Seriously?This wasn’t a lead.This may not be his job, but he knew better than to bring her random people without at least doing a cursory check.A fucking Google search would be better than nothing, for God’s sake.
“Just email me over the details, thank you, Samuel.”
After a few minutes of watching her inbox, his emailpingedwith a name and contact number.Brilliant.Not even the names of the rest of the people who wanted to join.She sighed.Was there even any point in having this number searched?She could talk to this ...Max Billington and see how this had all come about.
His name sure did scream money, but she’d never heard of him before.
She typed in his number, making sure to withhold her own.He answered on the third ring.
“Hello, this is Alana from Club Billionaire, my assistant forwarded me your details.How can I help?”
“Hello, Alana,” the deep voice on the other end of the phone answered.
It was a voice that made her sit up a little straighter.A voice that commanded her full attention, whether she liked it or not, and, so far, she didn’t.She didn’t like potential clients having the upper hand, knowing more about her and her business than she knew about them.God, she couldn’t wait for Katie to get back; she would eat this man for breakfast.
“Max, I presume?”
“You presume correct.”A beat of silence.“I’ve heard wonderful things about your little ...club, and I’d like to join.How soon can we make this happen?”
Whoa, pump the brakes there, buddy.Who does this guy think he is?
“I’m afraid membership isn’t something we rush into here.There are extensive requirements that need to be met.But let’s start with the most basic, seeing as I know nothing about you, Max.What do you do?”
There was silence for a moment.She held the phone away from her ear, and then put it back again.
“I’m in the pharmaceutical business.You can look my business up online: Finding You.It’s a business I started with some close associates, who are now my friends, and we will all be requiring membership, the five of us.”
Five of them?What did they think this was?Some kind of subscription where you could just sign up on a whim?Or maybe this was a guy who was used to getting what he wanted.The wealthy often were.She’d dealt with some entitled pricks, sure, and maybe he was just another to add to that long list of names.
Her patience was running thin, like a thread that she could see unspooling in front of her.“Look, I’ll have my assistant send over the initial query form and we’ll go from there.Before I do that, may I ask how you came to hear of us?We always like to ask.It’s good to see where our business comes from.”
He chuckled.“Smart lady.But I’m smart too, and I like to keep my cards close to my chest, Alana.As long as we’ve got that clear, as you say, we’ll go from there.”
The line disconnected.She stared at her phone for a moment, as if that would explain this baffling call.She sent Samuel a text, instructing him to send the form, and then send that form to Lily, an ex-FBI agent and background checker extraordinaire.In the meantime, she did a quick Google of Max’s name and the business.Just some rudimentary website and a few grainy-looking photos.She huffed, shaking her head.
The following day, she flicked through Lily’s email, and, no surprise, they were dodgy as fuck.
She glanced through the sea of red, feeling like she was back at school and her teacher had just graded her math homework.
No fucking way, Alana, was written in bold, the letters glaring up at her from the email.Well, at least Lily and I are on the same page there, she thought.
Her phone rang, the sheer loudness of it causing her to jump in her seat.
It was Lily.“Hello Lily, thanks for sending that over, I’m looking through it now.”She scrolled through even more red flags.“And this is why I pay you the big bucks.”
“Yeah, so, addendum, I just ran his name through the system.”
Lily still had access to the criminal database, thanks to paying off a few of her ex-colleagues to kindly look the other way, and thank goodness she did.
She closed her eyes.“Yes...”
“I’d just like to reiterate my previous point of no fucking way.You do not want this guy as a client, let alone anywhere near your club.I’m surprised he used his real name; he goes by several aliases, and he runs one of the biggest drug operations in Atlanta.Seems he wants to go legit with his business, and by legit, I mean sell to the billionaires of this world, for whatever reason.I’m sure he’d like to get some dirt on them, threaten them, rough them up a little, extort them for loads of money ...you know how it goes.”
She didn’t.
Lily continued, “But that’s my best guess.”
Who had she been talking to?She swallowed.“He’s dangerous?”
