CHAPTER SEVEN #2
“Great.” Archer ran his tongue over his top teeth and returned his gaze to the computer screen. “So, which place are we going to scope out first?
An hour later we were in Queens alongside our beloved wall of muscle, Trojan. Despite spending the entire ride through Astoria cycling through 80s hair band hits, the mood turned tense as soon as we pulled up to the first property we wanted to scope out.
Something was wrong from the start. Trojan parked along the curb, and we all stepped out onto the cracked asphalt road.
A few cars down on the other side of the street sat a huge Cross Developments cargo van.
We were on the south side of the factory, a block away from the nearest vehicular entrance to that mammoth property. Why was there a van over here?
“So this is the place,” Archer said, straightening his tie as he pointed out the squat brick building to Trojan. “It’s got twenty units inside, though you wouldn’t guess it.”
Trojan nodded, his gaze slowly drifting over the uninspiring facade. “And you guys are going to…develop it?”
“No. Just hold.” Archer cleared his throat, glancing around as though someone might be listening. “We’re trying to get as many as we can in this area.”
“As close to the factory as possible,” I added.
Trojan’s gaze slid away from the apartment building, zeroing in on some cars down the street. I followed his gaze, but then I looked toward the Cross van again. While I stewed in my confusion, I stepped onto the street. “Let’s get closer.”
As soon as my foot hit the pavement, Trojan’s hand shot out across my chest. A millisecond later, a dark SUV zoomed past, mere feet away from me. I barely had time to realize what had happened.
“Jesus!” Archer shouted, peering down the street. “Fucking Cross Developments.”
“You need to look both ways,” Trojan admonished lightly with a subtle tut tut.
“Thanks, Dad.” I adjusted my suit coat, drawing a deep breath to calm my racing heart. Maybe Cross Developments wasn’t actively trying to kill me, but they’d almost succeeded. We crossed the street without incident, stepping up onto the broken sidewalk outside the apartment building.
“Do you want to go in?” I asked Archer.
“We could.” His gaze landed on the front door, which looked to be hanging open. “I don’t want to spook anyone, though.”
I watched further down the sidewalk. There was activity at the Cross Developments van—workers opening the back door and unloading equipment of some sort.
“I wanna know what they’re doing,” I muttered, jerking my chin in their direction. “We’re a city block from the fucking factory, why are they here?”
“Maybe no parking,” Trojan cracked.
“Why would they need street parking when they own a square mile of pavement?” I turned back to the apartment building, trying to shake the ominous feeling. “We should buy this.”
“This is building one of three on this street,” Archer said, pulling up some information on his tablet.
“Do we have the owner’s contact information?” I asked.
“Julia’s got it,” Archer responded. “She’s ready to offer as soon as we say go.”
“That’s a go from me.”
Archer nodded, swiping through screens. “Sending to Julia now.”
I stuffed my hands into my pockets, squinting back down the sidewalk.
Men walked our way, some with hardhats, others without, a few carrying what looked like surveying equipment.
I kept waiting for them to peel off and have business with a different building, but no.
My gut cinched into a knot as they got closer.
"What the fuck?" Archer said under his breath.
They stopped just short of us near the front door of the building. Metal clanked as they unfolded their equipment and got things set up. Archer and I exchanged a confused look but we held our ground. Trojan stood by, arms crossed, keeping an eye on the workers. Nobody seemed to even notice us.
After several more moments, surveying equipment popping up around us, I became too curious to restrain myself.
“Are we in the way, fellas?” I asked.
One of the workers looked up and shook his head. “You’re fine.”
Our business here was done, but I felt inclined to stay longer, just to see what these guys were really up to. Trojan cleared his throat again, nodding toward the sidewalk. I followed his gaze to see someone new coming down the sidewalk.
A tall man strode toward us, dressed in a tailored charcoal suit with leather shoes.
His hair was perfectly styled, notable even from down the sidewalk.
From a distance, he looked like a dude from a cologne ad.
As he approached, his features came into clearer view, and the confident smirk told me exactly who this man was.
“That’s Cross,” Archer murmured.
“Sure is.” I forced my gaze off him, turning toward my brother. “What’s the move?”
“You tell me, bossy.”
I rolled my eyes. Younger brothers were such a pain, even if they were only two minutes younger. Looking at Trojan, “Would you be opposed to beating someone up this afternoon?”
“It’s too bright out right now,” Trojan said.
“I love that you didn’t give me a firm no, you just wanted to reschedule the beatdown,” I replied.
Sebastian approached the three of us, pausing with an air of superiority.
I’d only been in the same room as this man on a few occasions.
We’d never formally met, but I sure as hell knew a lot about him.
His reputation more than preceded him; it hogged all the air in whatever room we visited.
I wasn’t sure he even knew who we were, much less cared.
“Can I help you gentlemen?” Cross asked.
“No. We’re just fine, thanks,” Archer responded. His phone buzzed then, and he swiped the screen. To me, he said in a quieter voice, “Offer was green lit. We got it.”
I tamped down my enthusiasm with Sebastian right there. Fighting the big bad developer typically involved nobody else in the room. I never planned on being so physically close to the head of Cross Developments while winning a bid designed to combat whatever plan he was cooking up.
Sebastian’s gaze moved over us in a calculating, methodical way, like a robot would assess the threats in a new scenario.
“You’ll need to move along,” Sebastian finally said.
“Why is that?” I countered.
Sebastian stiffened, his dark gaze settling on me with an unnerving intensity. I recognized something in his face, and I couldn’t place it. Probably because I’d absorbed so much of it on the news, online, damn near everywhere I turned in my industry. “We’re working.”
“Oh, is this your operation?” I feigned surprise, looking around at the workers. “I was just about to ask them to leave.”
“On what grounds?” Sebastian asked.
“On our grounds,” Archer shot back.
“Trespassing on our property,” I added.
Sebastian offered us a tight smile, clasping his hands in front of him. “A public surveying project is hardly trespassing. And since when do you own this building?”
“Does it matter?”
“It does, since anyone can rent a suit and play pretend for a day if they want to.” Sebastian dipped his chin, challenging me. “I’d love to see your credentials.”
The word tickled me, it truly did. I couldn’t stop the condescending laugh that erupted from me.
“My credentials! That’s either an invitation to whip out my dick or show you the deed to the property.
One is illegal and the other too huge to fit into regular underwear. You figure out which is which.”
Sebastian didn’t even flinch at my hilarity. What a turd.
“It’ll be easy enough to verify on my own,” Sebastian said, bringing out his phone. “What company are you with?”
“Our own,” I replied.
“Sorry, you’ll have to be more specific.” Sebastian’s smile was completely vacant, pure show. “You look like twenty other working-class professionals I’ve seen today.”
“Thank you,” Archer said, his voice extra sugary. “Nicest compliment we’ve ever gotten.” Archer leaned closer to me and said in a stage whisper, “I think he was trying to insult us.”
“Of course not,” Sebastian responded. He swiped at something at his phone, then motioned to someone further down the sidewalk. “Now tell me who you’re with.”
There was an edge to his voice that meant business. Trojan stiffened, reminding Sebastian of his presence.
“Come on,” I said, not ready to stop when we were so obviously bothering him. “Don’t you recognize us? We’ve been in the same room so many times, Sebastian.”
“First he calls us working class, then he doesn’t even have the decency to recognize us,” Archer added.
“Let’s properly introduce ourselves, what do you say?” I stuck out my hand. Sebastian eyed it like I was hiding a buzzer in my palm. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’m Nash Nightingale. Welcome to my property.”
Realization slid over his face as he took my hand and shook it tersely. His grip was painful, brusque, but I didn’t let it show.
“And you must be the brother,” Sebastian said, offering his hand to Archer.
“Yes. That’s my legal name,” Archer said. “The brother. Brother Nightingale. It’s on my birth certificate that way.”
“I take it you’ve heard something about us,” I said, half observation, half question.
“Nothing worth mentioning,” Sebastian said, donning the aloof disdain I’d always associated with him. “Though I’ll be sure to look out for the two of you tomorrow.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“You said we’ve been in the same room many times,” Sebastian replied. “It stands to reason you’d be at the Development Council’s Annual Summit.”
I swallowed the groan that tried to escape.
That fucking event. Archer and I had attended religiously for years, until the judgment surrounding our business practices began to get louder and people in our industry began to turn their noses up.
We were a controversial pair, for sure. And some events were easier to ignore altogether, if only because we were tired of the elite getting pissy because we dared to do something for the common good.
The Development Council Summit was one we’d stopped going to, and I’d told Marina to shred this year’s invite.
“Maybe you weren’t invited,” Sebastian said, a grin curling at his lips.
“We were,” Archer assured him.
“Brother Nightingale and I will be seeing you there,” I finished. “Maybe we can actually chat business there, now that we’ve proven we aren’t four raccoons in a trench coat posing as professionals.”
Once again, not even a flicker of recognition of my scathing wit.
“Will you be leaving my property soon?” I pressed him.
“We’re not on it,” Sebastian said as he walked away. He approached some of the workers, and soon they were moving their operation to the next property over.
“I guess that means we’re dismissed,” Archer muttered. “Don’t you fucking start calling me Brother Nightingale.”
“You’ve never had another name as far as I’m concerned.” I finally let out the laughter I’d been holding in.
“He seems like the life of the party,” Trojan added as the three of us began walking back to the car. “Guess you’ll find out tomorrow whether that’s true or not.”
“Do we really have to go?” Archer asked with a sigh as he sank into the front seat of the car.
“We do.” I slipped into the back, my mind churning with ideas. “We’re on his radar now. Besides, we need to find out as much as possible about what he’s planning with the Meridian site.”
“Are you coming, Trojan?” Archer grumbled, clearly unenthused about the change in plans.
“If you need me, I’m yours.” His shit eating grin was visible in the rearview mirror, which made Archer and me laugh.
“We always need you,” I told him. “And hey, you can meet my, uh…girlfriend.”
Trojan’s eyes went extra wide. “Say what now?”
It felt so weird to talk about this shit like it was true. I wanted to admit everything to Trojan, but I couldn’t. So I’d view this as practice, if nothing else. “I’m settling down, buddy.”
“I don’t believe it,” Trojan said as he eased into traffic. “Who’s the lucky lady?”
“Her name is Clara. She’ll be with me tomorrow night. You’ll love her. We met years ago but it was always on again and off again until…”
“Now it’s on again. For good.” Archer finished the lie for me.
He was right. At least for the next few months. Eventually I’d be a free man again, though Trojan didn’t need to know all that.
“Can’t wait to meet her. Now where did you say the next property is?” Trojan squinted out the windshield, slowing in front of a new group of apartment buildings. “Is it this one or further down?”
“It’s this one.” I pointed to a white brick building that took up almost half the block. “But I don’t need to get out. I’ve already made up my mind. Archer, let’s buy everything possible on this block.”
He looked back at me with raised brows. “You sure?”
“Yeah. We need to move quick. Sebastian’s planning something big, and he’s already casting a wide net. We need to be there at the ready with scissors.”
Possibilities roiled through my mind as Archer instructed Trojan where to find the next property. And while we drove deeper into Queens, I pulled out my phone to let Clara know about the change in plans for tomorrow.
At the Development Council Annual Summit, we’d be rubbing elbows with everybody who was anybody in our industry.
I was ready to dive in headfirst.