Seduction: Book 3 (Strong Young Women Series) (6 page)

Gabe seeming to read her mind assured everyone that no one would be losing their job. He would try and run the company with the same staff unless he found someone being too loyal to the Maynards and ther
eby jeopardizing the future of the firm.

Six

Ana met her assigned two bodyguards the next morning. They arrived together with Gabe’s. They all looked like ex-army or something similar. Gabe left soon after
with ‘Jimbo’, his bodyguard. Since she had protection, Ana decided to go and work at her apartment. She would get more done there anyway.

One of her bodyguards, ‘Fuzzy’ called for the car and together with Jimmy, the other bodyguard, they left the penthouse. They passed by the store where Ana bought some perishables. It had been weeks since someone had been there and she didn’t think there would be any edible food in the fridge. She stocked up on meat and frozen pizza and frozen vegetables before they were back on their way.

They checked all the rooms before they allowed her inside. She put everything away and made coffeee which she offered them as she pointed to all the breakfast items they could help themselves to.

Ana went to her office and left them in the sitting room. Sometime later that morning she talked to Kelly who was complaining about bulky guys following her around the hospital. Ana laughed but
apologized for the inconvenience.

“On the plus side,” Kelly said, “Brad is staying away from me.”

“So how did the hospital take it when you showed up with two guards in tow?” Ana asked.

“Apparently the Chief had already passed on the information
so everybody seems okay with it. Besides all the nurses are ga-ga over all that muscle.” Kelly laughed and rolled her eyes. “Rumor is Gabe donated an obscene amount of money after you were discharged, so I guess they wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of him,” she added.

“Really, I didn’t know that. It must have been significant for them to tolerate that,” Ana
said puzzled.

“Nobody will say how much, but it’s the largest donation they have ever received to date. From a single don
ation, that is.”

“That’s an interesting piece of news.” Should she ask him about it, she mused. “Anyway, I am at the apartment, all week. Do you want anything from here?”

“Not that I can think of, but I’ll let you know if something comes to mind.”

“Don’t forget we are going to that benefit on Friday after work,” Ana reminded Kelly. “
And I have a wardrobe full of new clothes, so we can always choose something from there.”

“True. Let’s see what you have, then I may need shoes from my room.” After that they said their goodbyes and Ana got back to work.

The rumbling of her tummy made Ana go to look for some food in the kitchen. She smiled at Fuzzy and Jimmy who were flipping through the TV channels. When she found out that they hadn’t had lunch she took one of the frozen pizza’s and stuck it on the oven.

“You guys are free to help yourself to the food here,” she told them as she joined them. Ana explained that until this guy was caught, she probably would be staying with Gabe and also would her friend and roomate, Kelly. So the food would just go to waste if they didn’t help themselves.

Besides she would probably be working here almost everyday, so it would be best if they had some kind of rhythm. Fortunately they were easy to talk to, and Ana found herself liking them. Before long the pizza was done and they all dug in.

She
left them after she had consumed her two slices of pizza. She finally managed to talk to her brothers and learnt that Matt had called about the little business she wanted them to look into between her and the Sullivan brothers.

“It’s all good to go,” Matt told her.

“Really? Thanks guys.”

“Hopefully this will mean less running around, and you can get someone else to do that for you,” Mark said to her.

“I’m sorry I scared you guys again. But thanks for not telling mum and dad. And just to put you at ease, I now have two huge bodyguards guarding me at all times.”

“That helps,” he mumbled back.

Matt chuckled. “We just need to know you are safe. Let us know if you need anything else after your meeting.”

“I will,” Ana responded and
then they told her they had originally called to thank her for the game, and never got to talk to her after all. After the scare, no one had remembered the original reason for the call. It now seemed funny and they had some chuckles, then they all hung up with Ana promising to be extra careful.

She looked in her inbox, and there was the contract from her brothers.
As predicted it was pages and pages long. She printed three copies and placed them in her laptop bag. Hopefully she would be able to meet with Rafe and Nate in the next day or two. The sooner the better, Ana thought to herself.

The
ringing of her phone made Ana frown. She just needed a few more minutes to finish what she was doing, so she sent the call to voice mail. Besides the number wasn’t familiar. A few seconds later Jimmy interrupted her.

“Gabe needs to talk to you.”

“Can you tell him to give me a few minutes?”

“He is worried something is wrong. He said he got your voicemail.”

Sighing, Ana took her cell and called Gabe. She wouldn’t be able to finish what she needed if she didn’t acknowledge him.

“Ana. Are you alright?” Gabe asked her as soon as he answered the call.

“Yes, I’m fine. I just need to finish something. Can you give me about ten minutes?”

“Sure. I’m heading home. Call me,” he said to her.

Ana replied, “Okay,” but she was already focused on her computer screen. So engrossed was she, that an hour had passed before she realized time. She rushed out of her office and speed dialed Gabe.

She arrived to find Evelyn head to head with Gabe about finding two burly men
waiting for her with no warning about having bodyguards beforehand. Ana decided to stay far away from that one and while grabbing Kelly enroute to the master suite.

They went through her clothes and found something to wear for the benefit on Friday. Ana promised to bring the shoes Kelly wanted from their apartment the next day. When they got back, Evelyn
was still chewing Gabe. Dinner being served broke them apart, but Evelyn told him they were not done.

“Apologize and be sincere about it. Later tonight I’ll make sure you forget the conversation with your sister,” Ana whispered to Gabe.

“We could just go now?” he looked at her questioningly.

She pinched his butt. “Now I need to fuel my body.”

“Ouch!” Gabe inconspicuously rubbed his butt. “You will pay for that if you don’t deliver.”

“Just make sure you fuel your body. I wouldn’t want you to wilt in
bed,” Ana said to Gabe and left him with his jaw hanging open.

∞∞∞

Kelly was dropped at Rafe’s apartment by the guards. Both her bodyguards got out with her, checking the area before they allowed her to move forward. She was glad to make it inside and find Rafe already home.

“Hi Sweetheart,” Rafe greeted her when she entered the penthouse. “Good day today?” He nodded at her bodyguards who went to join his bodyguard.

“Hi Rafe.” Kelly walked into his arms and met his lips coming down to kiss her. “It was interesting with them following me everywhere.”

Rafe winced. “Sorry. I hope this is over soon.” He threaded his fingers through her jet black hair, then held her head still for another kiss.

“Me too,” she managed to say when Rafe let her up. “Do I have time to shower and change?”

“Go ahead,” he said as he slapped her behind. “I’ll bring you something to drink.”

“Ouch!” she said rubbing. When she heard the chuckles, she ran. Evidently all three men had witnessed that. Kelly was quick and within no time had showered and dressed.

Whe
n she got back to the sitting room, she found the three bodyguards gone and replaced by a different man. Rafe explained that since their security was good, they would need only one guard at night, the same with Gabe and Ana.

The three of them walked over next door and met Nate who was just being dropped off by his driver.
His bodyguard followed him and Kelly couldn’t help being amused at him. They found Manuel and Gabe discussing their sister who was throwing some kind of feat about the whole bodyguard situation.

A few minutes later
she heard Evelyn chew Gabe. “You should have warned me. You can’t just spring people on me like that. What do I do about my overnight visitors? What if I decline?”

“That’s not an option. Everybody is getting bodyguards. So you better get used to it,” Gabe told her. “And your overnight visitor better get used to it as well. As much as I hate to ask about my sister’s love life, but I hope it’s singular rather than plural.”

Ana arrived soon after and grabbed Kelly to look at the clothes options for the benefit. Only after they were back did Evelyn greet them.

“Sorry guys. I’m just mad at Gabe, didn’t mean to be rude to you.”

∞∞∞

Ana managed to surprise Rafe and Nate
, two days later when she met them at their office building. Not only were they surpised by the fact that she was agreeing to join forces, but also by the wealth she had amassed. Her patents blew them away.

Ana managed to
get them to agree for her to buy some shares into their company in exchange for some of her patents, and for some she struck a deal for cash. She outlined the reasons why she was keeping some of them under her personal name and not including them in the deal.

They agreed and in exchange agreed that she would continue to work autonomously, choose her own staff but be avai
lable to train the other team members and hopefully identify some employees with promise that she could teach a few tricks of her trade. They agreed to some minor changes and shook on the final agreement that her first team member would be the hacker kid, Tom.

“I know you guys were not on board at the beginning, but I would really like to coach him and help him hone his skills
,” she said to them. “You’ve got to love the young boy for the guts it took for him to carry that out,” she ended with a smile.

“Does Gabe know?” Nate asked her.

“That I was going to meet you, yes.”

Rafe raised his eyebrow. “And about Tom?”

She smiled. “No, but leave Gabe to me.”

Rafe snickered. “I don’t see how Gabe will tolerate you coaching the person who hacked into his company.”

Ana winced.

Nate laughed. “And even help sharpen his skills further,” he said unable to stop his laughter.

“Just don’t reveal that piece of information before I do.”

“If you promise I can be there when you tell him,” Rafe countered.

“Yes,” Nate said. “I think I’d love to see Gabe fly off the wall,” he agreed.

Ana rolled her eyes. “Boys, you’re so juvenile,” she told them. “Anyway, I guess I’ll have the changes made and we can have the lawyers
iron out the rest then meet when the final agreements are ready.”

Nate stood. “In the meatime, we’ll give you a tour and show you where we think your new home will be.”

“We can have Manuel do the designs as per your specifications. When did you want to start?” Rafe asked her.

“As soon as you guys can get everything ready for me. I’ll need you to approve my equipment of
course. And like we discussed, I’m keeping my current equipment at home. And I’ll probably need to see if the Feds can give me duplicates of what they already gave me. If not, then the only option would be to purchase.”

“What do you think they’ll say about our agreement?” Nate asked her.

“As long as they can whisk me away at a moment’s notice, I doubt they will care much,” she said. “I don’t do much work for them at home, except run tests on some of their new toys at times. The ones that could be an issue are my Vegas and Atlantic City Casino clients. It would be best if I made personal visits to them,” she explained. “And with either one or both of you,” she ended.

Nate looked at her worried face. “Are you thinking that they will drop out?”

Ana shook her head. “No, but I just think it may be a shock and I’m thinking it may be best if I did this sooner because it could change the valuations. Not by much, but still it’s best if we all knew which of my sharks were in and which ones will opt out.”

Rafe looked at Nate. “I’m sure we can clear our schedules for next week if need be.”

Nate nodded in agreement. “Anything to make this deal go through. You are that valuable to us.”

“Thanks,” Ana said and then followed them out of the conference room. They walked
down the corridor until they reached a door at the end. Ana was surprised to see a room full of old equipment. Clearly they were using it as a storage room. “I hope you don’t think this equipment is coming back into fashion anytime soon,” she snickered.

They laughed.

“We can have someone clear the room in a few days time. But as you can see, there is lots of room for your office and workroom like you asked for,” Rafe told her.

“It’s better than I expected,” she told them looking out the wall of windows. “Lot’s of natural light. I can come back and look at the place wit
h Manuel once the room is clear,” she agreed.