Chapter 44
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
The helicopter descended through the evening sky toward Eterna.
From above, the yacht glowed against the dark water like a floating city, and normally that would’ve pleased me, but tonight, all I could think about was the woman somewhere on board whom I’d barely spoken to in the past forty-eight hours.
I had been slammed with investor meetings, meetings with government officials, going over more designs with architects, handling shit with my legal team, and signing off on three acquisitions.
It seemed that every damn person on the planet was determined to occupy my time the week leading up to this event.
The second the landing skids touched the helipad, I was already up and prepping to offload.
“Always fashionably late, hermano.”
I glanced at Wyatt. “What gave it away?”
“The fact that your own gala started ninety minutes ago,” Colton chimed in.
“And yet it’s somehow still running.”
“That’s because Cat Veléz is running it and saving your ass once again.”
The helicopter door opened, and the warm ocean air immediately rushed inside.
We were greeted by the sounds of music drifting upward from the decks below. People in conversation, glasses clinking, laughter, and a string orchestra keeping the mood moving fantastically all evening long.
After we stepped onto the yacht where the main event was held, I heard the low hum of several hundred very wealthy people enjoying themselves.
Then I froze. The first thing I noticed wasn’t the lighting, the music, or the crowd. Not even the fact that Eterna looked nothing like the yacht I’d left a week ago.
The first thing I noticed was that nobody seemed eager to leave. I slowed my pace as I moved through the crowd, taking in the evening around me.
By this point in an investor event, guests had typically separated into predictable groups.
Investors gathered with investors. Executives clustered around presentations.
Everyone politely endured whatever program had been arranged while quietly calculating how much longer they needed to stay before it became socially acceptable to leave.
Tonight, nobody appeared keen to go anywhere. I saw conversations fill every deck, and guests moved from display to display without being directed.
People were lingering and asking questions. More surprisingly, they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
I stopped beside one of the displays and watched an older couple discuss which island they preferred. Not which villa or investment opportunity… which island. It was as if they were already imagining themselves living there.
I kept moving forward, and the deeper I got into the event, the more I understood what Catalina had done with her approach to planning it.
Most investor events focused on numbers, retention, growth projections, and square footage. Every executive I’d ever hired seemed determined to sell Crown Reserve as a luxury real estate development.
Catalina had not prioritized the real estate itself with everything she’d put on display. Instead, she focused on the experience and the lifestyle—my vision for the entire concept—
highlighting why someone would want to be there in the first place.
Private sailing excursions, wellness retreats, private beaches, and experiences that couldn’t be replicated anywhere else… all things I’d envisioned at the outset, she had highlighted.
A smile found its way onto my face as the realization settled in.
The clever woman had completely bypassed the investment aspect of the evening. Rather than convincing guests to purchase a villa, she’d designed the event to convince them to imagine themselves living in one.
That was infinitely more powerful.
Hell, my own design teams would have never thought to serenade our investors like this, selling a feeling rather than a piece of property. It was brilliant.
I stopped beside one of the larger installations and studied it.
It was a model of the six Crown Reserve islands, displayed in a way I hadn’t considered. Each one represented something different. One focused on privacy. Another on adventure. Another on family. Another on wellness.
They weren’t marketed as developments; they were presented as choices, lifestyles, and futures.
As I stood there, looking at it, I realized something that genuinely surprised me. I couldn’t remember explaining any of this to her. Not directly, anyway. Not like this.
There certainly wasn’t enough detail for her to build an entire event around it. Yet somehow, she’d managed to pull the vision from my head and present it better than I ever had.
For years, I’d sat in boardrooms, trying to explain that Crown Reserve wasn’t just about villas, marinas, or private islands. Those were simply the setting. The real product had always been freedom, privacy, and time.
The opportunity to experience a life that very few people on Earth ever would. Somehow, Catalina understood that.
A voice interrupted my thoughts. “Mr. Hawk.”
I turned to find one of the investors approaching.
He glanced around the yacht, then looked back at me. “This is an extraordinary vision.”
My gaze swept across the deck once more, taking in the guests as they moved between the displays, visibly captivated by what surrounded them.
Under the carefully placed lighting, the installations seemed almost alive, each one telling a story and inviting people deeper into the experience.
Everything around me was a reflection of Catalina’s vision, which had somehow been transformed from an idea into something living and tangible.
“Thank you,” I answered the man. I smiled at him. “It appears my event planner has exceeded all of my expectations for this event.”
The investor followed my gaze as I searched for Catalina. My eyes instantly landed on her, laughing with a group of guests and completely unaware I’d arrived… late.
I stood there for a moment, watching her. The same way I’d watched her at our first event together. The same woman who’d saved my ass after I’d arrived late last time.
I couldn’t remember the last time someone had surprised me. Not truly. Most people spent their lives trying to impress me. Catalina somehow managed to understand me.
“Excuse me,” I said, dismissing myself from the man.
I honestly could have blown everyone but Catalina off and still had the investors buy in, given the way she pulled this entire event together.
I walked briskly across the deck, seeing Cat in conversation with Jim and Avery Mitchell, and Spencer and Natalia Monroe.
“Hawk,” Jim greeted. “This whole time, I thought you two were actually dating, but it looks like all you must’ve been doing was boring the poor woman with your vision for Crown Reserve.”
I smiled, but my attention was fixed on the woman whose back was to me, now turning as her eyes met mine.
The air was stolen from my lungs when she smiled. Her eyes were vibrant, and her dark hair was pulled back into a slick ponytail, complementing her sleek, tailored pant suit.
“I hope you love the direction I took,” she said.
I smiled, seeing this stunning woman nervous about my reaction to her work.
“Would it matter if I didn’t?” I said, taking her hand and bringing it to my lips.
“No,” she laughed.
“I didn’t think so,” I said. “If you all could give us a moment?”
“I swear to God,” Nat said, “if you disappear into one of your closest staterooms because Cat blew the top off this event, Spence and I are going to do the same.”
“You’d do it even if they weren’t planning to,” I heard Avery say as Cat and I left the group.
“I can’t go too far,” Cat said. “I have to continue working.”
I pulled her into the closest private space I had on this deck. It was a small lounge that no one had retreated to.
I was rendered speechless again.
“I hope you don’t mind that I had the staff carefully fly your portraits of the designs here.”
I looked around the room that was once used for people to linger at the bar and relax on the leather sofas. On the walls hung perfectly framed images of the paintings I had designed for each villa and island for Crown Reserve.
The lighting illuminated them in a relaxing yet museum-quality way. Hell, they didn’t look this damn good when professionals hung them in my house.
“How in the hell did you think to present all of this in this manner?” I asked, intrigued.
“Well, after being around so many investors while running events like this, I’ve learned they get bored easily. I just figured that, after seeing these hanging in your home, making the event look like a showroom for a place they’d all want to go someday might keep them interested.”
“I’m very confident I don’t have to sell a damn thing tonight,” I said, turning back to her.
I took her into my arms, but before I could kiss her, I just wanted this moment to show this intelligent and beyond-amazing woman how much it meant to me.
“Do you like it?” she questioned while adjusting my bowtie.
“I’m captivated by all of this,” I said sincerely. “You are a remarkable woman, and I am truly fortunate that you allow me to hold you in my arms.”
I felt her arms wrap tightly around my waist, drawing us closer. My body sizzled as the air crackled around us.
“I would love to take you to the Madrid suite right now and prove everything I love about you.”
“Well, we’re both on the clock, and you don’t keep condoms in that room,” she laughed, bringing her lips to kiss my chin.
I captured her bottom lip between mine. “I don’t think they’ll miss us.”
“If the lighting melts the ice sculpture of the Seychelles display, my team may go into hysterics.”
I pulled back and stared into her eyes. “Ice sculpture?”
“It’s phenomenal,” she said, her eyes glittering with excitement. “They created illumination from the inside that makes it look like the waterfall is flowing next to one of the villas.”
“Jesus Christ,” I said. “I never would’ve imagined presenting all of it this way. I would probably just have—”
“Let me guess,” she interrupted with a smile. “You’d have holographic slides of everything appearing in the theatre room?”