Page 144

Shock rises up, twisting my stomach.

Harrison had a chance at winning the club he’s always dreamed of, and he gave it up for me.

“He said no,” Leni says, interrupting my thoughts.

The wind whips at my hair, and I brush it out of my face with unsteady fingers.

It doesn’t make sense. None of it does.

I shake my head. “What kind of deal would even require?—”

“It doesn’t matter. There’s nothing else to say,” she says, her voice rising, “except that he said no.”

Harrison

“Bank. Wasteland. Knot. But with a K,” I add, disgusted.

Leni laughs from across the office in the future club. “That’s all marketing sent over for names?”

“The others are worse.”

“If it doesn’t sound like a place people want to go, no one will come.”

It’s been a week and a half since Miami, and we’re making progress on the venue. The floors are coming together, and the walls are nearly complete.

With Rae and Leni’s help, we’ve gotten most of the equipment sorted from the other club.

Of course, there’s still the major problem of having this place rezoned.

My phone rings with a familiar number, and I hit Accept. “Leni’s here too,” I say by way of an answer.

“We should talk privately,” comes my finance lead’s voice over the speakerphone.

“You can say whatever you have to in front of her.” But I rise and cross to the door, shutting it to keep out any ears from the other side.

He still hesitates. “Mischa’s escalating. Buying more aggressively, a new club in Tokyo and one in Milan. Our intel doesn’t show any major upgrades or changes to his venues, so we don’t know where he’s getting the capital?—”

“From scaling his drug operations.”

The words hang in the air.

If he has enough free cash to finance that, it’s a bad sign for my planned acquisition of La Mer. My investigators are working around the clock on finding the evidence Christian wants, but I need it fast.

“How much can we afford to offer Geroux for La Mer?”

He names a number.

“I need more.” I can’t have Mischa blinding Christian with money, possibly making the old man succumb to greed when I need him to remember his honor.

He pauses, seeming to consider. “I could see about refinancing a couple of lease agreements. Find another five million. But’s a short-term option at best.”

“Do it. And stop Mischa from buying anything else in the interim.”

“Stop him?” he echoes.

“Red tape,” I reply, thinking of my own situation. “Miles deep. I want him focused on his problems, not on La Mer.”

“If you’re using short-term financing,” Leni comments after I hang up, “making this new club a success is more important than ever.”