AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m not good at crying.”
“I know. I think we should go with the vets.”
“You could’ve just said that from the start.”
“It’s better if it seems like your idea. Clients get defiant when they think their strings are being pulled, and that wouldn’t be good for either of us.”
Grayson resisted the urge to roll his eyes. She was still looking at her tablet, but she’d know. She always knew. “I’m well aware I sold my soul to the Devil. Getting defiant wouldn’t service my purpose.”
This time, she smiled. “You’d be surprised how many people know that and just can’t help themselves.”
Grayson liked to think he was different from all the others. More disciplined. But trying to convince Anastasia of that was pointless. “What will I have to do with the vets?”
She pointed a crimson-tipped finger at the paperwork in front of him. “There are a few different organizations in there. Read through their mission statements and volunteer opportunities. Let me know which one you like best. I’m thinking soup kitchens, meet-and-greets, maybe something with disabled vets.”
“I have some friends in the tech industry. We can give a couple vets a new leg or something.”
Anastasia bobbed her head up and down. “Perfect. I like that. Give me some company names by the end of the day. I’ll see which one fits our image best.”
He hated the way she talked about his image that way. Sure, she’d catapulted him from a nobody to a national sensation within a matter of a couple of years, but it was still his face on everything. His voice. His policies.
It made him feel a little better that Anastasia was just a cog in the machine, too. She didn’t have any actual power. The power came from the company she worked for, Apex Publicity. They were the real puppet masters.
But in order to keep them happy, he had to keep Anastasia happy.
“No problem. Anything else?” he asked.
Anastasia didn’t answer for a moment. She swiped her finger across the tablet’s screen a few more times, then placed it on the seat beside her. Grayson sat up. She rarely let go of that thing.
“Your son.”
Grayson deflated. If there was one thing he couldn’t control, one thing he couldn’t keep locked down and out of the public eye, it was his son. “What did he do now?”
“Nothing. Which makes me think we’re due for another incident.”
The last thing Grayson wanted to do was admit she was right, but when it came to Connor, he couldn’t deny the truth. “What do you propose?”
“Are you still going to family counseling?”
“Yes, but I can’t force him to go. And we’ve had to cancel the last two because of Mary’s hospital visits.”
“How is she doing?”
The question sounded robotic. It was like when someone asks how you are, and you’re forced to return the inquiry even if they couldn’t give two shits about the answer.
“She’s doing better.” Grayson leaned forward. “Look, I’ve done everything I can to handle Connor. I’m out of ideas.”
“Ideas are our business.” She tapped one of her crimson fingernails against her chin. “Let’s see, he’s nineteen.
Good looking. Going to school for computer science. A little bit of a nerd, but has a rebellious streak. He’s still doing drugs?”
“Yes.” The word came out through gritted teeth. He hated that she knew his son as well as he did. Maybe even better.
She snapped her fingers. “A girlfriend.”
“He has one of those.”
She laughed. “We’ll set something up. Get him to dump her. No, she’ll dump him. Break his heart for a while. Then we’ll introduce him to one of our girls. Someone that makes him feel like he’s still rebelling, but someone who can keep him in line. A man in love is easier to control.”
