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He was now practically shaking with laughter. “I think you meant the hotel is abeautiful dream. What you said was the hotel was like abeautiful chicken.”
Heat flooded my cheeks and I wanted to crawl under the chair. But seeing the broken tension and the flush of laughter on all their faces, I was actually relieved at my mistake.
I cleared my throat. “Well, I do think chickens are rather beautiful, but thank you for the correction. You do have Europe’s most impossible language,” I said, grinning.
“Tell that to Finns,” Dominika said, chest also heaving with laughter.
“I think that concludes the meeting,” Pavel said. “Let’s do the formal walk-through tomorrow then?”
We all three stood and shook hands. Ondrej and I exchanged a glance as our hands met–a cocktail of challenge, intrigue, and maybe,maybejust a sprinkle of respect.
ChapterFive
I stared out the window of my room, mulling over my initial encounter with the Novák trio. They were all so different but also a strangely complementary trio, each personality bouncing off the others. And Ondrej… he was definitely an enigma. He could have been carved from the very stones of Prague—mysterious, enduring, and unyielding. And clearly, he was going to be my biggest adversary. That much he made perfectly clear. I understood—I mean, I wasn’t completely devoid of sentiment. But couldn’t he see the writing on the wall? The hotel was underwater, and while it was beautiful, it was in need of serious renovations. Renovations they couldn’t afford as things stood. I needed to make him understand that Arcadia Group was the one thing that could actually save his family’s legacy. It would still be Hotel Novák, just with a different bank account.
I closed my eyes, still feeling raw, intense hazel gaze staring me down, as though they could peel away the layers of me and get right to my hidden, tender core. A shiver washed over me and I shook it off. I had dealt with tougher nuts than Ondrej, I was sure of it. I had regular dealings with real estate tycoons in LA. He couldn’t be any scarier. But still, while I could handle corporate sharks in LA, Ondrej… he was a different breed—a man defending his home. A protector. Something about that was painfully fierce. He was the gatekeeper, the one whose approval seemed paramount. His face kept inching its way into my mind. The way he had looked at me—with such disdain. My stomach turned over at the memory. It shouldn’t matter—this was all business. But I hated being hated like that. But I pushed thoughts of him aside, focusing on the task at hand. This was a business deal, nothing more. Personal feelings had no place in negotiations. Still, a part of me wondered what lay beneath Ondrej’s stoic surface, what passions and fears drove the man who seemed so inextricably linked to this place.
I turned from the window, pacing the room as my thoughts churned. The room, bathed in the soft glow of the evening light, felt too constricting, too quiet after the day's charged encounter. The meeting had been good, I supposed—but a bit of a delicate waltz around the edges of what was really at stake. I needed a plan, a strategy that would appeal not just to the business sense of the Novák siblings, but to their hearts, to the very essence of what the hotel meant to them.
I sat at the small writing desk and opened my laptop, the screen illuminating the room with its cold, blue light. I thought through our brief encounter and then began to outline talking points that I hoped would bridge the gap between Arcadia Group’s ambitions and the Nováks' deep-rooted love for their hotel. It had to be more than figures and forecasts—it needed a narrative, a story that would resonate with a family so interwoven with the fabric of Prague’s history. Pavel was clearly on board and looking for any excuse to sign on the dotted line. Dominika was hard to read. She seemed warm and open, but I couldn’t tell if she was just playing the peacekeeper—a natural people pleaser, perhaps. Her warmth and openness were in stark contrast to Ondrej’s guarded demeanor and even Pavel’s no-nonsense approach.
The early onset of night deepened around me, the laptop screen the only beacon in the dark room. The sound of laughter and music drifted up from the streets below, pulling me from my focus with a reminder of the life that pulsed through the city.
With a deep breath, I refocused on my laptop, my fingers flying over the keys. This was more than a business deal now; it was a challenge, one I was determined to meet head-on. I would find a way to make Ondrej see the potential, to understand that change wasn't the enemy but rather the savior of the legacy he held so dear. He might be a formidable adversary, but I was Sienna Frost, and I didn't back down from a challenge.
A knock at the door startled me from my reverie. The winter hours gave the false sense of it being the middle of the night, but I realized it was actually only just after five. I stood and nervously tied my hair back. I took a breath before answering. I was shocked to find Dominika standing in the doorway, looking a tad sheepish.
“Ahoj. Sorry to disturb you,” she said.
“Oh, that’s fine. You’re not. I was just doing a little work. Um, come in?”
She laughed lightly but stepped into the room.
“How are you settling in?”
“Fine. Great. The room is beautiful.”
She smiled. “Theptáksuite. It was our mama’s favorite. I like seeing you in it. You look a little like her.”
The sentimental confession took me back. “Oh—wow. That’s—thank you. I guess.” I laughed nervously and patted my hair for no reason.
She laughed too. “Sorry. I imagine, hi you look like my dead mother, is not normal conversation for casual acquaintances.”
I blushed. “Maybe not. But that’s ok. It’s—it’s sweet, I guess. It’s hard to picture though. All of you have such dark coloring.”
“That’s the strong Novák blood. Mama was blonde like you. Ondrej has her eyes though.” Her eyes wandered the room with a sense of nostalgia. “Anyway, I was wondering if you’d like a tour?”
“A tour?”
She shrugged. “An official hotel tour. To get to know the place, the history. The little secrets you can’t read online. With a little more truth than Berco would offer.”
I laughed, picturing the Morrocan royal elephant. “That would be incredible. Thank you.”
“Are you free now?”
I made a show of looking around my empty room. “I’ll have to cancel the party, but I think it’s worth it.”
She grinned. “Perfect. Come.”
