"Have you tried turning it off and back on again?"
••
Christian Ivonov, CEO of Ivonov enterprises, had always been the best at fucking things up. Whether it be relationships, or company connections, nothing was too far out of his reach to ruin.
Alex...
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"...No... this is Joan."
Right, Joan.
"Yes hello, this is Christian Ivanov."
The line went silent for a while. "Jane- I mean, Joan, are you still there?"
"Y-Yes my apologies, how can I assist you Mr. Ivanov?" She stuttered into the line. I must have caught her completely off guard with this phone call.
"Sorry for the abrupt call to your personal line. Alex has you listed as an emergency contact."
"He had me listed under Janet?" She asked. I sort of froze, then pulled my phone back to take another look at the scanned document. Nope, it said Joan there. I was just an idiot.
"Hard to read." I lied. "Anyways, I'm having a difficult time locating him right now and we have a meeting in about-" I glanced down at my watch, "Seven minutes. Have you heard from him?"
"He hasn't called." She replied. "Aren't you in NYC? I couldn't imagine he would go far. What did he say when he left?"
I thought for a moment, remembering the brief conversation we had before he hurried out of the lounge. "I think he got a phone call. Something about needing to take it. I just told him not to take too long but I don't think he said anything after that."
Joan took another pause over the phone.
"Give me a minute, and I'll see if I can reach him. I'll give you a call when I find out more information."
"Thank you." I replied to her before the line went dead. All I could do while I waited, was pace around the entrance. There was a woman who sat at the front desk. Maybe she had seen Alex leave, or knew in what direction he took off. When I approached her, I realized she wasn't the woman that had helped us get checked in, this was someone else.
"Hi!" She greeted me as I approached. "How can I assist you today?"
"I was wondering if you saw someone go through those doors about forty-five minutes ago?" I pointed to the entrance. "He would have been wearing a blue button down with a gold/tan tie. It's a Giorgio Armani tie, one that I gave to him because he tends to come to work without any ties- I know, the fucking disrespect right?-" I cut myself short when my eyes found this desk clerks, and I realized I had just disclosed far more information than she probably needed.
"A man in a blue shirt and gold tie?" She clarified. I gave her a nod.
"If it was over thirty minutes ago, I think it was Emma who was working here. She stepped out for a break but should be back in the next ten minutes if you have some time to wait." The lady explained. I gave her a nod, and took a seat at one of the benches located near the front door.
