Jude, my annoying little brother, was bouncing in the backseat, rattling off facts about Dad and his work. I couldn’t understand half of what he said—constantly rattling off things most high schoolers would scratch their heads at. Jude was some sort of prodigy with numbers, and my parents were already tutoring him to hone that talent.

It just made him all the more irritating.

My mother had stayed behind at home, stating that this was a day for the men of the family, leaving us in the trusted care of our longtime driver, Ed.

We pulled up to the curb of Cavenaugh Investments. I had to admit, I was a little disappointed not to find my father waiting for us, but I guessed he was a busy guy. Ed walked us in through the glass doors, and I took a brief glance around.

I’d been in the lobby dozens of times. I’d just never made it much further than that.

Today though, I would be taking the private elevator all the way to the top.

I felt like a superstar.

My father’s assistant fetched us from the lobby, thanking Ed for delivering us.

“Did you know, only three people in the entire building know this code?” Jude said proudly as we entered the elevator. “It goes directly to Daddy’s office. The rest of the executive offices are on that floor, but they have to use the regular elevator and can only access Daddy’s office by appointment or permission.”

“Shut up, Jude,” I said. I smiled awkwardly at the pretty woman.

“He’s right, you know,” she said with a quick wink.

“Yeah, I know,” I sighed.

He was always right.

The elevator zoomed to the top, and before I knew it, the doors were opening, and we were standing in the waiting area outside my father’s office. His assistant’s desk was to the right, and a large seating area was to the left. I took a step toward the large wooden door that led to my father but was stopped.

“It looks like your father is stuck in a meeting. How about I show you around the executive floor? Maybe take you to the fancy break room for some snacks?” She waggled her eyebrows at us, making Jude jump up and down.

I was so not impressed.

I wanted to see my dad, not sit around eating snacks—I could do that at home. But I followed the perky young woman anyway, looking back at my father’s office. It didn’t take long for us to make it to the break room, but unfortunately for our host, all the doughnuts had been devoured.

“Well, let’s see…” she said. Clearly panicking, she started going through cupboards and drawers.