Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“Ohmygod, you’re so brilliant!” she gushed, and then lunged at him, which was not easy to do when one was dressed as Galadriel.
He looked less like he was going to be sick after she gave him a mauling kiss and a big hug, and then called Jake’s least favorite person in the world.
“Hey,” she said into her phone. “I need a favor.”
George Hunt, her bodyguard, her friend, the man who would be running all corporate security for Sutter soon, both domestic and abroad, who would be working side by side with her once she took the mantle of power from Aaron someday, must have grumbled, growled, or perhaps even groaned, because immediately, she was scowling.
“Just bring me a case of Dom Pérignon from my office, and I need you to actually hurry and not––” She gasped. “Stop making that sound right now! You have to come here anyway, and God help me if you don’t hurry because I will make you go with me tomorrow instead of Stassi.”
Silence for a moment.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Now hurry,” she ordered and then hung up. She growled, said something under her breath that I had no doubt was not at all complimentary, and then was back to focusing on me and smiling.
“What are you up to?”
“Nothing,” she lied to my face.
“Who is Stassi?”
She was lost, and I knew why. All her brain cells were scheming, and she had no time for anything else.
“You said you would make George go instead of Stassi.”
“Oh, oh, uhm, well, whenever George can’t watch me, and Finn can’t watch me, third up is Torran Stassi.”
“Torran?”
She grinned. “I think Torran was his mother’s last name, and Stassi was his father’s, and they didn’t hyphenate as a surname, but did it like that instead.”
“You used the word ‘was’ for both parents.”
“I did. Yeah. He lost them both in a car accident that he was the lone survivor of when he was six.”
“That’s so sad.”
“It is, it really is, but what’s amazing is that his grandparents, on both sides, wanted to help raise him, so they bought a house together and did just that.”
“You’re kidding.”
She shook her head. “Torran’s parents were both only children, and because no one wanted to miss out, his mother’s folks and his father’s made the decision to quad-parent, I guess is what you’d call it, and that’s what they did. They all moved to a farm in Oregon, and they all still live there together, now with three other elderly couples, and they all take care of each other.”
“That is the best thing I’ve heard in a long time.”
“I know, right? When he first told me that story, I cried all over him.”
“Two sets of grandparents put aside everything else to devote themselves to their grandchild. I’m wildly impressed with them.”
“Me too.”
I turned to Jake. “Have you met this man?”
“I have, yes. He’s great.”
The sarcasm could not be missed.
Hannah swatted Jake gently and then went out the back door to rejoin the party. Jake groaned like he was dying and then returned to the couch as he’d been directed to do. Harper jogged by me moments later, off to keep an eye on Kola.
I turned back to the table of friends I’d been neglecting and looked at Aaron.
“What’d I do?”
“Nothing. Tell me about Torran Stassi.”
“Oh, well, not much to tell. George has taken over the hiring for Miguel, who, as you know, is transitioning to being full-time in the office and in another year will sadly retire.”
“You’ll miss him.”
“I will. He’s been with me the longest. I still remember standing up to my father to hire him. It was the beginning of our animosity.”
“Which didn’t matter in the end when you forced him out.”
“The board removed my father, but yes, the writing was on the wall.”
“Why didn’t your dad like Miguel?” Sam asked.
“Not the right ethnicity for dear old Dad.”
“That’s not great,” Chris commented.
“Oh, you have no idea,” Aaron said drolly. “But I knew Miguel was the one from the moment he sat down with me in my office. He took a seat on my couch, not on the other side of my desk facing me like everyone else had, and instead of telling me about himself, he promised I would always be safe with his eyes on me.”
“I have no doubt,” I told him.
Aaron nodded.
“Miguel Romero is a scary man,” Duncan chimed in. “I asked Darius about him at George’s wedding, and he said that Jared Colter, retired Colonel Jared Colter, is the only one he knows with a high enough clearance to read Miguel’s Army file.”
“I read some of it,” Sam chimed in. “But quite a bit was redacted. He’s not a man to be messed with, that’s for certain.”
Duncan nodded. “I never worry about Aaron when Miguel’s with him, but I also respect that he knows when it’s time for George to take over. And the fact that George is his pick, also makes me not worry.”