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“Things would be easier if that was the case,” Oscar admits.
“I don’t know what we should do now,” I whisper. The company is fine as a whole, but Project Sunshine has thrown a weird wrench into things. “I don’t know how involved Allison Green is. Maybe she doesn’t even know.”
“She definitely knows,” Oscar says.
“Are you sure?” Phoenix’s voice is gentle and understanding. He’s the one of us who tends to jump to conclusions the least. That wasn’t always the case. Once upon a time, Phoenix was wild and passionate. He was easy to anger and easy to love. Then his wife and kid died, and Phoenix lost everything. Now he’s a shell of the brother I used to have, which sounds mean, but it’s really just the truth.
“How can you know?” I ask.
“We need to be sure before we jump to conclusions,” Phoenix says.
I miss Phoenix. I miss who he used to be, and I definitely miss who he is now.
“We can’t just go accusing random people at work of being in cahoots with our dad,” he says.
“Cahoots?” Oscar shakes his head. “We aren’t undercover spies, my brothers. We’re just normal billionaires who happen to have a stupid problem to deal with. This isn’t anything that money can’t solve.”
I cringe at Oscar’s words.
“Not everything can be solved with money,” I tell him. I think of Alex. I think of how I’m falling for the woman who is so soft and sweet.
“Most things can,” he shrugs. Oscar gestures for the bartender and when she arrives, he orders us another round. The drinks come fast. He drops cash on the bar. It’s a tip, and she knows it. He’s got a tab open and running, but Oscar has learned that in this case, money does solve problems. When you tip heavy and often, you get better service. That’s just the way the world works.
“How would money solve this?” I ask. “Money won’t get those kids their parents again. It definitely won’t get them their reality repaired. They’ve grown up without their birth parents. Maybe they won’t even remember them.”
“We’ll hunt down the kids,” he says. “We’ll save them. We’ll tell them the truth. We can pay for therapy.”
“None of this sounds like a good idea,” Phoenix says, and much to my dismay, I’m prone to agree with him.
19.
Alex
Ispill my coffee on myself as I’m scurrying into work, I forget about two important meetings that needed to be marked on Ryan’s calendar, and Damien hasn’t touched base since he left. I’m close to tears as I wish I had some sort of trainer who could lead me where I’m supposed to go. Isn’t that what Damien is supposed to be doing? Training me? I wish he was. I wish.
Ryan is fantastic. He’s a good, delightful-to-look-at boss. He just doesn’t know everything that Damien seems to know. I guess that’s one of the weirdest things about billionaires. They don’t understand just how big their teams are or what they do to keep everything running smoothly.
Ryan calls me into his office at noon so we can eat together.
“What’s for lunch today?” Ryan looks at me expectantly, excitedly. He loves lunch almost as much as I do. And we both really, really love spending this time together. There’s a part of me that wants to say, “fuck it” and just tell him that I’m what’s for lunch.
I’m way too scared.
“Burritos,” I tell him. “Burritos, rice, and chips. Oh, I got salsa, too. Lots of salsa.”
