Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Landon
Getting back to California feels off because we can’t go home.
Not to her house or mine. It’s a strange feeling to be displaced, even though it’s temporary.
We’re going to hole up at Rage’s apartment while he moves into mine.
I don’t worry about him in general—he can more than take care of himself—but I don’t like the idea that he might be attacked because someone mistakes him for me.
Our hope is that they’ll leave him alone if they’re watching him, once they realize that he isn’t me.
They might assume I moved or have a guest or maybe even sublet my apartment short-term.
I don’t particularly care about their trains of thought, but it felt weird sleeping with Allora in Rage’s bed last night.
Not that we did much sleeping.
I have to admit it’s been a while since I’ve been with a woman with her voracious sexual appetite.
Part of me worries this is an overreaction to her rape, that she’s taking back her power by going too far in the other direction, but of all the things that concern me about her mental health, our sex life isn’t really one of them.
Our physical attraction isn’t just electric—it’s impossible to ignore. I’m positive we would’ve had the same connection if we’d met any other way.
Because I’m already thinking about the future, when this is all over.
When we can decide where we want to live. There’s no way we’re going to live apart even after the danger is past. We’re way beyond dating at this point, and the only way forward is in a relationship.
Will she want me to move into her place since it’s bigger than mine, on the beach, and paid for?
Or would she want to move and buy something together?
That’s something I have to figure out because I still have to decide if I want to buy into Shadow Security.
If I do, it’ll be a substantial chunk of my investments, and since I don’t want to touch my retirement account, we’d have to wait to buy something together.
And there are so many other things I want to do.
I haven’t traveled much for pleasure. There are places I want to see and adventures that would be more fun with Allora than by myself. It occurs to me I didn’t do a lot of the things on my list because I didn’t have the right person to share the experiences with, and now I do.
I’ve also always wanted a motorcycle. A Harley-Davidson to be precise. I always had them when I was younger but with as much as I was gone in the military, it seemed ridiculous to keep one at home, rusting away in a garage somewhere. But this might be the time to think about that again.
I’m probably jumping the gun.
I have no idea what she wants with regard to the future and it seems selfish to bring it up with the current situation.
But she’s mine.
That’s all there is to it.
“Okay, let’s get started.” Daniil is sitting at the end of the conference room table, Courtney on his right, me on his left.
We’re finally having the all-hands meeting we never had three weeks ago when I stumbled onto Allora’s kidnapping.
She’s actually at the front desk, answering the phones.
Luna could do it remotely but Allora insisted, saying she’d like to feel useful.
Luna showed her how to use the phone system, and she has instructions to take messages unless someone insists it’s urgent.
Then everything is funneled to Courtney or Daniil.
So, this is the first moment of professional normal I’ve had in…weeks. But as I look around, I see both familiar and unfamiliar people. Apparently, Daniil has been busy while I’ve been protecting Allora.
“I’m sure you see the new faces here today and I want to introduce you to the additions I’ve made to the team.” He looks around. “Over there is retired U.S. Marine Eric Lopez. He and his wife Delilah just bought a house in Temecula and will be joining us.”
Everyone says hello.
I know of Eric but never met him. He was part of a unit whose commanding officer, Shay Gentry, was killed in Afghanistan.
Shay and I were friends. His loss was one of the toughest I experienced in the military.
And now that I study some of the men in the room, I realize all three of the new additions to our team came from that unit.
“Ron Marshall and his wife Bobbi are still living in San Diego but are planning to move local once school gets out so the kids don’t have to change in the middle of the year.”
Ron nods in greeting.
“Mark Garrison and his wife Lana are actually both coming to work for Shadow Security. He’ll be on the duty roster while Lana will take over marketing and PR, help with the front desk.”
“She’s busy with the kids,” Mark says with a grin, “so this will be a part-time thing for her, but she’s a whiz at spinning any situation into a positive.”
“Which we might need if we pick up high-profile clients,” Daniil adds with a chuckle.
“Some of you already know each other,” Courtney continues, “which is great. Our plan is to create a business that operates like a family. We know that’s sometimes considered a liability in our business but the reason Daniil and I left Limaj and he walked away from his role as a working royal was because we wanted to do something different.
Something meaningful in a different way. ” She looks at her husband and he nods.
“That’s why we’ve offered each of you a stake in the business.
We, Courtney and I, are in the position of not having to worry about money so this company is a labor of love.
The rest of you, however, do need to make money.
Luna is passing out a folder with information and options.
I know not all of you have a chunk of money put away so that you can buy into a business like this.
“Luna has graciously allowed us to use her personal situation to show you some of the options. She filed bankruptcy a few years ago and has nothing put away. Her salary here is two hundred fifty thousand dollars, along with expenses if and when she’s out in the field, and of course, health insurance and paid time off.
However, since she wants to buy into the company, we’re taking seventy-five thousand pre-tax dollars for five years.
“That’s her buy-in. At the end of five years, she will have a ten percent share in the company.
” He pauses. “I’m sure you’re all doing the math.
Right now, in this room, there are six of you.
Rage. Grim. Eric. Luna. Mark. Ron. Chris has decided not to take us up on the offer to buy in and is going to be working with us as an independent contractor for the time being. ”
I glance at Chaos but he’s staring straight ahead, not looking at anyone really.
“That’s sixty percent,” Daniil says. “The other forty will be invested in a high-yield fund for bonuses, upgrades, emergencies, and…passion projects, which we’ll get to in a bit.
We do have someone else in mind who may be coming on board but he’s out of the country at the moment and will update us when possible. ”
Igor.
The thought pops into my head and I feel it in my gut.
After we rescued him eighteen months ago, the Russian double agent went to D.C.
to debrief and heal after a harrowing experience.
Then he went dark. I assumed he went undercover again; that’s what guys like him do.
But on that flight back from Russia, I saw something in his eyes I’d never seen before—a look that said he was ready for a change.
Maybe this is it.
But I can ask Dan about that another time.
Right now, I’m staring at numbers, projections, goals, and…motivations.
The reasons why we’re doing what we’re doing.
And it’s a lot.
I don’t usually put that much thought into it. I get a job, I do it, I get paid. It’s pretty simple.
Except it’s not anymore.
Which is why I’ve been dragging my feet on buying in versus doing some version of what Chaos is doing and just taking a salary.
Ironically, me rescuing Allora and us trying to take down a sex trafficking ring is exactly the kind of thing they envisioned.
But obviously, we’re not government sanctioned, so the money to fund these types of things has to come from somewhere.
Silver is paying for my services at the moment but that’s just for Allora.
Everything else we’re doing costs money he’s not providing.
“So, the buy-in is 375K?” Mark asks, looking at the folder in front of him.
“It’s 400,” Daniil says, “but Luna will pay the final twenty-five in year six. We just got sidetracked before I could explain that.”
“For ten percent of…what?” Mark is around forty, with intelligent eyes and a soft-spoken demeanor.
“That’s the fun part,” Courtney says.
She goes into a long, complicated explanation of the payment structure, and I mostly tune her out.
From what I gather, we’ll be making between two-fifty and four hundred thousand a year in the beginning, depending on business.
That’s a lot of money but then Daniil starts talking about the jobs that he’s lined up.
Protecting a European princess full-time while she’s at Stanford with a rotating crew.
A movie star with a stalker who needs full-time protection while filming her next movie.
Traveling with a tech billionaire while he tours Asia this summer with his family. That job will require three people for ten weeks.
Each job is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and these are already lined up.
I glance out the door and see Allora talking on the phone. She’s smiling. Happy. Busy.
This could be our life.
I just have to make the decision to set down roots.
Maybe I already have.