AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ondrej felt the rage in his gut turn to smoldering embers at his core. Even Dominika looked taken aback. Pavel could be stone-cold sometimes.
“If you could divorce yourself from your delicate sensibilities for one minute, you would see the tumbling profit margins. The burdensome costs of maintenance for this place. We are bleeding to death, Ondrej. We can’t survive much longer without an infusion. And frankly, I’m tired of living in this ghost hall. I want a different life.”
Ondrej felt a pang of resistance. The hotel was more than numbers on a page—it was the heart of their family, a beacon of memories and dreams. Yes, their parents were gone a decade now, but their untimely ends didn’t negate what this place had meant to them. If Ondrej had had the capital, he would have bought his siblings out, but sadly, he couldn’t compete with the offer from this Los Angeles company. Even his soft-hearted sister couldn’t say no to the numbers.
“Can you two stop arguing?” Dominika's voice wavered as she weighed in.
Her face held an expression that showed she was caught between the allure of new horizons and the pull of a nostalgia that ran deep in her veins.
“We are not arguing. We are discussing,” Pavel said.
Dominika turned toward Ondrej. Her dark eyes were compassionate. “I know where you are, Ondrej. I do. I walk up and down these halls and still hear our laughter. Our feet hitting the floor as we chased each other. I can still smell the Christmas pines and the burning fires. They are beautiful memories. But we have to acknowledge the realities we find ourselves in. Pavel is right. We are bleeding money. Numbers are down—have been for a long time—and we can’t maintain this place anymore.”
Ondrej couldn't contain the torrent of emotions that surged within him. The hotel was their heritage, a living mosaic of generations of Novák dreams and sacrifices. He envisioned its soul, stripped away, its uniqueness smothered beneath a blanket of generic corporate American luxury.
Ondrej's voice held an edge of desperation he hated as he spoke. "There has to be a way, Pavel. A way that doesn't mean selling."
Pavel leaned back against the polished mahogany bar, his posture rigid, his expression one of calculated resignation. He ran a hand through his inky hair, the sides starting to sport a few brushes of salt. Ondrej had never seen his brother looking so tired.
"There is," Pavel said, the words slicing through the tension in the air. "We sell it to Arcadia Group. They have the resources, the capital, to invest in the renovations it desperately needs. The plans they’ve sent aim to simply restore, not destroy.”
“You believe that? Now, who’s naive?” Ondrej said.
“I don’t care what you think, brother. You’re one-third of this decision, that’s all.”
“And what then?" Ondrej challenged, his voice rising. "It becomes just another link in an American hotel chain? Stripped of its identity, its history? No. I can’t stand by and watch that happen."
Pavel sighed, the sound heavy with impatience, as though Ondrej was a stubborn child refusing to grasp the obvious. "You’re clinging to a life that doesn’t exist anymore, Ondrej. To shadows and ghosts.” His words were razor sharp, cutting through the last threads of familial warmth between them.
"And you," Ondrej shot back, his voice thick with accusation, "either lack imagination, or you’re just plain greedy. Can’t you see there’s more to this than just profit margins and balance sheets?"
Pavel’s composed façade faltered for a moment, his dark eyes narrowing into small beads, a storm brewing within them. He stepped closer, reducing the space between them, their shared history a chasm now filled with conflicting ideals.
"Imagination doesn't pay the bills, Ondrej. It doesn't keep this place running. And calling me greedy? I'm being realistic. You’re so caught up in preserving the past, you're willing to let all of our futures slip right through your fingers.That’s selfish.”
Ondrej shook his head, his jaw clenched. "The future? You call handing over our legacy to a corporation that sees nothing but dollar signs a future?"
Pavel's hands clenched into fists at his sides. "It's not just about the money. It's about survival, about adapting. Or do you plan to let the hotel crumble around us while you chase ghosts?"
The room seemed to shrink under the weight of their words, the air thick with unsaid things, with years of brotherhood strained to its limits.
“Stop!” Dominika stepped between the two brothers. “Enough. We’re on the same side here. No one likes this. But here we are. Making enemies of each other isn’t going to make anything easier.” Her words were the bridge between their divides as they had been their entire lives. “We haven’t even met with the company yet. Let’s hear this woman out and then tear each other to shreds once we have all the information. Ok?”
Ondrej huffed and wanted to argue, but per usual, Dominika’s words were both a voice of reason and a soothing balm to their open wounds.
A heavy silence descended upon the room, each sibling adrift in their contemplation.
A knock at the door startled them out of their tense standoff.
The siblings stared at each other a moment before Pavel called out, “Come in.”
Berco, the hotel concierge, stepped in tentatively and cleared his throat. “Excuse the interruption, but Ms. Frost from Arcadia Group has arrived.”
Ondrej, Pavel, and Dominika stood in heavy silence for a moment, eyes darting around in a circle. Finally, Pavel nodded curtly.
“We will table this until later. You can show her in.”
ChapterFour
