"Good afternoon, Mr. Caffee," Jada greeted him. "What are you up to at the moment?"

Billy chuckled. "Oh, don't tease me, Ms. Turin. You don't have to get so formal with me."

He was certainly glib as befit a businessman, and Jada would really not have contacted him if he was not useful right now.

"Haven't you heard? Someone just sabotaged my projects!"

"Really? I swear it has nothing to do with me, Ms. Turin," Billy swore, quick to assert his loyalty. "Find the person responsible-don't throw away the entire basket now!"

While Jada had yet to investigate, she could tell that Billy was at least innocent.

After all, he was a shrewd businessman and your stereotypical fence sitter. Even if some offstate investors had expressed interest in expanding into this town, the situation was still opaque a man like Billy would be standing aside to watch everything unfold without risking anyone's wrath.

Still, Jada threatened him, "It had better not be you, or I'll tear you a new one!"

"Don't worry." Billy chuckled. "I'm local, despite how things look. Why would I betray my own people?"

Jada snorted at those words-it was exactly people like him who would suckle on any nipple as long as it was lactating, reputation be damned! "Then spread the word-tell everyone that Frankton Group supports the investments, but they won't leave a challenge unanswered. If this happens again, there will be blood!"

"Understood!"noveldrama

And with that, Jada hung up and flung her phone on her desk.

Conflicts in business could get tedious, what with all the maneuvering and strategy. Jada certainly could not stand it-why could they not just murder the other guy and be done with it?

Still, she did not tire once she remembered that this was for Frank's sake. Picking up her phone again, she called a man named Silas York from Shanton, a bigwig from another city.

His company was not the top among the investors who attended the convention, but they would look quite innocent as they were working in new energy and showbiz. Since they would not have any conflicts of interest with Frankton Group, they would not have the need to challenge them... or that was how it was supposed to look, at least.

"Hello? To whom am I speaking to?" Silas asked, unaware of who Jada was.

"Hello, Mr. York. I'm Jada Turin-we met just this morning."

"Oh, Ms. Turin! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Just tell your friends not to push their luck, or it'd be bad for everyone if things got out of hand!"

And with those words, Jada hung up.

On the other end, Silas snorted at the static beeping.

Whatever made her so cocky? They were just local bigwigs!

It was fortunate that he had no conflict of interest against Frankton Group, or he would really make them pay!

Once again, Callie was wondering

why Jada did what she did. "Is that

they'd see through you?"

the The threat? Don't you that

"You need to be ruthless in business, but no Done beats the mob. We have

Study the playing field before 192

to

y taking action."

"I don't get it, though I'm not interested anyway."

Callie shrugged-in her mind, the best solution was all-out war against those out-of-state bigwigs.

She had a bigwig in Frank as a trump card, and it was fisticuffs at worst. Why bother making a fool of herself instead?

Still, it was none of her business, and Callie had no reason to worry.

"How carefree!"

Callie shifted to the side, exceedingly wary as she snapped coolly, "Nope. Never seen you before!"

Sally raised a brow. "Really?"