Chapter 28
JASMINE
In a blind rage, I stormed into my parents house in search of my father. There was a possibility he’d taken lunch at the office, but I doubted it. Dad liked to eat with my mother, so I had at least a fifty percent shot he’d be here.
Not the most ideal odds, but they were better than nothing.
“Miss Saad,” a housekeeper said when I burst in, blinking in a few times at the sudden interruption. “Can I?—”
“Where’s my dad?”
She pointed at the hallway leading to his home office. “He’s just about to leave for?—”
“Thank you.” I marched down the corridor with the intensity of an approaching sandstorm, determined to make him see reason.
When I reached his study, the door was already open. His briefcase was in his hand where he stood in front of his desk while two assistants talked him through his schedule for the afternoon. I didn’t knock or wait for them to take a breath, simply folding my arms and clearing my throat.
“We need to talk.”
Dad looked over and started to smile, but it instantly melted into a frown when he saw my face. “This can’t be good.”
“It’s not,” I said, glancing at his assistants and inclining my head toward the door. “Would you give us a minute, please?”
They exchanged a nervous glance, but Dad motioned for them to leave before checking his watch. “Wait in the car. I’ll be there in ten at most.”
I almost snorted. It was adorable he thought we’d be done in ten minutes just because something was waiting at the office. Something was waiting right here, and it was way more important than whatever budgeting meeting or executive committee nonsense he had to get to.
When his assistants finally left, he turned to me, setting the briefcase down on the desk and perching himself right on the very edge of it as he held my gaze. He crossed his arms loosely over his chest, those dark eyes curious but wary on mine. “What happened, Jasmine?”
“What happened?” I repeated incredulously. “What happened is that you lured Isaac here all the way from the States, took him away from his home and his family under the pretense of letting him design and build your new complex, and then you cut him loose.”
Dad scoffed. “That’s what you’ve cornered me about? Isaac’s pitch?”
“Of course, that’s what it’s about.” I threw both of my hands into the air. “He and Joseph designed the most perfect industrial compound this country has ever seen. They worked on that pitch night and day for weeks and you rejected them.”
“Sweetheart, I didn’t reject them,” he said calmly, lowering his arms to wrap his fingers lightly around the edge of the desk.
“I agree that they designed a masterpiece. It would’ve changed the game for industrial developments in Sharm, if not all of Egypt, and I would’ve loved to have been a part of that. ”
“Then why aren’t you building it?” I snapped and planted my hands on my hips.
“Isaac did everything you brought him here to do, but he didn’t get the job.
How does that even work? You went to Chicago to get him, made all sorts of promises about the project, and now, he’s leaving empty-handed to go back to the very place you took him away from. ”
Dad blew out a weary sigh. “Isaac doesn’t want to work for me, honey.
He wants to work with me, doing his own thing, and I didn’t promise him anything.
I gave him an opportunity. He knew we’d have to get it past the board and that if it didn’t work out, he wouldn’t be involved in this project.
It’s nothing unusual. This sort of thing happens every day. ”
“I don’t care.” I lifted my chin a fraction of an inch and shook my head. “Your board made a terrible decision and you can’t let them get away with it.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “They made the decision they believed carried the least risk.”
“Well, they’re idiots.”
“They’re businessmen,” he countered. “David and his team won the bid because their presentation was more conservative. It costs less, it can be completed in a shorter amount of time, and it poses less risk of going over budget or being held up by installation delays. It was nothing personal.”
“Nothing personal?” I scowled at him. “Isaac and Joseph poured their hearts and souls into their design. David probably typed plans for industrial development into Google and printed out a template.”
He sighed. “Jasmine, I want Isaac onboard. That’s why I gave him the opportunity to come here and to present in the first place, but in the end, the global economy is putting everyone on edge. Most companies in the world are risk averse right now and GlobalStar is no different.”
“If you want him onboard, you can stop this,” I said firmly. “You have never been risk averse. That’s why GlobarStar is what it is. You see opportunities, you take chances, and somehow, you always succeed.”
His expression hardened just a touch. “I can’t stop anything, Jasmine. I am one vote on that board and I cast it in favor of Isaac, but the others didn’t follow my lead.”
“You’re Basel Saad.” I shook my head in disbelief. “Since when do you wait for people to follow your lead?”
“Since I appointed a board of directors, sweetheart. They’re there for a reason and they saw Isaac’s presentation simply as too ambitious for the company’s appetite right now.”
“Bullshit,” I snapped. “You wanted him here. You know how brilliant that design is. Who cares what they think?”
“GlobarStar,” he replied without skipping a beat. “The company is not me, Jasmine. I get one vote, the same as everyone else.”
“But you own them!”
“I do not.” He stared at me, his patience obviously running out. “You can light into me for the rest of our days and it still won’t make a difference. The votes have been cast.”
“You could’ve pushed harder.”
“I did.”
“Well, then you should’ve kept pushing.”
He arched an eyebrow at me. “Do you think I walked into that room and simply surrendered?”
“Why else would David have won the bid?” I asked, frustration practically running like an electric current across my skin.
“He’s not an engineer or an architect. How does a businessman beat two professionals who actually know how to build the thing?
How do you even know that David’s projections are accurate?
He’s never done anything like this before. ”
“No, but he put together a team who has.” My father regarded me for a long moment before rubbing a hand across his short, graying beard. “I didn’t want Isaac to lose, Jasmine.”
“And yet, you still let it happen.”
“I did not let anything happen.” He blew out an agitated breath and checked his watch again. “There are internationally recognized guidelines for corporate governance and GlobalStar complies with them. The board heard Isaac’s pitch and voted against it. That’s how business works.”
I scoffed. “Right. It’s not personal. No matter how much of themselves they poured into that design or how much better it is than the one that won.”
“There is no question that it’s better, sweetheart. Not a single person will argue that David’s team presented the better design. Everyone knows that Isaac’s is miles above David’s, but David’s is considerably cheaper and faster. That’s it.”
“So after all of this, Isaac just goes home because he gave you something worth spending money on rather than something cheap, easy, and inferior.”
My father’s expression softened slightly. “No one said he has to go home, baby. I have other plans for Isaac if this project doesn’t work out.”
I frowned. “You do?”
“Of course.” He cocked his head at me. “I still want him here and I still support him working with GlobalStar.”
My eyes narrowed. “Then why has he packed his bags?”
“Chicago is still his home, sweetheart. It was inevitable that he would return there at some point, but he didn’t come all this way because of one industrial complex.”
“He kind of did.”
“No, he came because he’s talented and there are many opportunities here, but nothing happens overnight and he is American, which means he cannot stay here indefinitely if he isn’t actively working on something.”
My irritation faltered for a moment. “So you’re not done with him?”
Dad scoffed and shook his head. “Why would I be done with him? This was one project, Jasmine. One executive vote. The board loves him. What he presented simply isn’t what they had in mind for that development.”
“Have you told him this?”
My father pursed his lips before pushing up from the desk.
“Isaac and I have spoken about a great many things. He’s a smart man, Jasmine.
Do you honestly believe he’d have left his entire life behind for just one project?
He’s building a career. That’s a marathon, not a sprint and it certainly doesn’t make sense to walk away from a sure thing for a single event. ”
I sighed. “Don’t patronize me. I know what he’s doing and what he’s capable of, but I also know that you didn’t give me a straight answer. You haven’t told him about your other projects, have you?”
“Actually, I have.” He regarded me for a long moment. “You seem unusually invested in his employment status. Is there something going on I should know about?”
My heart stuttered. “No. I’m not unusually invested at all.”
“No? You’ve never flown in here like this after a board vote before,” he said slowly, picking up his briefcase again. “They’re an almost daily occurrence, but here you are today, advocating for an independent contractor who made a presentation.”
“Isaac is Colin’s brother,” I said quickly. “Deja likes him and you can’t tell me you don’t feel some sense of responsibility, having brought him out here and everything.”
He held my gaze for a long beat. “So there’s nothing going on I should know about?”
“No.”
“Nothing at all?”
“No,” I said, but on the inside, I was screaming.
Absolutely nothing to report other than the fact that I may accidentally be falling for your engineer, who kisses like he invented the concept and is currently trying to leave the country.
On the outside, however, I smiled sweetly. “I think you’re imagining things.”
His eyebrows swept up, but before he could respond, I took a step backward, already angling my upper body toward the door. “Well, good luck for your afternoon. I’ll see you next week.”
“Next week?”
“Oh, uh, yeah. I’m going to be gone for a few days later this week. I’ve got some plans.” I gave my hand a dismissive wave. “Summer, you know?”
He sighed. “Just be back by next weekend.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“You’ll find out,” he said, sweeping past me to the door. “Just be home by then, alright?”
“Only if you tell me why.”
I followed him down the hallway to the front drive, where his car was already idling in the shade. He didn’t look back at me until he’d opened the door and handed his briefcase to his assistant inside. “Be safe on your travels, honey.”
“I always am, but why?—”
Without even waiting for me to finish the question, he climbed into the backseat, barked at the driver to put his foot on it, and slammed the door, leaving me watching as he left, still without specifying why I had to be home so soon.
When I turned back toward the house, my mother was standing in the doorway with one shoulder resting against the frame and a teacup balanced elegantly in her hand. She arched a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at me. “Oh, so there’s nothing going on between you and Isaac?”
Heat flooded my face, but I didn’t give her an answer, simply waving at my driver, Rashid, across the driveway and then going over to air-kiss her goodbye. “I’ll talk to you soon, Mom. I’m going to be out of town for a few days, but I’ll be home in time for whatever Dad has planned.”
She chuckled. “Give Isaac my love and have fun, but not too much of it.”
My face practically caught fire this time, but I ducked my head as I stepped away from her and spun toward my car, hoping like hell that she didn’t see me blush.
I had no idea how she even knew that my plans for the next few days involved Isaac, but on the other hand, knowing things was her superpower.
Now all I had to do was hope that she didn’t share that knowledge with my father.