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I rip my eyes from the paper and look at him. “Four?” I question. That room is only used for private meetings. Ones where no one can look in because it’s behind cinder block walls instead of the glass like our other conference rooms.
“Yes,” he confirms, giving me a forced smile. I don’t return it.
I swallow, handing the piece of paper back to him and beginning to walk toward conference room four. With every step closer, I wonder if I maybe should’ve taken my dad more seriously over the weekend. Maybe things are worse than I was expecting. Surely if they were terribly bad, he wouldn’t have relented in getting me to come in.
Finally, we make it to the closed door of the conference room. I look back at Luther. “Take care of anything that comes through while I’m in the meeting. Unless it’s an emergency, I don’t want to be bothered.”
“I understand,” he responds, already backing away. I don’t blame him. I don’t necessarily want to be anywhere near whatever’s happening in here either, but I’m left with no choice.
My hand rests on the doorknob as I smooth my features into a face of indifference. Even if I feel uneasy about what I will find on the other side of the door, I don’t want my dad to know it.
Pushing the door open, I prepare myself for whatever I’m about to find.
Just as I expected, I find my dad at the very end of the long conference table in his normal seat at the head of it. He’s got his hands folded in front of him like he always does, a pen in his hand, even though the piece of paper laid out in front of him is completely blank.
What I don’t expect is the three other men sitting in the room with him. I recognize them immediately as being members of the Bishop Hotels board. It wouldn’t be as odd to see them if it wasn’t for the lack of Winnie’s dad in the room.
My dad meeting with board members of Bishop Hotels without a Bishop present is concerning, but I don’t let that show on my face.
“Morning,” I drawl, pretending like it’s totally normal to find them here at Moore Hotels headquarters.
“Archer,” my dad responds, his voice thundering through the room. “Come in, son. Take a seat.”
I watch him carefully, wondering where this is headed. There’s no hint of the annoyance that was present on the phone on Saturday. Instead, he seems happy to see me. Like we’re your everyday, loving father-son duo. We aren’t, but I don’t give that away because I want to know what’s happening here first.
“Good to see you again,” I tell the men sitting on the opposite side of the table from me. They all give me forced smiles, no one in this room giving any indication of what the meeting is for. Last time I saw them, we were all seated around a table almost exactly like the one we’re at now, but it was at Bishop Hotels—where any meetings with each other should take place.
“We’re thrilled for you to join us this morning,” Dad goes on, clapping his hands together excitedly. “We’ve got some big moves we wanted to discuss with you.”
Big moves?
My stomach sinks. I already don’t like where this is going. “I’m looking forward to hearing them,” I lie. At this very moment, I’m thankful for the years of pretending that my dad and I don’t have a strained relationship outside of work. It makes it easy to give these men a relaxed smile despite the alarm bells ringing in my mind.
I lean back in the office chair, making sure I’m the picture-perfect vision of indifference. They want me here, it’s clear. Even my dad is showing more of his cards than he thinks. Whatever scheme he’s creating, he needs me for it. And even though I don’t know the details yet, I’m comforted by the fact it seems like I hold the power currently, and I’ll use it to my full advantage.
My eyes track over the men in the room, including my dad. I meet each pair of eyes, waiting for someone tobreak. Finally, my dad does. And I never could’ve prepared myself for the words that leave his mouth.
“Son, today we’re going to be talking about how we’re going to take the Bishops’ hotels right out from under them. And how you’re going to be the one to do it.”
CHAPTER 42
WINNIE
“My doctor’sappointmentis scheduled for Friday,” Margo tells me on the other end of the line. It’s halfway through Monday, and I’m busy putting together a vision board for some of the rooms in her Hamptons house that still need to be decorated.
“I can’t wait to hear all about it,” I respond, shaking my head and deciding against one of the paint colors I initially liked for one of the guest rooms.
“I’m so nervous but also so excited. I didn’t know I could be both, but overall, I’m just ready to have a professional confirm it for me and not a stick I peed on.”
I laugh. “It’s going to be great. You know how I always get feelings about things, and this time, I feel excitement and joy. I’m so excited for a baby to love on.”
My bed is littered with different ideas I found online for Margo’s decor. I love that she asked me to help decorate for her because it’s given me something to do. After my morning walk and workout with Archer, I got ready and went right to the store to get poster board and fabrics so I could start getting some visions together.
This is the type of stuff I wish I got to do more. I’ve told my dad countless times I’d love to help with the decor teams for hotel openings, but it isn’t my place as his daughterto help with business. It’s only my job to attend parties and make the family look good.
But I’m excited about doing this.
It’s a good thing that Archer insisted I share his room with him from now on because the one I used to sleep in is covered with different hues of tans and greens, and I’d be annoyed moving it every night.
