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By now, the men who worked in the grape fields had begun to gather close to us. I saw their eyes. The fear and uncertainty the fire brought. Every time a spark launched off the roof I watched to see if it would hit one of the vines. What then? I was about to lose all of it. Was I going to lose the grapes too?
“Monsieur Corban?” The man who had knocked me on my ass approached. He had returned the baton to his holster. I glared at him, my arms folded over my chest.
“Yes.” I stepped forward.
“The fire is contained.”
“Did it spread to the tunnels?” I asked. “How much damage is there?”
“Come with me.” He led me away from the vineyard workers. We stopped on the other side of the rescue engine. “I’m sorry, but the offices are a total loss.”
“What about the casks? The wine and champagne? I have a million bottles under our feet.”
“I sent a team to the first level. I think you might have some heat damage, but there was no fire.”
I exhaled. I could rebuild a cottage. I could rebuild a tasting venue and a gazebo for weddings. I couldn’t reproduce a hundred years-worth of priceless grapes.
“Thank you.” I nodded at the report.
“I will begin an investigation as soon as I’m able to set foot in there. It’s still too hot.”
“You think someone started the fire?”
“We will find out if that’s what happened.”
My brow furrowed. The officer walked away. I rubbed the back of my head, trying to make sense of what happened. I had to catch my breath and figure out what I was going to do next. When I glanced at the workers, I noticed their families had started to join them. One man put his arm around his wife’s shoulder. She leaned into him as they watched the weeping smoke curl in tendrils over the roof.
The vineyard was going to require all of my attention now. Were the burning embers the escape I needed? A salvation in disguise. I wasn’t religious. Barely spiritual, but maybe God had tossed me a line. I needed to grab on and take hold before I drowned.
3
Kennedy
Present Day
I read the headline on my phone, but I struggled to reconcile the news story was about my casino project. The one Knight was trying to destroy. I turned the screen over on my desk. I couldn’t look at it again. It also hid the texts and calls from Knight. I had no plans to answer any of them. He got what he wanted. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of hearing the pain in my voice.
“Good morning,” Renee marched into my office. She tossed her briefcase in an open chair and poured a cup of coffee.
“I don’t think we see the morning the same way.” How did she smile under these circumstances?
“It’s a setback. Only a setback.” She sipped her coffee. “I have a meeting set up with a new lobbyist at two today.”
She didn’t know about the emotional grenade the chain of events from the Crescent Towers had set off. This wasn’t solely about losing the biggest deal of my career, it was about being stabbed in the back by the one person I trusted.
“Oh?” I raised my eyebrows. “Who is the new lobbyist?”
“She has connections to both Senators Merritt and Hyde. She’s been recommended by a friend.”
I turned my back on my attorney. Even from this distance I could see the crane hovering next to the Crescent Towers construction site from my window. I could also pick out the Vieux Carre from here. They were in different directions.
“Kennedy?”
“Hmm?”
“I was trying to tell you about Victoria Banks. The new lobbyist.”
I peered closely at the boutique hotel, as if I could make out an athletic build in an expensive suit exiting the front lobby. I wondered if Knight had found my note. Did he realize I had left the necklace with it? Was he looking for me? Or did things go according to plan? My chest tightened with the realization that the entire night together was more than likely a setup. The first battle point went to him, but he wasn’t going to win the war.
