AllFreeNovel
Share Us
People pay a lot to stay at a Sandflower property.
And because Dad was needed in British Columbia to deal with a construction snafu in Kelowna, he sent me to the negotiation table with Patel.
I can tell he regretted it as soon as he sent the request to get there and get it done.
It’s not my fault Mr. Patel’s uncle died. Or that my best friend Marcus Walker-White would pick this weekend to elope.
Technically, it’s not an elopement, since he invited his nearest and dearest, but Marcus only gave us a week’s notice, so it feels like one.
“I’m due back there on Monday morning,” I report. “By mid-morning, it’ll all be finalized.”
“You’re guaranteeing this?”
“As much as I can guarantee anything. It looks all good.” I do my best to reassure my father, but I can never tell if he’s buying it. “I’m not concerned.”
“Maybe that’s the problem,” he says ominously. “You’re never concerned about the deal, or what happens it if it falls through.”
Because it’s not my company, and if you have your way, it never will be.
Because I can’t even sign my name to anything without checking with you first.
Because the world sees me as nothing but your errand boy.
But I wisely bite my tongue.
“Maximus, I need this deal finished. We’ve spent too much time and energy wooing Patel, not to mention a lot of money. See that it’s done, or there will be some serious concerns about your future with this company.”
And with that threat, he hangs up.
Was that actually a threat? I’ll fire your ass if you don’t get it done. That’s a threat.
My having serious concerns about my future with the company is a fact, and not the way my father considers it.
I’ve been debating leaving for a while now, but haven’t made a move because of two things: one, I have no idea what else I can do that would keep me in the lifestyle I’ve been enjoying for all of my thirty-two years; and two, I have a really bad feeling that if I leave, I’ll do so after telling off Dad. And that will most likely result in me getting disinherited.
Note the part about the lifestyle I’ve been enjoying for all of my thirty-two years.
I work really hard as a member of the Sandflower team, but I like to play hard too.
And that gets expensive.
I glance around the room. Tate Continental is never a cheap place to stay, but it’s my first choice if there’s no Sandflower around. What can I say? I’m used to luxury. At least it’s only tonight, somewhere to crash before I fly out tomorrow afternoon.
On the company plane.
I’d miss that too.
3
Cady
I’ve shed the dancer and now leave her in the hotel room. She doesn’t belong here, in the restaurant where water only comes from a bottle, and a three-course, two-person meal can cost as much as my first apartment.
Sometimes it’s difficult to remember I belong here now.
I can order anything on the menu, including the wine, and pay for it myself. But the old me, the Cady who danced on stage to pay for her little sister’s new dress, is screaming for me to stick with the salad because everything else is too expensive.
I smile at the maitre’d as she hands me off to a waiter, following him around the tables to where Noam Tate holds court, waiting for me. Heads rise from their plates, attention pulled away from impatient spouses. Sensing the stares and the judgments, I keep my head held high.
