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I looked at her now and truly couldn't believe the change because it was most definitely not feeling that way. Now I could no longer ignore her existence in my life. She was a part of the very fabric of my existence, and I truly didn't want to be careless with that.
I set my food down then completely dissatisfied with her.
"Can you check if we can move the lunch reservation we previously had to dinner?" I asked.
She looked up, then slightly surprised at my words.
"What if - we're not going back to New York?" she asked.
"Who knows?" I replied. "Maybe we're all just overreacting, and maybe everything will be perfectly fine, and we'll be able to conclude our time here eventfully."
At my words, she nodded, but before we could say anything else, my phone began to ring.
I had his phone number saved, and the moment I saw that he was the one calling, my stomach instantly turned. I had truly lost belief in what I had just told Madison. That we were overreacting and that this wouldn't be bad. That we could come through smoothly. But with this call now, I understood that the shit storm was about to start.
Sighing, I picked up the call and rose to my feet.
I wanted to leave the room during the call so that she wouldn't be worried, but I understood then that by doing so, I would be proving my point about how much her having so intertwined with both my personal and professional lives was a distraction. I no longer wanted to separate it, and so I was going to do my very best to integrate them both.
"Mr. Boone," I greeted.
He laughed out loud into the receiver, and I truly considered flinging the phone out of the window. There was no way he wouldn't gloat. There was no way he wouldn't have a blast with this. Over the years, I hadn’t refrained from humiliating him as much as I could, and so now, of course, he was going to milk this error for all that it was worth.
"Mr. Swift," he greeted. "For the first time in what feels like years, I had a very good dream last night, and this morning when I woke up, I didn't know whether to be afraid or grateful. Was it a good sign or a bad sign?”
"It's been on my mind all day, and then just a few minutes ago, I received a call from our IT department saying that they had sensed a hacking attempt from your company and have been trying to fight it off for the past few minutes. A hacking attempt? From you? I was stunned, to say the least. I mean, what could you possibly be trying to hack into our servers for? We're just an online newspaper. Plus, there was the fact that your guys called me, so you didn't even know if you were trying to call me, and this was just, how to say it, a romantic approach? Then someone suggested I could check my email because maybe you sent something to me and were trying to retrieve it. I mean, as a news outlet, we've had quite a number of damning information against very important people that they've tried their hardest to retrieve from us, all to no avail, I might add. I really don't know why you billionaires keep trying to quash a bug. And I am, for the record, by the way, a big bug.”
He went silent, and I nearly threw the phone aside just so I could massage my temples.
"I wouldn't be calling you if they had."
"What about the other attempt?" I asked.
"Smart," he laughed.
"Well, that I can do very little about, but it's all speculation now, isn't it? And if anything, what it gives you is street credibility that you have the talent and guts to do this. So, I don’t think it's too much of a problem."
At this, I went silent, and so did he.
"So…" he said. "Should I expect a fat wad of cash, Sir?"
"Come to my office," I repeated. "We'll talk then."
"Blackmail material? I think not. That's my condition, and rather than blackmail, you can consider it as collateral to ensure you don’t fuck me over, since, as you know, that is your specialty."
"Sir... I would love to truly, but are you even in the country? I've been hearing of your escapades so far. You're in Thailand at that conference to the East. My ability doesn't need for another three days. I know because I was supposed to be there, but yet again, I had to face queries from my editor because you billionaires just can't leave me alone."
"I'll be back soon. Contact my secretary. Set a meeting time. And do it quick before this thing gets out of hand."
"Yes, Sir," he replied, "and I truly hope you'll be able to manage it back soon before this whole thing goes south. For instance, in twenty-four hours, it will definitely have gone south, and I can't let my milk go bad now, can I? I might turn into a very big, loud, and angry baby who cannot shut the fuck up."
I didn't bother responding to this. I needed to end the call because I was sure I was going to kill him. Truthfully, this was the most difficult part of this entire nonsense. I hated losing, and I hated feeling as though someone had one over on me. However, this was now the case, and I couldn't help but be fucking pissed.
I put the phone away then and lifted my gaze to hers.
"Did you hear?" I asked, and she nodded.
"I'll wait for him to contact me."
