I swung my legs over the side of the bed and sat up. Still no nausea. I stood up and took a couple of cautious steps toward the bathroom. I was in the clear, and that felt fantastic. I celebrated my recovery by taking a long, luxurious shower and getting dressed in actual clothing. I even topped it off by putting on a full face of makeup and styling my hair.
I had no intention of going anywhere that day. Now that I was back to normal, I needed to throw myself headlong into work. I was still keeping up with my usual clients, but it had become more of a struggle over the last week. I had even managed to slip behind on two of them, just barely getting my work in by the deadline.
That definitely wasn’t acceptable. My clients might not have noticed the difference, but I did. I couldn’t stand feeling like I wasn’t on top of my work. Especially now that I had officially delayed the start of building up my savings by more than a week. I was going to have to work extra hard to catch up and get ahead the way I wanted to.
Getting dressed and putting on my makeup was my equivalent of war paint. It made me feel professional and put together, which made me work harder. And, as I had learned recently, it made sure I was prepared just in case one of my clients suddenly decided we needed to do a video call.
Glad I was back to normal and feeling pretty good about myself, I checked my work queue and pulled out my notebook so I could start my list.
Once my list was made, I started another list of non-work activities that needed to be done now that I had climbed out of the pit of stomach virus despair. That also finished, I jumped right into the first item on that list. Researching lawyers. I had been considering getting a lawyer all weekend while I thought about the situation.
Nick had already told me we couldn’t go after Justin for anything as of right then. But I still felt the compulsion to educate myself about my legal options and find out what lawyers were around in the area. Not necessarily for the issue of my money going missing, but because it might be helpful in other circumstances. It was nothing like realizing you’re the person you thought of as your life partner was a lying thief and that leading you to consider a whole new approach to finances to make you think about the importance of an attorney.
I researched lawyers in the area for a little while, jotting down contact information and basic notes about the ones who stood out to me. That finished, I threw myself into work. A few of my projects had gotten to a point when all I needed to do was add a couple of finishing touches and it would be complete. I got a deep sense of satisfaction and accomplishment out of finishing up an assignment and finally turning it in.
It felt like I was on a roll that morning. I finished up three of my projects and was making good progress on a couple more. When I got to a good stopping point for work, I pulled up my email and drafted a message to my regular clients. In it, I explained I was available for a bigger workload than normal and offered my reassurances I could manage the extra work at the same level of quality.
Taking a break from my work, I pulled the file from Nick over toward me and flipped it open. I read through all the papers again, impressed by how much he had put into putting this together for me. I got to the section where he had printed out investment planning worksheets and took them out. Setting them on the desk in front of me, I read through the questions and did my best to answer them.
Nick had already gone through the trouble of creating an investment plan for me but had also encouraged me to try to make some decisions myself. Including just how much my initial seed money was going to be. He offered suggestions and guidance, of course, but I wanted this to be about me.
I evaluated the different options and came up with what I thought was a good choice for how much I wanted to start with. It was right in the range he had suggested, though possibly not as aggressive as he might have wanted me to be. With the models he gave me, I should be able to take that level of investment and turn it around at a decent pace. It wouldn’t be instant, but it also wouldn’t take decades for me to get my mother’s money back.
When I felt settled with my figure, I pulled up an email and addressed it to Nick. I told him about thinking everything through and the amount of money I was going to aim to make as my seed investment. My thoughts went back to my contemplating a lawyer, and I added into the email that I wanted to talk about getting some contracts signed.
Only a few minutes after sending the email, I heard somebody knocking at my front door. I figured it was Nick, having gotten the email from me while he was in the area. He struck me as the kind of guy who would just stop by to talk about my email rather than messaging me back.
I had gone back into full-on work mode by the time I heard the knocks, and I took a second to finish up a small section before heading for the door. I threw it open, ready to make a teasing comment about him certainly being there for me, but as soon as the door opened, my heart dropped.
It wasn’t Nick standing on the porch.
“Why the hell did you change the locks?” Justin demanded.
I was so shocked by his sudden appearance, I couldn’t even respond. Standing at the door with my mouth open, I stared out at him like I thought he was a mirage.
“I changed the locks because I’m the only one who lives here now,” I said. “When somebody moves out of a house, it’s a good idea to have new locks put in. I wouldn’t want extra keys floating around so they might fall into the wrong hands. It would be disastrous to have somebody steal from me.”
Justin glared at me, his eyes narrowing and his shoulders squaring off toward me. “I didn’t steal anything from you.”
“Oh, is that your defense now? Considering you admitted it to me openly the day I found those papers, I don’t think that’s going to hold up,” I said.
He shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Our relationship ended because of your suspicions and accusations. You kicked me out of my home without any notice, and now you’ve changed the locks on the doors I still have the majority of my stuff in there.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” I said.
Justin gave me a cruel glare. “Not at all. This is as real as it gets, babe.”
16
Nick
“Cynthia kicked me out of the house,” Gabe said.
I was so shocked that I nearly dropped my coffee, which would have been a big deal considering it was the first cup of my new limited-edition flavor. French toast with maple syrup. Probably not the most seasonal of options, but the smell was heavenly, and I hadn’t been able to resist when I went into the roaster.
“She did what?” I asked. “I can’t believe it. The two of you seemed so happy.”
“We are,” Gabe said. “And she wants to stay that way, so she told me I have to leave and go play with you for the day. Can I come back to work?”
I laughed. “What did you do?”
“Made her breakfast,” he said.
“Why do I think that’s not the full story?”
“Okay, so I tried to make the fancy caramel banana pancakes her grandmother used to make her when she was a little girl and failed miserably. I really don’t think that warranted me being removed from the house,” he said.
“I don’t know, I probably would have removed you,” I said. “I think Cynthia is just kind of done feeling like a burden. You’ve been taking great care of her, but you know how independent she’s always been. It has to be killing her to not be able to do anything.”
“You’re probably right,” Gabe said. “Actually, I know for a fact you’re right. She’s said it to me about a dozen times over the last week. She’s already trying to figure out how she can get back to work by the end of the month.”
“Is that even an option?” I asked.
“Not even close,” he said. “But she doesn’t want to hear me remind her of that.”
“So, another reason you got kicked out of the house?” I asked.
“Pretty much. So, I’m your problem now,” he said, grinning.
“I gue
ss I can deal with you for a while. She’s been keeping up with you for a while now. She could use a break,” I said.
“What are you up to?” he asked, coming the rest of the way into the office.
“Just going over some of the monthly figures,” I said.
“Thrilling. How are things looking?”
“Pretty fantastic, actually. Our customer base is increasing every month, and most of them have ramped up,” I said.
Things had been going extremely well for my firm. Five years ago, I was working for someone else and wondering if I’d really made the right choice when it came to not staying with the family business. I enjoyed working with investments and knew I wanted to be on my own path, but it didn’t feel like I’d found my way. Working for someone else and always having to do things their way didn’t sit right with me.
Not that I didn’t like my boss or that I wasn’t a team player. With three brothers, you either learn to cooperate and work together, or you turn against everybody and it goes bad really fast. We were competitive, but all in all, we worked well together. That translated over to my career, and I never found myself pushing back against being without control or feeling bitter about my coworkers.
It just wasn’t as fulfilling as I thought it was going to be. Then I had a sit-down with my father. Dad was known for his sit-downs. He liked to grab a beer or a whiskey, sit back, and just have a conversation. It seemed casual while it was going on, but inevitably, we would look back and realize he had passed along some sort of wisdom to us.
The wisdom he gave me back then was not to settle for only going halfway down the road. If I wanted to get somewhere, it wasn’t enough to stop in the middle of the road and just look at that place. I needed to go all the way there. That was when I really started thinking about starting my own firm. My father fronted me the seed money, and I never looked back.
Now the firm was thriving. I had Gabe handling his own set of clients, and I’d paid my father back more than a year ago. I felt like I was really where I was meant to be, that I had accomplished something I was always supposed to.
“Are you still thinking we might be ready to bring in a junior investor?” Gabe asked.
I nodded. “Absolutely. Our client list is growing constantly, and if it keeps going like this, we’re not going to be able to keep up. I want to keep giving all our clients the highest quality service and make sure they can achieve their goals. Having a junior investor will help handle the smaller clients and some of the administrative work, so that will be really helpful.”
Gabe nodded, making an acknowledging sound. “Do you have anybody in mind yet?”
“Not yet. I was thinking we could put together a job posting and get it up in the next couple weeks. I would rather not use any of the headhunters. We should choose our own person.”
As I was finishing speaking, my phone chimed to tell me I got an email. I didn’t look at it, wanting to focus on the work in front of me. It was easy to get distracted and too involved in what a client needed when they emailed, so I preferred to not even look until I had a free minute.
“I agree,” Gabe said. “You never know, we might find someone the hunters didn’t even notice, but is amazing, and we can mold them into the best investor in the area.”
I looked at him for a second. “Are we talking about hiring a junior investor, or are you writing a screenplay for the Brat Pack?”
“They’re in their fifties. I don’t think they count as brats anymore. Also—” He stood up dramatically. “—I don’t have to take this. I’m going to my office.”
“Something you’ve been wanting to say your whole life?” I asked.
Gabe turned back to me with a wide grin and nodded. “Yeah.”
“It was good.”
“Thanks. I am actually going to my office, though. I need to catch up with some of my clients,” he said.
When he left, I pulled up my email. Seeing Bryn’s name on the most recent message made me smile. There was nothing really personal about the message. She was just checking in about the plans and giving me her idea of how much seed money she wanted to make for her investments. But it was still good to hear from her. I was looking forward to helping her build her savings back up not just so she could have the money, but so she could put the experience behind her.
I typed up a quick response to her message agreeing to her seed amount but paused before I sent it. Reading through her message again, I noticed something hesitant about the wording. It was hard to detect tone or emotion behind written words, but her message struck me as unsure. It was almost like she thought my offer was going to disappear. It wouldn’t be the first time an investor played lip service to a client to try to impress them or make them feel better. But that wasn’t what I was doing.
I was serious about helping Bryn, and I wanted to make sure she knew that. Adding a section to my email response, I mentioned setting up contracts. Even if they were just between the two of us and not the formal ones I used with my regular clients, they would hopefully be a way for her to feel more secure and know this was something she could truly rely on.
To give her an idea of what my contracts entailed, I attached a basic version. It only took a few moments for her response to pop up into my inbox. When I opened it, I found the contract I sent filled out and signed. Seeing that made me smile. She was taking the whole thing seriously, and also wasn’t trying to pull back or run away because she wasn’t sure what was going to happen.
I cared about all my clients. At least, I cared about their financial goals and helping them to achieve them. It always made me feel good when they were excited about what was to come and seemed driven to push forward and make things happen. But this was different. For most of my clients, investing was just something they were expected to do. They grew up in families that invested and had strong financial training from the time they were young.
That didn’t mean that it wasn’t fulfilling to help them build their portfolio. But it was a certain thrill to help someone who didn’t have that foundation reach new levels. It was even better with Bryn. I really wanted this for her. And spending the extra time with her didn’t hurt. Not that I was going to let myself think about that. This was a professional arrangement. Not to mention not wanting a commitment and a girl who just got through a rough breakup wasn’t a good combination.
I printed out the copy of the contract, signed it, and scanned it back to her for her own records. That finished, I checked contacting her off my list of tasks for the day. Her being the one to reach out to me gave my productivity for the day a boost, so I was feeling ahead of the game. Now that Gabe was back in the office, even if it was only on a temporary basis, the days of overwhelming busyness seemed to be behind me.
I tried to get my mind back into work but was having trouble focusing. Every time I tried to bury myself in the numbers, my thoughts wandered back to the night before and the images that played through my head. I shouldn’t have been thinking about Bryn that way. I definitely shouldn’t have been getting myself off when thinking about her that way.
But I couldn’t help it. This girl was getting under my skin. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was about her. She was beautiful, there was no denying that. And she was funny and charming when she had moments of brightness through her anger. There was more than that, though. There was something else that kept making me lose myself in thinking about her. I’d never had this kind of reaction to a woman before, and it was getting to me.
Even with the productivity boost and having Gabe back in the office, and perhaps a little bit because of that, I ended up staying at the office late. As I was leaving, my phone rang. Seeing my brother’s name on the screen surprised me.
“Hey, Darren,” I said.
“Are you just leaving work?” he asked.
I paused. “How did you know?”
“Look to your left,” he said.
I looked over and saw my youngest brother walking down the sidewalk toward me, w
aving. I waved back and ended the call.
“What are you doing over in this neck of the woods?” I asked, walking toward him.
“Just running a couple wedding errands,” he said. “Kelly is having a video call with her twin and her mother, and that can last for hours.”
“Have you had dinner?” I asked.
“Not yet.”
“Good. Neither have I. Let’s go grab something.”
We headed for the bar and sat down to Lindsey’s famous massive burgers. It was good to hang out with my brother, just being able to catch up for a while before he headed home to his fiancée. The bar was busy that night, so I didn’t get a chance to chat with Lindsey. I was getting in my car to head home when my phone rang again. This time it wasn’t one of my brothers, or even Lindsey calling to yell at me for leaving. Instead, it was Bryn.
“Hi, Bryn,” I said.
I started to say more before she burst into a tirade. She sounded blisteringly angry, angrier than I had ever heard her. I could barely understand anything she was saying, but it was enough to catch the name “Justin.” Without hesitation, I turned around and detoured to her place.
17
Bryn
Never in my life had I been that angry. Even the day I’d found out about Justin stealing all my money and we broke up. Even the day when I had to go through the house and start taking apart all the different reminders of what used to be our relationship. Those days I was seriously angry, but it was nothing compared to this. The fury seared inside me, and I couldn’t stand still.
Every time I had tried to pause and sit down, I couldn’t take it. There was far too much pent-up energy burning through my veins and tensing up my muscles. All I could do was pace back and forth, gripping the phone beside me so hard it was cutting into my palm. This was a whole new level. A new degree of disrespect I just couldn’t tolerate.
Millionaire Hero (Freeman Brothers Book 4) Page 8
