Obsession: (Billionaire Venture Capitalist #5) A Billionaire Russian Mob Romance

by Ainsley St Claire

  “Hey” is all he says in return as he rushes by me with his eyes averted, the earbuds in his ears slightly humming from the music playing in them.

  Behind him, Greer walks in. She’s so sophisticated and just seems to have it all together. Greer’s one of the partners, and she’s our public relations goddess. She’s helped to make some of the most complex start-up applications understandable to people on Wall Street, and she’s absolutely instrumental to our success.

  “Good morning, Greer.”

  “I brought you a treat. Here’s a peppermint mocha.” She places the venti white cup on my desk with her name on the side, and I can smell the peppermint. I’ve already had one this morning, but between my mother’s call and Parker being curt with me, I’m due a treat.

  “This is my favorite. Thank you.”

  “I pay attention, and you take such good care of me when I work remotely from Napa.” She telecommutes from a winery since her delicious Italian fiancé owns a vineyard. When I grow up, I want to be her.

  “I still need to get up to your fiancé’s tasting room.”

  “You’re welcome anytime. I promise a behind-the-scenes tour if you do come up.”

  I’ll seriously be considering that. I just love her.

  She waves as she leaves, and I take a deep whiff of the peppermint, chocolate, whipped cream, and coffee. Whoever invented this was a pure genius. It’s my drug of choice, and I love it.

  Dillon and Emerson arrive next. Emerson’s my boss, and she runs all things operational around here and with our clients. She also has it all together, and with a handsome husband to boot. She’s so accomplished in her own right, having sold her company to SHN and becoming a partner. The story is that Dillon saw her speak at a technology conference about the importance of a team, and he wanted her and her company.

  I’ll never understand how they can work together and stay married. They don’t fight at work, but I’ve seen her throw the evil eye at Dillon before. I have no doubt that he’s not easy to live with.

  “Hi, Constance,” she greets me. “How’s your day going so far?”

  “Not too bad. Pancakes and sausage are set up in the break room, and the big coffeepot is full. The phones are just beginning to pick up. I have a list of things that we’re running low on in the kitchen, and I’ve gone through the supply closet and added a few things we need to replace.”

  Dillon nods in approval. Eyeing my coffee cup, he says, “You better watch out, Emerson. I see Greer’s plying her with coffee from downstairs. She’s going to snag Constance away from you.”

  Emerson winks at me. “She better not, but if she were to steal Constance away, it would be an amazing opportunity for her, I’m sure.” Dillon gives Emerson a peck on the cheek. It’s so nice to feel appreciated. “Let’s meet later this morning and go over your list, Constance. I have a few things to add. You’re really on it. We’ll need to find you more work, so you don’t get bored.”

  “I’d love that. Just let me know.” Ordering meals and supplies will quickly become a little mind-numbing, so I’m open to whatever they want to throw at me.

  The next thing I know, it’s after eleven. Needing to wrap up what’s left of breakfast and prepare for the lunch catering to arrive, I walk into the break room. Cameron’s there with Parker, having what looks like a very serious conversation. They stop and look at me when I enter.

  “Oh, excuse me. I’ll come back later.” I turn and essentially run away.

  I hear Cameron say, “Please, feel free to stick around. Don’t let us keep you from your job. All the conference rooms are busy, and we’re going through a few proposals. Nothing super-secret.” He flashes me a smile, and if I weren’t partially frightened of him, I’d probably have a work crush on Cameron. I’ve met his fiancée though, and not only is she gorgeous, but she’s a very accomplished pediatrician here in San Francisco who works in underserved areas.

  “Thank you. I won’t be long.”

  Then I see the mess these guys made this morning getting their breakfast. None of the women I know have breakfast in the office very often—unless it’s the breakfast burritos. Those, I’ve discovered, are loved by everyone. But this morning it’s like they spilled maple syrup everywhere. Yuck!

  There isn’t much to pack up, so I put some elbow grease into the sticky mess on the countertops and pull the appropriate hotplates for our Indian feast coming shortly. Just as I finish, I hear the main phone line ringing, so I toss the sponge back into the sink and go answer the phone.

  When lunch arrives, I take the food into the break room and get it set up. We have about two dozen restaurants we order from each month, and I’ll occasionally find something unique. We have a few vegetarians, some who eat gluten-free, others who are lactose intolerant, and a vegan, so it gets difficult if I need to accommodate everyone. Our firm supplies breakfast and lunch most days, and if we’re in crunch time—which is about two weeks of the month—we have dinner catered in. It gets a little boring having the same meals, so I’m always on the lookout for new places that will cater. Last month I found a Basque restaurant that catered a great lunch of lamb, several bean side dishes for my vegetarians and vegans, and potatoes. We eat well every day.

  As I set everything up for lunch, Parker wanders over and turns up his nose. “What’s for lunch today?”

  I turn and smile at him. “Indian.”

  “Why didn’t anyone tell me? Yuck!”

  “Well, it’s e-mailed to you at the beginning of the month in the company newsletter.” I write the newsletter, so I’m trying not to be bothered that he’s ignored it. “And it’s posted on the refrigerator. I’m happy to put it somewhere else where you might see it. A stall in the men’s restroom, perhaps?”

  He just glares daggers at me and then stalks away.

  All right then.

  Watching his back as he leaves, I decide I’m giving up on this guy. He may make my panties wet, but he’s a typical twentysomething male in San Francisco and thinks he’s God’s gift to the world.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Parker

  I actually like Indian food, so I don’t know why I made such a stink. I’m an asshole. I just don’t know how to act around her. I’m usually pretty good at the flirting thing, but for some reason with Constance, I’m a jerk.

  I’m going to just bury myself in my work and try to forget about it. I seem to be on a celibacy kick, not wanting to deal with the hassle just to get laid. I think I’d like a real relationship—but one that’s drama free. I haven’t found that since moving here to San Francisco, or maybe ever.

  My job here at SHN’s to work with Cameron, our technology partner. I’ve seen some amazingly cool shit. I’ve seen technology that seems silly—3D video conferencing is one—but has so many other applications that are mind-blowing. And I’ve seen redesigns of search engines that aren’t as powerful as the current technology.

  Working at SHN’s a dream job for me. I heard Cameron speak at a conference in Chicago for one of my classes at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was a speaker at a forum on complex data solutions. I was just a freshman at the time, but all of a sudden, I knew what I wanted to do for a career.

  I live and breathe SHN. I know my findings can determine if we’re going to invest a lot of money into some of these start-ups. They’re all good ideas, but often the technology isn’t there to make them realities. Sometimes it can take doing complex math to figure out the design, and other times it takes looking over their business plan and the code. I love what I do, but I also know that not many people can do this.

  An instant message shows up on my computer: Parker, can you join us in Mason’s office?

  One of our biggest public offerings, Pineapple Technologies, went sideways the night they went public because someone hacked their highly encrypted system and shared their private information on the web. We got out by selling enough to cover our investment, but it would’ve made our bonus a banner year. I originally approved the
technology as one of the first companies I reviewed as an intern. It’s believed the hack was an “inside job,” and I know all the partners have been behind doors dealing with the fallout.

  I grab my moleskin notebook and a pen and walk to Mason’s office. Inside are the three of the partners, but also three people I’m not familiar with.

  “Thanks for coming in,” Mason greets me.

  I nod and take an empty seat in the back.

  “Parker, these are Agents Baron and Perry with the FBI.” They nod and I return the gesture. “And this is Jim Adelson with our security team.”

  I’ve seen Agent Baron around. I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley at night. He’s kind of scary looking. Agent Perry’s female. I don’t know why it surprises me that she would be in the FBI. She’s very pretty with short curly blonde hair and blue eyes.

  “Nice to meet you,” I mumble.

  Cameron turns to me. “Parker, you know about the debacle with Pineapple Technologies.” I nod and he continues. “You worked on them initially and know their software code better than their own designers. You and I are going to be part of an FBI task force to ferret out the reason someone was able to hit their 256-bit encryption and get access to all their sensitive data.”

  “Whatever I can do to help.” This is totally awesome. I’m a total geek, and digging in this deep will be a great challenge. And to do it alongside the FBI and security experts is a dream I never had but has come true.

  “Great. You both can go through all the code line by line, see if there are any holes and how it may have gotten there,” Agent Perry explains.

  “What’s our timeline?” I ask.

  Agent Baron takes over. “We want your thorough review as quickly as you can.”

  “We can do some cursory work and then give you a timeline. That kind of encryption’s extremely complex.” Turning to me, Cameron asks, “How many lines of code do you think their technology ran on?”

  “One hundred thousand, maybe two hundred and fifty thousand lines. It’s been a while since I looked at it, but it took me my twelve-week internship to review and report on. I was young, but it was pretty complex.”

  The conversation becomes really convoluted at that point, and I just sit back as the security expert explains things to the two FBI agents.

  “Our team in cybercrimes will appreciate the help, and we can put them in touch with you,” Agent Perry shares.

  We end the meeting, agreeing to have our initial meeting to touch base in a week.

  When I return to my desk, I can smell the Indian food. Masala, curry and turmeric all work together to make outstanding blends of great food. I load up a plate and include several pieces of naan, then stop by Constance’s desk. “I’m sorry about earlier. I thought the smell was burnt rubber. I love Indian food, and you made my day by ordering lamb masala—it’s my favorite. Thank you.”

  “I’m glad you like it. Lamb masala’s my favorite, too. There’s a great place in Oakland if you ever need the best place for Indian food in the entire Bay Area.”

  “Thanks. I’ll let you know.”

  When I leave her desk, I can’t help but wonder if she was asking me out.

  If you are interested in sneak peaks, random cocktail recipes that show up in my stories, or just the simple reminder to read the next book in the series, please join my reading group:

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  A few words…

  This gets harder to write with each book. Obsession came to me after reading a random article from Wired on the internet. I was surprised at the impact the Russian and Chinese government are having and found how they infiltrate technology firms was alarming. What I describe actually happens. But, for those of you who know code better than I do, I did take some poetic license from my limited coding experience. Forgive me.

  I loved Cynthia and Todd’s story. I teased you with Todd and CeCe, but I have other plans for CeCe. I promise she has a story coming. I have an evil plan, and I hope you’ll stick around and read it. Todd has been kicking around in my head for some time. I debated on an entire series with Morgan Wealth Management in New York, but decided it would take some serious confidence in a man to move into CeCe’s sphere of friends. Having spent time in Texas, Cynthia is a Texas girl at heart. She isn’t afraid of anything and always looks good doing it. They mutual love of 90s music with San Francisco’s musical history seemed to be a great starting ground for them. Plus, we all know CeCe has the magic touch when it comes to match making.

  Out of this story, a sub-story has been written. I couldn’t help myself. Constance and Parker had to have their story told. I’ve added a book 5.5 to the series. It should be out in a few weeks, and I think you’ll enjoy getting to know two characters that work at SHN. I will warn you, it was supposed to be a novella, but it ended up a novel.

  I also have a story for Marci and Walker that’s begging to be told. What do you think? She did allude to not letting him in her bed. Hmm…

  I’d also like to thank the many people who help me get this book out. My husband is getting rather good at making dinner—and more than burgers on the grill. He’s incredibly supportive—even reading first drafts and offering his opinion. I can’t express how lucky I am to have met and married him. (We met online 16 years ago on a dating site!!!) I don’t tell him often enough about how much his support, love, and inspiration mean to me. Be assured he can always trace something about each of my male characters back to him. He’s my muse. What can I say?

  As a mom of two young boys, without them, I’d never make my deadlines. They have activities each afternoon that I shuttle them around. I’ve become quite accomplished at dropping them and working on my books from my car. I have great boys, and they are the light of my life.

  I use several editors. They take my written word and magically make it what you’ve read. (I don’t let them peek at this, so any mistakes here are completely my own.) Donna moves my manuscripts from me to the various editors and beta readers. Becky was kind enough to give my first draft a critique. Kirstin does the heavy lifting and works on the line edits. Joining me this go around for final edits, and beta reading include Sue Griffiths, Valerie Cantrell, and Rebecca Allman. Each of these woman work or volunteer their time through Hot Tree editing and if you ever have a manuscript you think might be worth putting out there (I would love to read it once it’s published) but consider Hot Tree— www.hottreeediting.com. Thank you Hot Tree!

  Aria Tan at Resplendent Media does my covers, and Nadia, who hides in Spain, does the typesetting for my paperbacks. Their artistry is creative genius. Thank you!

  I want to thank those of you who’ve taken the time to review my books. Reviews help those silly algorithms at Amazon find these stories. I love all for your kind words. It means so much to me.

  And finally to all of my readers, without your support and encouragement, there would be no Ainsley St Claire. I want to thank you for reading Obsession. I love and appreciate all the encouraging words in reviews and e-mails. (I do respond to all e-mails. Don’t be shy!) Readers are the reason I write. I’ve had these stories running around my head for years, and I’m so grateful for the platform to share it. Readers can be difficult to find, so I would be most grateful if you liked the book, you’d recommend it.

  Ainsley

  How to find Ainsley

  Thanks for reading Venture Capitalist: Obsession. I do hope you enjoyed Cynthia and Todd’s story and reading the fifth book in the Venture Capitalist series. I appreciate your help in spreading the word, including telling a friend. Before you go, it would mean so much to me if you would take a few minutes to write a review and capture how you feel about what you’ve read so others may find my work. Reviews help readers find books. Please leave a review on your favorite book site.

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  Also by Ainsley St Claire

  Forbidden Love (Venture Capitalist Book 1) Available on Amazon

  (Emerson and Dillon’s story) He’s an eligible billionaire. She’s his alluring employee. Will they cross the line from boardroom to bedroom?

  Promise (Venture Capitalist Book 2) Available on Amazon

  (Sara and Trey’s story) She’s reclaiming her past. He's a billionaire dodging the spotlight. Can a romance of high achievers succeed in a world hungry for scandal?

  Desire (Venture Capitalist Book 3) Available on Amazon

  (Cameron and Hadlee’s story) She used to be in the 1%. He’s a self-made billionaire. Will one hot night fuel love’s startup?