Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“You need an assistant,” Liam continued. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’re putting in twelve hour days and working weekends to keep up with your workload. If you could keep an assistant, you wouldn’t have to do it all yourself. You could delegate.”
I scoffed, even though I knew he was right. I was chained to this desk precisely because I had no reliable help, which meant I absorbed the work an assistant should be handling. And every new hire came with weeks of training, of covering their gaps while they learned the ropes and what the business entailed. Then came the point where I was supposed to start trusting them with more.
That was where it always fell apart.
“This is about Carla, isn’t it?” Liam asked.
I flinched. I couldn’t help it. “Why would you think that?”
He gave me a look that said he hadn’t bought the deflection for a second. “Come on, man. I know it messed with your head when she lost us that multi-million-dollar account when we were first starting out.”
He was right, and we both knew it. Carla had been my first assistant when we launched the firm. She’d had a decade of experience and glowing references. I’d believed she was the perfect fit. I’d trusted her completely.
And that extension of trust had come back to bite me when she fumbled one of the first major deals we’d ever tried to close.
My instinct was to brush off Liam’s concern. To insist Carla’s mistake had nothing to do with my distrust of everyone that I hired to fill the assistant position. Admitting that an error from three years ago still influenced how I handled things felt dramatic.
But I could tell by the look in Liam’s eyes that he knew the truth anyway. No point in pretending or lying.
“Yeah, it bothered me then, and it bothers me now,” I replied honestly. “Her mistake could have tanked our whole business before we even had a chance to make a name for ourselves.”
Liam nodded thoughtfully. “It bothers me, too. Just not the way it bothers you. She was your assistant, so that’s bound to cut deeper. But if we’re being honest here, you’ve always been a little…”
I raised one eyebrow as he let the sentence trail off, and his gaze shifted away from mine. I could fill in the blank for him easily enough. Uptight. Grumpy. Controlling.
Any of those descriptions would have fit, and they were a fair assessment of my character when it came to business. But I was a damn good businessman, and I wasn’t about to lower the bar just because I’d cycled through a string of people who couldn’t handle the pressure of what their job entailed.
“I’ll find a new assistant,” I said, the words clipped and final, as if saying them firmly enough might make it true.
“And maybe ease up a bit, yeah?” Liam tilted his head, his voice softening at the edges. “Be a little less demanding and try not to micromanage so much.”
It would have been easy to agree just to end the conversation, but I respected my brother too much to hand him an empty promise. Maybe other people could loosen their grip enough to tolerate a mediocre assistant. I couldn’t. The belief was wired too deep, that if I didn’t personally ensure everything was done right, the whole business would crumble.
Liam was easygoing in a way I’d never managed to be. As co-owners, we shared the same responsibilities and the same stake in the company’s success. Rationally, I knew he felt the pressure too.
But knowing that didn’t change how heavily it sat on my shoulders. And as much as I hated to admit it, I couldn’t keep driving myself into the ground like this.
“I’ll find a solution,” I said, with no earthly idea what that might be.
Somehow, I needed to find an assistant I could actually trust. One who could meet my demands and deliver nothing short of the best work possible.
I might as well try to find a unicorn.
CHAPTER TWO
Raina
Nervous energy made it impossible to sit still. The waiting area outside the HR office was small, and I was the only one here, but getting up to pace the room seemed like a terrible idea. I needed to make the best first impression possible, which meant staying cool, calm, collected, and professional.
No one needed to know that anxiety was clawing at my insides, or that I was equal parts terrified and hopeful about the interview that was about to happen. The job had real potential. The duties of office manager at this company aligned closely with what I’d done as an executive assistant at the advertising firm where I was previously employed and I was confident in my ability to do the job.
But this was also the fifth interview I’d had in the past six months, and I couldn’t shake the fear that the interview would crash and burn just like the others. I didn’t want to walk out of this glass-fronted high-rise empty-handed. I wanted to secure my future, or at least stop watching it slip further out of reach.