Chapter 19
Early Monday morning, Ralph had already finished his morning run, showered, and had a cup of coffee.
As it was, three out of ten of his jobs were on hold thanks to Mario.
His morning would be filled with calls and meetings with the investors wanting an update on their projects.
The only good news was that Rebecca had finally gotten the message and he hadn’t heard from her, although he guessed she had something to do with his projects getting shut down.
As he reflected on his dealings with City Hall over the last twenty years, most things got done or undone behind the scenes.
No calls, no emails, just in-person meetings where nothing could be traced.
He had usually been on the winning end of those meetings.
His cell rang; it was one of his contractors. “Hey, Joe, what’s up?”
“What the fuck, Ralph. They closed two of the jobs I was working on, and now I’m scrambling to send my crews to other jobsites.
These guys need to make a living, and we can’t sit around waiting for you or the city to get your shit together.
You promised me this was a sure thing, and I promised I could get it done three to four months early, bonus money all around.
I’m letting you know that deal is off. Call me when you get the green light. ”
The call ended abruptly, and Ralph was sure there would be more just like that coming. He grabbed his briefcase and headed to his stakeholders meeting downtown. Eunice met him outside the conference room on the seventh floor of the Four Seasons, notebook in hand.
“Hey, boss, we’ve got some angry elves in there. Word is out that the jobsites were shut down. I made sure everyone had their coffee and pastries; if I had some Valium, I would have slipped them some.” Eunice grinned.
“Too bad this wasn’t an evening meeting—at least we could have plied them with good scotch. I’m a big boy, I can take the heat. Thanks for being here, Eunice. You’re my anchor.”
“Of course. We’ll get through this, just another rather large speed bump.” She handed him the printed agenda and opened the door for him.
The room was filled with women and men donned in suits, with several small groups clustered together talking, stopping as soon as he entered the room.
Ralph immediately took command. “Welcome, everyone, I hope you helped yourself to some refreshments.” He sat down and called the meeting to order.
Eunice was seated next to him, ready to type the meeting notes on her laptop.
Ralph saw Eunice look down at her phone and slide the phone over to him to read the text message she had just received from Mario: Tell Conti we just shut down two more of his projects.
Ralph cleared his throat, then took a sip of water and began.
“As you are aware, we are having some issues with our projects down at City Hall. My contact there, Vinnie Sortino, died a few weeks ago, and no one knows what’s going on.
I’m working with the building department, but there will be delays, no question. ”
There were groans around the table and one of the men finally spoke. “How much is this going to cost us and will there still be a profit?”
“Great question. Please look at page five of your packet. I did a quick financial assessment on each of the jobs and made a conservative estimate and anticipated a longer delay.” Ralph watched as they reviewed the numbers.
He had worked with these investors for over twenty years and had made them a lot of money; now he could only hope that counted for something, but experience had taught him that the response was usually more like What have you done for me lately?
Hank, wearing his signature handlebar mustache, spoke.
“Not good, Ralph. I have to say I am very concerned. You know we trust you, but these are big losses, and I for one don’t know if my stakeholders are willing to shoulder this financial burden.
” Hank was Ralph’s biggest investor, usually patient when they ran into delays.
“I hear your concern, Hank. I wish I had better news, but I am working with several folks at the city on a daily basis. I am not in a position to make any promises, and you know me well enough to know when I have bad news, I let you know immediately. I’m going to need some time to course correct.”
“How much time are we talking about?” Hank closed his packet.
“I’m asking for a month. I spoke with HR at the city, and they are working on a replacement plan right now for Vinnie’s position. Once I know who has the job, it will be easier for me to establish a relationship and move forward. Right now, it’s a moving target.”
The sound of cell phone dings interrupted the meeting, and everyone, including Ralph, picked up their phone.
When he read the message from the Tribune on Twitter, his stomach clenched.
When he looked up, all eyes were glaring at him.
Clearly, they all had the same alert notice turned on. Ralph read the message aloud:
“Chicago City Hall just announced they are halting all construction projects run by the billion-dollar firm Conti Development Company. The CEO, Ralph Conti, was unavailable for comment. Alderman O’Brien stated that he was saddened by this news as several of the projects were in his precinct and were slated for low-income families. ”
Ralph stood up. “Excuse me, I’ll be right back.” He walked quickly to the private men’s restroom, heat flooding his body and beads of sweat rolling down his face. “That fucking bitch,” he mumbled. “She told her alderman husband to do this.” As he locked the bathroom door, he dialed Rebecca’s cell.
“Long time, Ralphie,” she chuckled.
“What the fuck did you tell your husband? Are you trying to destroy me just because I won’t sleep with you anymore? You vindictive bitch!”
“I’m sure I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. I have to go. Please don’t call me again. I’m blocking your number.”
Ralph wanted to punch something, but knew he would break his hand if he did. He threw cold water on his face and neck, dried off, and went back into the conference room. It was empty except for Eunice.
“They left and said they wanted an update of the financials on all ten of their projects by end of business today. I called Molly, our attorney in charge, and she’s going to meet us here in thirty minutes.”
Sweat was still dripping from Ralph’s face. “We need to lawyer up big-time, have our finance team run the numbers if none of these jobs go forward.”
“Already notified the team and they will have a first draft to you in an hour,” Eunice replied as she finished collecting all the confidential packets.
Ralph’s cell phone was blowing up with calls and texts, which he ignored. He knew all too well never to fuck with Chicago contractors and unions, and he needed to have a plan before he responded.
Eunice and Ralph sat at the conference table.
“How about I call Mary O’Sullivan, head of the Department of Housing, and have her place a call to O’Brien, put the pressure on restarting these projects?
He’s running for reelection. He needs all the votes he can get.
The media is all over this, especially the low-income housing in his precinct. It would be positive PR for him.”
Ralph looked over at Eunice. “That’s why I love you and could never live without you, Eunice. Go for it.”
Ralph started to review his texts. “I’ll start responding to all these the-sky-is-falling messages,” he said, as Eunice left the room to make the calls.
Ralph responded to each text with the same answer.
I’m actively working with the city. Give me a couple days.
I have insurance; send my office your payroll details, and we’ll be sure your crew gets paid during the shutdowns.
He copied and pasted this to each of his contractors.
He received several thumbs-up. He scrolled down the voicemails and was about to start listening when Eunice returned.
“Mary is on it. O’Brien is on his way to her city office now.
She said she’ll call us after she meets with him.
This could open the city to a huge financial lability.
She was more than happy to handle this. She said she didn’t know what the actual cause for the shutdowns was about, but some heads will roll at City Hall for sure. ”
“Hopefully one of them will be Mario’s.” Ralph paced back and forth in the conference room.
“Our lawyers are on their way over here now. I spoke with Molly, and she said we should be able to file for an injunction on these work shutdowns this afternoon.” Eunice poured herself a cup of coffee. “We may want to wait until we hear from Mary before we file.”
“I agree. In your own creative way, let City Hall know we’re doing our best to downplay this and keep everyone out of the press’s eye. I’ll call the Tribune reporter as soon as Mary gives us the update.”
Three lawyers, along with two other women and another man, walked into the conference room at the Four Seasons.
Molly, the tall brunette, spoke. “Hi, Ralph and Eunice. I had my team draw up several legal options; we can pull the pin on any or all of these today. My team didn’t find any just cause for these shutdowns—the city could be in for a very expensive lesson. ”
Eunice handed each of the attorneys sitting across the table from her and Ralph a packet containing the legal course of action spelled out on the cover memo.
After they had some time to read all the legalese, Ralph checked his watch.
“Why don’t we all go downstairs for some lunch while I’m waiting to hear back from City Hall. ”
Over lunch, they continued to discuss all the legal options, and then his attorneys excused themselves.
“I’ll wait to hear from you. If there is any way you can make some decision before four, that will give me time to meet with a judge, if we decide to go that direction,” Molly offered.