Lucina cut him off. “If you come up with anything where you may need an extra six figures, then you let me know.”

He said, “I doubt if I’ll need it, but all right.” He abruptly stood up and looked at his black, gold, and silver Rolex watch. “Well, I have another meeting to take at three, Lucina. So, good luck with everything, all right? And make sure you tell Maya I said hi.”

Lucina had no choice but to stand up with him as he walked over toward his door to show her out.

“Thanks for dropping by,” he told her.

“And I’ll make sure I tell Maya,” she promised him. When all of hell freezes over, she promised herself. But she pressed him anyway. “Just remember to call me on any new business.”

Randy blew her off and said, “Yeah, I’ll let you know.”

WHEN LUCINA RETURNED to her black Mercedes in the parking lot, she felt foolish.

I should have never tried this, she thought behind the wheel. What made me think that he would ever change? If business was only business, I’m sure we could all work something out and make money. But business has so many levels of nonbusiness that it all drives me crazy sometimes.

She took a deep breath before she restarted her car and drove off with other plans boiling.

BACK AT THE OFFICES of Hutch & Mitchell, it was unrealistic to assume that Ivan could keep his good fortune away from his fellow accountants. Outside of the Nissan Altima that he continued to drive to work, everything about him had changed. His choice of clothes was snazzier, he finished his tax work a lot faster than usual, he rarely stayed late at the office or went to lunch with the guys anymore, he continued to have his hair cut low, and his confident swagger was off the charts now. The bosses had even let the cat out of the bag about his recent performance, stating that they were very pleased with all of the new clients he had brought them over the third and fourth quarters of the year. In fact, Dwayne had told him that John and Barry wanted to meet with him to address his new salary.

“You should be ready for it by now,” he assumed of Ivan. He had been drilling him for it since October.

Chip was all over Ivan at his cubicle for real answers.

“So, what’s going on, Ivan? What’s your secret? And you’re not gonna tell me that love is doing all of this for ya,” Chip pressed him. “Because if that’s really the case, then I’d like to meet this girl’s younger sister,” he joked.