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“And if it were within my power, I’d be more than happy to give him to you. I have no interest in disappointing you or your family, Beau. I know how important this project is to you—"
“Not bloody likely.”
He sighs. “But the facts are these. Pavel is unavailable, and that is out of my hands. The contract between my firm and your corporation did not stipulate his presence on this project, because Pavel’s contract stipulates his right to take whatever jobs he wants to work on. If you break the contract between us, I understand and I hold no ill will on the matter—"
“And you shouldn’t, considering this bait and switch tactic.”
“I intended no bait and switch here, Beau. I’d thought Pavel was going to stay in the States, given his children are here. Yesterday, I learned the prince is giving him a jet to fly back and forth whenever he wants,” he says, annoyed. “Nothing I could say or do was going to top that offer.”
“Not my problem, Walter.”
“No, but you do have one,” he says carefully. “As I said, I understand about being disappointed. Having said that, I hope you understand that if you break our contract, it will cost you significantly.”
“You’d enforce the material breach clause, even though this is your fault?”
“Fault is one of those tricky things best left to arbitration, don’t you think?”
The sly bastard. No wonder my father likes him. My blood boils from the threat, but I have to give it to him. He might be old, but it would be a mistake to underestimate this man. I grit my teeth to ask the question. “What do you propose as next steps?”
“The only reason Elsie Braudel isn’t as famous as Pavel is because of his father and his age. But in ten years’ time, Elsie will outpace him. She already has more talent in her little finger than he does in his whole body. By then, I imagine she could run her own firm, or even take over here, if I’m lucky.” He takes a beat. “She isn’t a big name yet, but think of having her design your resort as an investment in the future.”
“That’s one hell of a hard sell, Walter. And I’m not buying it.”
“If anything, I’m underselling her. Out of respect for your father, I want you to have the best available. Elsie is precisely that.”
No matter what he says about her, though, she is not why I’m here. “Out of respect for my father, you should have made Pavel happen.”
“If I could have, I would have, I assure you. No one wants to have these sorts of conversations, and I certainly do not want the reputation of disappointing important clients such as yourself. This was unforeseeable.”
“I came here because you’re supposed to be the best. Not to get pawned off on an unproven entity. You can expect to hear from my lawyers.”
He takes a breath. “Understood, and you can expect the same.”
I march out of the office, following the glass wall back to the elevators. Part of me thinks I should have known this would happen. I was too confident, too sure I’d made all the right calls, all the right friends. Fuck, I worked so hard on this.
Only to have it all swept out from under me by a damned prince.
I rapid fire-press the button another dozen times, as though the elevator understands urgency. I know it doesn’t, but it makes me feel better. And when the elevator doesn’t speed up at my request, it makes me feel worse. The elevator, like Walter Klein himself, doesn’t think much of my requests.
No flirty security guard to ride down with, either. The day’s disappointments are stacking up. If there is damage to my Aston, then I’ll be out for blood. When the valet pulls up with her, I take a slow walk around and look for anything out of place. Lucky for him, she’s still perfect. I tip a hundred-dollar bill and zip away from the city.
Eighties hair metal will not soothe my inner beast. I select a spa music playlist and I’m angrier by the fifth note, so I turn it off. Perhaps silence is the order of the day.
Now, I get to be the one to disappoint everyone. I hate being the bearer of bad news. As COO of my family’s corporation, I’ve had to do it more frequently than I care to recall. But that’s why I am well-compensated for my work. It is my role to liaise with the rest of the world for the corporation, and that means I get to tell everyone the best and the worst of it.
Lucky me.
Any other day, I’d say I love my job. Right now, though, I am seething with rage and require a large stiff drink before I call our lawyers. They’re going to love this. How many billable hours will it be before I get what I want?
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5
ELSIE
“Istill cannot believe you didn’t want to rent the convertible,” Savannah says wistfully. “Look at this place. The weather is perfect for it.”
Annoyingly, she’s right. Somerset Harbor’s weather is stunning. The warm day is no match for the cooling sea breeze off the harbor. The little town irritates me. It’s all cute shops and no traffic with plenty of fresh air. How dare they be so adorable and quaint? It’s off-putting.
