it was so everyone had a greater chance at catching an employee harboring a zoo animal on the way out to their car. I had no idea why someone would want to steal one of those precious creatures, but it took all types. The image of someone with a baby rhino under his arm flashed into my head, and I had to shake it to make the thought go away.
At the first intersection, I stopped longer than I needed to. If I took a left, I could still meet up with my friend for lunch. Not only did I want to spend time with her, I so wanted to check out the new Italian place she’d suggested. Unlimited breadsticks and salads—my favorite. I could just have that as lunch and I’d be happy.
Someone honked behind me. With a sigh, I took a right and sped off down the road.
Chapter Two
Faye
First thing, I noticed the secretary had a new desk. The one she had before looked just fine. Both were nice and all, but this one shone a little bit brighter. The one I had at home was so old it looked like something out of an old railway station. It had scuff marks up and down the sides. I didn’t need anything fancy.
I started walking by her desk when she looked up. “Hello. May I help you?”
I exchanged looks between her and the door to my brother’s office. “It’s me. Faye. I’m just here to see Audric.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
I blinked. She and I had talked before. Not a lot, but enough for her to remember me. “He called me to meet him. He knows I’m coming.”
“Absolutely,” she said. “Please allow me to page him for you first.” She pressed a perfectly manicured finger to a button on her desk phone. “Mr. Quinn, Faye is here to see you. Are you expecting her?”
I rolled my eyes. Seriously?
It took a solid half-minute, but he finally replied. “Yes, I am. Send her in.”
Audric sat at his desk, leaning back in his high back chair. Only one stack of papers rested on his desk at the farthest corner, which made me wonder what he was doing that took him so long to respond. Did he wait on purpose? It was hard to tell with him sometimes.
“Ah, sister. There you are. Almost on time.” He stood up and kissed me on the cheek. He hadn’t done that in years.
“There was traffic.”
“Did you avoid the congested street-level roads like I said?”
“Yes, but there was traffic pretty much everywhere.”
“Some, yes, but not a lot if you know how to avoid it.”
Best to pick my battles with him. “So, what’s with the secretary?”
“What about?”
“She treated me like I’m a stranger or something. I mean, I do work here.”
He smiled. “Faye, you barely own enough of the company to be seen like that, and you don’t work full time. She probably sees you more as a peer.”
Even a peer would be allowed to walk in without needing an appointment. “I try to help out where I can. You and Brandt handle all the high-level stuff before I can even consider doing it, so I usually file and organize.”
He patted my shoulder. “We have a better mind for that stuff than you do, Faye, but still, you could pull your weight more.”
“What do you mean?”
The door burst open and Brandt walked in, more of a swagger than a walk. He probably didn’t realize he was doing it. “Good. She’s here. Took her long enough.”
“She took the service roads the whole way here,” Audric said.
“No, I didn’t,” I started to say, but Audric waved his hand. “Do you want a drink?”
It took me a second to realize he was talking to me. “It’s the afternoon.” I thought that was sufficient for a no answer, but he still looked at me expectantly. “No, thank you.”
“Suit yourself,” he said and opened his liquor drawer. Even the mailroom staff knew about that. Everyone whispered about what dark amber liquids he kept there. Rumor had it there was a hundred-year-old bottle of scotch. Or bourbon, maybe. I honestly couldn’t tell the two apart.
“Pour me a glass too,” Brandt said. Once he took it, he downed half of it in one sip. I’d be worried about him driving, but he usually had a chauffeur to take care of that. He paced the floor in front of the desk. With every pass, he notched my anxiety up a little higher.
“Is there something wrong?” I asked.
Brandt made a blustering noise as he exhaled. “You could say that.”
“Brandt, calm down. We’re all here and we’re going to talk about it.”
“Calm?” He picked up the top page from the stack on Audric’s desk and held it up. “You read this and tell me to be calm.”
Audric sighed. “You know I’ve read it. We’ve been talking about it all morning.”
“What is it?” I asked.
Audric pushed the door completely shut and gestured to the chairs in the corner. “Let’s have a seat.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. I took the chair closest to the door.
Audric threw one leg over the other and tapped his glass. “I’m not going to sugarcoat this for you. Things don’t look good. Our last quarter was thirty-four percent under expectations, and our entire last fiscal year didn’t look great either. We need a way to expand our current designs as well as create new ones. For that, we need to leverage our available funds the best way possible. Maybe bring in some consultants.”
“We don’t need any fucking consultants,” Brandt muttered.
“I thought last year the company did well,” I said.
“It’s been a slow decline for the past eighteen months,” Audric said. “We thought we hit the goldmine when pivoting from fashion and accessories to luxury watches, and now we have far too much invested to turn back. Watches are what we’re known for now.”
I nodded. “I remember. I miss the fashion part of it. I used to sort through the sample dresses the factory sent over.”
Brandt shot me a look like I’d gone too far off topic.
“Anyway,” Audric started, “we have to do something to turn this situation around or we’re all in trouble. You m
ight not have as large of a stake in the company as we do, but you’re invested. Your name is on the company too.”
“What’s the cause of it?” I asked.
“A rival company called Fifthborn Oak is siphoning away all our hard work. They’ve been in the watch industry forever, but lately they’ve stepped up their competition by going after the same markets we do, attending more trade shows, more marketing, and all that.”
“So, they were there first? Because we started more in fashion.”
Audric shook his head. “That’s being shortsighted, sister. Sure, they’ve had a watch presence longer, but they’re leveraging their position against us now. They’re trying to squeeze us out of the market with their boot on our throats. It’s cost us more than you want to know.”
“So what do you propose we do?” I asked. It felt strange for them to involve me like this. Usually they ushered me off to a dusty storeroom or supply closet.
Audric exchanged glances with Brandt. “The guy who owns that company—his name is Gavin Walsh. If he’s allowed to just take whatever market share he wants, we’ll go bankrupt. It’s that simple. He’s been plastered all over the news, in magazines and interviews with his recent surge. He even had a movie cameo.”
“Which movie?” I asked.
Brandt leaned forward. “Why does it matter? Some romantic comedy heading straight for the bargain bin.”
Audric looked on the cusp of reining Brandt in. “Anyway, this guy has to be stopped.” He paused and turned toward me. “And we need your help to do it.”
“My help? What makes you think I can do anything about it? I don’t know the first thing about business. That’s why you both have been taking the lead.”
“We tried to do our research on him, even hiring a private detective, but he doesn’t have a lot of dirt we can find. We were hoping we could discover some shit stain on his record and hold his feet to the fire, but no dice. There’s no way this guy is this clean, so clearly he knows how to put cash in the right hands to make it all go away.”
Date in Disguise Page 1
