After patiently following for a moment, Laura Gralf finally found an opening, came to Simon and took the initiative to extend her hand and introduce herself: "Hello, Mr. Westeros, I am Laura."
Simon had just said hello to several of the main creators of "Seinfeld". Hearing this, he reached out and shook hands with the woman in front of him. He didn't pretend not to know each other, but he wasn't warm either. He looked at the woman in front of him with her deep V Gucci dress without concealing it. He said with a tall and graceful look: "Hello."
Laura Gralf had already prepared a conversation topic and was about to speak. Jerry Hall, who had just arrived at Simon's side and hadn't left, suddenly whispered a few words into the man's ear. Simon smiled and nodded. , and then gave a slight signal to Laura Gralf, then turned and walked away with the woman beside him.
Laura Graff subconsciously followed for two steps, but still stopped. She had not forgotten the etiquette that should be observed at the party. Stalking would only make people annoying. Inwardly cursing the woman next to her in Westeros, Laura Gralme still maintained an elegant smile on the surface and walked away pretending to be meaningless, but her attention never left the figure of a certain man. .
Grace Spurter was a little confused after watching the entire conversation process with Laura Glover, but she could only regard it as the big shot's desire to play hard to get.
However, now that Simon Westeros has arrived, her busy work for more than a month will finally come to fruition.
It’s just a little bit off, so be more cautious.
Grace came to Laura Gralf again, intending to continue staring at each other until the end.
Laura Gralf noticed Grace approaching her, and didn't think much about it, but said with some complacency: "Grace, did you notice the look in Westeros's eyes just now? He must be very interested in me! "
Grace quietly cursed, but of course she wouldn't reveal anything and continued to stay by this woman's side to socialize at the party.
About half an hour later, Laura Gralf, who was always paying attention to Simon's movements, suddenly discovered that Westeros was walking towards the door of the hall, with Jerry Hall still holding the man's arm in a dignified manner beside him.
Is this, leaving
Grace also noticed the movement in the direction of the door, and was suddenly a little frustrated.
I have to keep going through it!
A certain man didn't give them much time to react, and his figure quickly disappeared at the entrance of the hall.
However, when the two women were filled with disappointment, a tall middle-aged man in a suit who looked like a bodyguard walked directly towards the two of them, looked at Laura Gralf, then turned to Grace and said: "Excuse me, are you Ms. Spurter, Ms. Gralf's agent?"
Grace nodded quickly: "Yes, you are?"
As he spoke, he reached out his hand politely.
The middle-aged man did not shake hands with Grace, but directly handed over a business card: "Ms. Spurter, I am Mr. Westeros's bodyguard, and he is very interested in Ms. Gralf. If you have time, If so, make this call at nine o'clock tomorrow morning."
After saying that, leaving a business card, the middle-aged man turned around and left.
Laura Graff didn't react until Simon's bodyguard walked away. She turned to look at her agent and found that Grace had put away the business card. She immediately reached out and said with eagerness in her eyes: "Grace, The gentleman just said that Mr. Westeros is interested in me and the business card should be for me."
Grace just shook her head: "I heard it clearly, this is for me."
Laura Gralf's request was fruitless and she could only give up temporarily. Then she realized something in the blink of an eye and asked: "How does Westeros know that you are my agent?"
Grace thought to herself that you were not so stupid after all, and said casually: "If you think about what kind of party this is, Mr. Westeros wants to know the identity of a guest, and it's not a matter of just one sentence."
Laura Gralf immediately accepted this explanation, and then looked at Grace's bag containing the business card: "Tomorrow morning, we should make this call together, right?"
Grace shook her head and said: "Mr. Westeros should be very busy. Even if he wants to go on a date with you, it may not be tomorrow. Laura, I am leaving, will you go with me?"
"It's only nine o'clock now, it's still early."
"Then you can stay here by yourself."
Grace said, and also walked towards the door of the hall. Laura Graff paused, but still followed.
If Laura Graff really didn't leave, Grace would have no choice but to stay. She didn't want anything to go wrong on the last night. However, she was also sure that the other party would definitely follow her, so she insisted on leaving.
The two walked out of the Grand Hotel together and got into Grace's car in the parking lot. The car had just started, and Laura Gralf, who was sitting in the passenger seat, quickly said: "Grace, can you lend me 500?" Dollars, Cathy and Victoria haven’t had dinner yet, I have to bring some food back.”
In fact, before attending the party, my youngest daughter hoped that she could secretly bring back some of the party buffet.
Laura Gralf was incapable of doing such an unseemly thing.
Moreover, all her attention was spent on socializing. Although the buffet in the party hall was very rich, she had no time to eat. After leaving the party, she finally felt hungry.
In the past month or so, due to various misdeeds, the Gralf family has owed more than 26,000 US dollars, of which 18,000 US dollars came from Grace personally.
The job of a model agent is far less glamorous than outsiders imagine.
The number of contracted models for the entire Elite has reached 2,000, and all the top models are directly in the hands of management such as John Casablanca. Grace manages more than 30 girls under her name, and five or six of them can earn more than 100,000 US dollars a year. They are somewhat famous, which makes her one of the top agents under Elite. However, Grace The current annual income is actually only about US$100,000.
US$18,000 is a huge amount of money for her.
Now, I borrowed money again, and it actually cost me $500 to buy dinner. In the entire Manhattan, if you don't take into account those expensive drinks, there are few restaurants that cost $500 for a meal.
Thinking so depressingly, Grace stopped the car directly when passing by a steakhouse and signaled: "Is steak okay?"
Laura Gralf looked at it and reluctantly said, "Okay, let's go eat together. You must be hungry too, right? Then just pack two portions for Cathy and the others."
Is this something a mother can say
Grace cursed again and had no choice but to get out of the car together. After being tormented by this woman all night, she was also hungry.
The impromptu meal lasted for more than an hour. However, most of the time Laura Gralf was talking to Grace about how to promote herself when meeting with Westeros tomorrow. It was already late at night when she finally left. At half past ten, I casually packed two steaks for my two daughters.
Dropping Laura Graff back to her apartment, Grace can finally go home.
Her husband, who works in the First Boston Securities Trading Department, did not rest either. He first went to the bedroom of the two children to see their sleeping son and daughter. Grace returned to the living room, leaned on the sofa, and took the coffee from her husband. After taking a sip, I finally relaxed. Knowing that she had recently taken on a few difficult clients, her husband asked with a smile. Grace did not say much, but laughed at herself, and then asked about the other party's work. The man also flashed a little.
The couple got married twelve years ago and have always had a good relationship. However, as they reach middle age, they each have their own ups and downs.
As a woman, in the modeling agency industry, Grace's career has basically reached its ceiling. During this time, doing her best to manage the affairs of the Gralf family is also the last hope in her heart.
As for the husband, he was very ambitious when he got married. After all these years, he is just a vice president managing a trading team of more than ten people. Anyone with a little knowledge knows that there are often hundreds of vice presidents in large investment industries. This is just a title. The power of a vice president is very different from that of a physical enterprise.
Because of her unsatisfactory career, the promise she made to her to be a full-time wife when they got married has not yet been fulfilled.
Grace also knows that Credit Suisse, the parent company of First Boston, is currently undergoing layoffs and consolidation of the Wall Street investment bank, and her husband, who is over forty and is only a junior manager, is likely to be among those eliminated. people.
Thinking of this, Grace couldn't help but think about her recent errands, about the young man who was only 26 years old and was already standing at the top of the world pyramid overlooking all living beings. She thought about whether this would be a small turning point in her career. In the end, she even... A bit distorted.
It is said that the young man likes mature women very much.
The next day, I got up early just after six o'clock, helped my husband and children prepare breakfast, arranged today's schedule in advance for a bunch of girls under my name, and made a special call to my boss, John Casablanca. La Gralf also called and explained how she should talk about herself to Westeros. She was so busy until nine o'clock in the morning that she finally found the business card from last night and dialed the number on it. Telephone.
Then she was told to rush to Greenwich, Connecticut.
Fortunately, there was no need to drive dozens of kilometers, as a helicopter transfer had been arranged for her on the banks of the Hudson River.
At around 9:30, the helicopter landed at a manor in the northern suburbs of Greenwich. A baby-faced girl came over, introduced herself as Zoe Parks, and then took Grace into the manor villa.
Due to the professional habits of a model agent, Grace only felt that the tall girl with a cat-like baby face would definitely become popular if she entered the fashion industry. The demand for baby-faced models has been very high in recent years. .
However, she immediately began to laugh at herself. The waitresses around Westeros had higher annual salaries than hers, not to mention the development prospects of girls such as Claire Gaines and Alice Ferguson. Girls with a little bit of brains would not be able to do so. I will give up this job and go into the fashion industry.
The fashion industry is glamorous on the surface, but secretly it's a quagmire.
After arranging for Grace to sit down in a living room next to the living room and serving coffee, Zoe explained: "The boss is busy, Ms. Spurter, you need to wait a moment."
Grace took the coffee and said with a smile, "It's okay."
Zoe took the initiative to help turn on the TV again and handed the remote control to her hand, saying that she still had things to do, and turned and left the living room.
Grace waited for Zoe to leave, and then looked around.
Although it is the living room used by the owner for entertaining guests, the room is more than 60 square meters and is divided into two parts: a seating area and a small bar. It is mainly decorated with light yellow tones, with artwork on the walls, decorative bookshelves for isolation, and interior decoration. The black bar counter makes the whole room appear layered and complement each other, which is obviously carefully designed.
I once dreamed of owning such a suburban villa, but unfortunately after so many years, many of my initial expectations have long since become extravagant wishes.
Then I remembered a thought from last night again.
Then she felt that she was wishful thinking. In fact, her appearance was not bad. At first, she also wanted to be a model, but she became a model agent by accident.
Forcing herself to give up some unrealistic thoughts, Grace couldn't help but guess what Westeros was doing at this time.
Just now Zoe said that her boss was busy. However, the man seemed to have left with Jerry Hall last night, and he was surrounded by a group of warblers and swallows all the time. With his current wealth and status, it seemed that he didn’t need to fight for anything anymore. Perhaps, he hasn’t gotten up yet. Not necessarily.
Of course Simon was already up.
At this time, he was discussing the formation of the Westeros family security team with Celia Miller, who had arrived early, in another study room of the villa.
Simon has already considered this matter, but he has never been able to spare the time or energy.
Now that several private military companies covering the security business have been established, it is certainly possible to start this matter.
"Many rich people like to use special forces as bodyguards. This is actually very unprofessional. The attributes of professional soldiers are more inclined to offensive 'weapons'. The more top-level soldiers are, the more so. But if they are used as 'shields', even if they are re- After reverse training, it is difficult for them to qualify, except of course for war zone security, where offensive soldiers are needed. As for professional security teams in peaceful environments, it is best to select ordinary people and start from scratch according to the 'shield' standards When the federal Secret Service began to train agents responsible for the president and high-level security, a small proportion of them had military backgrounds, and most of them were recruited from the public."
In the study room, Celia explained to Simon some professional common sense that most people would misunderstand, and added: "As for our security team, I suggest choosing from various professional sports colleges, or students with sports talents from some universities. This can first ensure that they have sufficient physical fitness. If you, boss, are not in a hurry, we'd better provide targeted funding and training for freshmen when they first enter college. After graduating from college, they can start working directly."
Simon nodded in approval and added: "However, I need you to train a group of female guards as soon as possible. This matter is very urgent. My wife, children, and you all need to be equipped with such candidates."
There are actually some female bodyguards at home, but not many. And, most importantly, Simon doesn't trust them too much.
When Celia heard the man bluntly say that she was also involved, she looked over with a charming look, then restrained herself and said seriously: "In this case, we can first recruit a group of people from other security companies."
Simon shook his head and said: "I need to be trained completely from scratch. The most important thing is that I can be trusted. It doesn't matter even if there are temporary flaws in my professional quality."
The main security work for the Westeros family is still handled by male bodyguards for the time being. Simon just hopes that there will be an extra layer of trustworthy barriers around women and children. After thinking about it, he added: "Maybe we can choose some female soldiers. They have a good foundation.”
Celia immediately shook her head: "Boss, you'd better give up this idea."
Simon wondered: "Why?"
Celia hesitated for a moment, then said frankly: "In the federal army, the rate of female soldiers being violated is very high, much higher than the worst imagination of the outside world. So, boss, you should be able to imagine that female soldiers in the federal army are violated." Determining the psychological state of the soldiers, most of them simply cannot pass the preliminary psychological test. Even if some pass the psychological test, it will bring more uncertainty."
When Simon heard Celia's explanation, he immediately remembered a lot of information in his memory, and at the same time gave up the idea.
Perhaps those people deserve sympathy, but Simon would not recruit them to his side.
The potential uncertainty of PTSD patients can be understood by thinking about what Robert De Niro did in "Taxi Driver".
After Celia finished speaking, she noticed that Simon looked at her slightly strangely. She immediately rolled her eyes at the man and said, "I have only worked in the Ministry of National Defense and have no service experience. Moreover, because of my husband's family, I have no experience in the National Defense Department." No one dared to do anything to me when I was working in the ministry.”