201 Lunch at the Alpha Group HQ 3

Max looked at the photo frame with their photo in it and remembered how at that time he wanted to get close to Liz, unaware that he will be this smitten. He wondered, if he knew that Liz would have this huge impact on his life, would he do anything differently? Absolutely not. From the moment Elizabeth entered his life, her presence delivered a series of shocks which managed to wake him up, and now he is a man who is striving for something: a bright future with Elizabeth, and he is ready to do anything to make it happen.

Liz watched Max who was lost in his thoughts and she wondered, what is on his mind? He is smiling, so it must be something pleasant, she thought.

"I picked that picture because it's the first one where you are holding me.", Liz broke the silence. She saw that Max is looking at her questionably and she explained: "Your hand on my shoulder. No one ever held me like that. It's solid, unyielding and it makes me feel safe."

Max smiled and kept the picture frame to stand on his desk. "This is the perfect spot for it."

He turned to Liz and pulled her into a hug. "I am happy to hear that you are describing my presence by your side as solid. I will always be there for you and I hope that in time you acknowledge me as your constant pillar of support. No matter what it is... even if the sky is falling, I will hold it up for you."

Liz leaned into his embrace and smiled. Talking about things like 'always' and 'constant' is ridiculous considering that they don't know each other for a long time, and they are dating for less than a month, but somehow… she believes that he will always be by her side because being with Max feels right.

"Do you like it?", Liz asked while gesturing toward the photo frame which is now on his desk.

"I love it. That photo alone will make me spend more time in this office."

Liz's smile faded. "Oh… I was about to gift you a few more, but if it will make you spend more time at work, I'm not sure if that is such a good idea."

Max caressed her cheek gently while responding: "You can gift me as many as you want. I will cherish each of them equally. But no photo is better than the real thing. I will always rush back home to you. I don't know how to thank you."

Liz smiled happily at her sweet talker. "Lunch would be nice."

"Right this way…", Max opened the door of his office and gestured to her to come out.

Liz glanced at the table with a computer, and the chair in the hallway in front of Max's office. "Is this where Foxy sits?"

Max confirmed. "Foxy can have her own office if she wants, but she insists that like this she can keep an eye on me." Max leaned closer and whispered to Liz: "Just between the two of us, I think that Foxy is spying on me and reporting to Nathan when I get in and out of office…"

Liz laughed.

Max's hand was firmly on Liz's shoulder as he led her down the hallway, away from the elevators. At the end of the hallway, Max opened the door which had in bold white letters: 'CEO Nathaniel Anderson'.

Liz walked in without a word, curious to find out why are they going to Nathan's office.

"Liz!", Nathan exclaimed cheerfully as soon as Liz entered the office.

"You said that you will be out until two o'clock.", Max told Nathan grumpily.

"Yes, yes. I'm about to leave, but I wanted to say 'hi' to Liz first." Nathan waved at Max dismissively and turned to Liz. "How are you? You look lovely."

"I'm fine, Mr. Anderson, thank you for asking. How are you?"

"Great, great…" Nathan fidgeted for a few seconds before adding: "I am sorry about barging into your apartment on Sunday. It was inappropriate."

Liz forced a smile. She does not like it, but it's already done. What is the point of scolding the man now? He already knows that it was not the right thing to do. "Don't worry about it."

"Right. You probably don't want to talk about it…", Nathan mumbled and went to get his suit jacket. "OK. I will leave you two kids to it… I will see you later."

Liz watched Nathan walk out of the door and when the door closed, she observed a spacious office.

It's a corner office at least six times the size of Max's office, with two external walls covered in floor to ceiling windows which are showing Seattle downtown, and piers in the distance. The view from the 55th floor is breathtaking.

The focal point of the office is a massive U-shaped desk made out of Amazon Rosewood, with a comfy leather chair behind it and two chairs in front. On the right, there is a sitting area with a sofa and two sofa chairs around one long coffee table. Behind it, is one door, and Liz guessed that it's probably a bathroom. On the left is another sitting area with two leather reclining sofa chairs, each with a small coffee table by its side and in the far left corner, is one round table with four chairs around it… that table is set up for a meal with bells covering the plates and Liz concluded that this is where they will have their lunch.

"Nathan is right, you look lovely. Is that new?", Max was asking about Liz's outfit and his expression showed her that he approves.

"Mhm…", Liz hummed in confirmation. "I went shopping this morning."

Max guided Liz to the table, which is set up for a meal, and pulled a chair for her.

"Nathan said that he will be out of the office from noon to two in the afternoon, and I thought that we can enjoy a peaceful lunch here, in my future office."

Liz nodded in approval. "I like it."

"I am glad." Max smiled while removing the bells and revealing steak and shrimp in a creamy garlic sauce with mashed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts on the side.

Liz watched as Max poured white wine in her glass and she wondered, how will things change when he becomes the CEO? "You are working as Nathan's assistant. When you become the CEO will you have an assistant?"

"Yes. There are many things to handle, and having an assistant can free up a lot of my time." Max saw that Liz is looking at him expectantly and he understood that she wants to know more about it. "As Nathan's assistant, I know almost everything he is doing. I help him prepare for his meetings and we discuss deals before he signs them. I also gather data and provide him with reports. A lot of it is sensitive information and it can't be done by anyone. Without an assistant, I would need to put a lot of overtime and I will burn out quickly. For this job, I will need someone I can trust and who knows the industry, and other than Hunter, only Foxy fits that description. Ideally, Foxy will stay by my side as my secretary."

Liz understood that Max wants Hunter to be his assistant. "Did you talk to Hunter about it before?"

"No. I wanted to have a timeline in place, and now that I'm looking at November, I will talk to him. But I have a feeling that it will work out. When Hunter started working here few years back, we touched the topic of working together."

Max clinked his wine glass with Liz's before asking: "You said that you went shopping, did you have fun?"

"I went shopping with Rina.", Liz responded while giving Max a knowing look.

Max laughed. He knows how persistent Rina was to meet with Liz while they were fake-dating. "I can imagine that she was happy about it."

Liz confirmed. "And we also talked about Jackson…"

Max paused. Based on Liz's expression, he understood that whatever they talked about, it's not pleasant.

"Go on…", her urged her.

Liz told him that eight years ago Jackson saved Sabrina during a skiing accident and that Rina believes how during that incident he got epilepsy and that is why she is with him. Liz also mentioned that Jackson is using his connection to the Anderson family to benefit his business.

The more Max heard, the more his brows were furrowed. "I see…"

Liz noticed that Max stopped eating. "Sorry. I guess I should have told you that after the meal."

"No, no…" Max snapped out of it and put a piece of shrimp into his mouth. "I am aware that he made a move on you, and after hearing what he told you in the restaurant in Hawaii, I am fully aware that he is a scoundrel. I need a minute, and I will be fine. But I have a feeling you think that something is off."

Liz didn't deny it. "I suspect that he is lying. However, at this point, it's just a feeling. Maybe it's because I don't like him, so I am looking for things which are not there, but I think that there are too many coincidences and this situation is very convenient for him. Rina told me that Jack drinks and that he smokes occasionally, and as someone with epilepsy, he should avoid those. However, that is not proof of anything other than him being reckless."

"You have a plan.", Max stated. It was not a question.

Liz confirmed. "I want to confirm how that accident caused his epilepsy, if he has it at all. If you can dig out those original records when Jackson was examined and diagnosed with epilepsy, I can take it from there."

"Eight years ago…", Max didn't sound very optimistic.

Now, the data is stored in clouds and everything is connected to a network. That means how a skilled hacker would be enough to find the information. However, eight years ago most of the data was stored locally due to the high cost associated with data storage. And due to space limitations, many companies would purge details, keeping only the summary of records. In addition to that, if Jackson visited a small family practice, there is a chance that there are no electronic records at all. In any case, Max would need to hire someone to find where the data is and to personally retrieve it. It's complicated, but not impossible.

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