Oran
“May, call me when you get a chance. I have a proposal for you.” Hanging up the call, I sat back in my chair before Malory cracked open my office door and poked her head in. “What?”
“Your two o’clock is here.”Meetings.I was stuck in a never-ending loop of useless, boring meetings. Gesturing her to let her in, I took off my glasses to rub the lenses with my shirt cuff and ground my teeth to hold back my sigh. Friday had come and gone, and I hadn’t heard from May. Saturday was the same. On Sunday, a peculiar gut rot started to chew through me. Usually, she’d text me if she couldn’t answer the phone, but it’d been three days ofnada.
Of course, I knew Thursday night hadn’t exactly been relaxing. May had drank herself into complacency. And Friday morning had been interesting, but . . .
“Mr. Santino.” Pursing my lips to hide my frown, I put my glasses back on and stood up, and surprise rose my brows. “Wonderful to see you.”
“Frank, what a surprise.” My eyes narrowed on Frank with his ugly moustache and beady eyes, and I extended my hand to shake his. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Frank and I sat down on opposite sides of my desk and I leaned back to stare him down. There was absolutely no reason for us to be meeting so soon, and Candice was supposed to handle him, regardless. He managed my docks, shipping my more illicit materials, and he should’ve known better than to come to me.
“I guess it’s not surprising. We only have these meetings once a year. I have a few things I wanted to discuss with you, personally.” Now, I didn’t bother to hide my frown, and Frank waved a meaty hand dismissively. “It’s nothing bad. I—”
Whatever Frank was going to say was cut off by my cell phone ringing insistently, and I held up a finger as I snatched the device off my desk. May’s name and number flashed on the screen, and I pushed myself up to walk to the window where Frank couldn’t hear me. Relief surged through my veins, and I gazed down at the bustling city below as I swiped the screen.
“May, hey. I’ve been trying to reach you all weekend.” The line cracked loudly, like she had the phone on speaker and the microphone up against something. “Hello?”
“I’m here. I’m here. Don’t hang up. Just a sec.” There was a strange sound in the background, and I leaned on the window frame as expectation quickly replaced the tension in my shoulders. She must’ve been moving something pretty heavy because it crashed loudly down what sounded like a flight of stairs, and my brows furrowed in confusion. “I give up! Fuck! Sarah! Get your ass out here and clean this up!”
May was clearly pissed as she shouted at her sister, and when she spoke up again, her voice was crisp, giving me a great earful of how upset she was.
“I’m sorry I haven’t called. Sarah tried to use the garbage disposal on the bird and my whole apartment flooded while I was at work on Friday. We got kicked out. I’m sending her back to our parents. I can’t do this anymore.” May’s tone trembled and lowered with apoplexy, and surprise struck my chest as I sucked in a sharp, shallow breath. “I’m done. I’m going to fucking get sued for the damage, I have nowhere to live, and,damnit, Sarah! I said pick this shit up!”
“Where are you right now?”
“Right now I’m about half a second from whooping your ass. I can’t believe you. You’re fucking sixteen years old, Sarah. You know better than to bring home a dead bird, let alone stuff it’s bones into the garbage disposal!”Not the answer I need. Covering my mouth to hide my scowl as May screamed at her sister, I held the phone a little ways away from my ear to avoid going deaf as well as being blind. “Because I didn’t tell you not to do it? This is my fault because I didn’t tell you not to do it!”
“May!” My harsh snap made the line go quiet, and I glanced over my shoulder to jut my chin at Frank. He was already getting up, and irritation drudged through my veins when he left me alone. “Stop talking to her, okay. Talk to me. What happened?”
“Everything was fine when I went home to get changed, but by the time I got back at five-thirty, there was three feet of shit and sewageeverywhere. Sarah was out all day. The whole building had to be evacuated. She tried to use the garbage disposal on the bird she brought home, and when that didn’t work, she tried to flush it instead of putting it in a few bags and throwing it out.” Releasing a shaky sigh, May sounded on the verge of crying. I winced when that sharpness returned to her voice and practically cut my cheek. “At least I had a great cleaning service number, but the health guy who came by yesterday said it wasn’t enough. The whole building is unstable because of its age. The sewage gorged all the supports and—”
“May . . . May, just breathe. Where are you right now? Are you at your apartment right now?”
“Y-yeah. I’m packing up all the stuff I could save into a truck right now.” I wondered how much this girl could take before cracking. It was as impressive as it was disheartening. I grabbed my jacket to walk out of my office. Frank was chatting up Malory, and she arched a brow as I passed before I shook my head curtly. Punching the elevator button with my thumb as the line went quiet, I shuffled my phone to my other ear.
“May? Are you there?” She sniffled, and I ground my teeth together as my heart thundered against my ribs. “I’m coming to you, alright?”
“I appreciate it, Oran.” The elevator couldn’t come fast enough, and I stepped inside before the doors opened all the way. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I have to foot the bill for the hotel room for the two other tenants and the house. I’m probably going to get fired even though I called out. I don’t know what to do.”
“Don’t worry about any of that. Just wait for me, okay? I’m going to make some calls, alright? Don’t do anything rash, and I’ll be there in less than half an hour.” May gave a little whimper of acknowledgment, and reluctance slowed my movements as I hung up. Scrolling through my contacts, I leaned against the wall on my way down and held my phone to my ear. The line rang shrilly and a headache sprung behind my eyes as I reached to pinch the bridge of my nose hard. “Shit. Hey, is Luke available?”
“Who’s calling?” Prattling off my name, I was immediately transferred to a hold, and I tapped my foot impatiently. If May got mad at me for throwing my weight around, so be it.
“Mr. Santino, what can I do for you today?”
“I have a job. I’m going to text you an address. Get someone down there within the hour.” The line went dead just as quickly, and I followed up with Luke before the elevator stopped, the doors rolling open without so much as a squeak of protest. Striding through the lobby, I dialed another number as determination stiffened my legs. “Jerry, I’m texting you an address. Find out where the tenants are staying. And the landlord.”
“Uh, okay. Give me like twenty minutes. I’ll e-mail you.” Jerry was Carlyle’s best tech guy. I nodded before hanging up on the way onto the street.This is going to be one huge clusterfuck of a week.
