Total pages in book: 213
Estimated words: 202770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1014(@200wpm)___ 811(@250wpm)___ 676(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 202770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1014(@200wpm)___ 811(@250wpm)___ 676(@300wpm)
He inhales and breathes out. “I’m sorry. I just don’t like the fact that he has an agenda.”
“That he told me about right away. That matters, Chance.”
He pushes off the desk. “Let’s just go meet with Marion. Contrary to other thoughts, she’s our client. A big client that brings a shit-ton of business to our hotels.”
“Why am I involved?”
“She asked for you, and why wouldn’t you be involved? New property development is your arena and when she’s doing any type of expansion, you’re always involved.”
“Except with the purchase of the castle.”
“Which was dad’s decision, not mine,” he says. “I’m looking into the details.”
There’s a lot I want to ask, a lot I want to say but I decide I want to know more about Marion being here right now. “Let’s just get this meeting behind us.”
“Why didn’t you tell me York scared you?”
“Because it didn’t matter. He was gone, but he walked right into my apartment. He walked in and he wouldn’t have left.”
“Meaning what?”
I hug myself, chills running down my spine. “Meaning he scares me.”
He studies me for several long beats. “You don’t need Jax to handle him. That’s trouble you don’t want. I’ll handle him. I’ll make sure that Marion handles him if that’s what it comes to.”
This offer is a small semblance of relief. If Marion was controlling him, or if York was controlling him over the affair, I doubt he’d make that promise. And honestly, my brother isn’t a man that anyone controls.
I nod and walk toward the door before he asks more questions about York before this conversation gets into territory I don’t intend to travel with anyone. Ever. I exit the office and Chance steps beside me. “I love you, Bird Dog. Don’t forget that.”
“Then don’t call me Bird Dog,” I say, casting him a sideways look. “I hate it.”
“But you love me.”
“Yes. I love you,” I say as we stop at the conference room, “but,” I add as he reaches for the door, “I’m still angry with you right now.”
“For what?” he asks.
“Everything, including the telemarketer that keeps calling my phone.”
He laughs and winks before opening the door. In that moment, he and I feel normal, but deep in my gut, something is off. Really off. I enter the conference room to find Marion sitting on the right side of the long, rectangular table. “Morning,” she says, shutting her MacBook that’s sitting in front of her, her red lipstick matching her red blouse.
“Morning,” I say, and I don’t miss the narrowing of her green eyes on my face, assessing me, gauging my state of mind.
Chance shuts the door and joins me, and she repeats the prior greeting. “Morning.”
“Morning, Marion,” he says, and he and I move forward, toward the table. Chance claims the head of the table while I sit across from Marion.
“Thank you both for making time for me on such short notice,” Marion says. “I wanted to wait a respectable amount of time to broach this subject, and after meeting with Emma two nights ago, I felt now was the time. Your father and I had talked about an expansion of our partnership. I want to talk to you two about it now.”
“What kind of expansion?” I ask cautiously.
“We discussed a cruise line,” she says, “which, as a cross between our travel business and your hotel business, would be a new entity that we would invest and partner in together.”
A cruise line when York runs his “cruises” as he calls his private yacht parties. This is not an accident. This is a warning.
“Ideally” she continues, “we’d have the boats stop at locations with Knight Hotels, which I assume, Emma, would fall under your expertise.”
My fingers curl on my leg under the table. I know what she’s doing. She’s trying to keep me close, keep me under thumb. “This isn’t my expertise at all. And I don’t remember father bringing this up.”
“I’m afraid I know nothing about this type of business either,” Chance agrees. “And I assume this isn’t any further than brainstorming, since I wasn’t privy to any information on this topic. Nor did my father leave anything behind on this topic.”
“We’d started working the numbers,” she says, setting a folder in front of me and Chance. “That has the business proposal inside. It’s an investment, but if we use York’s connections, even bring him into the mix, we can get a steal of a deal on his ships. I propose we start by meeting with him. He set aside lunch if you two can make the time.”
She’s not just trying to control me. She’s trying to use York to control me, too. I open my mouth to reply, but Chance leans forward. “Why exactly did my father talk to you about this, Marion? I’m baffled by my exclusion.”
If I’d believed Chance knew about Marion and our father, that question says he doesn’t. In that, I find comfort.