Page 16 of Bourbon Kingdom
On the off-chance that maybe, just maybe, Goldie actually didn’t leave me to be with Rex, then I needed to carry on, show my dad that, in fact, I didn’t mind that Goldie was gone, even though my heart was ripping out of my chest with each passing moment she wasn’t in my arms.
The third floor didn’t have its appeal anymore and, if anything, I wanted to change out my room for Goldie’s. I wanted to stay in her room, where it was bright and cheery. I wanted to sift through her closest, smell her, feel her . . .
“Jett,” a male voice rang from my office.
Quickly looking up, I saw George, my lawyer, standing in the doorway. Who the hell let him in?
“George, how did you get up here?”
Clearing his throat, he looked at the ground and said, “One of the girls let me in and led me upstairs.”
“Was she wearing a mask?” I asked, starting to grow angry once again.
“Yes,” George said quickly. “I have no clue who it was.”
Patting my face with my towel, I nodded, and led us both into my office. Since it was still morning and I’d just finished working out, I left my bourbon alone and offered George a water bottle instead, which he declined.
It was very rare that I allowed anyone to see me in anything but a suit and tie, especially when it came to my business, but George was an exception; I’d known him my whole life.
Sitting down in my chair, I looked over my desk and asked, “To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you today?”
“Lot 17,” George said, while pulling out a folder from his briefcase.
“Did we get it?” I asked, leaning forward to look at the file.
“No.” My eyes shot up to his, while devastation enveloped me. “No one got it just yet,” George finished. “Since there has been great interest in the lot, they are going to interview some of the candidates. Luckily, we are one of them.”
“What do you mean, luckily?” I fumed. “We should have been granted the property in the first place. What more do they want?”
“They want to know your plans for the property; they want a presentation with visuals. They want you to show them that your plans will benefit the city.”
“Who else is in the running?” I asked, as I sat back in my chair, trying not to take my anger out on George. He was just the messenger.
“There are only three interviews being conducted. You, of course, Zane Black, a real estate developer in New York City, and Rex Titan and your dad.”
My teeth ground together as I puffed out a frustrated breath. Of course my dad and Rex were in the running. Why wouldn’t they be? They’d bribed practically everyone in the city.
“Do you know who has the upper hand? Who the city favors?”
“Not at this time, but I can do some digging for you.”
“Yes, I need to know what my chances are, what kind of ideas I need to throw together.”
“Stick with your original proposal, Jett. Don’t change it now; it would look like you’re nervous, that you think your original proposal wasn’t good enough. If it wasn’t good enough, it never would have been considered.”
Even though I didn’t want to admit it, because I was a stubborn man, George was right.
If I changed things now, it would look bad for my character. If I changed my plans, it would be showing weakness, and that was one thing I never did; I never showed my weakness.
Besides Goldie, but that was an emotion I couldn’t control. Goldie swept me up with her sassy mouth and crippled me, she was the one and only thing that could bring me to my knees, that could tear me open for the world to see.
“You’re right,” I concurred with George. “When are the interviews?”
“Two weeks. You have some time to pull together some graphics and put together a presentation, which needs to be short and concise, because you only have twenty minutes altogether for your presentation and questions at the end.”
“Not a problem,” I said with confidence. This wouldn’t be my first interview for a property. I wasn’t nervous about the presentation; I was worried about what my dad had up his sleeve. The man would do anything to win Lot 17, even sinking to the level of locking me in my own damn house so I didn’t make it to my interview. The man would stop at nothing.
“I will draw up the official plans once again for you to hand out at the interview. Do you want me to get in touch with Jeremy, your assistant, so he can start on the graphics?”
