Ray’s expression lit up like he was pleasantly surprised to find the blond still around. “Hey.” He set his cup down and slipped from his stool. “Good morning. Did you sleep well?” Ray’s smile oozed charm, enough to soften the blow and make the guy feel special before kicking him out.
Elvin didn’t bother following them to the door, but rather pulled out his laptop and set up a makeshift desk on the kitchen island. He’d already checked both his and Ray’s inboxes that morning, sorting through items that needed immediate responses and ones that could wait. He navigated to a folder he kept updated with all the emails that Ray would have to address personally—everything else Elvin would take care of for him.
When Ray came back alone, Elvin pointed to the laptop. “You’ve got emails to review.”
Ray pouted. Full on pouted. And Elvin had to dig deep for his stern big brother expression. “Don’t give me that. Do your emails or you’re not getting any breakfast sausage.”
Ray gave him a mock gasp. “No! Don’t take away my breakfast sausage!”
Elvin pinned him with a knowing look, then shifted it to the laptop. “Emails. Then breakfast sausage.”
That brought out a chuckle from Ray, who obediently took his seat behind the laptop while sipping his cappuccino. Elvin turned to the giant fridge to pull out the necessary ingredients. Eggs, hash browns, tomatoes, sausage—the appliance was kept fully stocked with every conceivable breakfast food item by Ray’s personal cook. On the lower shelves and in the freezer were prepared meals that could be heated in the oven or by a quick ding in the microwave.
“Why is this in here?”
Elvin glanced over his shoulder to find Ray frowning at the computer screen. “Why is what in where?”
“A meeting with Ming in my schedule.”
He’d been expecting this. “You can’t avoid him forever.”
Ray turned his frown toward Elvin. “Why not?”
“Oh come on.” Elvin went back to tending the eggs in the skillet. “A meeting with Ming isn’t the worst thing in the world. Besides, remember Joanna’s directive for all senior partners to take a more active role in courting investors?”
It was always safe to invoke Joanna’s name. As founder and CEO of Jade Harbour, Joanna was someone no one messed with—not even Ray. She could turn the largest, most brutal man into a simpering fool with one glare. Packed conference rooms fell deadly silent whenever she walked in. She ruled with an iron fist that both terrified and garnered worship from her employees.
Ray dropped his head backward in defeat. “Ugh.”
“I don’t know why you always get so worked up about this. You’re great with investors. They can’t resist your charm.”
“I don’t get worked up.” Ray crossed his arms defensively, which was a telltale sign that he was lying through his teeth.
The truth was, Ray was a natural at investor relations. He knew it, Joanna knew it, and unfortunately for Ray, Ming knew it too. As the head of Investor Relations, Ming was responsible for getting the rich and wealthy to invest in Jade Harbour’s portfolio companies. It involved a lot of schmoozing with influential people and flattering those with already inflated egos. It was something Ming was good at, and something that annoyed almost everyone else at Jade Harbour. Ray especially.
“Besides,” Ray continued, “I already know what Ming wants to talk about.”
“Which is?” Elvin pulled a plate from the cabinet and carefully arranged the food on it.
“Phoenix Family Trust. What else?” From the tone of Ray’s voice, one would have thought that he’d been asked to dive into the nearest dumpster for pennies.
In reality, Phoenix Family Trust was a conglomerate of the wealthiest families in Hong Kong, who pooled their assets to create greater returns on their investments. It also happened to be managed by Ray’s father.
Elvin ran a clean towel around the edges of the plate before setting it carefully in front of Ray with a full set of utensils. “You don’t know that. Maybe Ming wants to talk about something else.”
“How much do you want to bet on that?” Ray unfurled his napkin and laid it across his lap.
“Nothing.” Elvin grabbed another plate for himself and piled the remaining food on it. “Gambling’s more your thing than mine.”
“Hmm.” Ray lifted the fork and knife and cut into the perfectly fried over easy eggs with an elegance that felt overblown for something as simple as breakfast. He created a perfect bite-size morsel of food before lifting it to his mouth.
Elvin watched from the other side of the island with his hip braced against the counter and his own plate in hand. With the edge of his fork, he wiggled it through the egg, stabbed at as many things as he could get onto the tines, and shoveled the whole lot between his lips.
Ray met his gaze as they both chewed. There was a tiny crinkle at the edges of Ray’s eyes, hinting at his amusement, and Elvin felt little compunction in returning it. Ray was an only child raised in prep schools. Elvin was the eldest of six and had acted like a third parent to his younger siblings from the time he could hold a baby bottle by himself. For Ray, meal times were an affair to be enjoyed. For Elvin, they were war zones defined by scarcity—if you didn’t fight for your share, you went hungry.
They’d had heated discussions about this particular difference numerous times in the past. Ray nagging Elvin to take a seat and slow down for fear of choking on his food. Elvin showing Ray his already empty plate with a shrug; no need to sit down when there was nothing left to eat.
He loaded the dirty dishes into the dishwasher as Ray continued eating. By the time Ray was finished, the kitchen was spotless and Elvin had stashed his laptop away.
“Ready to go?” he asked, giving the kitchen a once-over for anything he might have missed.
Ray stood and stretched. “Ready when you are.”
* * *
Ray’s version of ready meant another twenty minutes of gathering his things from rooms across the condo. His socks and shoes were in the bedroom. His laptop was on the coffee table. His sunglasses were... It had taken a full ten minutes to find them under the bed of the guest bedroom.
By the time they made it to Jade Harbour, the weekly Monday morning investment meeting was about to start. The largest conference room in the office was filled to overflowing. Around the large conference table were all the senior investment and operational professionals. Behind them were their junior staff, sitting in office chairs that had been rolled in from elsewhere. The perimeter of the room was lined with cushioned benches, where all other support staff sat. The unlucky late ones took up standing positions by the doors.
At least Ray and Elvin were the lucky late ones.