Free Back To The Viper by Antara Mann Page A

himself of them. While he was looking around, a tough guy waved at him.
    “Come here, quickly!” he urged him. After a few minutes, Wayne learned the reason why Brendon had been so impatient: The Devil’s Pouch, one of the bands Wayne produced, had had a significant rise in the sales of its albums. According to Brendon, they would sell double, if not three times, the tickets for their national tour. Soon, Wayne realized that Brendon was his business partner at Supersonic – the production company they had launched and ran now.
    “The Devil’s Pouch is a goldmine! I suggest we offer them a contract for the next five years and promote them heavily. Don’t forget that the more successful they get, the more producers will want to work with them.”
    Wayne nodded understandingly while trying to swallow his soy burger.
    “Man, how can you even eat that disgusting thing?”
    Brendon grinned.

Chapter 15
     
     
     
    When Ashley woke up, she felt the soft touch of the luxury bed linen against her body. She stretched her arms happily, but suddenly started – she had to go to work at Starbucks at nine o’clock. She got up and glanced at her watch nervously – it showed half past eight. Ashley immediately put on her jeans, but suddenly was hit by the thought, “I no longer work at Starbucks!”
    She laughed and sat back down on the bed. No more dead-end jobs! She looked around her bedroom. It was elegant and full of exquisite objects that had probably been ordered from a catalog. The previous evening, she had arrived at the house (she had a whole house!) late and hadn’t been able to take a good look at it. She put on her dressing gown and went to the lower floor. There was a large living room with a kitchen next to it. Suddenly she heard some growling and turned around – she was about to run away when she saw a Jack Russell Terrier rush at her, barking.
    “Ah, is that you buddy?” She picked it up.
    “Madam, your papers.” The maid was standing by the door dutifully and several daily newspapers were lying on the little table next to her. Ashley saw The New York Times and Wall Street Journal on the top.
    “Thank you…” She cleared her throat and looked at the maid questioningly. “What was your name?” Ashley put the terrier back on the floor.
    “Gomez, madam.”
    “Thanks, Gomez.” Ashley took the paper on the top and was just about to sit down comfortably on the couch in the living room when she felt the maid staring at her.
    “Yes?” she asked, confused.
    “Madam, Mark Holman from L’Oreal will be here in less than ten minutes.”
    “Aha…” Ashley held her breath and thought, “L’Oreal?” “Let him in,” she said offhandedly, trying to conceal the excitement in her voice.
    “Madam won’t be happy if Mr. Holman sees her in her morning gown,” the maid inserted on leaving the room.
    She was right, so Ashley changed quickly. After a while, she heard the doorbell, followed by the sound of a man’s footsteps.
    “Ashley, sweetheart, how are you?” An average-height man walked into the living room energetically. “I have some good news – the sales of your Like a Dream line have surpassed two hundred percent for the past quarter; what can be better than this?”
    She nodded. She had her own perfume line?
    A long conversation followed – Mark told her about her company’s plans and then she signed a few contracts and arranged a meeting with the executive managers for the following week. While she was signing the multimillion-dollar contracts, she almost fainted. Only the day before she would have been happy if she’d made several thousand dollars by the end of the day. When her conversation with Mark Holman ended, she saw him to the front door. They separated with a friend’s kiss. Having remained alone on the veranda, she remembered something had been missing. Of course! Her little daughter, Briana. She wondered where she could be now. Ashley quickly went up the stairs and typed her