Influx (Book Four)

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

"Isn't this where Caspian was located?" I ask Lyle the next day and he gives me a sad smile.

"After Alexander left, I disbanded the business and when the kids from the Metac camp into the picture I turned it into an apartment complex of sorts," he says sincerely, and he flashes his ID to the guard.

"When you move in, we will get you and Click ID's that work on the front door and elevator," he continues, and I nod as we walk over to the elevator with him.

"Why did Alexander leave Caspian?" I ask curiously, and Lyle cringes.

"I was being a righteous asshole, I don't blame him for doing it," he admits, and I nod in understanding. We all have certainly had our moments within the last few years.

The elevator flies up and we end up on the twenty-fourth floor of the building. As we step off there is a massive open space before a wall forms and there is an island and a full kitchen. Trailing carefully behind Lyle, he talks about the layout and I listen intently. He shows me two bedrooms of the same size and one and a half bathrooms. It was a well laid out space and a decent space considering what city we are in.

"You would only be responsible for utilities and a two-hundred-dollar monthly fee I charge for general building maintenance, it's mostly to keep up the fitness center and help pay property taxes," Lyle rattles off and I pause.

"What about rent?" I ask him confused and he smiles.

"As I said, the utilities and the monthly fee, that's all I charge," Lyle says, and I tilt my head to the side in confusion.

"Lyle, I know you've done well for yourself, but this is a multimillion-dollar building and you are telling me you aren't charging rent?" I ask him.

"Yes," he says simply and I just shrug. I wasn't going to argue with him on this. Maybe he did really well in the stock market, he's smart enough to have. Adjusting my new blazer, I check my watch and debate if I have time to do paperwork.

"Where do I sign?" I ask him and he grins, and we go back downstairs. He walks me through everything quickly and I know he isn't out to cheat me, so I don't read every single word of it. Checking my watch again, I really should have left ten minutes ago.

"I need to get going to my meeting, we can discuss furniture afterward," I say as I pack my things.

"I have the day off, I can meet you after your meeting so we can pick out furniture," Lyle says quickly, and I pause and give him some side-eye.

"Fine, I will see you then," I say, not wanting to ask who is footing the bill for that.

As I hurry down the long city blocks, I text Nathan while waiting to cross streets, that I am running a few minutes late. I don't even bother to check for his response, it doesn't really matter to me at this moment. As I quickly cross the street to the side that my company is on, I see Arlington hustling down the block, her cheeks faintly flushed and her curls bouncing everywhere. She gives me a look of understanding and we both breeze through the door, the guard smiles at us and we make our way upstairs to the conference room where Nathan is waiting.

"Good afternoon ladies," he says sweetly, and I resist the urge to rip his vocal cords out from the way he treated me earlier in the week.

"Good afternoon Nathan," I say as I pull out the surviving schematics and my laptop. Booting the old thing up, I start talking a mile a minute about the statuses of the projects and what was lost versus what I have digitally.

"I wish I was that organized," I hear Aviva mumble quietly and I chuckle.

"Well we are still now over a week behind, and we need to meet the deadlines set to get the project to testing on time," Nathan says firmly, and my gaze sharpens.