Wolves in Suits

Mr. Ashcroft Will See You Now

"Your newspaper, Mr. Ashcroft."

"Thank you, Mrs. Bridges."

The middle-aged, plump housekeeper nodded in acknowledgment and picked up the remnants of his breakfast from the dining table. "You're on page six."

"Is that right?" His hazel eyes lit up with amusement. "I wonder what they could possibly be writing about me now."

"Seems to be documenting your summer vacation, sir."

He opened the paper.

"𝐌𝐑. 𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐅𝐓 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐒𝐄𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐍𝐎𝐖" the headline read, accompanied by a photo of him wading in the surf wearing only his board shorts and a pair of sunglasses.

"𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚐𝚘-𝙱𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝙲𝙴𝙾 𝚘𝚏 𝙰𝚜𝚑𝚌𝚛𝚘𝚏𝚝 𝙸𝚗𝚍𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚜 𝙾𝚏𝚏 𝙰𝚋𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸𝚗𝚔 𝚆𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚅𝚊𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝙱𝚊𝚛𝚋𝚊𝚍𝚘𝚜" read the caption.

"Who comes up with this nonsense?" he muttered, sipping his coffee and turning the page.

"Not a bad picture, though," Mrs. Bridges said. "Nice to see you enjoying yourself."

"Hm. Wish they'd feature the charity as much," Mr. Ashcroft replied, flipping to the business section.

"I suspect they're tired of covering your business deals," Mrs. Bridges said, amusement in her voice as she took the dishes out of the room.

He snorted, skimming the headlines.

"𝐀𝐬𝐡𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐓𝐨𝐩 𝐒&𝐏 𝟓𝟎𝟎 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝-𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐥"

"𝐒𝐚𝐲 '𝐇𝐞𝐲 𝐒𝐢𝐫𝐢' 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐔𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲"

"𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 & 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐳𝐳𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥 𝐔𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤"

"𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐬 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐍𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠"

Mr. Ashcroft downed the rest of his coffee. His cell phone rang beside him and he picked it up. "Ashcroft."

"Hey, Ashcroft! Those stock numbers, am I right?"

"Hey, Don. Yeah, it was a good start," Ashcroft replied, holding the phone with his shoulder as he fastened a Cartier watch around his wrist. "Here's hoping it holds."

"Well, everything's volatile right now. Chances are we'll drop before the end of the day. But I swear man, I have never known anybody who can turn a deal in his favor like you."

Ashcroft snorted. "Tell that to Mr. Soboliev. He was pissed."

"You're telling me. I thought he had us on that last phone call."

"I did, too."

"Yeah. Well, congrats. Your empire just got a bit bigger."

"Thanks, Don."