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“Look, my father will never tell you this, but we can’t afford to work with you, even if the Moudi family owes you everything. Whoever’s doing this is too powerful for us to handle. Governor and police enforcement are in their pockets.” He stands and extends his hand.
Mark shakes it. “Tell your father to give us a chance to sort this out. I won’t hold your family to this contract if I can’t change the game.”
“I will. Take care, Mark. I’m leaving Noor with you. She’ll help organize things. I wish you well, my friend.” They hug and Aaron leaves.
Mark turns to Noor, who enters the room. “Thank you, Noor, for coming. This is my marketing junior assistant, Cassandra. She will be working with you.” And then he leaves us alone, clearly determined to get to the bottom of this mess.
Together, we contact a bunch of clients. Somehow, we manage to appease them and organize the event to give them plenty of exposure. After we decide which venue is capable of holding all five hundred guests, we start booking musicians and food catering, making sure we have enough seating and flowers.
“Noor, would you be okay to finish here? I need to see what Mr. Lawson thinks.”
“Yes, of course, miss.”
When I enter the main lounge room, I find the place buzzing with action.
“Cassandra?” Mark spots me before I can speak. “What’s going on?” He takes hold of my arm and pulls me after him.
“Mark.” I lose my breath as he pushes me into his bedroom and closes the door.
“We’re planning a hoax operation. Next to the venue you’ve booked, I reserved another one without any way to tie it to Fading Ink or me. If this event gets sabotaged, we have a plan B.” That’s smart but a bit excessive too.
“I thought Aaron wants to quit with us.”
“I personally spoke with his father, and he agreed to help. He dispatched our order secretly. It should arrive by the end of the day to the new bookstore. It isn’t ideal, but we have to push this.”
“You’re testing Aaron, aren’t you? He doesn’t know yet about the order.”
He nods sharply.
“His father is old, and Aaron’s going to run this company after he dies. It won't surprise me if he’s making his own alliances behind his back.”
“What are we going to do if we lose this shipment too?”
“I reached out to a small print house in Turkey before I left London and also contractors to get ready a small bookstore for the launch. I worked with them in the past. They’ve never disappointed me.”
“How about catering, musicians, and other things we booked for the opening event?”
“We’ll have people on standby to redirect everything to the secondary venue. Noor is Aaron’s fiancée. She’ll report to him as soon as she can. He’s her boss. We needed to keep her in the dark until I arranged everything.”
“But not anymore?”
He nods again.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I search his gaze, sensing there’s something more.
“My men are following the truck delivering our goods. I’m going there too. Perhaps we can intercept the coup and speak with the perpetrators.”
“Take me with you,” I insist, and he smirks, shaking his head. “Mark?” I groan. “You promised to show me how this business works. Don’t keep me in the dark. I can help.” Maybe.
He groans, looking at the ceiling. “Why can’t you stay here and organize things instead of being in the epicenter of it all?”
My lips twitch. “You already did most of the work. I want to learn from you, see how it pans out.”
He exhales and gives in. “Fine. Take your tablet with you. Try not to get anyone's attention. Don’t speak to anyone, keep your head down, hair tucked under the scarf, and do as I say.”
“Okay,” I agree, even if I want to roll my eyes at him.
He opens his chest drawer and pulls out his laptop, gauging me.
