Prologue #3
“Xylina!” I jumped when my dad’s voice heightened and he slammed his laptop down. “I’m in the middle of handling important business. When I have an answer, you will know it.” His voice lacked patience and annoyance was written all on his face.
Blinking a couple times, I opened my mouth but released a huff instead. “Fine.” I leaned down and collected my bags. “I need to check on Princess anyway. She has bad anxiety when I’m gone for too long.” Princess was my year old Shiba Inu, a high school graduation gift from Daddy.
Leaving the den, I headed for my wing of the house.
It was more of an apartment. My parents had it added onto the house as a sweet sixteen gift.
It had its own private entrance, but since I’d wanted to ask about Yosiah I came through the main doors.
It gave me complete privacy from my parents and there was even a kitchen so I didn’t have to worry about coming to the main house.
“Hello, Ms. Fox,” Helen, my housekeeper, greeted once I was on my side.
I paused. “Hi, Helen, did you change mine and Princess’s sheets today?”
“Yes, ma’am.” She nodded.
“And you put the cream ones on the beds, correct? And used the unscented detergent on Princess’s sheets? You know her skin is sensitive.”
“Yes, ma’am. They’re fresh out of the dryer and on the bed.”
I grinned. “Great.”
Continuing down the hall, I pushed my door open and entered my large bedroom.
The sound of Princess’s bark could be heard before she came rushing out of her castle doghouse toward me.
I dropped my bags and leaned down to swoop her up. “There goes Mommy’s girl,” I gushed as she barked and wagged her tail. “Did you miss me? I got you something today.” Leaning down I grabbed the bag from the pet store and headed for my large bed in the center of the room.
“Oh, and look at your collar, we have to call and schedule to get it cleaned,” I noted, taking the bag of treats she loved out of the bag. It was a pink diamond encrusted collar with her name spelled out on the front in white diamonds.
“I knew these would make you forgive me for being gone all day.” I fed her another treat.
While Princess enjoyed her treats, I grabbed my phone from my Chanel crossbody and lifted it to snap a picture of me and Princess sprawled across my lap.
“Perfect.” I grinned once I got one I liked. Opening InstaFlik, I posted the picture then went to my search screen.
“Now let’s take a look at your future daddy.” I went to Yosiah’s page.
He had posted a new picture since I’d last checked his page at the salon, on a bike. He was sweaty with the sun beaming down on him. His hand looked as if he was trying to block the sun as he looked up.
“I can’t wait to make him mine.” I smirked, using one hand to pet Princess and the other to like the photo. Subtlety was never my forte.
Savannah might not be the one to wait around, but a man that looked like Yosiah was worth the wait.
Yosiah
“To Yosiah, adding you to the team was the best damn investment we’ve made!” Erik, Roman’s dad, called out, lifting his glass with a smile on his face. The Barnett family’s latest data breach had been taken care of without any casualties.
“I agree! I told you Yosiah knows his shit.” Roman grinned, lifting his glass.
His younger sister Reginae and his brother Ryo lifted their glasses in agreement. Since the last person doing their tech stuff became sloppy and had to be taken care of, Erik was more cautious about who he allowed close to the operation they ran.
“I always knew you were smart, Siah. I never doubted your capability.” Reginae batted her lashes while propping her chin on her balled-up fist and staring at me with a small grin.
“Chill out with that,” Ryo scolded, he lowered his glass and frowned.
“Mind your business.” Reginae rolled her eyes and took another sip of her drink.
“You’re my little sister, so you are my business. He doesn’t want you and you need to stop trying to throw yourself at him.”
“You’re such an asshole.” She glared at him.
“He’s not lying though.” Roman chuckled. “Chill your hot ass out.”
I stayed quiet. This wasn’t the first time the brothers came down on their sister.
Roman was twenty-nine, like me, Ryo was behind him at twenty-six, and Reginae was the baby at twenty-three.
She always had a small crush on me and flirted.
I never entertained it or even thought about it.
Roman and Ryo knew I looked at her like my own sister and would never cross that line, but that didn’t stop the brothers from giving her shit.
“Anyway.” Erik cleared his throat, giving each of his children a look before returning his attention back to me.
“As I was saying, adding you to the team was the best decision we could have made. After the shit show that dumbass before you left, I wasn’t sure how I felt about outsourcing from the family again, but you know your shit. ”
“Thank you, Erik. I’m just doing what I know best.”
“Always the modest one, Yosiah,” Michelle, his wife and the kids’ mom, mentioned, stepping into the room. She walked to her husband sitting and leaned down to kiss his cheek. “Sorry I’m late, my meeting ran longer than expected.”
Michelle walked around the table and took a seat. “Good to see you again, Mama Chelle.” I smiled at her. “You’re looking lovely today.”
She snickered. “Always the charmer, Yosiah. I know you give the girls a run for their money.”
I chuckled. “I do a’right.”
“That’s an understatement. Any girl would be lucky to be on your arm,” Reginae mentioned.
Shaking my head, I brought my glass to my mouth.
“Since Mama’s here now, can we eat?” Roman complained.
“Not without saying grace we’re not,” Michelle chastised. “Everyone bow your heads.”
Doing as she said, we waited for her to bless the food before digging in.
The Barnetts reminded me of Banks family from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
They ran a multimillion-dollar jewelry company that specialized in custom pieces.
Michelle handled the financial part of the business but also was a housewife and volunteered frequently for different charities.
Roman oversaw making the pieces, Ryo oversaw the designing process, while Reginae managed their stores.
Lastly, Erik was the boss who made sure everything ran smoothly.
Not only that but they had a large hand in the diamond trading market.
I wasn’t sure how Erik got into all this but it had made his family very rich and well known.
My role was to make sure the security on their computers was hack proof.
A while ago, someone had gotten into their systems and were able to get exclusive, not released yet, jewelry designs, customer information, as well as get into their finances.
I was at the Barnetts’ house when Erik exploded on someone on the phone about the matter. That was when I offered to help and Roman vouched for me. Since meeting Roman and his family, they’d welcomed me with open arms, becoming like a second family to me.
“Erik, one day you’re gonna have to share the secret to these ribs,” I mentioned after wiping barbeque sauce from my mouth.
Dinner was going well; the dining room was full of chatter and laughs between everyone.
Growing up as an only child caused me to appreciate the liveliness that the Barnetts always had when all of them were present.
“My granddad would haunt me from his grave if I gave that recipe up.” He chuckled then straightened. “Now I might not be able to give you the recipe, but there is something I can do.”
Erik suddenly sobered. The air in the room became serious. My eyes bounced around the table, noting everyone had gone silent.
“Am I missing something?” I asked, redirecting my attention to Erik.
“I want to discuss the reason I called you to join us this evening. It wasn’t only for us to celebrate another great release but also to talk to you about a business proposal.”
I stayed quiet, waiting for him to continue.
“You’re a great asset to the team and without you we would have lost millions when our computers were infiltrated.”
“Thank you.”
He nodded. “No thanks needed. You deserve it. I know you’re working on starting your own tech business and I want to help you with that.”
Now I was lost. It was no secret that my goal was to start my own cyber technology firm. All the money I made, I put up to get it up and running. I already had a few clients under my belt that I’d done minor work for, but that was nothing compared to what I wanted to get up to.
“Michelle, did you bring the folder?” Erik asked his wife.
“I did.” Michelle leaned down and picked up the bag beside her. She pulled out a tan folder and held it out. Curiously, I grabbed it and flipped it open.
“Let us fund your business.”
My eyes snapped up from the contents of the folder. That was the last thing I expected him to suggest.
“No offense, Erik. I appreciate you wanting to do this, but the reason I didn’t get the money from my dad and am working to start my firm is because I don’t want any handouts and want to do this on my own.”
Erik smirked and shook his head. Folding his hands on the table, he leaned back in his chair. “You’re misunderstanding things. I’m not giving you anything. This will be a loan. Think of me as a silent partner if you will. We fund your business, you get it up and running, then you pay me back.”
Not responding right away, I brought my attention back to the file and pulled out some of the pages, reading them over.
“Michelle already went over the numbers and we spoke with our lawyer and had him write up a contract.”
I had some business skills. It was one thing I made sure I learned while in college. I took as many classes as I could to make sure my firm would succeed when I started it.