"You'd better try. Someone needs to keep you organized." She headed for the door. "Three candidates waiting. Time to find my successor."
After she left, I sat in the quiet office.
Replacing Barbara wasn't going to be easy. She’d given me her notice three months ago, so I’d known it was coming. But that was before everything went to hell.
Two months ago, I’d lost a deal years in the making. All because someone had murdered my business partner in the venture. Salvator Russo, or Big Sal to us in the business, had been gunned down in his own home.
It seemed like a personal affront to me and I'd had to pick up the pieces. I'd managed to salvage most of the deal, but I'd lost millions.
Thank God for Isobel. My lawyer had worked around the clock to restructure the agreements, renegotiate terms with the other parties involved, and minimize the financial hemorrhaging. Without her strategic mind and legal expertise, I would have lost everything instead of just millions. She'd saved my ass more times than I could count over the years—this was just the latest example.
The one bright spot? I'd managed to save the California real estate acquisitions—a portfolio of commercial properties in Los Angeles that would be perfect for film production. Buildings with soundstage potential, office space, the whole package. Bianca didn't know about it, of course. We hadn't spoken in twelve years. But my father's last words to me had been "take care of your sister."
So while I'd let other parts of the deal collapse to limit my losses, I'd fought like hell to secure those properties. Paid more than I should have. Called in favors. Made promises that would cost me down the line. All so that when Bianca's production company was ready to expand—and according to the industry news I definitely wasn't following obsessively, that time was coming soon—the real estate would be there.
She'd never know I had anything to do with it, of course. But I'd know. And somehow, that made the few million I'd lost on everything else a little easier to swallow.
My father had asked me to take care of her. Twelve years of silence didn't change that obligation.
But now if I wanted to keep the rest of my expansion plans intact, I’d need to find another business partner—soon, but for some reason I’d been dragging my feet.
I’d worked hard for a lot of years to get where I was today, so where was my motivation? The loss of the deal had something to do with it. But lately, I’d grown bored with it all. The excitement of power and control just didn’t seem like enough anymore.
Now Barbara was moving on, and I had to find a replacement I could trust. I’d resigned myself to the fact that no one would take care of me the way she had, so I’d just have to get used to the loss.
At least one thing was certain. I would pick the candidate I could work with, and I wasn’t going to settle for anything less.
I glanced through the folders The Agency had sent me. All of them were vetted for discretion. All had experience with high-level executives who valued privacy.
But qualifications weren't everything.
I needed someone sharp. Observant. Loyal enough to keep their mouth shut about the nature of my business.
Three candidates. One position. Two weeks to decide.
I buzzed the receptionist. "Send in Lori Johnson."
Time to see if anyone could fill Barbara's shoes.
∞∞∞
The Agency wouldn't send anyone truly dangerous, but I still planned to have Stone run deep background checks on my final choice. Forrest would verify every digital detail twice.
Standard procedure when hiring someone with access to everything.
I'd just finished interviewing the first two candidates. Lori Johnson—competent but arrogant. Susan Chambers—qualified but impersonal. Neither was right.
Julia Russell was my last option.
I opened her folder.
Her résumé was solid. Maybe too solid. Something about it had caught my attention during initial screening. Small gaps in the timeline. Nothing obvious. The kind of thing most people wouldn't notice.
The kind that made me curious.
A knock at the door.
"Come in."
