Silicon Valley Sweetheart Read Online Free Page B

acquired a company there and I was helping to integrate the merger. Now I’m back in the Bay Area where I live. Hopefully, it will be a while before I have to travel again.”
    We continued to talk as we made our way to the baggage claim. When the luggage starting coming onto the carousel, Mark suddenly froze. His shoulders tensed up, and his jaw got tight. I wondered what had happened.
    “What’s wrong?” I asked him.
    “Fuck!” he whispered under his breath. I could tell he hadn’t meant for me to hear that. He grabbed my arm and pulled me close. “Please just go along with this. I’m begging you. I’ll make it worth your while. I will owe you big time!”
    A tall, muscular man wearing a suit and dark glasses approached us. “Mark, your father wants to see you immediately. I’m to take you directly to his office.”
    The way this man said Mark needed to go with him worried me. I wondered if he wasn’t some sort of mob henchman or something like that. Mark didn’t seem too concerned, though. He put his arm around my waist and introduced me to him. “Martin, this is Shirin, my fiancee. Please help us with our bags.”
    Turning towards me, he said, “Shirin, this is Martin, my father’s driver.”
    I was reassured to know the man in front of me wasn’t there to take us to some desolate location where I would never be seen or heard from again.
    Still, I had no idea what was going on. But, at this point, Mark was the only soul I knew in San Francisco. And for some unknown reason, I felt safe with him. Hopefully, he was going to take me somewhere near Stanford. Plus, going with him would resolve my challenge of getting out of the airport.
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    I t took about 45 minutes to get from the airport to his father’s Silicon Valley office. The building was huge. It said Woodham Industries in big letters on the side. Unlike the skyscrapers I was used to seeing in New York, this was a large single story building that was completely glass on the outside. There were tons of cars in the parking lot.
    As we walked into the large lobby, the marble floor caused a slight echo. A blonde receptionist greeted Mark as we entered. He waved at her. After entering a combination into a lock pad on the door, he held the door open for me and I stepped through.
    “Where are we going?” I whispered.
    “My father’s office is at the back of the building.” We must have walked past a hundred cubicles. The room was abuzz with the sound of people working. I could tell this was a high-tech company. We continued to walk until we approached what appeared to be another lobby. Mark stopped at the mahogany reception desk. We could hear voices behind the closed doors. The windows were frosted. I could make out two figures in the office, but I couldn’t see who they were.
    “Fred, this is a problem. As long as your son continues to be ‘Playboy of the Week,’ no one is going to take him seriously. He’s nowhere near ready to take over this company. Especially when he can’t keep himself out of the newspapers like his latest stunt with his Porsche. I don’t even want to know how much that incident cost the company.
    “And, even if he could manage the company, he doesn’t possess your technical capacity. You need someone who can take over the technical part of the business, too. Who have you groomed to do that?”
    Before we could hear his father’s response, a slender brunette in a very stylish pantsuit walked in. She was more dressed up than the other employees I had seen. I assumed she must have been Mark’s father’s assistant.
    She smiled at Mark and said, “Hi, Mark. Your father has been waiting for you. He should be done with his meeting in a few minutes. He wanted me to tell you he’d like you to wait for him in the Spyglass conference room.”
    “Thanks, Lisa. Let me introduce you to Shirin.”
    She turned to me and said, “Nice to meet you. Can I get you some coffee?” She seemed friendly.
    “No, I’m fine. Thank