Chapter 14
Fourteen
AMARA
PRESENT DAY
I read the headline on my phone, but I struggled to reconcile the news story was about my casino project. The one Luka was trying to destroy. I turned the screen over on my desk. I couldn’t look at it again. It also hid the texts and calls from Luka. I had no plans to answer any of them. He got what he wanted. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of hearing the pain in my voice.
“Good morning,” Barbara marched into my office. She tossed her briefcase in an open chair and poured a cup of coffee.
“I don’t think we see the morning the same way.” How did she smile under these circumstances? Luka had created a political action committee to block my casino license. Was there any truth between us last night?
“It’s a setback. Only a setback. Just as I explained to you on the phone an hour ago.” She sipped her coffee. “I have a meeting set up with a new lobbyist at two today.” I appreciated that she didn’t pry about where I had been when we spoke.
She didn’t know about the emotional grenade the chain of events from the Crescent Towers had set off. This wasn’t solely about losing the biggest deal of my career, it was about being stabbed in the back by the one person I trusted.
“Oh?” I raised my eyebrows. “Who is the new lobbyist?”
“She has connections to both Senators Merritt and Hyde. She’s been recommended by a friend.”
I turned my back on my attorney. Even from this distance, I could see the crane hovering next to the Crescent Towers construction site from my window. I could also pick out the Vieux Carre from my office. They were in different directions.
“Amara?”
“Hmm?”
“I was trying to tell you about Victoria Banks. The new lobbyist.”
I peered closely at the boutique hotel as if I could make out an athletic build in an expensive suit exiting the front lobby. I wondered if Luka had found my note. Did he realize I had left the necklace with it? Was he looking for me? Or did things go according to plan? My chest tightened with the realization that the entire night together was more than likely a setup. The first battle point went to him, but he wasn’t going to win the war.
I had said and done things last night that exposed the cracks in my armor. It was okay. I had more armor lying around.
“Amara.” Barbara sounded testy.
I spun on my heels. “Get Victoria in here. I want in on the meeting.”
“It’s at two. I’ll tell her?—”
“No,” I corrected her. “Now. Get her in here now.”
“But—”
My eyes were as cutting as my voice. Barbara backtracked her steps. “All right. I’ll see if she can rearrange her morning.”
“Good. And send Enzo in for me on your way out.”
Within a matter of minutes, my assistant stepped inside the glass doors.
“You look horrible.” I stared at him. There were dark circles under his blue eyes. His shirt was wrinkled. “I take that back—it’s worse. You look like you slept in the office.”
“Sorry.” He shook his head.
“Did you sleep on the couch?”
“It was a late night. We were all here,” he answered. He looked away, but I got the message. My team was here trying to put out a fire while I was in the Vieux Carre suite. Enzo had no idea how much I wished I could change the decision I made last night. My stomach twisted in knots every time I thought about Luka’s hands canvassing my body.
“Thank you.” I tried to soften my tone. “For working so late.”
“Of course.” He paused. “Barbara said you needed something?”
“Right.” I shook Luka from my head. “I need everything else on my schedule cleared for the day. The Crescent Towers project is my main priority. My only priority until we can get the votes we need.”
“Okay. What else?” he asked. His head was buried in his phone, taking notes. It was possible he had already re-ordered the day for me.
Enzo had been with me for three years. I had trained twenty assistants before finally landing on him. He was a fast learner. He didn’t try to weigh me down with personal conversations. He had been reliable and trustworthy since the day I hired him.
“I’ll let you know.”
He turned to leave.
“Enzo?”
“Hmm?” He stopped in the doorway.
“See what you can find out about Luka Novikov’s tech investments. I need everything you can dig up on it.”
“Excuse me?” It wasn’t often he didn’t understand my instructions.
“He has new money. Money he’s using to fund the PAC. Barbara told me you are up to speed on this.”
“I am. I know all the players.” His voice was clipped with defiance. I wondered if I’d ever seen him this short and edgy before.
“Good. I didn’t want to have to bring in someone else. It should be easy for you to tell me everything about the tech. I want to know all of it.” Whatever Luka was capitalizing on with the tech, I was going to strip it down to its bare bones and render it useless. I would find a way to cut off his funding.
“Got it.” I sensed uneasiness on his part or maybe it was the exhaustion from working nearly twenty-four hours straight.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded. “I’m good. Going to get a coffee refill now. I’ll be back with the information before the end of the day.”
The door closed and I felt the heaviness of the quiet room. I wanted to pull my staff back inside. I wanted incessant chatter and constant questions. I needed the distraction. I needed to be steered on course and drawn out of the darkest parts of the ocean. Right now, all I felt was the murky water squeezing the air from my lungs. I had to sit. I gripped the side of my desk before I stumbled. Shit. I had let Luka in, and I had to find a way to shut him back out before I drowned in my mistakes.