The Call Boy I Met in Paris — Episode 23
Justin waited until Sophie turned toward the director before answering Patrick’s call. He moved several steps down the corridor, but his excitement ignored every instinct toward discretion. “I just got hired at Swift Architecture,” he announced. “I start today.”
“What?” Patrick’s shout burst through the speaker so loudly that Justin pulled the phone away from his ear. Even at a distance, Sophie glanced over her shoulder. Justin gave her a harmless smile and lowered his voice.
“Are you trying to blow out my eardrums?” he asked. Patrick had managed Lake Enterprises through market emergencies, hostile negotiations, and Justin’s occasional disappearances, but apparently this news exceeded every previous crisis.
“Boss, what about Lake Construction?” Patrick demanded. The company name came through clearly enough to make Justin check the hallway. Sophie was speaking with the director again, though she could turn back at any moment.
Justin covered the lower half of the phone and walked toward a recessed window. “I’m going to count on you to take care of the company while I’m gone,” he said. He delivered the impossible assignment with the calm of someone asking a friend to water a plant.
Patrick went silent, perhaps hoping he had misheard. Lake Enterprises controlled projects across multiple countries, and the Maple Plaza development alone required decisions from legal, finance, construction, and design. Its CEO had just accepted an entry-level job at a partner firm because his wife had smiled at him.
“Okay? Goodbye.” Justin ended the call before Patrick could list the meetings, signatures, and disasters waiting on his desk. The phone immediately began vibrating again.
“Boss,” Patrick’s muffled voice cried when the call reconnected for half a second. “Boss!” Justin rejected it and slipped the device into his pocket. He felt only a flicker of guilt; Patrick was exceptionally capable, and this temporary chaos would eventually make a very good story.
Sophie approached before Justin could silence the next call. “Take care of what company?” she asked. Her expression was curious rather than accusing, but the question struck the most dangerous point in his disguise.
“What company?” Justin echoed, buying himself one breath. He had lied to investors with silence, bluffed competitors through billion-dollar negotiations, and redirected hostile reporters without effort. None of those situations had made his mind go as blank as Sophie’s simple question.
She folded her arms. “The company you just told someone to take care of while you’re gone.” Her tone remained patient, as though she expected an ordinary explanation. “Was that another place you worked with?”
Justin considered claiming Patrick had misunderstood him, but Sophie had already begun collecting inconsistencies. A complicated lie would require more lies later. He needed something small, harmless, and difficult to verify.
His gaze landed on a decorative aquarium near the reception desk. A single goldfish drifted between green plants, opening and closing its mouth with serene indifference. Inspiration arrived so absurdly that Justin almost laughed.
“Take care of Tommy,” he said. The words sounded no more sensible aloud than they had in his head. Sophie blinked, waiting.
“My pet goldfish,” Justin added. He gestured subtly toward the aquarium as if the sight had merely reminded him of a beloved animal at home. “Patrick worries I forget about him when work gets busy.”
Sophie’s suspicion softened into reluctant acceptance. “You called your goldfish Tommy?” she asked. The corner of her mouth lifted, and Justin knew he had escaped the immediate danger.
“He’s sensitive about the name,” Justin replied solemnly. “And since I’ll be working for you now, I’ll be super busy. A pet goldfish requires a lot of work.” He began inventing responsibilities with growing confidence. “Water changes and everything.”
“Okay,” Sophie said slowly. Her gaze suggested she found him ridiculous but strangely endearing. She chose not to ask why Patrick had sounded terrified of being left in charge of a fish.
Justin relaxed and joined her as she led him through the office. Desks, drafting stations, and material samples filled the open floor. Employees looked up at the handsome stranger walking beside their boss, unaware that their new assistant also controlled the company behind their most important development.
Before Sophie could introduce him to the team, Justin’s phone lit up again with a flood of messages from Patrick: emergency approvals, an executive briefing, and one desperate demand to know what “company” he was supposed to protect. Sophie leaned close enough to glimpse the screen, and Justin locked it—but not before her eyes narrowed at the Lake Enterprises logo beside Patrick’s name.
