Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 78142 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78142 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
I shake my head. “This firm has to have tens of millions of dollars in reserves. I don’t understand why this is such a big issue.”
He rolls his eyes at me, and already I know what’s coming.
I was raised with money. A fucking ranch heiress. Of course I don’t think it should be an issue.
So I’m surprised when he says, “If it makes you feel better, Diana, I agree with you. But I also need my job. The firm is well protected with liability insurance.”
“Any liability would be a PR nightmare.”
He doesn’t reply.
I sigh. “Besides, don’t we have a fiduciary obligation to design the best structure possible for our client?”
“Depending on how much they pay us, yes.”
“Oh, come on. You can’t tell me they’re not paying top dollar for this.”
“No, I can’t tell you that. Because we associate architects don’t get to look at the books. I don’t know how much we’re being paid for this project. All I know is that Reynolds won’t put in the extra money to tighten it up. That’s what Ledbetter told me.”
I shake my head. “I don’t like this at all.”
“None of us do, Diana, but it is what it is.” He shrugs. “This is business. Corners get cut. Money is everything.”
“Money should never be everything.”
He narrows his eyes. “Maybe not to someone who has an unlimited amount of it.”
There we go. I should’ve known. I open my mouth to respond, but he holds up his hand again.
“I apologize. That was out of line.”
I cross my arms. “You may think I’m some spoiled little brat, and I suppose part of that is true to the extent that I’ve never had to worry about money. But I don’t take it for granted.”
He grins. “Maybe if you offer Reynolds a couple million out of your trust fund, he’ll make the adjustments.”
I cock my head a moment.
“Diana…I was kidding.”
“I know that,” I say, flustered.
I actually didn’t know that, and for a split second I was considering it. I can have two million wired into the firm’s account within five minutes.
But that’s not really the best way to start this project.
“If you’re worried about liability—”
“No. I’ll be the least liable of anyone. I’m the newbie here. But this was my dream project. I didn’t expect to find any issues with it.”
He frowns. “There are issues with every project, Diana. We have to weigh the pros and cons, and one of the biggest pros—usually the biggest—is how much money we’re going to get out of it. One of the biggest cons is how much money we’ll lose.”
I sigh. “Fine. I’ll keep quiet for now. But this is eating at me, Marcus.”
“Yeah, it’s eating at me too. It’s not the first time I’ve seen Reynolds cut corners, but this is the biggest project I’ve seen him do it on. I was taken aback when I realized it.”
“Does anyone else know?”
“All of us on the project. Even Lopez. But we’re all keeping our lips sealed.”
“I guess you’re suggesting I do the same.”
He takes a long breath in before continuing. “Far be it from me to suggest anything to you. I hardly know you, Diana. Whether you carry the Steel name or not, I do know that this firm wouldn’t have hired you if you didn’t know your stuff. They hire only the best here, which means you’re one of the best.”
I sigh. “Part of being one of the best is building the best structure possible.”
“You’ll get no argument from me. In fact, I considered leaving over this. But they pay me a shit ton of money here, and my wife is pregnant with twins. So there you go.”
I nod. I could easily quit. I don’t need this job. But I want this job. I want to work on this dream project.
“Don’t be a fool,” he says, standing. “Chances are nothing will ever happen, and none of it will matter.”
“Yeah.”
“Besides,” he continues, looking over his shoulder before he walks out the door, “you can follow every rule in the book, dot every I and cross every T, and a building could still have issues.” He walks away.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath, rubbing the sides of my forehead. Marcus isn’t wrong. In school, I studied myriad projects that went wrong for no foreseeable reason.
But this is foreseeable.
And everyone knows it.
I sigh and pull up my calendar for the day.
Great. At ten o’clock I have a meeting with Rod. Don’t recall seeing it yesterday. He must’ve just put it on my calendar.
I may need a doughnut for this. I get up and head to the small conference room where the spread is set out. A great big glazed doughnut with pink sugar icing.
Perfect.
Chapter Forty
Dragon
I wake up, still smelling Diana’s pussy on my face.
I take a few moments to inhale, appreciate it, infuse it into my body.