I need to know.
I need to know which is stronger… thelovepart or theworstpart.
Getting to my wife is the only priority I have. And if it weren’t for the blacked-out SUV following me, I’d already be there.
57
fuckolympics
Lorien
Seriously. If this is how the other half lives, I’d be happy to become a woman of leisure. Well, except for the money.
And Strider.
Deciding what to do with the data on the flash drive has become my sole focus. Thinking about Liam hurts my heart in a way I didn’t think possible, especially this quickly. And since I’m face down, getting the best massage I’ve ever experienced, while listening to Sariah and Ayla discuss their husbands and children, I need something to focus on.
Renée has air pods in and is less responsive. If I were fifteen, I’d do the same. Heck, I want to do exactly that, but I’m worried about being rude.
But back to the matter at hand… my brother. Who can I trust with the data? Dr. Patel is out. All of his students would be the same. I won’t put him in that ethical position. The data would be too easily recognized as Platt’s, and I would be suspect number one.
So that means, it has to be me. I have to dig in, parse it, build it, model it, and test it. Impossible. Totally and utterly impossible. Even if I had access to the right equipment and nothing but time and money on my hands to make it my sole mission in life, it would take years.
So now what?
What would it take to convince Platt BioPharma to pick the project back up? Shareholders. What were Liam’s words? Shareholders care about profitability and leadership cares about the shareholders?
So, I need a majority share on the board? Even my brain is sarcastic at this point.
“She’d do anything for her brother,” Sariah says, interrupting my thoughts. Is she referring to me? “She dotes on him. It’s going to be hard when she leaves for college in a few years.”
She must be referring to Renée.
“I’d do anything for mine too.” Ayla’s voice is wistful but firm.
“That makes three of us,” I whisper quietly.
“How is your brother?” the redhead asks.
“Nothing a little research and money can’t fix.”
“I heard somewhere once that if money can fix your problems, you don’t have problems.”
“Spoken like someone for whom money is no problem,” Sariah grumbles to her sister-in-law as a door opens and closes somewhere far away to my blissed-out ears.
“I’m just saying. Memory issues, cancer, life and death stuff… there are things that are serious. The rest just need the right investment.”
“Well, it’s life and death and I have no money, so…” I speak into the hole of the face cradle.
“Well,” she starts mimicking me. “I’ve got money. Liam isn’t hurting either. What do you need?”
“How would you feel about a hostile takeover?”
If she hears my sarcasm, she moves right past it. “I’m about it. Who are we overrunning?”
“Platt BioPharma. So a pipe dream.” A very expensive pipe dream.
“I’m in,” Sariah puts in. “I took down mine a year and a half ago or so. It was stressful at the time, even if I was glad I did it.”
