19. Chapter 19
nineteen
Nine days to the wedding
Kieran was on his haunches, studying the broken tread Chris had pulled off the Cottage No. 2 steps. He looked up and stared at Chris for two beats before getting back on his feet.
Chris glanced at Rowan standing next to him. She followed her brother’s movement intently but hadn’t commented since they had convened in front of the cottage. They had discussed the possibility of a saboteur at dinner last night with Alex and Oliver, but Rowan didn’t completely buy the theory. She’d wanted to hear Kieran’s thoughts on it.
Kieran moved on to the partial boot print and again stayed silent.
“What do you think?” Chris asked after seconds passed by.
The tall guy took his time turning back to them. He looked at Chris through narrowed eyes and a twist to his lips. “I think trouble started popping up since you got here.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Chris frowned back at him.
“On your second day here, a pipe burst, and my sister had to lie to cover why you’re here—”
“Wait, what?”
Kieran barreled through, “Third day, she slipped through a step that has been tampered with. She got injured after each incident. I’m thinking I made a bad decision letting you stay. ”
“Letting me stay?” Chris scoffed.
“Wait, you agree with Chris that somebody did screw with the step?” Rowan broke her silence.
“There’s no doubt.” Kieran turned the broken plank with his gloved hand. “Your boyfriend here is right. There’s a partial clean cut on the bottom. It wouldn’t have shown from the top. When you walked in, the pressure started the break. And when you stepped on it again, probably with more pressure coming down, it broke through.”
“Wow, Kieran. I didn’t realize you’re a part-time CSI,” Rowan quipped.
“Hey, I paid attention in physics class.” Kieran grinned.
“You should report this to the police,” Chris suggested. “I found nothing else tampered with, but someone is obviously trespassing on your property, and Rowan’s safety is at risk. Hell, the safety of your guests coming in a week is at risk.”
“No.” Rowan shook her head. “We can’t report this. They might not let us have the wedding if they think the property isn’t safe.”
“If this keeps happening, it isn’t safe, Rowan,” Chris pointed out.
“Was this your plan all along?” Kieran came at Chris. “Come in, gain our trust, so you can break us a little at a time? Is this your friend’s idea of getting revenge on us?”
Chris didn’t even flinch, but his face must’ve shown how ridiculous Kieran’s accusation was. “Why the fuck would I do that? What do I gain from it?”
“Not you personally, probably. But you might just be a pawn played by your friend,” Kieran accused flatly.
“Kieran, what the hell are you talking about?” Rowan pushed the two of them apart.
“He’s filling your mind with sabotage talk. I’m just saying maybe he’s the saboteur. I mean, what do we really know about him? He just one day showed up out of nowhere, offering help. Important, busy, rich guys like him don’t help the likes of us. They take from us.”
Chris ground his teeth, trying to keep his temper in check. “You better take that back, Kieran.”
“Tell me you’ve never staked out a beautiful location and screwed the locals to get the land you want so you could build one of your fancy resorts. You tell me those people in Bali or Morocco just laid the red carpet for you while you bought their prime real estate, probably at the lowest rate? How do they feel now as tourists flock to their once-peaceful home? Tourists, who pay premium money to enjoy luxury, their beautiful view, while the locals gain little from it?”
“We paid for the fair market value of the land we purchased. I also involved the local community in the resort’s design, building, and operation. Most of the employees are local people whose livelihoods depended on tourism,” Chris replied, though he hated defending himself.
He knew they weren’t perfect. No business could be fair and equal to all parties. But being fair sometimes meant getting unequal shares with no one complaining. He tried his best to ensure his businesses benefitted the local community.
“Is that what’s going to happen to us if The Sullens buy our land and turn Bright Head into one of your luxurious resorts? We’ll become a tourist trap with tourism as our living crutch?” Kieran asked.
“What?” Chris stared at him. “You know I have no intention of buying your land. I’m only here as Rae’s proxy. She has no interest in selling or buying any land. Hell, I don’t think the fact that she owns a third of this land has even sunk in yet.”
Kieran backed off, and the stern look on his face loosened, but the critically twisted lips remained. “You better come up with a better answer than that. Nobody knows about Rae just yet, and I’d prefer we keep that in the family until we figure it all out. But those are questions the people at the Chamber meeting will ask you.”
What the heck is going on now? Kieran’s change of demeanor stumped Chris.
Rowan punched her brother in the side. “What the hell, Kieran?”
“Ow! Watch it!” Kieran rubbed the area Rowan might’ve bruised. “You may be small, but it doesn’t mean your fist can’t hurt.”
“Stop being a jerk.”
“I was preparing him for this evening. Why do you think Gibbes invited him to a meeting? He doesn’t believe your story.” Kieran gestured his hands toward Rowan and Chris. “Who would believe this successful hotel…person fell in love with… ”
“Me?” Rowan challenged, chest thrusted in pride. “Thanks for the confidence, bro.”
“That’s not what I mean,” Kieran brushed off Rowan’s objection. “The chance is slim. But we don’t have any choice. We got to keep up with the ruse, but you guys better come up with a plausible story to tell when you’re asked, and they will ask. When did you meet, where, and how? Some people who knew Dad most likely know you were with Richard until recently. And suddenly, you just got yourself engaged to the next man you met?”
“Who’s Richard?” Chris asked.
“That’s your first question after all that?” Rowan glared at him.
“Richard is Rowan’s ex-boyfriend of five years,” Kieran answered.
“You were with this Richard for five years?” Chris asked Rowan. “Why did you break up?”
“Seriously?” Rowan rolled her eyes. “Can we get back to the subject, please? Subjects, actually.”
She turned to Kieran. “You agree that someone might be sabotaging us?”
“It looks like it, doesn’t it?” Kieran’s face hardened again. “And I might have a suspect.”
“Who?” Rowan demanded.
“Who else? Connor Gibbes. He’s been eyeing our property for at least a decade. Dad shouldn’t have sold any of it to him. Now that he’s gone, Gibbes is like a raptor flying in a circle, biding his time to strike. And Chris’ presence here must’ve made him nervous enough to come and nose around here. Now I bet he will be unpleasant to Chris at the meeting…”
Kieran turned his gaze to Chris. “If you were considering buying this property, you’d change your mind.”
“I can handle unpleasant,” Chris stated.
Kieran nodded. “We need to show a united front. We need to get our story straight.”
“Okay.” Rowan nodded in agreement.
“You need to turn your charm on and help Rowan win our opponents over because she surely isn’t doing it,” Kieran added to Chris.
“Hey!” Rowan protested. “You know why they don’t like me. Or Bobbie and Morgan, or the few other female business owners in the community. ”
“Well, that’s a different fight altogether,” Kieran said. “For now, we just need to show the Chamber that the inn will operate again, and when it does, it will be good for the community. That’s the only way to get Gibbes to back off. And hopefully, these incidents will stop.”
“So you’re not going to report them?” Chris didn’t like the sound of it. “You need to get them on the record.”
“What would the police do? They’d look at this and say it’s an accident.”
“What about the footprint?”
“Could’ve been one of our ground maintenance guys,” Kieran added. “Look, we’ll keep this evidence. And if something else happens, we’ll talk again about the police. This is a small community, Chris. Gibbes has friends in every office on the island.”
Chris understood power. Even in a small community, there was always someone in power. And it wasn’t always the obvious person.