Total pages in book: 224
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
Once we arrive at the chopper site, Reid and I are quickly escorted to our ride and airborne in no time. The airtime is short and when Reid and I land in the Hamptons, a car is waiting on us. “Tell me more about Grayson,” I say, as our driver pulls us out of the small airport.
“He’s rich as fuck, demanding, arrogant, and honest.”
“He sounds like you.”
“He has about a hundred times more money than I will ever dream of having,” Reid says. “And I have a lot of money.”
“Wasn’t he on the Forbes list?”
“When wasn’t he on the list? He inherited his family fortune of ten billion, which he’s turned into twenty.” He squeezes my knee where his hand has settled once again. “We’ll settle for a one-billion-dollar investment.”
“In what project? I have nothing on the table that I think will entice him and that makes me nervous.”
“With his money, you find him a project, and promise him a thirty-percent return, that you turn into a fifty-percent return, so that he sees us as over-performing. Over-performing is the key.”
It’s at that moment that my cellphone rings. I grab it from my purse to find my father’s number on caller ID and as much as I hate to take it with Reid present, I need to talk to him, too. I need to know where he is now and what he’s doing. “Hello,” I say.
“Good news,” he says. “The land development deal here in Montana looks like a done deal.”
“What does that mean? What are we developing?”
“That’s what I want you to come here and talk about. This is not the traditional land development deal we’ve typically done. It’s a new twist on our old business.”
“I can’t go there. You know that.”
“Because you’re working with Reid Maxwell,” he says. “I told you—”
“This means everything to me,” I say. “Saving the company means everything to me.”
“And if he’s taunting you?”
“He’s not and I need you to trust my judgment on that. I need to make this happen. I need you to support me. I can still support this new endeavor of yours, but support me in this. Please. If you love me—”
“If? You’re my daughter. You’re everything to me.”
“And yet, you have secrets,” I say, letting that comment, better spoken in private, slip out with my frustration. “Secrets that impact me.”
“Everyone has secrets,” he says without the denial I’d hoped to hear.
“I don’t,” I say. “I don’t have secrets.” That frustration balls in my chest. “I have a big meeting. I have to go, but we need to have a real conversation.”
“I’ll come there.”
“No,” I say quickly. “No, don’t come here. If you do that right now, it could complicate things in ways that aren’t in any of our best interests. Close your deal.”
“Our deal.”
“Okay. Our deal. I love you. Good luck and wish me luck.”
“Yes,” he says. “All the luck in the world, daughter. I do love you.” He disconnects and I stick my phone back in my purse. “Never promise more than you can deliver, and always deliver more than you promise,” I say, going back to my prior conversation with Reid, but the comment isn’t about that conversation, but rather the one with my father. “I get it,” I add, looking at Reid, his blue eyes already fixed on me, “My father said the same. My father was good at his job, Reid.” I cover his hand on my leg. “I need you to tell me what you haven’t told me. I need to know what you know and I don’t know.”
He lowers his voice. “This isn’t a conversation for here and now, or before our meeting.”
“But it is a conversation we have to have,” I reply, softer now myself. “We have to have it.”
The car halts in front of a sprawling white mansion illuminated in the dark. “We’ll talk later,” he replies, opening the door, and then he’s stepping outside, offering me his hand.
I fight frustration over him putting me off for logic. Of course, he put me off. We’re at Grayson’s mansion. I slide my hand into his palm and he pulls me to my feet, and out of the way to shut the door. A moment later, his hands are on my waist. “Your father doesn’t know me. He knows of me. You know me and I’m not taunting you.”
“You heard.”
“The entire conversation. You can trust me, Carrie.”
“I know that,” I say without hesitation.
“I don’t think you do, and I don’t expect that you can yet, but I’m going to change that. Consider that a promise.” He turns us toward the mansion, his hands settling at my back, and in contrast to the word “trust,” the word “secret” plays in my mind. I’m not sure how he thinks his vow of trust works when we both know he knows my father’s secret, just as we both know that he’s not going to tell me.