Page 113 of Rival Hearts

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“No,” Alex said. “Actually, it’s not. I saw Gabe yesterday.”

“Oh. I’m guessing it didn’t go well since you’re so grim.”

“It didn’t,” Alex confirmed. “He’s pissed.”

I let out a heavy breath. “It’s okay. I figured he might be. Gabe is really protective, but we can work it out, right? He’ll come round.”

Alex shook his head. “I don’t know if he will. It’s a big deal, Charlotte. Bigger than anything—he was like a brother to me, and now he won’t take my calls at all.”

I frowned. It was strange that Gabe hadn’t called me about this at all.

“I’m sorry it didn’t go well. But we’ll talk to him some more, and once he realizes it’s serious, he might change his mind. He just needs time to process things. You know we’ve been through a lot, and it’s always just me and him. It might just take some time.”

Alex nodded slowly. “Yeah, maybe.” He really looked upset about it, and my heart went out to him. I wished he would have told me he was going to see my brother before he did. I would have told him what to expect, or I would have suggested I be there with him.

I’d had my hands full with the baby stuff this week, though, juggling morning sickness and my emotions that were all over the place with the plans for the future.

“There’s something else,” Alex said, and he looked even more grim.

“What?” What else could there possibly be?

Alex took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“I told you all about the project I want to start, the line of new energy-efficient yachts that will be a lot better for the environment.”

“Yeah. I remember. It’s such a great venture. I told Victoria Morgan all about it, and she’s excited, too.”

“I’m pulling the plug on it.”

I frowned. “What?”

His face was serious, his eyes dull.

“I had to look at the bigger picture, and unfortunately, it’s not something the company can afford right now.”

“What do you mean?” I didn’t know much about the business side of things like that.

“I mean, it’s just not cost-effective to go in that direction right now. I don’t know what the future might hold, but I have to lookat the present. I’m the CEO of the company so I have a lot of people working under me, a lot of people who rely on the jobs I create.”

“You’re making it sound like you won’t make a lot of money doing it.”

“I guess when you look at the bottom line, that’s the summary. It’s more complicated than that, of course, but—”

“So, you’re pulling the plug for money.”

“That’s not what this is,” Alex said. He was already irritated. “That’s not what this is at all.”

“Then explain it to me.”

“We’re losing investors over it. If I can’t get investors to fund it, then the company goes down the drain.”

“What about your own money?”

“What about it?”

“You can’t put some of that in instead of relying on investors?”