I Am the Wild (The Night Firm #1)- Karpov Kinrade Page 0,13
Mr. Night would bring all the boys running, and I only want to talk to the one who actually fought for me to be there.
"Hello, Eve," his warm voice says a moment later.
"I'll take the job," I say hurriedly, before my liquid courage fades.
"I'm delighted to hear that. Can we expect you to start tomorrow evening?"
"You said this requires a live-in situation, yes?"
"Yes."
"I might need a few days to get my belongings packed and my things in order. But I have… a favor to ask."
"What might that be?"
I bite my lip, hating that I have to ask this. "Is it possible to get my signing bonus now?"
"Of course, that can be arranged." He pauses, and I hear some clicking in the background. "The money has been transferred into your account. You should see it there now. Is there anything else I can do for you?"
I'm dumbfounded. I set my phone to speaker and click open my banking app and check. Sure enough, the deposit was made. "But, I didn't give you my account information."
He chuckles. "You will find we have significant resources at our disposal. You don't think we offered this job to you without doing a thorough investigation into your life, do you?"
"That's… that's invasive!" I feel vulnerable and violated, but not enough to take back my acceptance of the job. I can't totally blame them. I always encouraged background checks on new employees. Of course, they would look into me, especially if I'll be handling sensitive client information or dealing with large amounts of money. And if I'm living with them, then that's a whole other deal. They'd certainly want to know the person they were bringing into their home.
I should be so diligent, but I can't seem to find anything about this company or this family online, which is just strange, and I don't know what it means. How do you run a business, a successful one by the looks of it, without having some online presence these days?
"I apologize for the personal intrusion, but given the sensitive nature of our work, I fear we had no choice but to be thorough. As for your relocation, I can send a moving team to your apartment tomorrow to help you pack and move whatever you want. I can provide a storage, or if you'd rather, I can arrange for whatever you'd like to be sold and the money sent to your account."
"Um. Thanks. Yeah, I guess that would be helpful."
"Very good. Can I expect to see you Thursday evening, then?"
"Yes, that should be enough time."
"Wonderful. We look forward to having you as part of our family. I'll send a driver for you and your belongings at seven p.m. Anything you'd like sent to our home, please let the movers know tomorrow and it will be here waiting for you."
"Can I ask you one more thing?" I rush the words before I lose my nerve. This may be a bad idea, but what the hell. I'm full of those tonight.
"Anything," he says.
I explain to him what I need and I can hear the smile in his voice. "It would be my pleasure to assist in this."
He ends the call, and I sit staring at my phone. Have I completely lost my mind? I kind of feel like I have.
I yawn, and the adrenaline rush of seeing Sebastian and making that call crashes through me, leaving me weak and tired and ready for bed.
I abandon the second bottle of wine and retire to my bedroom, falling onto my mattress like the drunk, exhausted woman I am.
That night my dreams take me to a grove of trees near a stream. The moon is full and reflects off the water. A woman shrouded in a robe stands in front of a blazing fire, her long, dark, hair - wild and curly - whips in the wind as she raises her arms.
"I am the woman in the wild!" she screams into the shrieking wind. As she speaks, the wind thrashes, the water becomes brackish, the fire blazes, and the trees seem to bend into her.
"I am the blood sister of the moon! I am the call of the night and her secrets. The radiance left from a star. I am all that you need and more than you know. I am the hidden that shall now be found. Tell my story. Set me free. I am the magic that you seek. I am the wild!"