"Miller?" Cora says through the receiver.
"I'm still here," I tell her, my voice low.
"Okay, I'm hanging up for real this time." She giggles slightly, and it's the most adorable thing my ears have ever been graced with.
"Okay."
"Bye."
"Bye," I repeat.
It takes her at least twenty seconds before she finally gives in and ends the call, a piece of me staying stuck in limbo with her there forever.
But the rest of me remains here, rooted in place, with meetings and business deals and fires that constantly need put out. I start with the one standing outside my door. I wave the guy in and he enters without hesitation.
"Sir, I apologize for the interruption, but Dominic wants to meet with you now. It's urgent."
I run my hand along my jaw and shift my mind back into work mode. I can't allow Cora to consume all my thoughts. Or at least not one hundred percent of them. "What's going on?" I move toward him and snap my fingers to get him to walk with me.
"It was another shipment, sir. He's calling an emergency meeting."
"With whom?" I glance at him briefly on my way through the hall.
"You and his chief of security, sir.
"Coen Hayes."
"Yes, sir."
I stop in my tracks and face him; he comes to a screeching halt next to me. "Can I trust you to do something for me?"
He nods eagerly. "Anything, sir."
"First of all, stop calling me sir, we're probably the same age. Second, I need you to contact our connection at the DMV and get a driver's license issued for Coraline Price. Twelve seventy-seven Ashwood Drive. Do you need to write this down?"
He shakes his head and taps it. "I have it up here."
"Very well." I pull the wallet out of my pocket and slide out the heavy black card and hand it to him. "I need you to add her as an authorized user. Ask Marjorie to help you, she should have all of my credentials. And..." I finger through the hundreds and split the stack in half, giving him the biggest chunk. "I want the license, this Amex, and the cash delivered to her house this evening. I want it personally handed to her; do you hear me?"
"I won't disappoint you." He takes everything from me and that’s when I realize I have no idea who he is.
"What's your name?"
"Daniel. Daniel Young."
"Don't fuck this up, Daniel Young." I slap him on the shoulder and take off toward the elevator. "Shit," I mutter while glancing over my shoulder. "Where am I meeting them?"
"The Manor, sir." His eyes widen as soon as he catches his mistake. "Shit," he mumbles.
I chuckle. "It's alright, Daniel." I point at him on my way out. "Don't fuck it up. I'm counting on you."
A few minutes later, I'm climbing into the driver’s side of the blacked-out sports car I had delivered this morning. If I'm going to be spending more time on the West Coast, I need a car that's actually mine instead of relying on one of Dom's drivers. Our career is a bit too dangerous to risk using one of those ride apps and I haven't been here enough to hire my own team. I use Dom's when I need to because I trust him but trust in this industry is paper thin when you can never be too sure who's willing to stab you in the back.
The car revs to life, and I shift it into gear, speeding across town in a hurry to get to The Manor.
My thoughts flicker between Cora and business the entire drive, Cora coming out on top every single time.
I check my phone and notice two missed calls from Dom and one from Simon, no texts from Cora. Exhaling, I plead with the universe to get her home safely. There's no telling what kind of trouble she could run into between where she was and where she needed to be. Maybe I should buy her a car, too, so she doesn't have to do so much walking. And if it's steps she's worried about, I'll escort her or buy her the nicest treadmill known in existence.
