Chapter 3
“ S lim pickings today,” Dylan said with a heartfelt sigh as she glanced at her passenger seat and took in the small collection of tools that she’d managed to help herself to today.
She could have really used that hammer, Dylan thought, biting back a disappointed sigh as she ran her eyes over the set of pliers and flat-head screwdrivers that she’d helped herself to from Lucan’s tool belt and climbed out of her pickup truck.
That was followed by releasing a satisfied sigh as she took in Blackwood Manor and-
She should probably do something about the front door, Dylan thought as she took in the piece of plywood where the front door used to be. She’d figure it out tomorrow, she decided, releasing another satisfied sigh since this momentous occasion more than warranted it.
Blackwood Manor was finally hers.
It would take some time to put it back to rights, but that was fine with her.
She wasn’t about to rush this, not after everything she did to get here.
She worked every summer, weekend, and holiday at B.T.
Construction when she was a kid, saving every penny, knowing that she was going to need it someday.
She studied her father’s old designs, studied historical designs online, borrowed Brooke’s books since she wasn’t using them, and taught herself everything that she needed to know so that she could bring Blackwood Manor back to life one day.
After high school, she debated going to college only to decide against it since it would set her plans back by four years and decided to start working full-time for B.T.
Construction instead. She started off by helping her father, running errands, setting up the boardroom for meetings, picking up lunch, basically doing anything and everything that needed to be done.
During her downtime, she studied her father’s designs, looked through client notes, requests, and then, she came up with her own designs. But something felt off. They just…
They didn’t feel right .
There was no other way to describe it. She went over the notes her father made, the contracts the clients signed, and old designs, but still, she couldn’t figure out why the designs felt off.
She started sitting in meetings, listening to everything the client said they wanted, but it was the things that they didn’t say that caught her attention.
She started making connections, started looking for the gaps, the things that the clients didn’t say, and started coming up with new designs. She didn’t show them to anyone. Never planned to. She just did them to pass the time while she waited for a chance to work on Blackwood Manor.
That, and she knew what would happen if her father found out what she was doing.
He would push her to go to college and start making plans for her to take over B.T.
Construction alongside Brooke and Quinn, but that just wasn’t something that she wanted to do.
She enjoyed her time at B.T. Construction, but she wanted something different.
She had no idea that Brooke knew about her designs until that meeting.
As soon as Dylan saw the designs, she went numb, barely aware of the lies coming out of Brooke’s mouth, the way the clients gushed over her designs, or her father’s stunned silence, but she remembered the moment when Brooke dragged her into the supply closet and said the two words that guaranteed that she wouldn’t say anything to their father.
“Blackwood Manor.”
It was at that moment that they decided to come to an understanding, mostly because Dylan knew that her father would spank her ass when he found out what she was doing, but also because Brooke made her an offer that she couldn’t refuse.
In exchange for letting Brooke take credit for her designs, she would keep her mouth shut and after their father retired, Brooke would make sure that Dylan had everything that she needed to renovate Blackwood Manor.
She planned on doing most of the work herself to save money, but she was still going to need tools and supplies and that’s where Brooke came in.
She was going to make sure that Dylan had everything that she was going to need to renovate Blackwood Manor, supplies and equipment and what B.T.
Construction didn’t have, she’d make sure that Dylan got at the same rate, saving her a fortune.
Since the bank refused to give her a loan to buy Blackwood Manor, mostly because it was constantly on the verge of being condemned, she’d been forced to take drastic measures to save money.
She gave up her apartment, sold everything that didn’t fit in a bag, couch surfed, house sat, and when that wasn’t an option, she broke into Quinn’s office and crashed on the couch.
She grabbed breakfast at B.T. Construction offices, enjoyed free samples at grocery stores, invited herself to her parents’ house for dinner every chance she got, did her laundry in the maintenance crew’s trailer, and basically cut everything out of her life that got in the way.
She stopped going out, stopped dating, stopped planning for a future beyond Blackwood Manor, telling herself that she could focus on all of those things that she wanted later.
Right now, Blackwood Manor was hers and she…
Couldn’t help but wonder what Brooke’s car was doing parked on the other side of her house. She glanced from her sister’s black SUV to the small, white sedan with “Cobbler’s Hollow-Code Enforcement Division” printed in black lettering across the back that was parked next to it.
She glanced back at her sister’s car before she made her way around the house just in time to watch as bright yellow tape with the words “Unsafe: Do Not Enter” was secured across what was left of the back porch.
Her stomach dropped as she glanced at the back door and spotted the large sign with the words “Condemned: Unsafe Structure” printed in large letters across the top and-
“I believe this belongs to you,” came the softly murmured words, drawing her attention to find Brooke watching her with something close to pity as she moved to hand something to her.
Already having a really bad feeling what it was, Dylan swallowed hard as she forced herself to look down as she took the folded piece of paper from her sister and felt her stomach drop.
“You have thirty days to appeal the condemnation or voluntarily demolish the property,” the inspector said as he walked past her while Dylan stood there, reading the list of complaints.
Severe structural instability.
Partial roof collapse and unsecured openings.
Prolonged water damage and mold growth.
History of non-compliance…
And the list went on and on.
“I don’t understand,” Dylan said, frowning as she tried to make sense of what was happening. She just…
This shouldn’t be happening.
The city tried to condemn the house before, but they never had enough to do it. She’d already applied for permits, ready to fix everything and-
“You’re welcome,” Brooke said, making everything inside her go still as she slowly looked up to find her sister watching her with that same pitying look, but there was something else there, something that had her stomach turning.
“You called the city on me,” Dylan said hollowly, even as she prayed that she was wrong.
“I did you a favor,” Brooke said, shrugging it off as she pulled her phone out and began texting while she made her way around the house, letting Dylan know that she was already bored with this conversation.
“A favor? You just screwed me over,” Dylan said, following her as she made her way around the house.
“I saved you,” Brooke said, not bothering to look up from her phone.
“How exactly did you save me?” Dylan demanded, only to end up groaning when she saw the orange sign condemning the house taped to a boarded window.
“The house isn’t worth saving. It’s a complete gut job that would have bankrupted you in the end. Believe it or not, I did you a favor,” Brooke said, once again shrugging it off like she hadn’t just completely destroyed everything that Dylan had been working for.
“That wasn’t your call to make,” Dylan bit out as she followed her.
“It is when you expect me to invest B.T. Construction’s valuable resources, especially now that B.T. Construction is about to be mine,” Brooke said dismissively as she scrolled through her phone.
“We had a deal,” Dylan reminded her.
“Look, I’ll give you fifty thousand dollars for the house to make this right,” Brooke said, shrugging it off as she finished typing something on her phone and shoved it into her purse.
“Fifty thousand? I paid two hundred thousand for it!”
“Then, you overpaid,” Brooke said dismissively as she looked pointedly at the house that had admittedly seen better days.
“The house is on five acres and has private access to a lake,” Dylan pointed out.
“Which is the only reason why I’m offering to take it off your hands. The cost of the demolition alone is going to bankrupt you,” Brooke said, facing her.
“I’m not tearing Blackwood Manor down,” Dylan bit out.
“Looks like you don’t have a choice,” Brooke said with a pointed look at the notice in her hand. “Let me take the property off your hands for fifty thousand and when the project is completed, I’ll give you a finder’s fee.”
“What project?” Dylan demanded, narrowing her eyes on her sister.
“Luxury condos,” Brooke said with a satisfied sigh as she gestured lazily towards the house and overgrown backyard.
“You want to sell Blackwood Manor to a condo developer?” Dylan asked slowly, shaking her head in disbelief because there was no way that her sister just screwed her over so that she could-
“No, B.T. Construction will be building them,” Brooke announced with a smirk that turned Dylan’s stomach.
“B.T. Construction doesn’t build condos. They build luxury homes,” Dylan reminded her.
“They will soon,” Brooke said smugly as dread slowly crawled up Dylan’s spine.
B.T. Construction specialized in building luxury homes.
That’s what their employees had been trained to do.
They didn’t have the specialized training required to build luxury condos, to deal with steel frames, elevators, or any of the specialized skills that they would need to know in order to pull this off.
They also didn’t have the equipment that they would need to build luxury condos, not to mention the time it would take to build them.
They would need commercial contractors, structural engineers, men who could work cranes, and to invest every cent B.T.
Construction had just to pull this off and even then, it might not be enough.
They’d have to replace more than half their crew with men who had the certification and upgrade all of their trucks and equipment and hope that they broke even in ten years.
They-
“This was your plan all along, wasn’t it?” Dylan said hollowly as she watched her sister closely, noting the gleam of excitement in her eyes as she took in the property almost as though she was already imagining what it would look like once the condos were built.
“Things change,” Brooke said, shrugging it off like destroying everything their father worked so hard to build was no big deal.
“You’re not going to get away with this,” Dylan bit out as she watched Brooke’s expression turn pitying and-
“What are you going to do about it?”