Chapter 43
I find Xavier, on his phone striding through the gardens near the lagoon. I grab his arm as he turns in surprise. ‘I need to speak to you.’
He points to his phone and mouths, ‘Busy.’
‘Please.’
He rolls his eyes but wraps up his call. ‘Harper, let me guess, you’ve found another solution to a problem that isn’t yours?’
‘Yes! Gus. We need to visit him, and his wife.’
‘What?’ Surprise shines in his eyes.
‘Today.’
He pockets his phone. ‘No. I’m not going to—’
‘Xavier,’ I say, my voice beseeching. ‘You love that guy like a father. It’s time to put him out of his misery. He’s beating himself up over what he did. You know that, right?’
He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. ‘I do know that. When I found out why he did it, I flew straight there, but he wouldn’t see me.’
I put my hands on his marriage-material shoulders and grip hard, desperate to get my point across. ‘So make him see you.’
He gives a quick shake of his head. ‘Make him? No. He’ll come back when he’s ready.’
‘No. He won’t and Turt needs him. You need to visit Gus and make this right.’
‘I don’t want to intrude.’
‘Well, I do.’
I grab his arm and don’t take no for an answer. ‘Mariola’s watching the bookshop, and the three Lucys are hunting for Michel to fly us there.’
We find Michel. Lucy is twisting his ear to convince him to take us to Mahé. I’m not sure if he’s protesting because he doesn’t want to take Xavier, or if it’s because he’s getting his ear bent by a little old lady.
‘Michel!’ I wave. ‘We’re going to see Gus to sort all of this out once and for all.’
The two men stand off. It’s a testosterone-fuelled, glittering-eyed show of alpha-male dominance.
‘Oh, for crying out loud, we don’t have time for any of this macho-man stuff.
Let’s get to the helicopter before I lose my nerve.
’ I’m not all that keen to fly over a wide expanse of water again, but needs must and all that.
I pull Xavier’s arm and motion Michel to join us.
The daggers they’re throwing at each other is ridiculous. I’ve got half a mind to lecture them about it, but my brain can only cope with one drama at a time.
We get to the helipad. On second thought maybe I should sort this before Michel’s in charge of our safety up in the air so I can be sure he’s not going to fly us into a mountain or anything to get revenge and stop the second resort from being built.
Men can be so immature when they butt heads, whereas I find women have more of a tendency to lay out their issues so they can at least be addressed. So that’s what I do.
‘Xavier.’ I turn to him. ‘Michel isn’t happy with you.
And I hazard a guess the feeling is mutual, going by the galactic-force glare you’re throwing his way?
Can we figure this out before we’re at the mercy of Michel’s flying?
God knows, he’s got enough troubles trying to keep the chopper pointing the right way at the best of times, let alone when he’s mad. ’
‘Hey! That was your fault for—’
‘Yeah, yeah. I took a photo. Change the record, Michel. Seriously.’ He shakes his head. ‘Cat got your tongues? This is why men struggle in this world; communication! Lack thereof. Michel, would you like to speak up?’
‘Yes, yes, I would. What happened to the Xavier I used to know? The one who wanted to protect this island at all costs? Now you’ve gone and got investors for the Last Chance Resort… Given half of it up like it doesn’t matter.’
Xavier’s eyebrows pull together. ‘How do you know about the investors?’
‘Word gets around, even when you use fancy lawyers to keep your secrets.’
‘You’re still shooting off your mouth, when you don’t have the facts.’
‘Now, now,’ I say, feeling like a schoolteacher. ‘Let’s keep it friendly.’
‘You’ll sell your own mother out, all so you could buy more land and raze the rainforest and the natural habitat. Newsflash: islanders don’t want another resort, Xavier. They don’t want to line your pockets.’
‘Who told you about the land sale? That needs to be kept quiet or the whole deal will be at risk.’
‘Helicopter pilot, remember? Your buddies weren’t as circumspect as you might have imagined.’ Michel glares. ‘Aren’t you listening? If the deal falls through that’s even better.’
‘It’s not, you know.’
‘What do you mean, Xavier?’ I ask. ‘Do you plan on building a resort on that land? You might as well just tell us, since everyone will find out eventually anyway.’
‘Why on earth would I do that?’ he says, his voice tinged with anger.
‘Do I look like someone who goes around destroying rainforests? My mother would disown me for one and I’d never do that, especially on Esperé island.
Why am I suddenly labelled this destroyer of worlds?
Everything I’ve done since I took over has been to preserve what we have. Everything.’
‘So demolishing the Cabana Bar and developing the promenade, that’s preserving the land, is it? Looks to me to be the very opposite. Let me guess, your hands are tied.’
Xavier glares. ‘Yes, my hands are well and truly tied when it comes to the promenade, but it’s not like I haven’t done my utmost—’
Michel sneers and Xavier’s eyes turn black.
I sigh. ‘Let him speak.’
‘It’s not as cut and dried as you think.
When my mother went through her last divorce, her lawyer told her that a conglomerate had put feelers out on buying the land next to the Last Chance Resort.
At that time, we were focused on not losing half of this place to a guy she’d only known for a year.
Once we got past that obstacle, we returned to the matter at hand.
How could we stop them buying and developing the rainforest right next door to us? ’
‘I bet you bribed someone.’
‘Michel!’
Xavier shakes his head as if Michel just doesn’t get it.
‘Mum and I had endless talks about what our options were. Either let the land be sold and live with it – hoping whatever they built would be as eco-friendly as possible. Or stop it happening altogether. In order for that to happen we needed capital, which we didn’t have.
The only asset we have is the Last Chance Resort which needed a renovation we also couldn’t afford.
We decided to meet with investors and see what they were offering. ’
‘And?’ Michel says.
‘And we met with a range of investors and took the deal that allowed us to retain 51 per cent of the Last Chance Resort, and they’d also paid for the renovations.’
‘And then you promptly bought the land the conglomerate were after?’
Xavier’s fierce expression falls away and he smiles, as if he’s proud.
‘We did. But negotiations were tough. The sale hasn’t settled yet but they have accepted our offer.
Mum and I have been sick with worry that they’d sell to the conglomerate, and we’ve tried to keep it hush-hush so nothing will interfere. ’
Is that why Mrs Bastille was sitting forlorn at the Cabana Bar that day with Doris?
Not because she was going to lose the bar where happy hour goes all day but because she was worrying about protecting the rainforest?
And why I’ve caught Xavier and his mum, heads bent, fiercely gesticulating?
They were worried the deal would fall through. That makes so much more sense.
‘Who were the suits that day for the joy ride?’
‘The enemy!’ Xavier says. ‘But we didn’t want them to know we were trying to buy the land too. So we met with them, tempted them with various options that we had no intention of going through with and kept it all cordial.’
‘How did you convince the owner of the land to sell to you?’
Xavier laughs, and it changes his whole face.
‘The three Lucys dug up some dirt on those suits, and I let that information slip to the owner. Let’s just say their plans weren’t very eco-friendly, if their other hotels are anything to go by.
No local wants to sell to a company who isn’t honest, and so even though they had deeper pockets, our bid won. ’
The three Lucys, really? Maybe I do need their help when it comes to the Tia fiasco? ‘But the three Lucys didn’t know anything about the deal.’ They were shocked the day Michel mentioned it at the bookshop.
‘They knew we needed help and we told them we’d explain it all later.’
‘How did they dig up dirt on these people?’ Michel asks.
‘Oh, they took an ancestry class once and it provided them with a range of skills…’ I say with a laugh. Michel gives me a blank stare. ‘Fine! It was the dark web.’
‘Where did you get that from?’ Xavier says with a shocked grunt. ‘They’re spies from M15…’
My jaw falls open. ‘I knew it!’
Xavier laughs. ‘Joking. Lucy was a highly respected investigative journalist back in the day and still has a lot of contacts.’
‘That tracks.’ I could see Lucy being an investigative reporter, chasing down leads, convincing people to share their stories. Doing exposés.
‘Right? And Lucy Lou is master at social engineering.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Manipulating people into divulging confidential information, by playing a part. She does it well.’
‘Huh. Of all the Lucys I trusted her the most.’
‘Amateur,’ Michel says with a scoff.
‘And finally, Lucia has ties to the most famous family in the world, which we haven’t needed to call upon yet, but the offer is there.’
‘The royal family?’ I breathe.
He frowns. ‘Ah – no.’
‘He means Cosa Nostra. The Mafia.’
I gasp. ‘Lucia is in the Mafia!’
‘Mafia-adjacent; loosely, loosely connected, say if we needed a bit of muscle.’
‘Muscle? What! Is any of this true?’
‘Who would ever know?’ Xavier laughs. I remember Brian telling me that they dug up dirt on Mrs Bastille’s husband number seven too. I better be careful around those little old ladies.
‘Can we get back to more pressing matters?’ Michel says. ‘Like how do we know you won’t build on that land one day?’
Xavier shrugs. ‘I don’t have to prove myself, Michel. We’ve sold 49 per cent of the Last Chance Resort to protect the rainforest from development. My word should be good enough. Once upon a time you’d have believed in me. I’m not sure what changed that.’
‘You changed.’
‘My life got a whole lot more complicated. I had to change. But I’m still the same guy, outside of work, as I always was.’
‘Aww, is this part where you kiss and make up?’ I can’t help but joke to break the tension that still lingers between these once firm friends. Can’t they just admit they were both misinformed and get over it?
‘Harper…’
‘Fine. Fine.’ Michel nods, chagrined. ‘You can’t blame a guy for jumping to the wrong conclusion.’
‘Well, I can. And you didn’t have to be so bullish about it. Why not come and ask me?’
‘Would you have told him?’ I ask.
‘If he’d asked nicely.’
‘Yeah right.’ I scoff.
‘Word of advice, Joji is not the best person to gather intel for you unless it’s about whether guests are hot or not,’ Xavier says.
I gasp and bite down on a laugh. Xavier is in touch with every little thing around this place, just like Mariola is.
Michel kicks the ground. ‘You did the right thing,’ he says in a quiet voice as if not quite wanting to admit it.
‘The only thing, as far as both my mum and I were concerned. This has always been home to her and home to the expats. We want to keep it that way. Sadly we had to make some concessions for that to happen, like the eventual demolition of the Cabana Bar and the development of the promenade. While I’m still the majority shareholder for the Last Chance Resort, there were conditions in the contract as to certain renovations that I had to agree to, for the deal to go ahead. ’
‘And then the Gus drama happened? How did you explain the missing money?’ I ask.
‘I didn’t. I repaid it so they didn’t know.’
This guy is not a money-hungry, finger-clicking monster at all. The very opposite in fact. ‘Wow. You are a bit of all right in my book.’ I send him a dazzling smile and all the coolness I’ve felt towards him evaporates.
‘Thanks?’
‘Yeah, I guess this is where I apologise?’ Michel says.
‘No need for apologies. You only wanted to protect the island too.’
‘Isn’t it so much easier when we use words instead of glowering like we’re in a stand-off?’ I tease.