Chapter 5
ELIJAH
“This is Mandy. She’s responsible for our Social Media and Marketing. And this is Victoria. She’s in charge of distribution across the stores and making sure all the windows look presentable. Oh, and this is Chris, the backbone of the warehouse!”
Chris looks extremely uncomfortable when Jimmy, Angelic Jewels’s CEO, slaps his arm around his shoulders and pulls him in for a hug.
Our eyes meet very briefly and he attempts to give me a smile, but as quickly as he’s drawn into the hug, he’s pushed away and Jimmy is already walking away while talking, clearly expecting me to follow.
This… is going to be tough.
“As you can imagine, we have a very dedicated team who are here even this early, and I say that just speaks volumes for the dedication and work ethic we have here.” Jimmy sniffs loudly, a noise that grates against my ears, but I maintain the pleasant smile on my face and listen.
I hadn’t expected to meet anyone except Jimmy today, considering most people take time off to spend with their families at the new year. Given the visibly hungover glimmer in people’s eyes, I suspect the majority are here unwillingly, and they have my sympathies.
For me, though, this is where I want to be. It’s this or sitting in my hotel room staring at the walls and wondering if I’m making the right decision.
Jimmy leads me into office after office, introducing me to the funding manager, from whom I immediately get their contact details and put them in touch with Buster, the shipment liaison I set up a lunch with in order to delve deeper into where Angelic Jewels sources their stones, and then back to marketing where Jimmy tries for ten minutes to explain the importance of marketing as if I’m just a guy on the street without a multi-million-dollar company at my back.
If this deal were based on these interactions alone, I’d pack up immediately and fly back to New York.
“As interesting as this is,” I say, gently cutting off Jimmy’s tirade about his idea to hide jewelry inside turkeys at Christmas, “I saw online that you have a specialized subscription service?”
Jimmy’s round face immediately falls and he sniffs. “If you want to call it that. It’s barely anything, though, just a glorified mail room.”
“But it’s your top earner.”
“Hardly.” Jimmy laughs, pulling me out of the marketing office.
“Look, trust me when I tell you this. The stores are the money makers, okay? That’s where the foot traffic is.
People get drawn in by the beautiful displays and our on-floor staff do a great job of ensuring people leave with double what they wanted.
And occasionally, we have an important client who doesn’t want to leave wearing jewelry that costs more than their car, so they ask for it to be delivered. But that’s it.”
He speaks so quickly that it’s difficult to keep up, but one thing sticks out to me that directly contradicts everything I’ve read. The subscription and mail services are the main reason I’m here.
Have I been lied to?
“I’d still like to meet whoever is in charge of that side of things.”
“Later.” Jimmy waves me off with another obnoxious sniff.
“I want to take you to visit a couple of our stores so you can see exactly what I’m talking about.
People say the high street is dying, that foot traffic is becoming a thing of the past. You know what I say?
” He stops walking and turns to face me, prodding me in the middle of my chest. “I say that it’s becoming elite.
Think about it. A hundred years ago, the poor only had horses.
Now horses are a luxury. It happens with everything.
The high street used to be for the everyday person, and now?
Now it’s becoming elite and we have to be at the forefront of that change.
Nothing beats seeing diamond glitter in real light in your hand.
Can’t capture that on a website.” He laughs heartily and claps his hand down on my shoulder. “Coffee?”
My teeth worry slightly against the inside of my cheek, and I bite back every heated comment that rises inside me about how Jimmy keeps putting his hand on me and instead force a smile. “I hear you. But I would still like to make sure I meet everyone. Are you in charge of the website?”
Sensing defeat, Jimmy sighs and finally steps away from me. “Nah, that’s Cal.”
“Cal?”
Jimmy’s steps are a lot slower toward the elevator, as if he’s increasingly unwilling to take me to Cal’s office. He must be some guy if Jimmy doesn’t want me to meet him.
“Cal is the subscription manager here and they run the website. Treats it like it’s their damn baby. Honestly, if you want to see work ethic, then Cal is not where you should be looking. Now, Victoria? She’s passionate and headstrong. Cal is just lazy.”
“Lazy?”
“Yep.” Jimmy smacks his lips together. “I mean, running a website is just clicking a few buttons and moving a few pictures around, and then licking a stamp. It’s demeaning, if you ask me.”
“Right.” My brows knit together as the elevator whooshes downward. “If it’s so terrible, why do you keep the department?”
“Well, Cal’s been here longer than most, so getting rid of them is tricky. And to some degree, the website makes enough money to break even.”
“Just break even?”
“Yup. Cal does the bare minimum. I’m telling you, if you want my advice?
Gut the website immediately. We need nothing more than an information page that directs people to the stores, not one that encourages them to stay at home and browse pictures that don’t do the jewelry justice. It’s ridiculous.”
Interesting. Either Cal is somehow worse than Jimmy, and that’s why they don’t get along, or he’s doing a fantastic job, and the green-eyed monster is surging inside Jimmy as he stomps out of the elevator and down the hallway.
The first office we check is empty and Jimmy grumbles under his breath about laziness, then takes me on a detour to find a supply room.
Apparently, Cal is always in either of those two rooms.
As we get closer to the door at the end, something odd catches my attention.
A rushing sound that grows louder with every step.
While walking behind Jimmy, who seems unaffected by the house, I try to place it.
It’s like the rush of air that precedes a train down in the subway, or the bustling noise that whips past the window when racing down the highway.
We’re not low enough in the building for either of those sounds to be accurate, but it’s the only thing I can think of by the time we reach the door.
The sound’s much louder.
“The fuck is that?” Jimmy mutters, finally acknowledging the sound and making me feel a little less crazy. He grabs the doorknob and thrusts it down, then shoves open the door in one smooth movement.
Chaos greets us.
Water pours down from the ceiling like a waterfall, absolutely drenching the sole person in the room who is trying to shield herself with one hand while battling with a toppling stack of boxes with the other.
She’s fighting a losing battle as the water soaks into the cardboard, increasing the instability of the tower.
Countless other boxes scatter across the floor, waterlogged and crumbling under the constant pressure of the water pouring from above.
Jimmy and I stare in mixed horror at the sight and I step back as a roll of water brushes against my shoe.
Floating a foot away is a necklace, and the severity of the situation dawns on me.
A burst pipe pouring directly into a stock room instantly loses this company thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, depending on what they keep in here.
“Cal?” Jimmy yells over the deafening noise. “What the fuck did you do?”
A woman with jet-black hair plastered to her face and neck like streaks of black ink spins on the spot.
Her striking, icy-blue eyes immediately blaze with the ignition of fury and she yells back, “Me? Are you fucking serious? Why didn’t you answer your phone!
I called and I called! What the hell is wrong with you? ”
I’d seen Jimmy with his phone in his hand plenty of times, clearly ignoring her calls. Is this Cal?
“How dare you speak to me like that? I’m a busy man and that doesn’t answer my question! The fuck have you done?”
“Me?” she screeches at the top of her lungs, spluttering as the force of the water increases.
Concern immediately swells in my chest. This is not safe.
“It was like this when I got here! The first thing I did was try to save the boxes, and then part of the ceiling caved in and all this water crashed in. This is you! This is your fault! If you’d kept up with the nightly security patrols like I told you to, then this would have been found hours ago! ”
“You can’t blame me!”
“Yes, I can!” she yells, utterly enraged. “Look at this place! This water’s been leaking in for hours! All our stock, all the computers, the files, and everything are ruined, Jimmy. Ruined!”
“Sorry to interrupt, but I don’t think this is—” As I speak, intent on encouraging the woman to abandon the stock she’s trying to protect and save herself, a deafening snap lances overhead.
A deep, large crack spreads its way across the ceiling directly over her, crossing several other cracks in the ceiling.
I act before I think, leaping up onto the metal desk and throwing myself toward the woman as she stumbles under the force of the water.
Our bodies slam together as I loop one arm around her waist, keeping her pinned against me as we stumble back through the ankle-deep water and collide with the back wall.
A mere second after I collide with her, the ceiling splits open and several chunks of ceiling tile and weakened splinters of beam crash down to the floor where Cal was just standing.
Her hot breath warms my neck as she pants against me, her hands clutching at my arms and her eyes wide as she stares at the spot she stood mere seconds ago. If I hadn’t reached her, she’d be under that debris and there’s no telling how severe her injuries would be.
“Cal! You’re destroying my building!” Jimmy screeches from the doorway, his hands pulling at his thinning hair.
“How many times!” the woman screams back, her long nails digging into my skin through my jacket as the freezing cold water soaks into my socks and up my pants leg. “It’s Calliope!”
As she yells her name over the torrent of rushing water, she pushes her hair back from her face, and a sudden tension in my chest strikes me. My breath catches in my throat when she throws me a glance and says, “Thanks.”
Jet-black hair, golden skin, stunning icy-blue eyes, and dark brows sharper than any blade strike familiarity in my heart, momentarily taking my breath away.
I know her.