Lover Uncloaked (Stealth Guardians #1) - By Unknown Page 0,5

needed a haircut. He appeared somewhat disheveled.

Now that she looked at him more closely as she approached and took the visitor seat in front of this desk, she noticed that his face looked gray and tired. As if he’d been burning the candle at both ends, just like somebody else she knew: yours truly. Well, he was probably not the only workaholic at Inter Pharma. Nobody got to the top without sacrificing something for it.

“Sit down … Ah, you’re sitting … good, good …”

Leila crinkled her forehead in concern. She’d never seen her boss this flustered. She hoped he wasn’t having a stroke, because despite having a medical degree, she was ill equipped for dealing with a medical emergency. The last time she’d seen a patient was during her residency at Mass General, and that seemed eons ago.

“Are you feeling all right?” she felt compelled to ask, her nurturing side rearing its head.

His eyes suddenly focused, and he appeared as clear as he’d always been. “Of course, why wouldn’t I? … Well, I wanted to speak to you because I’ve had a visit from a shareholder.”

Leila sat forward on her chair, uncrossing her legs. Why would Patten want to talk to her about a shareholder? She wasn’t involved in the operations or any of the finances of the company. Apart from being responsible for her own lab budget, everything else she did was pure research.

A shot of adrenaline suddenly coursed through her. She knew that the share price had recently dipped. Could this mean that the shareholders were unhappy and wanted to cut programs? Possibly eliminate her research?

“My budget is already tight as is.” The words were out before she could think any further. Darn! The way she acted, she would have never made it in the diplomatic corps. And if she continued with blurted-out statements, her career as a researcher with her own lab could soon land on a slippery slope too.

Patten gave her a confused look. “What?”

“I’m sorry, go on; you were saying a shareholder visited you.”

“Yes. It appears Mr. Zoltan has purchased a large amount of our shares when the market dipped. He now owns 36% of our stock, and while that doesn’t give him absolute control over the company, it makes him the largest individual shareholder—”

Leila lifted her hand from her lap. “Uh, Mr. Patten, as you know, I’m not involved in that side of the company. My research—”

“I’m getting to it, Dr. Cruickshank.”

She nodded quickly, not wanting to upset him any further. Something clearly had rattled him today, and she wasn’t interested in getting hit in the crossfire. It was better to keep her mouth shut and let him talk. Maybe he simply needed to vent to somebody, and apart from Jane and the security guard in the lobby, she was the only one left in the building.

Leila sighed inwardly. Great! Now her boss was offloading some useless stuff on her when she could utilize the time much better and finish analyzing the data that she hadn’t gotten to yet.

“As I said, Mr. Zoltan now owns a vast amount of this company and that gives him certain powers. You probably understand that it would be unwise to anger such a man and deny him what he wishes.” Mr. Patten wiped a bead of sweat off his brow before he continued, “He could force a vote and practically reshuffle the board, boot me out … uh, as you see, I really don’t have much choice in the matter.”

His eyes glanced at her nervously. In turn, the same nervousness spread to her, making her skin tingle with unease and her palms turn damp. On edge, she shifted in her seat but refrained from saying anything, realizing that he wasn’t done talking.

“He is merely making sure his investment is safe, you see. It’s not any different from a new owner inspecting his factory and watching over the production process. Right, that’s how we have to look at this.”

Watching over the production process? Was he saying what she thought he was saying? He couldn’t possibly allow … no, that would never happen.

“Mr. Patten, I … I,” she stammered, her mind in too much uproar to be able to form a coherent sentence.

“Mr. Zoltan will be returning on Monday to sit in with you.”

“Sit in?”

Patten nodded, avoiding her gaze, and instead stared at the darkness beyond his window. “He’s requested to learn about your research. My understanding is that he has a medical degree as well and wants to assess