My father nodded once, kissed me on the forehead, and shooed us out of his apartment.
As much as I would have loved to have Dillan at family dinners, I wasn’t sure Randy was ready for that yet. He was growing distant again, and frequently missed dinners with Dad. I was getting worried. The only times he did that in the past was when he felt guilty about something, or he was focused on a new play.
There was a time I would have obsessed over it, nagging to find out what he was doing. But I was enjoying my life too much to let the stress of Randy’s life bother me. I trusted Dillan to do what he could to keep Randy straight.
And, for once, I just wanted to enjoy my life and not worry about my older brother.
A little over two months after Dillan and I became official, I once again met with a potential new client and one of the Senior Partners.
“Miss Reynolds, I’d like you to meet Ivan Smirnov. He runs a chain of hotels and sports bars here in Los Angeles.” Gary waved a hand toward the man standing near him in the conference room.
I walked over and offered my hand. “Mr. Smirnov, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
His hand was rough and calloused, but he did not squeeze too hard. I was grateful for that, because he looked like he could break my hand with one shake.
“Call me Ivan, Miss Reynolds.” His accent was thick, but I didn’t know where from. The down side to life behind a computer.
I smiled sweetly at him, hiding the fact that he gave me the creeps. It had been a while since I tried so hard to hide my true feelings. It felt weird. I also had to keep myself from wondering when I had let my guard down so completely.
“Fiona then.”
“Ah, a beautiful name. Irish for fair. I must say, I agree this case.”
I tipped my head slightly - acknowledging but not thanking him - in his direction, then looked over and Gary shook his hand.
“Gary, I haven’t had the pleasure of working with you much. Lawerence usually handles my neck of the woods.” Gary gave me a knowing smile. I shook my head and smiled. “I see.” He was just as curious as his counterparts. Got it.
“Ivan has a different kind of problem he wants to discuss today. I usually handle this side of the business. And I must say, I was curious to see your talents at work. I hear they are a thing of beauty.”
Called it.
I laughed and strolled over to the other side of the table, waving my hand for where Ivan and his man should sit. “Only in our world would it be considered a thing of beauty.”
Gary shrugged and sat next to me. Once everyone was seated, I began the meeting.
“So, tell me Ivan, what can we do for you today? What kind of services are you needing?”
“We believe we had intrusion. A week ago, our system start acting funny. Things slow, some things could no be accessed, etc. Now, we have in-house tech team. They believe we have virus. That we may been hacked, but they fail find culprit. We heard your firm would be help with that.”
