them that everything was going to
be fine. So she lied. She told them that, while they knew that the upcoming
year would be hard, military families did it all the time and they were excited
for what the opportunity meant for Patrick’s career.
Perhaps, she told herself, if she repeated this enough, she might
even begin to believe it too.
William Hartman was not a patient man. He’d never had
to be. An only child, his father had bailed while he was still too young to
know any different. Luckily, for him, his mother had married well—all five
times. She married one Wall Street banker after another, each of them having a
range of feelings towards William, ranging from disdain to indifference. He
would tell you, of all of them, indifference was the worst.
William attended the best private schools that money could buy
and eventually the best boarding school in the country. While he was still at
home, he studied his mother’s husbands, listening to their conversations and
learning all things business. He understood that to get ahead you had to wall
yourself off, show no emotion, and beat them at their own game. Second best did
not a winner make. So that’s what he did. After graduating from Harvard, he
started his business, Hartman Enterprises, and began buying up businesses that
were on the verge of failing. He bought low and sold high, dabbling in real
estate as well. He was a natural at knowing what to do, what to say in order to
get what he wanted. Soon, he was well-known for having one of the best real
estate and business portfolios in the United States. By age thirty, he made the
Forbes list as one of the world’s youngest billionaires. Sure, his personal
life was nearly non-existent. He had very few close friends, and, while there
was no shortage of women in his life, he rarely dated any of them twice.
William had a philosophy about mixing business with pleasure, and, since his
world revolved around business, he found this fairly easy to manage.
Until the day he met Addison Greyer. He pegged her wrong, never
imaging that she’d have sex with him in an elevator and then refuse to return
his calls or answer his emails. That was his game. And he’d never been beaten
at his own game. Had she not been injured, he told himself, he never would’ve
paid it any further attention. But as the days went on and he thought about
their encounter, he couldn’t get her out of his mind.
He sent her flowers in the hospital and on her first day of work,
which she ignored. And the more she ignored him, the more interesting she
became. Women just didn’t treat him this way. It never happened. So he was
taken aback and all the more intrigued when it did. The thing about William was
that he trusted his intuition, and, when it told him to pursue something, he
did.
Seven
The days until Patrick’s departure were flying by in a
blur. Addie found herself collapsing from sheer exhaustion each evening, which
made it fairly easy to put what she had dubbed “The Elevator Event” out of her
mind, despite the fact that Mr. Hartman had called and emailed several times.
Addie hadn’t read the messages, instead forwarding them off to a folder to be
opened and dealt with later, when things settled down.
A week before Patrick was scheduled to leave for China, Addie
started her new job. The Carlisle Agency was an upscale placement service,
which supplied household staff, everything ranging from a single cleaning lady
or butler to full-service staff, capable of managing entire estates. Addie’s
job in particular was to interview potential clients, to understand their needs,
and then sell them on the agency.
Thankfully, she used the agency to find nanny extraordinaire,
Kelsey, to care for the boys and considered it beneficial to have gone through
the entire process and client experience herself.
It took some getting used to, having to be somewhere every day,
but overall, she was getting acclimated to being in an office again. It
be fine. So she lied. She told them that, while they knew that the upcoming
year would be hard, military families did it all the time and they were excited
for what the opportunity meant for Patrick’s career.
Perhaps, she told herself, if she repeated this enough, she might
even begin to believe it too.
William Hartman was not a patient man. He’d never had
to be. An only child, his father had bailed while he was still too young to
know any different. Luckily, for him, his mother had married well—all five
times. She married one Wall Street banker after another, each of them having a
range of feelings towards William, ranging from disdain to indifference. He
would tell you, of all of them, indifference was the worst.
William attended the best private schools that money could buy
and eventually the best boarding school in the country. While he was still at
home, he studied his mother’s husbands, listening to their conversations and
learning all things business. He understood that to get ahead you had to wall
yourself off, show no emotion, and beat them at their own game. Second best did
not a winner make. So that’s what he did. After graduating from Harvard, he
started his business, Hartman Enterprises, and began buying up businesses that
were on the verge of failing. He bought low and sold high, dabbling in real
estate as well. He was a natural at knowing what to do, what to say in order to
get what he wanted. Soon, he was well-known for having one of the best real
estate and business portfolios in the United States. By age thirty, he made the
Forbes list as one of the world’s youngest billionaires. Sure, his personal
life was nearly non-existent. He had very few close friends, and, while there
was no shortage of women in his life, he rarely dated any of them twice.
William had a philosophy about mixing business with pleasure, and, since his
world revolved around business, he found this fairly easy to manage.
Until the day he met Addison Greyer. He pegged her wrong, never
imaging that she’d have sex with him in an elevator and then refuse to return
his calls or answer his emails. That was his game. And he’d never been beaten
at his own game. Had she not been injured, he told himself, he never would’ve
paid it any further attention. But as the days went on and he thought about
their encounter, he couldn’t get her out of his mind.
He sent her flowers in the hospital and on her first day of work,
which she ignored. And the more she ignored him, the more interesting she
became. Women just didn’t treat him this way. It never happened. So he was
taken aback and all the more intrigued when it did. The thing about William was
that he trusted his intuition, and, when it told him to pursue something, he
did.
Seven
The days until Patrick’s departure were flying by in a
blur. Addie found herself collapsing from sheer exhaustion each evening, which
made it fairly easy to put what she had dubbed “The Elevator Event” out of her
mind, despite the fact that Mr. Hartman had called and emailed several times.
Addie hadn’t read the messages, instead forwarding them off to a folder to be
opened and dealt with later, when things settled down.
A week before Patrick was scheduled to leave for China, Addie
started her new job. The Carlisle Agency was an upscale placement service,
which supplied household staff, everything ranging from a single cleaning lady
or butler to full-service staff, capable of managing entire estates. Addie’s
job in particular was to interview potential clients, to understand their needs,
and then sell them on the agency.
Thankfully, she used the agency to find nanny extraordinaire,
Kelsey, to care for the boys and considered it beneficial to have gone through
the entire process and client experience herself.
It took some getting used to, having to be somewhere every day,
but overall, she was getting acclimated to being in an office again. It
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