Page 97 of The Dis-Graced
The look of contempt that crosses Elliot’s face is unmistakable. “Well, Drake, I hate to tell you, but we have a business to run, and we currently don’t have a CFO. Heck, you haven’t even sent an email out explaining the situation—to anybody! People have been asking me questions, and I don’t know what to tell them. We are accountable to our shareholders, and they’re going to be—”
“I’m sure they’ll be fine. Even if ALAN is an open source initiative, the amount of attention it will garner will give everyone a nice bonus come Christmas. Yourself included.”
“It won’t be a fraction of what we’d get if we were to roll out ALAN as we had intended.”
“Your worries are noted,” I say dismissively.
“Ya know, I’m taking the rest of the day off.”
“Did something come up?”
“Quite frankly, I don’t know if this is the right place for me. With the gross negligence and poor decision making, it’s hard to really trust the direction Dallanger Tech is headed. And ya know what? I should have seen this coming. Making Lucas Anders your CFO, a guy with no connections who’s been a leech on you his entire life, and now we find out he’s a damn thief? Dallanger Tech is going down the drain, and that’s on you. I’m out!”
I spike a brow. “And you decided to tell me this now when I’m in a meeting?”
“When shit comes crashing down on you, Dallanger, you’re going to regret your gross mismanagement of your company,” Elliot says, turning on his heels and heading to the door.
Chapter 32
Grace
It’s hard to describe the emotions that accompany a possible world-ending event. If I had my choice, I’d be spending all day in bed getting to know Drake’s body better, but seeing as how he’s one of the few people that can save the day, I’m stuck here with his lovely mother, Irene, his wayward brother, and Bruiser, the FBI agent. He’s an ex-marine who is a little too beefy for my liking but seemingly perfect for Irene, who is not at all trying to hide the fact that she’s making a play for him.
As much as I dislike her, I can’t help but feel deep admiration as she purrs for the attention of a man half her age. You go, Irene!
Devon is a ball of nerves, having confessed family treason in the early hours of the day. Apparently, I wasn’t the only distraction Elliot employed.
For two years now, a person going by the name of Eliza has been frequenting the high end resort Devon was holed up in, befriending him and it very quickly turned romantic. She’s the one that put the bug in his ear that got him to leave his treatment, saying she could never be with someone who had no responsibilities and couldn’t function in the real world.
Devon went to Drake to help him get settled, knowing that Eliza lived in New York City and hoping they could eventually have a real relationship, but at some point, she broke contact. He used a tech-savvy Dallanger employee to look up the EXIF data on the only photo he had of her, and using that information, they were able to figure out just who she really was. She goes by the name of Fiery Siren on Twitter, and low and behold, has several pictures of herself with Elliot Conway. When Devon took this information to Drake, he instantly recognized her as Stephanie.
Talk about plot twists.
Frank was never featured in any of the posts, which is probably because he was deep undercover as my fiancé. Stephanie knowing Elliot wouldn’t have made me bat an eye. In the world of journalism, she was known for her connections.
To paraphrase, I was in a relationship with Frank, and Devon was in a casual sexual relationship with Stephanie, and Frank and Stephanie are in an actual real relationship with each other.
Confused yet?
Devon’s hands are balled into fists, his face is red and stoic.
“You okay?” I ask.
His head jerks in my direction. He looks dazed.
“It’s going to be okay.”
“I’m not so sure of that,” he says.
“I’m pretty sure Drake will get Evil ALAN under lock and key before the world ends.”
“Even if he does, it won’t do me much good.”
“Being a little dramatic, aren’t we?” I chide, but it fails to pull him from his misery.
“You don’t understand. I want to do something with my life.”
“Aren’t you working towards that?”
