Chapter 17
E’Levyn ‘Lev’ Laurent
Day Five
Miami looked different from thirty floors up.
I stood in front of the window with one hand in my pocket and the other wrapped around a cup of hot tea.
I hadn’t taken another sip because my mind was somewhere else.
It wasn’t the first time that happened and it damn sure wouldn’t be the last. Running Empire meant there was always another problem waiting on the other side of a phone call, another property to close on, and another cocky ass investor who thought money made him the smartest man in the room.
Money impressed people but it never impressed me, the results did. There was a knock on my office door before it slowly opened. “Morning, Mr. Laurent.”
I turned around as Stephanie stepped inside carrying a leather portfolio and an iPad tucked against her hip. She’d worked for me long enough to know better than to come in talking before I acknowledged her.
“Morning.” I replied.
“They’re all here.”
I glanced at the watch around my wrist before looking back at her. “This early?”
She smiled. “Actually…yes.”
“They finally learning.” I replied.
She laughed before she opened the portfolio and began flipping through today’s schedule. “Nine o’clock is the Harbor Point development meeting. Ten-thirty you’ve got the lender from New York calling in. Your attorney moved the zoning meeting to tomorrow afternoon, and Mr. Alvarez confirmed lunch.”
“I ain’t making that lunch with his old ass.”
She chuckled because she already knew that. “I figured.”
“Push him to next week.”
She made a quick note without asking why. That was one of the reasons she’d lasted this long. She understood that if something moved on my calendar, there was usually a reason behind it. “Anything else?”
“The structural engineer emailed revised numbers at six this morning.”
I was still staring out of the window before turning around. “I’ll look at them after the meeting.”
She nodded once before stepping aside as I walked past her.
The hallway outside my office overlooked the rest of the building with phones ringing almost nonstop.
The assistants of others hurried from office to office carrying folders while two agents argued quietly over a commercial lease that was supposed to close by noon.
Nobody noticed me at first and then one by one the conversations died down.
“Morning, Mr. Laurent.”
“Morning.” I greeted back.
I acknowledged each greeting with a nod as I kept walking.
Respect didn’t have to be demanded around here.
If you built something worth respecting, it usually came on its own.
By the time I reached the conference room, the conversations on the other side of the glass had already started.
As architects, engineers, attorneys, investors, meanwhile, everybody had an opinion before the meeting even began.
I wrapped my hand around the stainless-steel handle, pushed the door open, and every head in the room turned in my direction. The chatter stopped almost immediately. “Morning, gentlemen.”
I pulled my chair out at the head of the table, set my phone beside a stack of blueprints, and finally looked down at the scale model sitting in the middle of the room. If everything went according to plan, Harbor Point would be one of the biggest developments Empire had ever put its name on.
The room settled down once I sat down, but I didn’t mistake silence for preparation.
It was habit. People tended to stop talking when I walked in, then waited to see where I was looking before they decided what mattered.
I let the quietness linger a little longer while flipping through the packet Stephanie had placed in front of me.
it was thirty-two pages of projections, environmental reports, contractor bids, revised budgets and architectural renderings.
Half of it I’d already read before sunrise.
“Alright,” I said without looking up. “Let’s stop reading paperwork everybody should’ve read before they got here. Tell me what’s changed.”
The project manager, David, straightened up in his chair. “The only real issue right now is the drainage revision. Engineering believes it’ll push us back another four to six weeks.”
I finally looked up. “Engineering believes?”
He hesitated. “That’s their recommendation.”
“So whose meeting am I in?” I questioned as the room stayed quiet. I closed the packet and slid it toward the center of the table. “If engineering’s running the project, I can go back upstairs.”
A couple of nervous chuckles floated around the room before dying just as quickly. David cleared his throat. “What I mean is, after reviewing the revised report…”
“No.” I shook my head cutting him off. “Say what you mean the first time.”
He nodded. “We’ll be delayed.”
“There you go.”
I leaned back in my chair, with my eyes drifting toward the scale model sitting in the middle of the table.
Somebody had spent weeks putting it together.
Every balcony, every palm tree, every parking entrance had been handcrafted down to the smallest detail.
It was impressive as fuck. It also didn’t make anybody any money.
“The delay don’t bother me.” I said. That caught their attention. “What bothers me is why we’re delayed.”
The structural engineer slid a set of plans toward me. “We can redesign the retention system.”
“You should’ve.” I grilled him. He simply dropped his head and looked down at the table while I continued. “The county requirements were updated almost a year ago.”
Nobody answered. I wasn’t saying it to embarrass him. I was saying it because somebody should’ve caught it before today.
One of the investors folded his hands together. “What’s the solution?”
I stood, unbuttoning my jacket as I walked toward the model. My finger traced the back portion of the property where the retention area sat before moving toward the waterfront. “You move this line.”
The architect stood beside me. “That affects the parking garage.”
“It affects everything.”
He studied the model. “Well, actually you’re right.”
“I know.”
He laughed quietly before looking back down. I continued. “If we shift the garage entrance twenty feet east, we gain enough room without sacrificing any residential units.”
“Exactly.” The investor smiled.
“So how long?” I asked.
The architect looked toward the engineer.
“If we start today…” He paused, already doing the math in his head. “About two weeks.”
I raised a brow. “Not six?”
He shook his head. “No.”
I looked back toward David. “Call the contractor after this meeting.”
He immediately nodded. “I’ll handle it.”
“And don’t ask permission.” I told him. He frowned as if he didn’t understand so I got my point across.
“If they’re waiting on paperwork, get the paperwork.
If they’re waiting on a signature, find whoever’s holding the pen.
I don’t pay people to tell me why something can’t get done.
I pay them to figure out how it gets done. ”
The room got quiet again, but this time it was different.
The pens started moving across notepads and the architect was already marking up a fresh set of plans.
David had his phone in his hand typing notes as fast as he could.
Now we were getting somewhere, I thought.
Another thirty minutes passed before the last item on the agenda was crossed off.
Everyone then gathered their folders, with a few of them stopping to shake my hand on the way out.
“Appreciate your time, Lev. We’ll get those revisions over this afternoon. I’ll have the updated numbers by close of business.”
I acknowledged each one with a nod, waiting until the conference room finally emptied before grabbing my phone. I had three missed calls and one text.
Marv: Pull up when you done.
I looked at the message for a second before slipping the phone back into my pocket. Marv wasn’t the type to text unless he actually wanted to see me. That usually meant one of two things. He’d either found something, or something had found him.
I grabbed my keys off the conference table, buttoned my jacket, and headed for the elevator. The ride downstairs was quiet, giving me just enough time to clear my head before stepping back into the heat. The valet already had my truck waiting at the curb.
As I climbed behind the wheel, my phone vibrated again with Marv calling and I answered through the truck’s speakers. “Yeah.”
“Where you at?”
“Leaving the office. What’s up?”
“You pulling up?”
I didn’t know what the rush was. “I’m on my way.”
“Aight.”
He hung up first which was typical. The warehouse doors were loud as they rolled open, letting the afternoon heat inside.
Forklifts moved in the distance, backing pallets into place while a couple of Empire employees loaded materials onto a flatbed trailer.
The smell of fresh lumber, diesel fuel, and concrete dust lingered in the air, blending into the familiar scent of another job getting done.
I spotted Marv before he spotted me. He was standing near the loading dock with one foot propped against a pallet of tile, the was phone pressed to his ear while talking with his free hand.
Even from where I stood, something about him felt off.
His movements were quicker than usual, almost impatient, like his body couldn’t decide whether it wanted to stand still or keep moving.
He ended the call and slipped the phone into his pocket. “There he go,” he called out, flashing a grin. “Thought your rich ass was gone have me waiting all day.”
I smirked as I walked over and bumped fists with him. “You still here, ain’t you?”
“Ain’t got nowhere else to be.”
“Stop lying, you always got somewhere to be that’s why you always in trouble.”
He laughed, but it was short-lived. Before another word came out of his mouth, he rubbed the underside of his nose with the back of his thumb, then immediately started talking again.
“I heard Paper out.”
I didn’t react how he expected. I kept it cool. “He been out a few days.”