Chapter 295
The next morning, the office doorknob rattled. Francesca looked up from her desk to see Uncle Steve peek through the window. She opened the door and gave him a hug.
“What’s up with the locked door?” he asked.
“New office policy,” Francesca said. She didn’t explain further, even though she could tell her uncle would’ve liked it. “What can I do for you, Sensei?” she teased.
“I came by to see if I could get a reimbursement for a personal check to pay for the lawnmower repair.”
“Why didn’t you use the company credit card?” she asked.
“I tried, but it was denied,” he replied. She hadn’t expected that. She paid the bill in full last month. “Come in. I’ll write you a check now. That’s strange.”
“That’s what I thought. But not much I could do about it at the time.”
He headed for the coffeepot while she went to her brother’s office for the checkbook. She tried to open the door but found it locked. Since when was he locking his door? Not a problem. A long time ago, Dad gave her a key to all the offices after she took over her mom’s spot at the office. But still.
After a quick jaunt to her desk and back, she opened his office and went inside. This was the first time in a while she’d been in there. The room was almost a disaster. Stuff was everywhere, stuff that even didn’t belong in there, like Mom’s fine china.
She pulled on the top drawer of his desk and took out the checkbook. Stepping around the desk, paper in the trashcan caught her eye. Final Notice was printed in red across the top of something. She snagged the crumpled sheet and stuffed it in her pocket.
Back at her desk, she wrote out the payment and tore it along the perforation.
“Uncle Steve, do you know the city’s fire chief?” she asked.
“Dan Peters? Sure do. Why?”
“I heard you saved his life when you guys were in school. Why hadn’t Mom or you ever told us that?”
She swore he blushed. Never had Uncle Sensei Steve been embarrassed about anything.
“Well, child, I did what any other person in that situation would’ve done. I just happened to be the one there.”
“You fought an alligator, for crying out loud. That’s huge, Uncle Steve.” She couldn’t believe he was being so modest.
He ran a finger down his scar. “I guess it kinda is. But that was a long time ago, child. Shoot, I barely remember it.”
He sipped his coffee and took the check from her. “Thanks for the quick reimbursement, Francesca.”
His eyes looked around. “No Shane yet?” He glanced at his watch. It was almost noon. “Does that boy even work?”
Francesca snorted. “Define work, Uncle. It’s debatable. Seems he’s always gone to meetings.”
He shook his head. “I’ll see you later, youngin.”
As their uncle pulled out in his old truck, she saw Shane in his muscle car roll in. He then stormed through the entrance.
“Shane,” Francesca stood behind her desk, “we need to meet. There’s a lot of things we need to discuss.”
He walked past her without even looking at her. What the hell? She followed him.
“Shane, did you hear me?”
Her brother stomped into his office, not noticing the door was unlocked. He swung the door closed, making her have to whip her arm up to keep from being hit. Now she was pissed.
“What is your fucking problem, Shane?”
He spun on her. “My fucking problem?”
She would not be cowered. “Yes. Your problem. Everything is happy and smooth until you walk in and the place goes to shit.”
“I have responsibilities to take care of. Stressful responsibilities. I don’t just sit behind a desk and do stupid busy work. I make decisions.”
Stupid busy work? Wrong thing to say.
“I make this office work. Without me, you wouldn’t have a company to run. I do everything here. In fact, I’d like to know what you do. What decisions do you make, dear brother? Please, enlighten me.”
“I make all the financial moves. I figure out how to keep us out of bankruptcy.”
Bankruptcy? They had so much money in the bank, there shouldn’t even be a thought of that. Then something Marcus mentioned came to mind.
“Shane, I want to take back some of the banking tasks Jim took when you hired him.”
“No,” he said. She waited for an explanation that she was already overloaded with stuff and didn’t need the added work. But it didn’t come.
“No?” she responded. “That’s it? No.”
“Yes.” He brushed an arm through the air. “Get me some coffee and close the door behind you.” He made it for his desk. Boy, he was the king of wrong things to say today.
She took the crumpled Final Notice paper from her pocket and smoothed it out. “What is this?” she asked as she slammed it on his desk.
His eyes narrowed. “Where did you get that?”
“Doesn’t matter. Why isn’t this bill paid?”
He whipped it from under her hands and stuck it in a drawer. “It’s an account I decided to close.”
“Account for what? Why wasn’t I told about this?” she demanded.
His face bloomed red. Had she caught him doing something he shouldn’t have, or was it something personal he screwed up?
“Don’t question me,” he yelled. “I’m the prime here. You shouldn’t even be working. You should be home, taking care of children and cooking supper. Ready to spread your legs when the man who owns you gets home.”
Everything in her mind stopped. He did not just say those words. Her hands balled into fists. She didn’t know how to address those items that would send her into a rage without killing her brother. She’d focus on the easy points that wouldn’t make her a murderer.
“First off, brother, you are not the prime. Father is still in charge of the pride. Not you. Even sick, he can kick your ass out of here and send you on your own if he so decided.”
She twirled around to get the hell out of there before blowing up. Prior to slamming his office door behind her, she said,
“And since I’m so unimportant to this office, I’m on vacation until I decide to return. If I return.”
She ran to her desk, shut and locked down everything, and grabbed her purse. Relief hit her, glad Shane didn’t confront her again. She would’ve gone bat-shit crazy karate chop on his ass. Peeling out of the parking lot, she left with nowhere in mind to go.