Billionaire Blaze, page 39
“Yes. Jennifer,” Sarai replied, confirming she knew what I was talking about. “They were together for a little over a year. Worked on a library and art space together in another city. He…adored her. Put a lot on the line for her and pushed her project through with his contacts several times.”
Sarai hadn’t even finished before I figured out where this was going.
“She broke it off with him as soon as she had what she wanted?” I asked.
A grimace and a sad look on Daniel’s face answered my question.
“He hasn’t been the same since.” Daniel gave me a sad smile. “Not until I saw him with you. Right before the wedding. The way he spoke about you was like then.”
Although he’d hurt me, it finished off the explanation of the way Lukas had acted. Of every single one of his decisions regarding me. Why he had blown hot and cold. But it didn’t take away the pain of him not trusting me.
I wasn’t sure exactly what Daniel meant, but I hoped the sentiment was true. Had this come about purely because I didn’t want to get hurt again?
“If this is the only reason you are all putting together this project, please don’t do it just for me.” I smiled at them. I appreciated their kindness, but I was the one who had decided not to take any other jobs.
Daniel shrugged. “For me, it might have started there, but honestly, I love the sound of this. We really did think long and hard and put a lot of effort into the planning. This project takes the best of you, the best of us, keeps the ball rolling, and satisfies everything that matters to you.”
Although Daniel wasn’t wrong, I still didn’t know what to say. How did I decide whether to do this project or not when I knew Lukas was behind it? Working with Sarai again would be a dream. No matter what had happened with Lukas, I had enjoyed the work. And this way I got to do something similar and still be different.
“Do it,” Stacy said as soon as I looked at her. “Do it because otherwise you’ll always wonder if it would have helped. If these guys don’t keep their word and take care of you, then you just leave.”
Sarai let out a small laugh. “It’s a good thing I’m not easily worried.”
“If you intend to look after Kit, then there won’t be anything to be worried about.” Stacy smiled. It was a harsh reminder, but it was intended good-naturedly.
“I haven’t made a decision yet. I’m going to need to think about this.” I got up as the waitress appeared with the first few plates of food. Although I’d ordered, I walked away from the table.
This was all too much for a moment, the familiar ache I’d carried inside me for several weeks back after just a few days of it fading. I hurried out of the restaurant and tried to figure out where to go from there. Given I didn’t have access to any of the huts right now, I knew I couldn’t hide as I’d done the previous time I had been here, but there was a small garden that would give me some privacy.
I walked toward it, trying to slow my pace and force back the tears. None of this really made any sense. I kept coming back to the same one question. Why would Lukas do this? Why would he put so much effort into making a project tailored to me just to get me to accept another job? Why would he do this after the way he had been hurt before?
His friends had as much as admitted he’d broken up with me out of fear of me being just like his previous girlfriend and using him to make money or get a project done. And here he was, handing me a project after breaking up with me? Was this intended to mock me?
As soon as I’d found a bench a little more out of the way, I sat and tried to process all this. When Daniel had asked me to come back to listen to a pitch, I had assumed it would be a little idea he had. Lukas had told me Daniel had some property and he was making more money than ever.
I’d thought I would be doing a smaller project for Daniel to help the quarterback progress, not something this large again. But Sarai and Daniel had gone to all this effort.
Saying no to something Lukas was involved in would have been easy, but after Daniel and Sarai had gone to so much effort to make it work for me? Both of them had put their reputations on the line. I was angry, and touched, and I didn’t know which one I felt more.
Several minutes passed as I wrestled with the situation. I didn’t want to let my friends down. They cared, and that much, I believed. But in knowing what to do about the decision, I was more conflicted. Saying yes might give Lukas a clear conscience I didn’t feel he deserved.
Before much longer passed, a few of my friends appeared. Matt and Stacy, both looking through the gardens for me. They had a small carrier bag that appeared to have at least one takeout tub or something similar in it. No doubt, my food.
“Don’t tell me you ate already?” I asked.
“Enough,” Matt replied. “None of us wanted to leave you alone for long. We brought all the food along with us. Eat it or not, but we’d like to join you while you contemplate this. If you want to talk to us, we promise to listen, but either way, we were not going to let you lose out on a good meal if there was a chance you actually did want it.”
I couldn’t help but laugh as they sat with me and passed the food back out. I had good friends if nothing else. Maybe they could help me get through all my feelings and figure out what was best for me to do.
CHAPTER NINETY-FIVE
Lukas
I was pacing again. I knew it and couldn’t bring myself to stop. I just needed to. I knew Daniel and Sarai had met up with Kit and I knew both of them had promised to do their best, but I didn’t know if she had said yes or no and I was waiting for that moment.
Despite repeatedly telling myself I wasn’t doing this to win her back, I couldn’t help but feel the only way I would get her back was if she said yes to this. If she said no and went back to England, then I was unlikely to ever see her again.
Obviously one didn’t automatically lead to the other either. But it was as close as I could get. If she didn’t stay, there was no time to make it up to her. And I didn’t even know how I could do that yet. I’d spent the entire week working in one capacity or another. Despite my first project with Sarai being done, I still had a few loose ends to tie up.
On top of that, I had neglected some of my other stuff in the push to get Sarai’s project done on time, and I needed to clear a backlog of ideas, changes, and all sorts of other situations that needed my attention and expertise.
My team had done their best and I had Henry’s aid, as usual, but that didn’t mean I was on top of it all yet.
Sarai and Daniel had come up with a very ambitious plan, especially on top of needing the first project to make money, and I needed the earlier one to pay me well to be able to afford what I was doing for Kit. At least to some degree.
Financially, I was stable. The advantage of being a world-renowned architect was that I already owned a fair amount of property and the secondary income from renting out what I didn’t use ensured any debt and utilities on them all was covered. My income from my company gave me the lifestyle for everything else.
And if I didn’t bring paying work into my company, then it couldn’t afford my wage without being hampered for the foreseeable future. I would need to work on something, or hope Richard could generate the cash we needed.
Because we were essentially trying to get another project off the ground before the previous one had time to really settle into an earning period, the investors were also a little twitchy. It was dangerous ground to be on, because they would know they had the upper hand in any negotiations. So far the reputation of the four of us was holding it together, but I knew we could only trade on that for so long.
Yet again, I checked my phone but there still wasn’t a message from either of my friends. It didn’t bode well for me getting a yes if Kit hadn’t replied yet. It had been long enough that I was sure they would have explained the plan already and could have gone over the details we had twice.
I knew now Kit wasn’t entirely financially motivated, but that hadn’t stopped me wanting to make it as enticing as possible for her. And Daniel had said he’d take care of all of the rest of the concerns she’d had. I didn’t know what they were, other than I was supposed to stay away from her unless she approached me.
It was something I’d agreed to readily enough, but it didn’t stop me wanting to rush to the vacation park and get down and grovel in front of her right now.
“Still pacing?” Henry asked as he came in with coffee and bagels for both of us. It was supposed to be a distraction to have lunch with him, but I wasn’t sure I could stomach any of it.
“I feel like I’m always pacing, unless I’m doing something to actively help these days.”
“I’m not going to argue with that assessment.” Henry put the lunch on my desk and dug into his own from the comfort of one of my guest chairs.
Although I considered joining him, I went to the window to look out over Chicago. “What do you think she’s likely to say?”
“Hard to tell. She really wasn’t interested in another US job only a week ago, but if she hated you entirely, then she wouldn’t have been so kind to you in that article. I’m impressed with the grace she’s handling this with.”
I frowned, knowing there was some unspoken judgment in that statement. All of my friends thought I had been heartless to break up with her so quickly and not give her the benefit of the doubt until I’d had a chance to at least check on Peter and see if he’d achieved anything.
They’d all made it clear I was an idiot, however. I might still be mad at myself, but they appeared to have forgiven me. That didn’t entirely extend to their opinion of whether she should be so understanding. Still, I appreciated their help.
“I think breaking yourself with anxiety isn’t going to help, no matter what she decides.” Henry sighed like it was exhausting him just to watch me.
“Would you be calm in this situation?”
Henry tilted his head to one side, thinking about my snappy question, despite the anger it was delivered with. “No. I guess I wouldn’t be. Matters of the heart are rarely logical.”
Although I felt understood and as if I now had permission to pace, I stopped and joined him at my desk. As soon as I opened the bagel bag, I found he’d also bought me my favorite brownie.
“You’re far too good a PA. Remind me that you need a raise.”
“Can you afford to pay me more when you’re risking so much money on this?”
“Don’t tell the investors, but I’m not really risking much of mine and a lot of theirs. Kit doesn’t get paid if they don’t either.”
“And you only get paid if she decides to take pity on you?”
I shrugged, not sure I wanted to think about that part right now. But he had a point. If I did win Kit back, this might impact me very little. Unlike the hope I would get Kit back, I didn’t feel like I needed the money. I would be okay. And maybe if I let go of the financial situation more this time, she’d understand I didn’t want to be used but I didn’t care about money otherwise.
“Want me to message Sarai or Stacy and see what’s taking so long?” Henry asked only a few minutes after he’d eaten.
“Now you sound like you’re the nervous one,” I replied, still slowly eating my bagel. My appetite wasn’t entirely here.
“I won’t deny that I’d like some closure as well. If nothing else than to know what my next few weeks are actually going to look like.
I let out a wry chuckle. He knew he would end up being there for me if I fell apart. Or we would be busy on a new project while I tried to figure out if it gave me a chance to properly apologize to Kit and show her how I felt.
Although I watched him tap out his message and knew he was writing on my behalf, I found myself wanting to be the one to write it. I fought the urge. It would sound less desperate from him.
Within a few seconds he had a response and I stopped chewing mid-bite, unable to continue. It felt like my heart was never going to beat again, and I couldn’t even inhale while I waited for him to read it.
“All right,” Henry said, looking up at me. “She said yes, but she has some conditions.”
CHAPTER NINETY-SIX
Kit
It had been a strange two weeks as I went back to England, saw my family for a short while, gave Sarai and Daniel time to get the new project more under control, Richard up and running in charge of the vacation park, and did anything else that needed doing.
The conditions I’d made had also played a part. I’d insisted I not take such a huge cut from Lukas, especially after getting an idea of what it could entail financially. My friends had thought I was being too kind at that point. But I didn’t want to feel like I owed him as much.
On top of that, I recognized this needed to work. If he was getting paid at least something, then he was more likely to do a good job no matter what happened between us. I didn’t doubt some of what I was offered was intended to make me happy to take him back, and I just didn’t want to be put in that position.
I wanted to have the freedom to bring on a PA for myself as well. Someone paid to assist me in replicating everything and who knew the area we would be working in.
This whole project would have to get going sooner, and apparently reuse a few designs we already had for building exteriors and restaurants. It was going to be easier on Lukas in that regard. And I would be able to reuse some elements as well.
Of course, I couldn’t buy hundreds more of the same furniture without knowing where it could be sourced.
That had dictated the rest of my time in the UK. I had been looking at some very British items of furniture, including a supplier for kettles and other elements of the British life that people in the US might not have. It would serve two purposes. Give someone from the UK somewhere to go that felt like home, but also to give anyone from other cultures a more genuine British experience.
With this list and some estimates of other elements, I was due to talk to the investors in about ten minutes.
This time, Stacy had come with me from England, Sarai paying her for being my PA in the UK until we found someone in New York or near it who could take over the US side of things.
The investors would need to finish putting their money in to get any further, however. The land and materials needed buying and sorting. I wasn’t sure how planning to build went in the US, but everyone seemed to be fairly confident that it wouldn’t be difficult as long as we stuck to the model.
I had no idea how long it would take and when the building would actually start, but they’d pushed the last one through near Chicago in only a few months. I didn’t doubt they could do this one even faster.
They had also talked about buying an existing vacation rental business, leveling it and starting again. I didn’t know how difficult that would be, but again, it was off the cards as an option until we had an idea of how many investors were willing to go the whole way.
I tried not to fidget as Stacy handed me the list I had made and the cost estimate of the furniture as well as shipping to bring it to the US. Another big advantage of being involved this early was that I could order bulk goods from other places and have them shipped in a bit more cheaply.
The whole thing made me even happier that I would do a good job and be worth what I was being paid.
My final condition had been that I had a bit more say in the marketing efforts and business meetings that involved me. I didn’t want to be forced to go to events I didn’t want to. And I wanted to be able to say no to people I didn’t want present. Such as Peter.
Sarai had agreed to this although it was being kept off the books. It wouldn’t make any sense to the investors that I was being given such decision-making power in an area that wasn’t a direct expertise of mine, but I didn’t care either way. If Sarai told me I would get to decide, then I would.
The investors themselves were scary. It was clear many of them had a lot of money, all of them dressed well, and they arrived in large black cars or sleek, brightly colored ones. There were nine of them, and only two were women, but they barely looked different in attire. Skirt suits or trouser suits, and all of them carrying briefcases.
Most of the nine also had assistants, and that at least made me feel a bit more on their level.
Stacy and I were dressed in our best, but we’d both chosen professional-looking dresses, not quite as formal. And I’d been asked if it would be okay to have Lukas in this room.
I’d asked if it would be necessary at this point, and Sarai had once again reiterated that it was my call. I didn’t have to do anything with Lukas if I didn’t want to. Because so much of his work was being reused, and he hadn’t worked on the elements that would need his input, they felt confident they could do the meeting without him.
That had been enough for me to decide I didn’t want him there if it remained possible to exclude him. I didn’t need two sources of stress in one meeting. Not when I hadn’t seen him since the showcase day.
Still, part of me had hoped he would turn up anyway. I liked the idea of him being desperate enough to see me. But I also wanted his respect.
I was relieved to find the investors were eager to start the meeting as soon as they could, and I sat between Sarai and Daniel, all of our PAs off to the sides of us. Even Daniel had one, and it was funny to think there were over twenty people in a room that was technically a meeting between twelve.
To my surprise, Henry turned up as well, and I frowned, looking between Sarai and Daniel. He didn’t appear to be surprised but I thought I caught a glimpse of it on Sarai’s face. Technically it didn’t break the rules. He could represent Lukas, and I actually kicked myself for not thinking of him being present.
As he came in, I realized there weren’t any more seats at the table. Daniel leaned over to his PA, and the man automatically got up and offered Henry the seat. Given we were representing the four main people behind the project, it made sense for him to be so close, but I found I couldn’t look at him right away.
