Must Be Fate [COMPLETE]

News travels.

"Sir, there's a call for you from the editor in chief of B.E. Media." My secretary announces over the phone.

"Put it through," I instruct her.

"Malik, my man, what's going on?" The editor greets me through the phone.

"Tim, what's good my boy? What you need?"

"Storytime. Tell me about this young black CISO you've got. This is a big deal man. Black-owned Atlanta-based Private Equity Firm hires a black woman in such a high position, you doing big things over there. We need this."

"Word travels fast I see..." tapping my finger on the desk wondering which of the guys gave him the lead.

"In this day and age, it pays to have friends." He proceeds. "So my friend, can I get this scoop? If we get this out now, she'll be in the 30 under 30 by December, and you know we need more black faces in there." He tries to persuade me.

"Let me talk to her and see if she's down. I'll get back to you."

"Aight man, give her my contact, maybe we can grab some lunch this week." 

"Sounds good."

I don't know how Sharice will feel about this, but I know it's a good look. We're gonna announce her publicly, so the vultures are going to sweep in, so it's better to get ahead of it.

I get up and walk out of my office. I'll run it by Mason first.

Passing by Sharice's office and I see through the window that she's face deep in paperwork. I laugh to myself. She's really killing this.

I approach Mason's door and knock.

"Come in," he says from behind the door.

I enter. "Hey, I wanted to ask your advice on something."

He looks away from his computer seeming intrigued. "What's up?"

"So Tim from B.E. Media just called, he wants to interview Sharice and put out a piece."

He nods for me to continue

"You know, 'young black woman in the corporate tech, security, and finance world' type of story."

"What's wrong with that?" He asks

"That's the thing, nothing's wrong, but I don't know how she'll feel about all that attention. Tim told me he wants to get the story himself before everyone else does. You know how it goes. Things only died down here because we left. I'd like to keep it that way, and not throw her to the wolves."

He scratches his goatee. "Sharice is a big girl, she knows how these things go, she's a rarity in this whole thing. It's gonna happen, whether we like it or not, at least this way she has a choice."

"Yeah, you're right. When did you get so smart?" I joke.

"Well one of us has to have some brains." He laughs.

I just don't want to share her with the world.