“That’s fighting dirty.” I laughed as Chatter hit the ground groaning. “I’m guessing you alpha men didn’t use groin pads again.”
“Some did after we learned that’s as high as Eddie can shoot.” Tiny winced, and I knew he’d been on the end of some of Eddie’s shots. I caught Drakes wince as well.
“My girl got both of you.” Two sharp nods.
“That’s when we decided to feed the kids to get away from her. Ever thought of taking her sniper training? That child’s lethal.” Drake rumbled. I laughed.
“She’s small so aims at what she can see.”
“My dick needs a week to recover.” Tiny groaned, and I laughed again as there was a startled yelp from the trees and Apache came running out with my little terror behind him.
“Which idiot gave her that?” I asked as I looked at the automatic paintball gun she was carrying.
“Chance.” Drake and Tiny said together. Apache hit the ground laughing and grabbed her and spun her up and I saw him hand her ten bucks and sent her in a different direction.
“Did he just bribe her?” I asked stunned.
“Woman she has over one hundred and fifty bucks so far.” Tiny laughed, and I narrowed my eyes. That child!
“Yeah and she’s working out who’ll pay her.” Slick said with a shit-eating grin. I looked at him. “Twenty bucks.”
“Oh my god.” I exclaimed.
“Leave her, she’s having fun, not as if those she’s fleecing can’t afford it.” Micah said sitting on the step in front of me.
“Micah, she’s fleecing people!”
“Yeah, think that’s why she begged Chance for the automatic.” He agreed. My gaze drifted to the treeline where people darted around. My eyes grew wide when I saw Eddie swinging from a rope wrapped around her waist and arm. And as my tiny terror swung, she took aim and started firing the automatic.
“Shit!” Micah exclaimed and jumped to his feet.
“Ah leave her, Micah, she’s having fun.” I glared at him. He began racing in the direction of the trees when Eddie got her feet to a tree trunk and pushed off swinging outwards and still firing.
Heads popped up as adults jumped to their feet to grab my holy horror and then get shot. Eddie was screaming like Tarzan as she pushed off the tree again and kept shooting.
Drake sat up straight when he first heard it and his eyes and Apaches shot in the direction of Ace. Slick mirrored their actions. I frowned and followed their gaze. Ace, the brother who never smiled, had managed to get out of the firing line. He was standing watching Eddie as she repeated Tarzan, his hands on his hips and head thrown back, he was out and out laughing.
Apache moved out of the treeline his eyes on his son and Drake pushed to his feet. Both men looked at Ace in disbelief, then Drake looked straight at me. There was something potent in his eyes but I didn’t know what, I know my breath caught in my throat. His eyes moved to Chance who was also staring at the laughing Rage V.P and Chance began moving in Drakes direction.
“Told you brother, she heals.”
Chapter Six.
Two days later, on Tuesday I sat at my desk and frowned. Kyle, Diana, Charlie and Abigail sat in front of me. None of us were happy. Abigail’s investigator had sent a troubling email. California was missing over three million dollars. I buzzed my desk and got Emily.
“Call Jon in California please Emily. Inform Jon it’s a conference call with Diana, Abigail, Kyle, Charlie and myself.” I asked and cut the intercom.
“This is dangerous for the Trusts.” Kyle said tapping his fingers on his knee.
“Could be an accounting problem, mislaid donations, could be anything.” Charlie said but the worried tone in his voice was unmistakable.
“The situation needs investigating, by the book.” I said. The phone rang, I picked it up and greeted Jon. As Jon finished the report, my door opened. Drake stood there with Apache. They caught the call and began backing out and I waved them to come in and pointed to the sofas. Curious glances were aimed at them, but no one commented.
“Okay, Jon, thanks. Sally is on a flight to Cali, she’ll arrive within an hour. This gets done by the book. Three million dollars is missing. Don’t need to repeat how serious this situation is.” I told Jon. Drake’s eyebrows shot up and he glanced at Apache.
“Keep this small Jon. Only those on this call know. No one else for now. Sally has Anna with her to take notes.” Diana said pursing her lips and leaning forward on her elbows. She rubbed her brow in stress.
“Jon, sit Saffron in a private office, offer a rep, she wants someone let her choose who. Saffron declines, carry the meeting forward. Inform her three million dollars is missing, ask if she can explain. Whatever Saffron says gets documented. Then whether or not she explains, suspend her with pay for three days and set a time for another meeting.” I spoke into the phone.
“Even if Saffron can explain?” Jon asked, interrupting me.
“Yeah, because as F.M (Fundraising Manager) Saffron should have brought an error to Charlie’s attention, maybe she needs more training.” Diana snorted, and I looked at her but continued. “From that suspension we’ll dig further, the investigating team will need to be on the ball. Diana can’t get involved, and neither can I, as appeals will come to Diana first and then myself.
Once Saffron’s suspended, escort her from the building. Explain her rights, Sally knows them off by heart as she helped draw up the policies. As soon as Saffron has left, there’s an accounting team ready to rip their records apart and track everything back.”
“I’m thinking it’s an error Phoe, Saffron has tracked the donations but they aren’t showing in the banking.” Jon said.
“Doesn’t matter, she should have contacted Charlie. If this implodes, the Trusts appear inept. Trusts don’t need accusations hitting us, not when we’re pushing to open in three more states in a fortnight. Plans are in place for P.T and R.T’s and one of those states in having an ET. Under the radar but by the book.” I told Jon. Diana nodded an agreement.
“Okay boss.” Jon said. Diana gave a few more instructions, and we cut the call. I glanced at Diana.
“Saffron doesn’t need more training Phoe, she’s been with us from the start.” Diana said annoyed.
“We have to consider that, Diana.” I looked across at Kyle. “How are we doing with those three states?”
“Well on target and in two we’re over target. Won’t be an issue.” Kyle said and rose to his feet. Troubled, they left the office, and I turned to Drake and Apache.
“Sorry. What can I do for you?”
“You okay?” Drake asked, and I realised I was rubbing my temples. I dropped my hand and smiled.
“Yeah just tension, not a migraine. With the deadline in two weeks, Trusts don’t need a scandal right now. Talk about poor timing.”
“Think the moneys stolen?” Apache asked sitting forward.
“No, I believe it’s an accounting error, looking at what Kyle and Jon have put together, it’s likely to be that. Fact remains though, Saffron should have brought this straight to Charlie’s attention. She shouldn’t have let Charlie discover this.”
“Get that. Don’t have to ask for our silence.” I loved that I didn’t have to ask. Drake continued. “Slick wants to come up sometime soon, brothers got a hard on for your library.”
“Sure, that’s no problem.” Leaning over my desk, I pulled a gold-embossed card from a cardholder. Apache took the card from me. He looked at it and then the different coloured ones held in silver card stacks on the desk.
“Different colours mean somethin’?” Apache asked.
“I’m anal retentive,” I laughed. “Gold card means you’ve my direct email, cell and home phone number. Red means it’s the emergency phone which the Directors take turns at carrying. Lilac means you get my direct office phone and email, silver means you get Emily’s phone and email and black gives you the reception downstairs.” Apache nodded.
“Saves being bothered by asshole’s
all the time.” Apache mused.
“Good idea.” Drake agreed.
“So that was it? Slick wanting to come up and steal the library?”
“Got a hog roast going this Saturday, wanna come?” Apache asked as Drake opened his mouth. Drake shot Apache a frustrated glare. I bit back a giggle.
“Got the kids remember.” I replied, feeling them out.
“Get two hogs, feed the kids too.” Drake grinned. I smiled back. “I’ll come up during the day, check your attic with you. Slick can hunt through boxes and then we’ll come back for hogs.”
“Sure, okay that’s great, I’ll look forward to it.” I jotted it down and when I turned back, Apache’s long legs were disappearing out of my office. I raised an eyebrow at Drake.
“Wanna know what you do with your week. Wanna be nosey.” Drake explained.
“I run three national charities.”
“Phoe, wanna understand what you do.”
“Well Emily plans most of my days so maybe it’s her you should talk to?” I teased him. Drake’s mouth twitched.
“Okay, okay!” I put my hands up in surrender. “I got an hour free so I’ll take you through my day. We’ve twenty states with P.T’s, R.T and five states include E.T’s. Each building has a manager that manages everything. The Trusts have a fundraising team in each state with another manager. Each manager reports to a S.M, State Manager, that’s based here in HQ.
S.Ms get reports each week and they compile those reports and bring them to me once a week and we go through them. I allocate each S.M an hour a week. Plenty of time to study reports and fix anything that needs fixing. Usually meetings only take half an hour. If everything’s good, I file the report and they go on their way.
The reports contain items such as fundraising figures, who has donated and how much. That is meticulously tracked. The reports consist of catering bills, electric bills etcetera, figures around intake, people we’ve found on the streets or people we’ve been requested to find.
The reports state how long clients have left in safe houses and if Property need to purchase homes. The S.M does the liaisons on those. But I get an overall look at what’s happening. Everything is discussed once a week in a meeting.”
“So, you lose twenty hours a week going through those meetings. Detailed ain’t they?” Drake nodded showing understanding.
“Yeah. It’s why my day starts at eight in the morning and finishes at five at night. I work fulltime.”
“The other twenty hours?” Drake asked smirking. I poked my tongue out and his gaze dropped to my mouth.
“Take other meetings, my director’s get half an hour a week, I got fifteen Directors out there. Take phone calls, manage problems that turn up. Hold meet and greets from large donators, plot our next state to open buildings. Make sure the teams are doing what they need to be doing and oversee properties that may interest us.
Sally will do the legwork, I’ll pick from a few that interest me and Sally will go check them out. I make sure Diana knows what state we’re opening. Diana will send out a recruitment team to interview and wheedle out people who won’t fit or who doesn’t understand the Trusts vision. She’ll spend two weeks in the state completing the final interviews.”
“Diana enjoy travel?”
“She likes travel but likes a home base too, this way Diana gets the best of both worlds. Once Diana has a S.M in state, they take over the bulk of the work, they’ll liaise with the architects and volunteers. The S.M will be on final interviews for Property Managers and other staff. Sally and I try to promote within the Trusts, we try internal first and then externally. I get the overview. In the beginning I was in on everything but considering the kids I take a back seat and supervise.”
“You don’t work past five?” Drake asked.
“No, I have kids. None of my staff work past their shift end unless it’s a fundraising push. Most of my staff have kids or family lives and my staff expect to clock off dead on time. A few might work an extra ten minutes to finish a call or something they’d started. But they bank overtime with the HR and get take it as time in lieu.
A skeleton staff works nights, two G.S.Ms who each work five shifts each, and a third one that does Saturday and Sunday.”
“You leave here at five?” Drake repeated.
“Yeah, go home, eat dinner with the kids, spend family time together and then put little ones to bed, spend time with older ones. And then read any reports I didn’t get time to, in bed and it’s lights out by ten as I get up at six every weekday.”
“HQ closes at weekends?” He frowned. That didn’t feel right, after everything Phoe had put into making the Trusts work, shutting at weekends was irresponsible. Drake wanted to know the ins and outs of everything Phoe did. He was interested in her work.
“No, there’s staff and G.S.Ms who prefer Monday and Tuesday off, so they work Saturday and Sunday. It works for us, not quite a skeleton staff but not a full staff level by far. Usually around fifty members of staff here at the weekend. S.Ms get two days off a week and a daytime G.S.M covers any issues that may arise while they’re off. The Directors take turns working one out of three weekends, so there’s always five Directors on at the weekend.”
“You’ve made it work. You work one in three?” Drake said looking around outside my glass walls. I nodded an agreement, I did indeed.
“Yeah, I look after my staff, I want loyalty, need them to believe in what we’re doing. Staff get an automatic four weeks paid holiday a year. Each year they’re with us they gain an extra day until they hit the maximum of six weeks. Staff get a full paid six-month sick policy, a company paid dental plan, and a discounted medical insurance.
The staff get federal holidays or public holidays as a paid day off. A minimum three days over Christmas and each year that alternates between the three days and a maximum five days. Half the staff will get three days and the other half five days. Emergency phone covers those three days! The following year they swap. Easter Sunday, they get off and there’s always a huge New Year Eve party.
Trust staff know if they’ve got issues at home, a sick child, a sick parent, maybe financial trouble they can come to Diana if they are HQ. Or their P.M, who will bring it to Diana’s attention and we’ll help. I have money put aside from my fortune that is used to help them with a loan or pay medical bills. My investment brokers grow that each year for me so it never shrinks luckily enough.”
“Jesus babe that’s a hell of a staff package you offer. Dunno many companies out there offer shit like that. Overly generous?” Drake wondered if Phoe was being taken advantage of. Sure as hell bosses were few and far between who’d put a package like that together for their staff. Drake was dubious around this, he’d already seen Phoe was generous at heart.
“Well yeah. These people gave everything up to move here and support the Trusts. Happy staff are more productive. Got to support them back.” I wondered if Drake picked up on the unspoken ‘duh’ in my voice.
“Add to that Chance said that you paid for everyone to move from Norfolk. Helped them buy their houses cash so no mortgage, you paid their moving costs and helped partners find jobs if they needed one. All that out of your own cake.” Drake interrupted a strange tone in his voice.
“They showed loyalty and came with me. Of course, I’d help them.”
“Baby, back in Norfolk they had mortgages.” Drake pushed harder.
“Yeah but I asked them to move across states and come here. Took them from what they know and were used too, many left family and friends, there’s displaced and unhappy kids. Look after the staff and they’ll look after my dream.” I argued. Drake shook his head.
“You’re not just loaded, your fuckin’ loaded.” Drake stated, and I nodded. That’s something Drake needed to understand.
“Just under an official billionaire. In fact, at the end of this year I should hit official billionaire status.” Drake’s eyes widened in shock.
“Fuckin’ hell.” He muttered.
&n
bsp; “Yup.” I agreed, nodding. Drake let that shock sink in for a few minutes. The fact Drake struggled with that was visible, Chance had too. Drake raised his head and gave me a smile.
“When do you date?”
“Don’t date.” I instantly said. Drake didn’t like that answer.
“You don’t date?”
“Nope.”
“Why the fuck not?” He asked. He wanted to date her. Fuck, what was wrong with him? Drake didn’t date!
“I had a good marriage, married young and was widowed before Aaron was born. Micah was born when I was just sixteen. Justin and I weren’t stupid, but it ripped and we got caught. We married fast and built a good life.
Justin same as me had no family, our friends helped, we finished school and Justin got a good job working construction. Had eleven years together. Married for ten of them before it got ripped away when a crane collapsed with Justin on it.” I paused as a familiar pain hit me.
“Pregnant and with four young kids, I went into survival mode. Made a friend. Friend became a husband when Aaron was one. Left him four years ago, dreadful marriage. Turns out it wasn’t even a real marriage, he was a bigamist.” I saw Drake working out the math.
“You were with him five years? Marriage went south that quick? Woah wait, asshole was a bigamist? That’s the one who beat you?” He asked anger in his voice.
“Marriage went wrong on the wedding night. I don’t discuss it, don’t talk about the monster. I won the euro millions and won a hell of a lot of money. That money bought us an escape. I built this. This was a dream, I lost one dream, my Justin. Found a second dream, this. Never thought I’d see it come to fruition. I don’t date because a man wouldn’t like sharing his life with my dream.
Wouldn’t like taking on someone else’s kids except for a dubious reason. No man will take on sixteen kids. Not into casual sex, only had sex with two men and I married them both. Yeah, I miss sex but I have this.” Bluntly, I told him, I had to make him understand that there won’t be an us, if that what he was hinting. I spread my arms out. “I have my kids and family which I built. Show me a man who will be happy to share with everything else in my life.”
Rage of the Phoenix Page 12
