Page 41 of Broken Brothers

“You’re on your way to great things, son,” he said.Terrible that only he would call me son and not my adopted father.“Once this is all done, we’re going to get you promoted to director of something here. And before you know it, you may even be a partner. What you’ve done here for an intern is something to be very proud of, and I hope you are.”

“Oh, I am,” I said, beaming.

“Good, because you’ll probably need to speak at this gala.”

I felt a tinge of nervousness at that, given that Morgan would be there and, by extent, the rest of my family, but I didn’t mind one bit. If it meant I won my bet with Morgan and that I hadwon Layla’s heart despite all my misgivings about the deal, well, public speaking was a small price for Chance Hunt to pay.

Plus, it would mean that my name, not the Hunt name, would be the one attached to this deal. Oh, I didn’t intend to use my birth last name by any means—that was too much of a slap in the face of Morgan and Mrs. Hunt—but the name Chance would take precedence over Hunt. Hunt Industries didn’t close this deal. Chance did.

“Whatever I need to do, sir,” I said.

“That’s the spirit I like to hear and I’ll bet that’s what got us this deal!”

Burnson finally left, going down to the next office and spreading the word. I even heard him drop my name, which made me realize he wasn’t kidding. He might actually be promoting me for all that I had accomplished. I might actually get true recognition for what I had done. Certainly, within the company, I had accomplished something incredible.

My vision for the future was finally coming true. I had proved to myself that I could make a name for myself without relying on my family name. I’d be lying and disingenuous if I said my family name played no role in landing me at Burnson Investments, but everything I had done since had gotten me to this point. I alone had been the captain of my ship—it just so happened the ship bore the same name as the harbor from which it came from.

I heard another knock at the door, but this time, it came from someone I was much more interested in seeing.

“Come back for more business?” I said, knowing full well what Layla meant.

“Ha, ha,” she said slowly, shutting the door. “No. We can do that at your place anytime.”

“Well, speaking of my place, it would make for a great after-party following this,” I said, holding up my invitation. “But itwould make an even better after-party if I had a plus one. Hmm, if only I had someone I could bring along to this. Hmm. And if only such a person were standing in front of me in a way that I could ask them.”

Layla laughed but noticeably stayed on the other side of the desk from me.

“You want to go as my date when my father will be there, Chance? Knowing you, you’d try and fuck me on the mic stand.”

“That’s… more true than it should be,” I said with a chuckle.

“Listen, I came over to drop some last second files off—no, really—but I should address that. I have to go alone. I just have to.”

“I get it,” I said. As long as she wasn’t bringing along some ex-boyfriend or some hotshot business partner, I could live with her being alone.

“Just know mentally, you are my date and I am your date, OK?” she said, smiling. “We have to keep up appearances to a certain extent, but once the gala ends… well, I won’t be keeping this up.”

My eyes widened. The temptation to grab her, lift her up, pull her to my side of the desk, and have my way with her was rather strong. But today, with John Burnson making the rounds, the last thing I needed was some scandal ruining it all. Come to think of it, even shutting the door in this context might have seemed weird.

“I’ll see you there, OK?” Layla said with a wink.

“Oh, without a doubt,” I said.

She blew a kiss to me, I blew a kiss back, and she exited quickly. No sex this time. No office shenanigans.

But something much better than that. Security.

“Without a doubt.”

17

As I slid into the tuxedo that I had rented for the evening, one that would have cost so much money to buy I could have used the funds to buy a car, I could not believe my good fortune.

It had felt real when I had seen the envelope inviting me to the gala, but tonight, with my ride over just about five minutes away… well, this felt surreal.

We were about to close on an eight-figure deal, something I had never even come close to working on. No, I was about to close on an eight-figure deal; Burnson, by the way he had spoken to me earlier, seemed more than willing to pass off the credit to me. I’m sure he would say something for himself at the gala, but the fact that I would get to speak meant I would have my chance in the spotlight.

With this new success and notoriety, I would be able to launch my own firm. I would have a name in business, I could use this to branch off to other fields, and I could start to build my network as early as tonight. No longer would I see galas and balls like this as absurd indulgences of the rich but a massivelydelightful chance to partake in the building of relationships with highly successful people.