Chapter 323
Chapter 323
Avery’s POV
The next morning, I found Bjorn at the breakfast table, picking at his toast. I walked past and told him to get his shoes on.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because you got kicked out of school, so you have to come to work with me today,” I said coolly as I filled my travel coffee. cup.
Bjorn sighed. “Can’t I just stay home with Grandma p>
“What, so you can just play video games all day?” I tossed him his jacket. “I don’t think so, bud. Come on, we’re gonna be late.
Bjorn groaned, but to his credit, he didn’t argue further. The drive to the office was quiet, and he spent the entire time looking out the window with his arms folded.
“I need you to behave today,” I told him when I pulled into the parking garage.
He didn’t respond.
“Bjorn p>
“I heard you. Geez p>
I decided to just let it go.
Claire met us at the elevator on the fortieth floor. She took one look at Bjorn and then lifted her brow at me. I just shook my head, silently telling her not to ask right now.
“Hi, Bjorn,” she said, smiling.
“Hey, Claire,” He stuffed his hands into his pockets and dragged his feet.
Claire fell into step beside me as we walked toward my office. “You have the Hartwell meeting at ten,” she said under her breath. “And the supply chain call at two. Also, you got a follow-up from Alpha Sebastian’s office this morning p>
“I already told you to decline that p>
“I did, but they want you to reconsider.” She shot me a look. “I want you to reconsider p>
“The answer is still no, Claire p>
My assistant pressed her lips together and nodded, dropping the subject. I pushed
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Chapter 23
+25 Bonus
open the door to my office. Bjorn followed me in and immediately flopped into the chair in the corner.
“Uh-uh, we’re not here to lounge around,” I said as I took my coat off. “You’re going to be my little assistant today p>
“Seriously p>
“Yes, seriously.” I dropped a notepad in his lap. “Write down anything that seems important. We’ll go over it at the end of the day p>
I knew he was just going to doodle, but at least he would be occupied.
For the first hour or so, it was fine. Bjorn was quiet, and I managed to get through most of my emails and review the notes for the Hartwell meeting. At one point I asked him to take some files down to Claire’s desk for me. He did it, came back, and sat back down without a word.
The Hartwell meeting started at ten sharp. I was in the large conference room on the top floor. Six people from Hartwell’s team were already seated when I arrived, plus my own team on my side. Bjorn trailed in behind me, and I pointed him toward a chair in the corner, away from the table where he could still see.
This meeting was important. Hartwell was one of our biggest potential distribution partners-getting them on board would open up a whole new chain of retail access across the country.
I had been working toward this for eight months. My team had prepared extensively. Everything was going well for the first twenty minutes or so. Eventually, I heard the sound of Bjorn moving in the corner.
I didn’t look up from the report I was walking Hartwell’s team through, but I tracked the sound out of the corner of my eyes. Then there was a soft thud, and a few people glanced toward the corner of the room.
I looked up,
Bjorn had found an empty chair and had his feet up on the table. He was tossing a small foam stress ball into the air and catching it. On his last toss, he missed the catch, and it went rolling right into the lap of one of the men from Hartwell.
The man caught the ball and stared.
“Kids,” I said, forcing a laugh. “Bjorn, you can sit at the table, but you have to put your feet down p>
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