Page 65 of The Session

“That’s amazing,” Holly said brightly.

“Yeah, it’s great. But I’m actually here doing something else.”

“I saw the video, by the way. I meant to text you. I didn’t know what to say, but I was just so proud of you,” Holly said.

You could have told me you were proud of me, Mark thought, but he knew how distracted Holly could get from the outside world.

“Yeah, I’m glad that’s finally out,” Mark replied.

“So what are you doing in Miami?” Holly asked.

“I’m helping Summit Strategies out with some things.” He couldn’t think of any other way to explain it to her.

“Summit Strategies?” Holly repeated. “The cult?”

“They’re definitely a bit weird, and maybe a bit cultish, but I wouldn’t exactly call them a cult. I haven’t been asked to shave my head, and I’m not locked away in a room right now,” Mark replied.

“A lot of people say otherwise,” Holly countered.

“The internet says a lot of stuff. Not all of it’s true. Some of it’s exaggerated.”

A little voice in the back of his head whispered, Why don’t you tell her about the magic number that delivers Lamborghinis, the private jets, or the Vault, where they have everybody’s deepest secrets? Instead, he went with the one argument he knew she wouldn’t object to.

“It seemed like the best way to get to know my father,” Mark told her.

“Your father? Does he work there?” Holly asked.

Mark realized how much had happened since he last spoke to her.

“Kind of. My father is Max Lightman—the guy who created Summit Strategies. Technically, he created Echo, and that became Summit Strategies, but you get the point.”

“Holy shit,” Holly breathed.

She usually reserved swear words for bathroom spiders.

“Yeah. It’s a lot,” Mark replied.

“I think I get it now. What’s he like?”

“I haven’t met him yet. He’s on his private island right now . . .”

“He owns an island?”

“Several, actually. Well, Summit does, but I guess they’re his,” Mark said.

“Let me know when you get a chance to visit one.”

Mark felt a twinge of guilt. “Actually, I was on one today, and then had dinner on Exuma.”

“And you’re back in Miami already?” Holly asked.

“Yeah,” Mark replied. “We flew private. It’s pretty quick.”

“I wouldn’t know,” she said.

Mark thought, Sure, but you know all about flying first-class to Europe for your senior trip while I had to hop into a Chevy Astro van with five other guys and scrounge for quarters so we could get a hotel at Disney World.

“It’s pretty new to me,” Mark said, then realized he’d made it not sound like a one-off.