Page 4 of Extradition (Mobsters + Billionaires 1)
Maybe I’ll try quiet meditation this morning. Maybe not. It lasts all of three minutes before my phone goes off. I check the lock screen and let out a heavy breath.
“Good morning, Father. How are you?”
“Get to the office.”
My father is never one for preamble, so this morning’s attitude is par for the course. Doesn’t mean I don’t wish it was different.
“What’s going on?” I ask, hoping there’s a fire to put out. It’ll take my mind off things.
“Have you not seen the news?”
“I don’t pull up the news until after my morning run. Was there another…incident? With the new tower?”
Everyone over the age of twenty-five has a story about what they did on 9/11. I’ll admit to brief anxiety every time there’s a breaking news bulletin.
“What? No. Your exchange with that employee went viral.”
I pull back, staring at my phone as if it’s lying to me.
“Rand? Answer me.”
My father likes to state things without questions then demand answers.
“How? Phones aren’t allowed in those meetings.”
“There are always phones in those meetings. I’ve called an emergency meeting of the board, and anyone who’s in town will be coming in. We need to discuss what the stocks did overnight.”
His words send a shiver down my spine. I’ve seen and prevented too many reversals of fortune because I understand exactly how quickly things can turn around. I pull up my browser to check the local online papers.
Oh.
The headlines immediately create tension in my neck and shoulders.
Billionaire Goliath Taken Down by David in a Rumpled Shirt
Wrinkled Shirt Guy Takes Down Alpha Wolfe
You’re Just in a Prettier Cage: Working Class Stiff Annihilates Billionaire Randolph Wolfe, Jr.
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
I call my security detail because people take the whole eat the rich thing far too seriously for my comfort.
Stripping out of my sweaty workout clothes, I rinse off and thank the gods of engineering for whoever invented multiple showerheads. I take a second to dry myself as I put on the suit Grayson laid out for me the night before.
My phone pings again, and this time it’s Mads.
Mads: Smooth move, Ex-Lax.
Rand: Did I wake up in a bad 80s movie?
Mads: Funny you should ask.
Mads: Did you know that you can be a billionaire without being a dickhead?
Mads: Look
He sends me a selfie of him drinking coffee with a serious case of bedhead, and I have to laugh.
