Page 9 of Billionaire’s Game

Chapter Three

“So,what do you think so far? How do you like it?” Lacey asked me as I set my glasses down to rub my eyes. I rolled my shoulders a few times as I considered my reply. My shoulders had become tense from leaning over the desk. I had a bad habit of sitting with my spine curled over as if I were the Hunchback of Notre Dame. I really needed to work on my posture.

“It’s been an interesting few hours, that’s for sure,” I said, recalling the phone incident that involved a certain billionaire.

“Things are never boring here. Come on, I’ll buy you lunch. Normally, we take new people out to lunch together as a big group, but things are so crazy today that we can’t really take the entire department.”

“It’s ok, I get it.”

“Well, that sucks for the rest of them, but count me in,” Maya said immediately as she removed her earbuds. I had thought she couldn’t hear us with the noise canceling earbuds on, but I had been wrong. I seemed to be wrong about a lot in Florida. She then paused and said to Lacey, “Lunch is on you, right?”

“Yes, you moocher.”

“I’m not a moocher, I’m an opportunist,” she said proudly. “And the opportunity to not have to pay for my own lunch sounds amazing.”

“She has a point,” I conceded.

Lacey shook her head. “Never agree with Maya, it’ll get you in a ton of trouble.”

“Trouble? Me?” Maya said.

From the little I’d learned about Maya, she was definitely trouble. She was a free-spirit with an opinion about everything that she shared with anyone who would listen.

Since there were only the three of us, we piled into Lacey’s Range Rover. We ended up going to a small, family-owned Thai restaurant that all the locals loved. From what Lacey told me, what it was missing in décor, it made up for in taste. I certainly hoped so since I’d never had Thai food before. Maya assured me everything would be delicious and, most importantly, cheap.

“So, what’s Magnus Deacon doing here?” was Maya’s first question as soon as we were done with ordering.

“What makes you think I know?” Lacey quipped, staring lustfully at a neighboring table at what appeared to be miso soup. She reached for her napkin and spread it across her lap before lining up her utensils. Clearly, she was stalling.

“Umm... you’re the boss’s wife. I’m pretty sure he tells you everything,” Maya said with a shrug.

Lacey made a noncommittal sound and Maya stared her down. Finally, Lacey stopped evading the question and held up her hands as if she were surrendering.

“Ok, ok. Maybe I know a little something.”

“Spill it,” Maya said, leaning in. I found myself doing the same. I didn’t know when I had become so nosey.

“I’ll tell you guys, but you have to act surprised at the meeting, ok? I don’t want Jude to think I’m completely untrustworthy when it comes to juicy secrets.”

“Hold on, you mean, he doesn’t already know that?” I joked.

She laughed and said, “Fine. Here’s the story in a nutshell. Brain Pain is having a celebrity edition. They’re asking pretty much B-list celebrities to select their favorite charity and partner with an employee from that charity to compete together on the show.”

“So? Are you saying that we’re Magnus Deacon’s favorite charity?”

She shrugged. “I guess so.”

“Did he go to school with Jude or something?” I asked.

She shrugged again. “I don’t think so. If anything, Oliver knows Magnus. Oliver knows everyone. I’m pretty sure he’s just doing a favor for Oliver. And that’s why he was here today. Jude wanted to give him a briefing on what we do here and other stuff.”

We all had questions and unfortunately tried to ask them at the same time.

“Ladies! Ladies! That’s all I know. I swear.”

Maya narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure?”

“I pinkie-promise. I know nothing else.”