LUCIAN
When she’d walked out of my office on Tuesday—after she’d asked, no, boldly demanded that I attend the fundraising event—I’d been left with a quiet, satisfying sense of victory since that day. I had the upper hand and she knows it.
When my PA buzzed in to let me know a Corinne Sterling had called, the first thing I felt like surprise.
She’d already declined the appointment already and instead of focusing back on the thousand and one things I had going on, I gave it just ten seconds of thought.
“Tell her to be here in an hour’s time,” I said.
There was a pause on the other end of the intercom. “Sir,” my PA said carefully, “you have a meeting scheduled with the board of directors in an hour’s time.”
“Reschedule it for tomorrow.”
She hesitated, just long enough for the unspoken
