Page 13 of Bling

Chapter Five

Garrett paced in the downstairs lobby of Solitaire, checking his phone for the tenth time. He’d sent a message to Isabelle asking her to join him for breakfast, but she still hadn’t responded. He’d promised not to pressure her though, and Isabelle was prompt. At ten minutes past when he asked her to meet him, he knew she wasn’t coming.

With a heavy sigh, he left the building and got in the car that was waiting for him. He would skip breakfast and go straight to the warehouse.

It would take just under an hour to get there, and he spent the time in the backseat working on his tablet, sending emails, putting his signature on documents, and reviewing quarterly reports. Things still weren’t looking good for Colorado Logistics, but he had some ideas to get things moving there again.

At the fulfillment center—a large warehouse style building—he handed the security guard at the gate his ID and company badge. The man raised an eyebrow, and said, “Good morning, Mr. Oliver, Sir. We weren’t aware you were visiting until next week.”

Garrett gave the man a tight smile and said, “Do me a favor and don’t call ahead to let them know I’m coming. It’s good to surprise your staff with a visit from time to time.”

The guard gave him a terse nod, but Garrett had a feeling he would be on the phone as soon as the car pulled away from the booth.

Sure enough, a member of his management team was waiting outside the front door of the massive structure.

“Mr. Oliver, we weren’t expecting you until Monday. I’m Jason Briggs,” the man said, extending his hand.

Garrett ignored the man’s hand and said, “I would like to speak to whoever handled the layoffs yesterday, please.”

Jason slowly lowered his hand, a puzzled look on his face. “Yes, Sir. Is there a problem? We decided as a team, but it was Darren who signed off on everything and actually handled the meeting to let the staff know.”

Darren Gunn. Garrett shook his head. He would be the first to lose his job.

“Very well, can you get everyone here within the hour? I assume the entire management team isn’t working on a Saturday.”

Jason swallowed hard, and Garrett knew he was scaring the man. Good. He kept his face stoic as he followed Jason inside the warehouse.

“I’ll start making phone calls, Sir.”

Garrett gave a terse nod as he looked around the building. It was not clean by industry standards, and things seemed to be in disarray. There was a lot to address while he was here.

“Would you like to wait in the conference room, Mr. Oliver?”

Garrett shook his head. “I want to look around a bit. Then I’ll wait in Darren’s office. He won’t be needing it anymore, I would imagine.”

It was an unprofessional way to handle firing someone, but he was pissed about the way things happened yesterday.

He wished he would have had the opportunity to speak to Isabelle and get some more details about how things happened. It would have been invaluable to have her here with him. On a whim, he pulled out his phone and called Patrick.

The other Solitaire Dom answered gruffly. “What the fuck do you want, Oliver? I’m snuggling with my wife.”

Austin giggled in the background and Garrett rolled his eyes. “I was wondering if you could do me a favor and walk down the hall to Hunter’s suite, knock on the door, and hand Isabelle the phone.”

Patrick grumbled, but Garrett could hear him moving around. “I’m not your errand boy. You two need to work this out,” Patrick said.

“That’s what I’m trying to do, I just need a little help right now.”

He could hear a muffled knock followed by silence.

“You sure she’s up?” Patrick asked after a moment.

“Not really, but I’m hoping she is. I need her help making something right.”

Patrick knocked again. “I hear movement,” he said after a beat.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Patrick said. “I’m apparently your secretary now, and you have a phone call.”

“Hello?” Isabelle said a few seconds later, her voice laced with confusion.

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