Page 6 of A Monster's Obsession

With Sawyer pushed to the back of my mind, I walked into my meeting with all the confidence in the world. Today I would be signing a contract to extend my agreement with Mr. Todd who has owned the building for twenty years. Because he decided to sell this year I was able to slide right in and take him up on his offer.

When he first offered me the rent-to-own deal, I was ecstatic. There would be no way that I would be able to own such a prime piece of property. The banks wouldn’t give me the loans I needed, and I didn’t have enough saved.

However, all that was about to change because Mr. Todd was a lifesaver. He took a leap of faith and was willing to give me the chance I needed, and I would be forever grateful.

“Good morning, I’m Sasha Phillips. I have an appointment with Mr. Todd,” I greeted the front desk receptionist with a smile.

“Oh, good morning. Yes, Mr. Todd will be right with you.” The pretty receptionist responded with a bright, toothy smile.

I only waited a few minutes before the receptionist led me to the conference room where Mr. Todd was waiting. Bruce Todd was a man in his late sixties with white slicked back hair and a jolly disposition. All he needed was a beard, and I would be tempted to call him Santa.

Normally, Mr. Todd was all smiles and jokes, but today, he seemed off. His usually warm presence was icy cold with a hint of fear, and I instantly went on alert.

“Hello, Sasha. Nice to see you again. Please have a seat.”

I nodded and sat in the chair with anxiousness covering my body. I had an uneasy feeling about today. I’ve been preparing for this deal for a long time now.

“Mr. Todd, is everything okay?”

“Well, there’s no sense in beating around the bush,” Mr. Todd sighs as he sits down behind his desk. He opens up a drawer and takes out a stack of papers. I watch him curiously as he flips through the papers.

“What’s going on, Mr. Todd?” I ask, getting more nervous with each flip.

“I’ve had another offer to buy the building, Sasha.” He finally stops fidgeting and looks up at me with sorrowful brown eyes.

“What?! We had an agreement!” I couldn’t believe he would sell the building right from under me. My dreams of owning my own gallery were disappearing right before my eyes.

“Calm down, Sasha. I said I had an offer, and I didn’t say I took it.” Mr. Todd responded. But the way his eyes shifted from left to right nervously told me that wasn’t all there was to it.

“Okay, so we’re still signing the paperwork today?” I asked, trying to get to the reason I was here.

“No. We won’t be signing anything today. I told the other potential buyer that I would give you a chance to counteroffer.”

I took a deep breath. My dream could still be a possibility. All I had to do was make a counteroffer, and I could still buy the building. It wasn’t as bleak as I thought. I could do this.

“Alright. I’d be happy to counter. You know how much I want this building, Mr. Todd.”

He nodded, “I do.”

“Great! So what’s the offer on the table?” I asked with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“A million dollars.”

“A million dollars!!” I was shocked. The value of the building wasn’t appraised at nearly that much. It was valued at half that, and there was no way in hell I had that type of money. There weren’t any other buildings that could house my needs right now. I would be out of business if I couldn’t come up with a solution.

“Yes. But, I’m willing to honor our deal,” my eyes lit up with excitement, but Mr. Todd held up his hand before he continued, “you will need to come up with at least three-hundred-fifty-thousand before I will let you make payments.” Mr. Todd managed to crush my hopes with one number. The original deal was for eighty-thousand, and I had barely scraped together that much. My parents even put up their house. I couldn’t lose my parent’s only investment because they believed in me.

“I don’t have that much. I could maybe…” I trailed off because I had no idea what to say next. Mr. Todd gave me a pitying look that upset me. I didn’t need his pity; I needed him to stick to his agreement. Maybe I could sue? But that would take time and money that I didn’t have.

“I’ll give you a few weeks to consider. I know how important this is to you and your family, Sasha. But the clock is ticking.”

I had to come up with two-hundred-seventy-thousand dollars in a few weeks.How the hell am I going to do that?

Chapter 4

SAWYER

Idid my best to stay away from Sasha Phillips. She brought out the worst in me, and I had to remind myself that she left me high and dry without a plausible explanation. However, my infatuation with her grew more and more each day. But instead of acting on my obsession, I left the island, which wasn’t the plan. I was supposed to live on the island full time while my father worked in the states, but I had to put distance between us to focus on what was truly important and the entire reason why I came to Founder’s in the first place. I had to establish Nash Industries as a legitimate business entity.