Steph was getting ready for a meeting she had in a few hours and thought back on the differences in her life that had occurred in the past seven months since she accepted the Godfather's offer, or Mr Burdock as she was asked to call him.
She had approached the topic with him once, asking why he was called the Godfather, he had laughed, it wasn't of his own design apparently, many years ago he had employed a man utterly obsessed with the films, he only referred to his boss as the Godfather once or twice on the streets and it stuck, growing in popularity as it was today. However, clients usually prefer to be dealing with a man with a normal last name, so for her he was either Sir, or Mr Burdock.
Thinking of clients, she had to leave now if was going to arrive at her meeting on time.
She grabbed her bag, looking around her large well-furnished apartment, she smoothed down the non-existent crease in her expensive black suit, her new black pumps clicking on the floors as she grabbed the keys to her cute little convertible.
Yes, there had been many changes in her life, being a point person for a mob boss meant she always had to look good, something Mr Burdock firmly believed in, and he wholly approved of all her purchases. Most times it was easy to ignore her morals nagging in the background, usually as she was handing over her card in shops, but it was taking a toll on her. She turned off the lights and left her apartment.
Hours later, Steph made her way back to the apartment. Her meeting had been a massive success, the client had been more enamoured of Steph then he was interested in the finer points of the deal he was making. Using this to her advantage, she had managed to secure not only his business with the current 'transaction' but future ones with his company whilst recommending her to his associates. Burdock had been impressed and her fee for this particular job had been her significantly more then he had originally offered.
Steph was pleased with herself although she had been good at her job with E.E Martin; it was never much of a challenge.
Though Steph had to admit to herself that part of her current success was down to her good imagination and denial. When dealing with men who could lose millions of dollars if the authorities got involved, they rarely referred to the goods they were dealing with by name. Negotiating when the 'goods' would arrive, when the 'product' would be shipped or what the possible 'revenue' would be, it was easy to pretend that once again she was dealing in underwear, or just for her personal pleasure, expensive, designer shoes. Though she doubted Burdock wanted to hear, that whilst today's client was only thinking about Steph, she was in return thoroughly entertaining herself with the thought that this deal involved mass quantities of Prada Pumps, rather than high quality cocaine.
Just as Steph was mentally debating whether or not she should actually buy herself some Prada pumps, her phone began to ring.
She sighed, she wasn't in the mood for work, keeping the client's mind on business rather than her legs had been stressful enough, all she wanted was a bath and an early night. She grabbed the phone.
''Stephanie Plum'' She answered the phone, taking her shoes off in the process.
''Stephanie, it's me I have a job for you.'' It was Burdock, Steph headed towards the kitchen, maybe a glass of wine would help.
''Oh right Sir, when and where.'' Hmmm, red or white. She pulled a face whilst debating her options.
''Tomorrow, 1 pm, I want you to conduct the meeting in my office.'' Red, she was in a red mood. Wait…his office?
''Your Office?'' Steph had only actually been in Burdock's office twice before, the first time with Matt, and the second time straight after she agreed to work for Burdock. Her meetings were usually in conference rooms at one of Burdock's business offices, occasionally a nice restaurant.
''Yes, I need you to meet with a… well, he's not really a client. The situation is more complicated than that. He works on the other end of the spectrum to us.'' Other end of the spectrum to 'you', not us, Steph thought, denial had refused to let her admit that she had anything to do with the criminal activities Burdock performed, she was there to get clients to sign contracts nothing else.
But she was still confused with his terminology.
''You want me to meet with…'' She paused, what was the opposite of a criminal? ''…the police?''
''Good God no. He's not with the police, he owns a security firm in the area, but he dabbles in bounty hunting.'' Dabbled? Steph never really thought bounty hunting was a profession one could dabble in.
''Ok…'' Burdock was not a man you said no to. Even if you were confused in the extreme. ''What's it concerning?''
''Mr Manoso and I have a rather tentative arrangement. Occasionally I am in the need of extra protection at my end, from men with perhaps more … experience than the average bodyguard. In return for providing these services, Mr Manoso may call on me to aid him in tracking down some of his more difficult bounties. Have my people keep their ear to the ground and report back, that sort of thing. The arrangement is mutually beneficial, but occasionally the terms need to be renegotiated. That my dear is where you come in, normally I would do it myself but I have to go out of town. Manoso has been made aware of the change. Arrive at 12 tomorrow and I'll have one of the managers go over what of changes I'm prepared to make. Any questions?''
Steph had plenty, security firm? Occasional Bounty hunter? What sort of extra experience? ''No Sir, I understand.''
''Excellent.'' Burdock hung up the phone. Listening to the dial tone in her ear, Steph surveyed the wine bottles in front of her. She didn't really know what to expect of tomorrow's job. Maybe wine wasn't a good idea, she didn't want to wake up with anything resembling a hangover in the morning.
She put the phone back into the cradle, and headed toward the bathroom, a nice bubble bath should help ease away her anxiety over tomorrow, then again, she turned back towards the kitchen. Ben and Jerry's existed for a reason.
It was 12.55, she was standing in front of the large bay window in Burdock's office, looking out over Trenton. Standing here it, she could imagine how easy it was for Burdock to stand here and look out at his empire, in front of her Trenton was sprawled out.
One of Burdocks business managers had spent almost an hour outlining what Mr Manoso's current deal with Burdock entailed, what they expected him to negotiate for and what they were willing to give. She had gotten her head around most of it, enough to feel less nervous about the upcoming meeting. On that note, she checked her watch. 1pm exactly, Manoso should be here any second.
She turned around, slamming straight into the rock hard body that had been standing behind her, instinctively she reached out and grasped a wide and solid bicep to steady herself, before looking up into the face of the single most beautiful man she had ever seen.
She felt her mind go blank. Shit.
