After bringing my car in for servicing a few times, the shift **** always came back loose. Someone liked to twist it while driving...

It finally came completely loose and it looks like the screw is lost inside the shift boot.

A) shouLd I be worried about this screw gone missing inside the car?
B) how do I fix this?

From what I can tell this is a stock shift ****. Not having the ball top on the shifter is kinda painful to drive with nor is it safe to drive with the ball top that can slide off.

I'm looking for cheaper fix as I just dropped over 2k on my car in the past month...Suggestions?