Or maybe stress fractures would be a more apt description. Gerard Soto didn’t need to know his golden boy was starting to show fault lines. I took the vacation time but left out the medical push behind it. “You need a break, and you need one now.” I was thirty-four and headed for a massive heart attack, she’d warned. Overworked, over-stressed, and over the rat race, that’s what I was. Two weeks at my doctor’s insistence, but a holiday nonetheless. The heat and humidity of Brisbane in February weren’t particularly pleasant in a suit, but I didn’t care. I kept my phone in my hand, slung my messenger bag over my shoulder, and took the elevator down to the basement car park. I took a few deep breaths, trying to keep my blood pressure in check, though the thumping in my temples told me it was pointless. He mumbled something that sounded like a goodbye, and the line went dead. I suppose I should wish you a good vacation.” “Okay, I’ll see you on the twenty- seventh.” I only offered because I knew damn well he wouldn’t want to call a satellite phone for what was no doubt a menial question. “Mmm, no, that won’t be necessary,” he added flatly. “There will be a satellite phone for emergencies. I would have some limited access, but he didn’t know that.

No phone service, no internet.” That wasn’t technically true. “And you won’t be contactable?” he asked. “My flight leaves at six thirty tomorrow morning.” I looked at my watch. I unclenched my jaw and put a smile on my face, even though he couldn’t see it. He was really asking how late he could call me. Soto played little egomaniac games like that. I had no doubt he knew the report was filed before he even asked. Stay I did, which is why he now owned me. So good, in fact, that when headhunters from Sydney and Singapore tried to lure me away, my boss offered me an incredibly lucrative offer to stay. There was a reason I was one of the best corporate finance senior analysts in Brisbane. Then, “And I assume your full monthly report is on my desk.”Ī full month report for half of which I wouldn’t be there. And, as much as I hated it, we both knew I would. If he needed to see me, I’d only have to turn around and go back. “You’ve reached the answering machine of Stuart Jenner. I pulled out my phone with every intention of calling Jason, but it rang in my hand. Twelve days of sun, surf, sailing, swimming, and a whole lot of sex. I’d busted my arse to close my last deal, and at six twenty-five on Friday afternoon, I walked out of my office pumped for my much-needed holiday.

Private charter nr walker