Chapter 8
chapter eight
Setbacks
Nico
In three weeks I’m supposed to be opening this hotel, yet here I am, feet squishing in soggy carpet.
“Explain this shit to me,” I say to Stephanie.
She looks around at the damage just as confused as I am. “The fire department got the call early this morning. A jogger heard what he said sounded like running water. Once the fire department got here, they were able to disconnect the water and stop the flooding.”
The amount of water damage I’m looking at is outrageous. I tamp down my fury. This isn’t a place for Saint. This is Nico’s territory. Here, I have to be the polished and well put together businessman. I have to handle this problem diplomatically.
“How long are we looking at?” I ask my personal assistant and right hand.
Stephanie has been working with me since I opened my first hotel. She can damn near run Basille Resorts and Hotels by herself. She is to my hotel business what Ghost is to my arms dealings.
“I’ve been on the phone all morning with companies. The shortest quote I’ve gotten is maybe three to four months.”
“Fuck!” I growl.
Three to four months is a huge setback. Not just for the opening of the hotel, but for our plans to move money through this place. This bullshit affects not only me, but my brothers as well.
I run a hand over my head.
“Have they discovered what caused the leak?” After seeing my wife off to work this morning, I never thought this would be the call I got.
“Here’s the fire chief now,” Stephanie says, introducing a burly looking black man.
“Mr. Basille,” the chief says in greeting. I dip my chin in return. “Looks like someone took an axe or some sharp tool and cut the pipes. The entire ground level is flooded.”
Anger rears up in me so hot my body starts to sweat. My outward appearance doesn’t change, but on the inside I’m like molten lava. I count down backwards in my head to keep myself from spiraling.
“Do you have any footage inside the building? Maybe we can examine the cameras and see who did this?” the fire chief asks.
I shake my head. “I’ve checked the footage. It appears to have been tampered with.”
Unfortunately, this wasn’t a lie. I checked the footage on my way to the hotel. Maseo says it looks as if someone had cut the power to the camera, and since this isn’t an active site yet, no one was thoroughly monitoring the feed
“Do you mind if we still take a look?”
“Not at all. Stef, can you pull up the footage for them?” At that moment my phone rings. “I have to take this,” I say, excusing myself.
I walk away as Stef pulls up the footage from the cameras for the fire chief. Placing my phone to my ear, I answer.
“Yeah?”
“Lunch. Now!” Mason says into the phone, giving me the code for us needing to meet.
“I have some cleaning up to do. I’ll meet you for lunch when I’m done. Tin man?”
“See you then.” The phone goes dead. Ghost and Roc walk over to me.
“You think this has something to do with that Horseman shit?”
Glancing back over my shoulder to make sure that Stef and the fire chief are still distracted, I turn back to the guys. “Without a doubt. Nothing was stolen. This was just done to cause damage and delay the opening.”
“How long of a delay?” Roc scratches his beard.
“Too fucking long.”
“Mr. Basille,” Stephanie calls out to me.
I hold up a hand before speaking to Ghost. “Soon as we leave here, we’re meeting with Mase. I want a crew to come through and do a sweep of this property.”
“I got you.” Ghost turns away and immediately pulls out his phone to do what I ask.
“What do you need from me?” Roc asks, always ready to lend a hand.
“Make sure the warehouse is clear.”
He dips his chin and walks away.
I make my way back over to Stephanie, who is wrapping up her conversation with the fire chief.
As soon as he walks off, I say, “Get a company in here to get this cleaned up. Whatever it takes to get it done right and as soon as possible.”
She taps something in on her tablet. “I already have three companies heading here today to give me a more accurate quote. I’ll let you know what they say.”
I could always count on Stephanie to get shit done. She was good at her job.
“Call me if you need me. I’ll meet you back at the office later.”
She nods, and we both go our separate ways. Roc, Ghost, and I climb into my blacked-out SUV.
“Warehouse is clear.” Roc says as he roars the engine to life.
“Good.” Pulling out my phone, I go to the spy camera app I had Maseo install. I need to lay eyes on my wife. The way my hands are shaking and my body is roaring with my anger, I need to lay eyes on my peace.
She’s at the office today. She’s been back at work for three days now.
I find her behind her desk, her head bent over a sketchpad as she sketches out a new design.
Her wild curls have been straightened and hang well past her shoulders.
She stops drawing, leans up from her sketchpad and taps her pencil against the pad.
She does it often when she’s thinking. Just seeing her at peace and doing the thing she loves causes the fire raging in me to calm slightly.
Closing her screen, I check on Noah next.
I find him fast asleep in his crib. Ms. Rose sits in the rocking chair knitting what looks like a blanket.
Feeling content that the two most important people in my life are safe, I replace my phone in my pocket and lean my head against the headrest and shut my eyes.
The Horseman made his first move against my business.
As soon as we pull up to the warehouse, I hop out and storm inside. Mason and Grant, along with a few of his other bodyguards, are already here.
“He fucking flooded my hotel,” I snarl as soon as I enter.
“Who?” Mason is leaning against a metal table, his arms folded over his chest.
I turn and scowl at him before pacing. “Who do you think? The Horseman.”
“Did he send you another letter?”
“No.”
“Then you don’t know for sure it’s him.”
I stop pacing and turn to my brother. Mason has a knack for always being cool-headed.
Hell, it’s why he is who he is. He never allows his emotions to get the best of him.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the man raise his voice.
However, right now isn’t the time for the cool, calm, and collective bullshit.
“Who else could’ve done this? I get a letter telling me he’s going to take everything from me, starting with my wife and now this? I don’t need him to spell the shit out for me, Mase.”
Mason’s jaw tenses, the only outward reaction to my comment.
“I’m not saying he isn’t behind it. All I’m saying is let’s not turn him into an all-seeing and all-knowing super villain.”
“He knew about my past. He knew….” My voice trails off, not finishing that statement. My heart is pounding, causing a loud swishing sound in my ears. I have to stop and count down in my head. I feel my facade slipping. My carefully crafted armor is falling. I fight to catch my breath.
Mason watches me closely, his steel-blue eyes narrowing. “Clear the room.”
All the guards, including Roc, clear the warehouse at his command. Grant and Ghost were the last two to leave. Once the metal door is closed, Mason pushes up from the table and walks over to me.
“Take a breath, Nic. You’re spiraling.”
“Spiraling?” I shout. “That muthafucker reached out to my wife and spoke about my past. I have a right to spiral.”
Completely unperturbed by my raised voice, Mason remains calm. “I read the letter. He never said anything about what happened. He told you what he read in Paul’s files. We’ve seen those files and know what is and isn’t written in them.”
I cringe at just the mention of Mr. Howard. That drowning feeling, the one I used to get as a kid headed to his office, rears its head. I shut my eyes to fight off the feeling of nausea coiling in my stomach.
I run through the things that are real. I’m not a child, nor am I at the boy’s home. There is no therapist waiting to see me. I’m an adult. Also, a father and a husband. The thought of Noah and Tiffany has the ability to clear my head.
After gaining control of my emotions and fighting back the dark memories, I say. “I have a wife and son.”
“Both of which your brothers and I will protect with our lives.” He never breaks eye contact as he speaks.
The steel in his eyes proves what I’ve known about him since I was eight years old—I can trust him. Mason would truly die for my family. And not just for my family, he would do the same for me, Salv, and Kaz.
Surrendering to his words, I nod my head.
He stuffs his hands down into his front pockets. “We need to keep a level head. If the Horseman is behind this, he wants to get you off your A-game. We did not get where we are by leading with our emotions. We stay calm and clearheaded. You don’t play chess with emotions.”
He’s right. That is how four young boys with no past could build the wealth that we all have. We did it by thinking clearly, trusting only each other, and moving wisely. No need to change that shit now. Taking a deep breath, I let it out.
“You’re right. First things first, I need to control the narrative about this sabotage in the papers. Even if the Horseman is behind it, I don’t want him thinking we are even considering it. I’ll call my publicist and lawyer and see how we can spin it. Make it seem like a simple vandalism.”
Mason nods. “Don’t worry about the grand opening. Get the hotel cleaned up. We will continue to distribute the money through Salv’s restaurants and your other hotels for now. Everything else I’ll funnel through the offshore accounts. It’s not ideal, but it’s safe.”
Placing the money in offshore accounts meant we couldn’t spend it right away. It had to sit in the account for a while to not draw attention. It would mean a delay in pay, but none of us were hurting for money.
“This is a minor setback,” he goes on to say. “Not the end of the world.”
We’ve honestly dealt with much worse, especially in the beginning. When we first left the boy’s home, we had only a thousand dollars in cash to our names. We survived off that money for months until Nathaniel found us.
“In the meantime, I’m adding more security to your house.”
Shaking my head, I chuckle. “I can hire my own security.”
“Didn’t ask if you could. Does Tiffany need more security?”
“I have Jake with her 24/7, but I’m thinking of adding another hidden detail.”
“Don’t think, do.” Mason heads toward the door. “I’ll reach back out in a few days. I have to go out of the country for some business.”
“Bring me something back.” I say teasingly.
Mason tosses his hand up over his head before shoving the metal doors out of the way and heading out of the warehouse as Ghost and Roc re-enter.
“We got a call. A new shipment just arrived at the docks,” Ghost says, walking up to me.
As much as I wanted to go to my wife and hold her in my arms to chase the whispers of my memories away, I couldn’t. Duty called.