Chapter 1 #3
Dante’s thick dark curls appeared at the top of his cubicle, followed by his dancing eyes, friendly smile, and broad shoulders. He stepped around the partition, met her halfway down the hall, and bowed. “Welcome to my kingdom, fair lady. How may I be of service?”
Dante’s formal greeting was a stark contrast to his low-riding joggers, sweatshirt, and vintage Jordans. They’d had a cake for his twenty-third birthday last month, but he still looked and dressed like a teenager.
She pointed to his sweatshirt where six different geometrically shaped dice were lined up over the words Choose Your Weapon. “Is that a band?”
Dante laughed. “You never played Dungeons and Dragons, did you?”
She’d played lots of games. Lots and lots of games.
There’d been too many months when she’d been too sick, too weak, or too immunocompromised to leave the house, and there were only so many movies a person could watch.
So, she, her mom, Sage, and Justin played tons of board games, but never Dungeons and Dragons.
If they had, maybe their fantasy lives would have turned out better than their real ones.
She nudged that depressing thought out of her head.
Fate was fate, and choices were choices.
Being bitter or sad wouldn’t change the past and would only sour the present.
Even though her mom was gone and Justin was in prison, she wouldn’t let those facts poison the joyful memories of playing board games with them.
“I’m a big fan of Forbidden Island and Dominion,” she answered, “but I’ve never played Dungeons and Dragons. I’ll have to put it on my list.”
Dante rolled his eyes. “You can’t just start playing. You need to find a group first.”
“A group?”
“You’re hopeless,” he said as he gestured toward her computer. “Are you having trouble with your laptop?”
He’d already started bouncing on his toes and peeking back toward his work area. He was a tech whiz who could spend hours staring at code or building a computer from scratch, but his patience for conversation was limited to about three minutes, and she’d hit the threshold.
“I came down to look at a few things in the Girard warehouse files, but I’m also having a computer issue.
Lots of the Moresco files are grayed out on my laptop.
I can see the file names, but they’re in a lighter script, and when I click on them, nothing happens.
The only Moresco files that aren’t grayed out are the ones for the Girard warehouse.
Do I need a different password or something? ”
Dante quirked a bushy dark eyebrow. “I’m surprised Pannetone has you working on a project for Sal. He normally does all that work himself.”
Pride swelled in Rosemary’s chest. Nick, the other associate accountant, had been at the firm much longer, but Armando had trusted her with the assignment.
“It’s my first Moresco project, so I want my work to be flawless. Mr. Moresco is here now for a meeting. You’re related, right?”
She’d heard through the grapevine that Dante was Sal’s nephew, which would explain his position at the firm.
Even with Armando’s archaic views on Cloud computing, a firm of three accountants, a receptionist, and a bookkeeper couldn’t possibly generate enough IT work to keep Dante busy full-time.
Of course, her stepfather had helped her get this job, so who was she to judge a bit of nepotism?
“Sal’s my uncle,” Dante confirmed, “but you know you’re not supposed to talk about him being here. Armando told you that, right?”
Her cheeks and neck warmed. Armando had told her Sal was fastidiously private and that she was forbidden to discuss him or any of his projects, but she hadn’t thought that applied to Dante.
“Right. Sorry. I guess I wasn’t thinking.”
Dante laid a hand on her wrist. “When it comes to my uncle, you can’t afford to not think.”
Unease chilled her spine. She swallowed and took a step back.
Dante released her arm and chuckled. “I didn’t mean that to sound so ominous. My grandpa is whack when it comes to privacy.”
“Your grandpa?”
“Yeah. He’s the reason I have this job. Sal doesn’t like me, but he doesn’t have the balls to cross him.
Grandpa’s old school. No cell phone. No email.
And when he does call, he’s always using someone else’s phone.
He always thinks Big Brother’s watching.
That’s why you can’t get into any of the Moresco files. ”
Dante’s conversations frequently jumped topics, but she could usually follow his twists and turns. This time, she was baffled.
“I can’t get into your uncle’s files because your grandpa doesn’t like to talk on the phone?”
Dante snorted. “Kind of. Grandpa hates technology. He only let Armando start keeping electronic records a few years ago. That’s why I’m here.”
He pointed toward the table of servers next to his cubicle.
“Everyone else might be on the Cloud, but the Moresco files are all on those servers, and the email system is locked down so the files can’t be emailed out.
I’ve got the files set up so that Armando and I are the only ones with full access.
That’s why all the Moresco files are grayed out on your computer except for the Girard warehouse.
I gave you temporary access to those, and I’ll revoke it when the work is done. ”
Her watch vibrated on her wrist. She was late for a call.
“Yikes. I have to go.” She headed back down the hall, calling out over her shoulder, “Seems a little heavy-handed for a real estate and construction business, don’t you think?”
Dante’s odd response still echoed in her mind hours later.
“With my family, you can never be too careful.”