Page 32 of The Billionaire's Baby

"Of all of us, you were always the most slippery."

"Why, because I forged my own path?"

"Because—" The screen in front of me beeps with an incoming weather forecast. I glance at it, then speak into the phone. "It’s because you were the most courageous of all of us."

"You mean the weakest, right?" he replies. "After all, I’m the one who renounced the world and took the easy way out."

"What you did was no mean feat. You dug into yourself, found what your conscience demanded of you and pursued it. Only question is, did it work?"

His sigh is heavy. "I’ll let you know when I know."

The computer screen in front of me beeps again, "Before I go, there's one more thing. Can you call Karina's second-in-command and let her know that she's taking a few days off and can't be reached? Meredith—" I refer to our assistant, "has all the information you need."

"Okay." I sense Edward nod down the phone. "Remember what I said? Follow your instinct."

I disconnect the phone call, glance down at the weather report again. "Fuck me."

A sound behind me has me swinging around.

I scowl, "What are you doing here?"

11

Karina

"Jesus, you’re touchy today." I hold up my hands, "See, no weapons. I am no threat."

"Snooping on me, huh?" He smirks, "Did you miss me?" He looks me up and down, takes in the T-shirt—hisT-shirt—I’d pulled on before I’d wandered over.

"Of course, not." I scowl back. "I was simply curious."

I nod toward the computer screen he’d been looking at, "Everything okay there?"

He glances back at the screen, "It will be."

"What’s that supposed to mean?" I walk over and peer around him at the screen. "What’s that?" I point to the concentric circles splayed over blotches of red and green.

"The weather forecast."

"Huh." The images on the screen blip and change. "It’s like no forecast I have seen before."

He chuckles. "I’d be surprised if it were. These here are files from the Numerical Weather Prediction programs."

"What does that mean?"

"It’s raw weather forecast data, that helps me plan ahead."

"How’s that?"

"It allows me to look at the overall pattern being shown by the files, rather than the wind at points." He scans my features, "Does that make sense?"

"It gives you the big picture?"

He nods. "It’s the raw prediction with nothing added and nothing taken away, which allows me to be in control of what factors I should consider on top of this standard information."

"What other factors would you consider?"

"I tend to use this app," he nods toward another screen, "to share how the fronts and wind systems are developing over time. It’s a three-step approach, effectively." He gestures with his hand, "You have the coastal waters on the English side first. So, I would look at what sort of acceleration I’ll be getting there and consider the tide. Then I’ll look at some other coast-specific forecasts to see if that is predicting any sort of thermal enhancement. Then, the further offshore you get, the more the accuracy of these files," he taps at the screen I’d first seen, "increases. So, I’d be focusing on them and what I expect to come in, based on what has been developing out there. When I get to the other side of the Channel, I would, once again, look at high-resolution files, compare them with a coastal waters forecast, or something similar for that side, to see if they are matching what the weather prediction files suggest and what I expect."