“Done.”
“I’m not,” I continued. “In addition to them running the event, you give them a spotlight. One of your top three. Atnocost.”
Claudia’s jaw dropped. “You’ve got to be joking. We’ve reserved the floor lineup for our biggest names. Starr-Bright is nowhere near—”
“And my job is to get them there.” I shrugged and motioned my hand toward the exit. “Think about it. Call me.”
“Fine. I’ll consider it. But if I do hire them and give them a spotlight…I’ll have conditions too.”
“I don’t doubt that.”
With her signature raised brow and pursed lips, Claudia set her drink down and walked out.
Back in my apartment, I thought quite a bit about getting involved with Claudia again.
When I met her, she had showed up at Hayes Enterprises looking to outsource some of her company’s divisions to cheaper firms. Considering that the plan was to outsource about half her company’s departments, it was quite a project. One that required some late-night calls with international vendors and an overseas business trip.
Claudia was indeed a beautiful woman. Naturally, our attraction was inevitable. One night of passion turned into a few consecutive ones.
Next thing I knew she was making decisions on my behalf on certain deals that I was overseeing. She’d broken deals with vendors that I’d personally hand-picked and formed relationships with. She has ultimatelyusedHayes Enterprises resources and ran the deals herself, in the end breaking some of my most important connections. I tried to set her straight, but she clouded my judgment in every way that worked. Ways that I… was ashamed to admit. It is no wonder people say never to mix business with pleasure.
I didn’t doubt one bit that Claudia would fine-tune the agreement to her liking. But Dean and Starr needed the exposure; especially since they weren’t even considered after Brightman folded.
Ronald Brightman.
The man had stubbornly refused my help for a bailout. Especially since Ron felt that if he couldn’t save the business on his own, without my bailout investment, it wasn’t worth saving.
“And what? You’d come back in three to five years and save it again? No thank you. I think it might be time for warmer climatesfor me anyway.”
For some reason I thought of Isabel. She seemed so wholesome and warm. Unlike any woman I’d ever met; especially not someone like Claudia; who was an opportunistic liar.
I couldn’t imagine that a woman like Isabel would have anything to do with Hayes Enterprises, where the types of people I typically dealt with were usually as devious and cunning as Donovan and Claudia were.
I pulled out my phone and considered calling her. Saturday night was incredible, but she left it strange and cold. Something was on her mind.
This wasn’t good.
I needed to pull myself together. Maybe it was best to see her from a distance. Avoid getting too attached. After all, I still had no idea who she was.
‘Just Isabel’ was not someone to be trusted…yet.
14
ELLE
I didn’t minda busy workday. I was grateful for how motivated and eager everyone had become since Dean and Starr’s announcement to get with it or get out. All of a sudden, every minute of the day counted. There was no longer any idle coffee chat; no one commenting on other’s planning strategies. Well everyone except for Bobby, who still believed he was untouchable. And maybe he was. I began to wonder how much the worthless wonder got paid.
But I quickly snapped out of it, I needed to focus now. I pulled up a long list of connections from when I worked at Brightman. Surely they’d all heard that the great Ronald Brightman folded after twenty long and hard working years— having built an empire from nothing and becoming one of the fastest growing names in the industry, with the largest staff and most well-known clients. How he got himself into a state he couldn’t get out of was beyond me.
I’d drafted a crafty professional email with a slight personal touch to each of my contacts that typically held annual winter or holiday events. I only needed to solidify one, after all.
I thought of Scott, and immediately buried my head in my hands. Rubbing my temples at how odd that whole thing turned out to be. I tried to convince myself that I didn’t have an amazing time with the man on Saturday night. And how unfair it was that I’d finally found the perfect man and I was starting it off all wrong.
“Stressed for a profit event?” Mimi whispered, pulling her chair behind mine.
I popped my head up and just knew I looked hopeless. “Huh? Oh. No. I’m actually not concerned.”
“Ugh, of course you’re not. You could probably get a job anywhere if they cut you.”
