Chapter 6 FIRST PROPOSAL PART 1

The Hunt Enterprises building's top floor was all glass and steel, and it had a view of the city that most people could never afford to see. At almost 10:00 PM there was no one on the floor except for Alexander. The other workers had gone home hours ago. They had families to go back to and lives outside these walls.

He didn't. That's what he told himself, anyway.

The only light in the room came from Alexander's laptop, placed on his desk. He had been looking at the same document for twenty minutes: the contract for Tyranny.

The first public demo of the multimedia franchise was set to take place in eight weeks at the Global Gaming Summit in Tokyo. Yet, they hadn't found a face for the main character. The whole marketing campaign could fail without it.

The motion capture sessions also had to start within ten days, or they would have missed the deadline completely. They would lose their place at the summit if they missed that deadline, which would mean losing the momentum they had built up over the past five years.

He picked up his phone and called Jane.

His assistant answered on the second ring, and her voice was clear even though it was late. "Mr. Hunt."

"Did you send Vivienne Cross the email?"

"Yes, sir. It was sent at 4:27 PM. But no answer yet."

Alexander leaned back in his chair. "Have you heard from Whitmore?"

"Yes, sir. We sent him Vivienne and her agency's profile like you asked. Whitmore thinks she's great."

Gerald Whitmore. The investor who had been threatening to withdraw his $600 million from Hunt Enterprises if they didn't come up with something "groundbreaking." The man had made his money by owning luxury hotels, but he had recently switched to multimedia franchises because he thought gaming was the next big thing in entertainment.

"I had the team do the research and send it to him." Jane went on. "And even though CrossLight is still fairly new to the business, he said that Vivienne tests high as a candidate for connecting with audiences and appealing to the market. Now that we've already told him we have a face, he's seen her information. He's going to threaten to back out again if we don't get her on board as soon as possible."

Alexander's face hardened.

A few weeks after signing the contract, they told Whitmore they had found the perfect candidate. That was a mistake on their part. And that was two months ago.

His team had been so sure of themselves. Maybe too sure of themselves. The investor had been asking for updates ever since.

"Then we lock this in."

"Sir, she's already said no to you in person once. Let's think about other options, please. We can schedule another model at CrossLight."

"It has to be her."

There was silence on the other end of the line before Jane asked, "May I ask why?" very carefully.

Alexander didn't know how to answer that. The logical part of his brain knew Jane was right: there were other choices at the agency.

The first model who tried out was promising, and she was almost as good. They only needed to set up another appointment at CrossLight. But seeing Vivienne leave without looking back changed something in him. It wasn't just her looks that mattered anymore.

"Because I said so," Alexander finally said. "Leave the timeline open for ten o'clock on Friday morning. She'll come around."

"Got it." Jane hung up.

Alexander put his phone down and went back to his laptop. The screen now showed Vivienne Cross's file, which had professional headshots, a short bio, and information about CrossLight Entertainment.

She had started the agency seven years ago and turned it into what it is now. It looked like she had a good reputation in the business as well. It was odd that she didn't have much of a presence on social media. But more importantly, there was no scandal. It looked like she had everything in order. Perfect.

Maybe too perfect.

The door to the office flew open without warning.

"Do you even remember that you have a mother?"

Alexander looked up and saw his mother walking through his office. She was dressed for the evening in a beautiful navy dress, pearls around her neck, and her silver hair was styled perfectly even though it was late. And she was very angry.

"Mom..."

"Don't 'Mom' me, Alexander William Hunt." With her arms crossed, she stopped in front of his desk. "I've called you six times today. Six. Do you know what that feels like? To be ignored by your own child?"

He shut down his laptop. "I've been dealing with something important. I needed to get it done today."

"You're always dealing with something that needs to be done right away." Her voice was sharp, but there was pain behind it. "We were going to have dinner tonight. Seven o'clock reservations at Marcello's. I sat there by myself for forty-five minutes before I left."

Alexander's stomach sank. He had completely forgotten.