Page 218 of Titus

“The helicopter is waiting,” Xavier informed me.

“Let them know I’ll be returning to my penthouse at Horizon when you share our ETA with them.”

“Yes, sir. Very good to have you back, sir,” he finished with a smile as Marcus nodded and returned to the SUV.

I slid into the back seat and damn near moaned as I melted into the luxurious leather and inhaled the rich scent of my car.

Goddamn.

My shower lasted far longer than it should have. Twenty-five minutes, if I were being exact. Feeling the hot water rain down on me from the shower heads and the side jets massaging my entire body felt like heaven.

Finally, after two weeks in that place, no one controlled my schedule or my privacy. When I finally stepped out, I caught my reflection in the mirror. The man staring back looked tired and thinner than I remembered.

Two weeks in that place shouldn’t have done that to me. Yet here I was, looking at the results. After shaving, I went directly to my closet and smiled as the lights came on, revealing my wardrobe behind custom glass doors.

I pulled down my suit pants and button-down, preparing to look like the man I was before I was arrested.

I adjusted my cufflinks as I stepped into the penthouse living room, and for a moment, I simply stood there, gazing out the wall of windows overlooking all of downtown Los Angeles.

I watched traffic moving slowly along the freeways and helicopters crossing the skyline as the city stretched endlessly toward the horizon.

Everything looked exactly the same, yet somehow it all felt different.

Two and a half weeks ago, I’d stood in this very room, worrying about acquisitions, investors, occupancy rates, expansion plans, and a dozen other problems that suddenly seemed insignificant.

Funny how quickly a perspective can change. Two weeks sitting in federal detention had a way of stripping life down to what truly mattered. Even while I was detained, the company, the board, and all my hotels had survived. Hawk Enterprise continued to operate whether I was in a conference room or a detention center.

My phone vibrated again. Another notification from an executive or someone else wanting something.

I ignored it. For years, I’d convinced myself my responsibilities came first. My company, my visions within it, my next acquisition and next opportunity. There was always another reason to keep moving and to avoid slowing down long enough to examine what I actually wanted.

My gaze drifted back out toward the skyline and the city I’d moved to so I could expand my vision for my company.

Then Catalina’s face appeared in my mind. She’d changed the way I thought about so many things without even trying, and I loved that she complemented my adjusted outlook on life. It was refreshing to be around her, knowing she saw me as a normal man rather than a balance sheet and a bank account.

A quiet laugh escaped me. Somewhere along the way, she had gone from being someone I simply wanted to someone I couldn’t imagine my life without.

My phone vibrated again, and I silenced it. The damn company and the ongoing investigation could wait for now.

There was only one place I wanted to be.

One person I wanted to see. For the first time in a very long time, I wasn’t driving toward a business deal, an acquisition, or a board meeting.

I was driving toward Catalina.

CHAPTER SIXTY

“Perfect. We’ll lock in the investor dinner for the twenty-sixth, and I’ll have the final renderings for your team by Friday.” I smiled as I made a note in the file open in front of me.

This event had taken nearly three months to secure. It was for a luxury automotive manufacturer debuting a new electric vehicle at a private estate in Malibu overlooking the Pacific.

The event would host two hundred guests, including international media. A temporary glass pavilion overlooking the cliffs was being built for the occasion, and it was shaping up to be spectacular. It was exactly the kind of project Veléz Global was known for.

“Excellent,” the client said. “We’re excited to move forward.”

“As are we.”

The moment the line disconnected, I leaned back and exhaled. September was shaping up to be the month my team and I finally made up for the time and revenue we’d lost by not coordinating many events this summer.