Chapter 1
Nina
“KEY- SHA!” A deep voice barreled into my dreams, followed by three obnoxious knocks on my front door.
What … the … fuck?
I turned over in my bed before cracking an eye open to see it was barely past seven in the morning- the banging continued.
THOOMP! THOOMP! THOOMP!
“KEYSHA! I know I fucked up, but open this damn door!” The voice shouted.
A growl emerged from my throat as I threw the blankets off of me. The cold air outside met my room temperature, warm windows to steam them up just enough to keep my nosy neighbors in the building next door from looking into my condo.
Yes, a condo. I specifically mortgaged an apartment to get away from the bullshit knocking on my door right now. One of the major problems with that decision was I failed to do adequate research. My condo’s building may have been in a nice neighborhood, but the neighborhood itself was what I called hood adjacent.
A few blocks to the left and there was a visual difference between the two neighborhoods, it was the little things like the upkeep of the exterior buildings. My condo was a single bedroom condo with a large living room and kitchen space, which apparently carried sound too well into my bedroom.
After I washed my face and rubbed the sleep out of my tired eyes, I threw on some shorts and a tank top before I picked up my baseball bat and headed toward the front door. Just as I knew they would, the three hard knocks came again.
This time, I swung the door open, holding my bat with every intention of beating the brakes off this asshole for waking me up.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” I shouted, swinging the bat and making the man outside my door duck and cover his head. He peered out from under his arms with confusion on his face as he stood up slowly with his hands in the air.
“My bad, shorty, I thought this was Keysha’s spot.” He was tall, darker than the sea at night, with eyes so wide I could fall in love with the way they smiled. The light in the hallway bounced off his glistening bald head, and those pearly white teeth sparkled as he eyed me from head to toe. He licked his lips, “Damn, you fine. So, what’s up?”
The shock of his words brought me right back to reality, where I snapped. “What’s up is me about an hour before I’m supposed to be. Clearly, this ain’t Keysha’s spot and after this split-second interaction, she made the right choice. Leave meandKeysha the fuck alone!”
I slammed the door in the handsome stranger’s face before I locked every lock on my door and headed into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. I might as well stay up or else falling back asleep, guaranteed I’d be late for my meeting. I hated meetings.
The simple idea of sitting across the table from another person to discuss things that could have easily been conveyed via email annoyed me. Not only was this meeting unnecessary, it was inconvenient, and it was downright stupid.
It’s one of the issues I’d run into as a freelance accountant. There was always someone trying to take advantage of the opportunity, when all I wanted to do was my damn job. I crave the independence in freelancing and the ability to choose the assignments that interest me.
After my hot shower, I threw on my most professional ‘I’m coming for my money’ suit and headed into Broad City morning traffic.
Thunder rumbled and roared in the air just as lightning skipped across the morning skies while I trudged through rush hour. I hated public transportation, but it was the quickest way to get downtown in a city this large. I liked to think of Broad City as a cross between Atlanta and Manhattan, but it moved at a pace slower than both of those metropolitan areas.
The Core Organization was a non-profit that opened up shop a few months ago. A longstanding client of mine referred me to them and I took the job because it was quick and I love helping non-profits when I can.
The sky opened up just as I entered the lobby, where the receptionist clicked away at a keyboard before turning to face me. “Good morning, Nina. Please sign in. Mr. Shelling is waiting for you. You can head right up.”
I nodded a thank you to the receptionist as I signed the log book, and headed toward the elevator bank where a slender security guard stood at his post. I didn’t want to stare, but he looked familiar. My gut tingled like I should be wary of him, but logic said that was stupid. The man was barely taller than my 5’5 height. His skin was a few shades darker than my honey brown complexion, but there was something not quite right in his eyes.
I ignored the feeling and headed up to my meeting with Arthur Shelling. The old man was sweet, but absentminded. How he ended up as the head of several non-profit organizations didn’t make sense to me. On the other hand, that wasn’t my business.
When I finally made it to his floor, he was waiting at the reception area for me. His eyes raked over me in a way I could tell he wanted to see what was underneath my suit, but was too much of a gentleman to ask, or maybe he feared the rejection. Either way, I hope he doesn’t project what his eyes are thinking, I wasn’t here for that. I wanted to get paid, and I wanted to go home. His smile welcomed me as I followed him hurriedly through an area of cubicles and into a conference room.
On the table it was a packet that appeared to be a contract. I took a breath before reading CONFIDENTIAL across the top of the pages in bold, red letters as I sat down. I scanned through the pages before I realized I wasn’t being sued, fortunately. It was a job offer.
“Good morning, Miss Wilkins,” Mr. Shelling began with a wide grin on his face. “The Core Organization appreciates all of the work you’ve done for our company these past few months. We’d love for you to continue working with us, exclusively. You would lead our accounting efforts for several subsidiaries.”
“Thank you for the offer, Mr. Shelling.” I told him before I raised an eyebrow, “I am happy that you’re happy, however, I noticed the payment from my current contract work has not been received.”
“Ah yes. The funds are being held in lieu of your decision.”
“I’m not sure why that money is being held for a decision that was not part of our contract.” I looked him in the eyes, trying not to go off on this man.
