Anna
“Pardon my French, sir, but you have to be shitting me?!”
Mr. Hartz, my boss, throws me a cautious look. It reminds me of the same one my father gives me when I swear in front of him. Even though I’m twenty-four years old, my father still treats me like a child. And seeing that I still live with him, biting my tongue is a constant battle.
I know I’m crossing the line by saying the word “shitting” to Mr. Hartz. After all, who swears at their boss?
A fired person, that’s who.
But Mr. Hartz has become a second father figure to me while I’ve worked for his company. I’ve been here for a solid four years now - two years as an intern (while I was still studying business administration at Dartmouth) and two years as a full-time employee once I graduated – and so naturally I feel comfortable around him.
So much so that a swear word tends to fly out from time to time.
Besides, he just dropped a bombshell on me. And the fallout might be catastrophic.
“Anna… Lucas has worked damn hard these last few years. He deserves the promotion,” Mr. Hartz states with a don’t-push-your-luck expression on his face. “I started him off as a team leader and the manager of deliveries so that he could prove to me that he’s willing to work hard to get ahead in life.”
“I know that,” I exhale. “I just don’t share your faith in him. What about Max?”
“Max has a wife and two small kids. He prefers being the assistant director, not the director of the whole enterprise. It means that he doesn’t have to spend extra hours at the office and go away on business trips.” He pauses and lets out a hearty sigh. “Look, I know you and Lucas have history, but it’d be nice to have you on board with this. You’re the best PA the company’s ever had, and I’d like you to continue in the position when Lucas takes over next month.”
What?
Next month?
That soon?
The ground may as well open up and swallow me whole right now. My cushiony, good salaried job might just bite the dust.
There’s no way I can work for Lucas - #degenerate trust-fund jock notorious for blowing his share of his family’s fortune on hookers in Las Vegas when he was only nineteen - #biggest-prick-on-the-planet.
He may have the body of a Spartan warrior, the face of Adonis, and the voice of a sex God, but I for one am not falling for that smooth, lying, asshole of a Casanova.
Uh-uh. Not for a second time.
“But he’s not fit to run the company,” I continue to protest. “Can’t you advertise and find someone else? Someone more mature?”
Mr. Hartz carves a warm, understanding smile but his words are firm. “He’s my nephew, Anna. I need to give him a shot at this. Hartz Brothers Removals & Storage is a family business. Ever since Lucas’s dad, Jack, died, I can’t help but think this is what he would’ve wanted. Jack started this company with me too.”
“I know,” I say, sinking further into the chair by his desk. “It’s just… Lucas is-”
“A pain in the ass, I know,” he interjects with a chuckle. “But he’s proven himself worthy of a chance and I’m going to give it to him.”
After I inevitably tell my boss that I support his decision and will stay onboard until his nephew drives me so far up the wall that I’m forced to quit, I saunter out of his office and back to my desk.
And I thought the break-up with Jake last month was hands down the worst thing to happen this year.
Boy, was I fucking wrong.
Chapter 2
Lucas
It’s funny – I always thought my uncle was a douche. Not like me douche, not tough. But the complete opposite: too soft for his own good.
He always seems so relaxed and generous. He’s too nice to people. The director of a billion-dollar company should not be “nice”. They should be hard-lipped, ruthless when they need to be, and a total player when it comes to banging women.
Which is why I know that I am the right man for the job.
Being the head
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