Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Jack
“Mr. Johnson, I’m so grateful that you were able to make it.
” I smile at the CEO who has flown in from Florida to close the hotel deal.
“As you know, these are some of the members of my board, and we will be going over the paperwork today with my attorneys here, Samson and Lucretia, and hopefully we can come to a deal.”
“Oh, I’m so grateful that you have decided to buy the hotel, Mr. Heathcliff. It really is something that I have been praying on, and I really believe that you are the right man for this project. You will really put Coconut Beach on the map.”
“Well, isn’t it already on the map?” I say, as I gaze at him.
“Well, of course,” he says quickly, avoiding eye contact. “I mean you will bring even more riches to the island. The island that has had my heart for such a large number of years.”
“Well, I think that we will definitely be able to do that. I’ve gone through the paperwork, and everything looks fantastic. In fact, I am eager to go and visit Coconut Beach myself soon.”
“Well, you’ll have a hotel to stay in when you go,” he says excitedly. “And if you are interested, my brother-in-law owns a private charter plane company that he may be interested in selling as well for a really good deal. It’s the only service that flies to Coconut Beach.”
“Well, let me think about it. Let’s worry about this deal right now. Excuse me,” I say as my phone beeps. I look down at the screen, and I see it’s Katherine. My heart races as I see her name. “One moment. I just need to take this.”
I answer the phone. “Hi, I can’t talk right now. Are you in the office?”
“I really need to talk to you.”
“I am actually about to go into a meeting.”
“Do you have like ten minutes?” She sounds insistent. “I need to see you.”
I start laughing. “I know you can’t get enough of me, but no, it’s not a good time.”
“Jack, I need to talk to you before you go forward with any of the—”
“I have to go. Speak to you later.” I cut her off as Mr. Johnson steps outside and gives me a concerned look. “Maybe we can have dinner later.”
“Jack. This is important. It’s not about us,” She sighs. “It’s about—”
“Fine. We can talk later. I’m in a meeting right now.”
“How long is your meeting?”
“It should be an hour or two. I’ll text you when I’m done.”
“Fine. But it’s really important. I need to speak to you.”
“You need to speak to me, or you need to touch me?” I lower my voice.
“Really, Jack?”
I start laughing. “Don’t worry. I miss you too. But now I have to go. I’m closing the Coconut Beach Hotel deal and I have to go.”
“Wait,” she says, but I hang up before she can say anything else.
I power off my phone just so I can’t be distracted in case she sends me some sexy photos. Katherine has completely changed my life and I spend every waking hour thinking about her, but now I need to concentrate.
“Where were we, Mr. Johnson?” I say as I step back into the conference room. He’s sitting at the table, and his eyes are shrewd as he looks up.
“I think we were just about to make a deal.” He taps his fingers on the wood table. “Mr. Heathcliff, you are about to become the owner of the Grand Palm Hotel of Coconut Beach, and I’m very excited about it.”
“So let’s look at these numbers,” I say as I take a seat next to my attorneys.
“It looks like the offer is going to be fifty million, and we will secure all the reservations that you have in a seamless transition. You said that you also have beach rights. Is that correct? So that we can expand and build some additional beach bungalow properties?”
“Yeah, I think that will look amazing. Totally doable.” I notice he gazes at his attorney for confirmation.
“Perfect. It looks like a really great opportunity to bring even more money to the island.”
“Oh, it really is,” he grins. “In fact, I think the residents of Coconut Beach are going to be absolutely blown away when they realize that a billionaire and businessman of your caliber is going to be moving to town.”
“Well, I’m not moving there, Mr. Johnson.
I’m just investing. But of course I will visit.
In fact, I have—” I pause before I say girlfriend, because technically I’m not sure what Katherine and I are.
“I have a very special friend that I’d love to take with me.
Maybe we’ll stay in the penthouse suite. ”
“That sounds great,” he says, looking away again. “Well, if we get to signing this paperwork—” he grins eagerly as he leans forward. I nod, though there’s something that doesn’t feel quite right. I look at my attorney, and he opens a brown folder.
“We’re going to start off by going through the terms and conditions of this deal, and if everything suits you both, then we will continue to the final documents,” he says quietly as he hands us both copies. I take my stack of papers and grab a pen.
There’s a banging on the door, and we all pause. The banging doesn’t stop and I jump up.
“Sorry, Mr. Johnson, I don’t know what’s going on.” I look over to one of the legal assistants. “Can you see who that is, please?”
“Yes, Mr. Heathcliff,” he says quickly, hurrying to the door. He opens it and goes to step outside, but immediately a loud voice sounds.
“I need to speak to Jack.” I recognize Katherine’s voice, and I frown slightly.
“I’m sorry, but he’s in an important meeting right now.”
“I know. That’s why I need to speak to him. Jack, it’s me. It’s Katherine.” She pokes her head into the room. “I need to talk to you. Now!”
I stand up. “I’m sorry, gentlemen. Will you excuse me?”
I hurry outside, and I stare at Katherine. She looks flustered.
“Is everything okay?” I pause as I make sure she’s okay. “Shit. Is this in relation to the call? The meeting you wanted to have with me?”
She nods quickly and I look down at her stomach. “You’re not—” I ask her, and she frowns for a second.
“No, I’m not pregnant,” she rolls her eyes. “Really?”
“I am sorry, but you sound upset. You look nervous. You look worried.”
“I told you before that the office is for work talk only.” She looks annoyed as she crosses her arms. “Is the deal done already?”
“Sorry, I don’t understand your question.” I frown at her.
“You didn’t finish signing all the paperwork yet, did you?”
“No, why?””
“You missed some stuff in the Coconut Beach paperwork. That’s why I was trying to call you.
I wanted to go over it with you.” She sounds accusatory.
“I’ve been trying to discuss this with you for weeks.
” Her voice is high and frustrated. “Why would you give me a project and not discuss it with me before going through with the deal?”
“I just—”
“You just didn’t care about what I had to say. It was all just for nothing. Is that it?” She presses her lips together and her face is a deathly white. “You never really respected what I had to say.”
“Of course I did.”
“So then why are you buying a hotel without letting me tell you about the findings of my research?” She’s angrier than I’ve ever seen her in my life.
“What is going on Katherine?” I study her face. “What have I missed?”
“I think some of the files were falsified,” she says succinctly. “I know that’s a really controversial statement, especially when you’re about to buy the hotel, but I think the numbers are wrong.”
“What do you mean you think the numbers are wrong?” I step back, and frown. “What numbers?”
“He said his revenue was in the millions last year, but I looked online, and I don’t think it’s true.”
“What do you mean you don’t think it’s true?” Something in my brain is ticking. The feeling in my stomach that something hadn’t been right with the deal was growing stronger.
“I was looking on social media, and there are a lot of residents of Coconut Beach who have been posting in different groups in the last year saying that they’re trying to come up with ways to increase tourism to the area because it’s been down for the last five years, and they’re worried that all their businesses are going to go under.
Does that sound like a place that is having the best tourism of its life? ” She grabs my arm.
I frown. “No, it doesn’t. Continue. What else have you seen?”
“I went onto TripAdvisor and Expedia and all the other travel sites and I looked at reviews, and the hotel doesn’t have great reviews.
People said that the restaurant was closed down.
And that all the rooms needed updating. And all the photos were fake.
” She stares at me. “I think this man, Mr. Johnson, I think he’s lying.
I think he’s deliberately giving you false information. ”
“But I had the attorneys go through everything,” I frown. “They got paperwork from accountants.”
“I don’t know what to say, Jack, and I’m sorry to interrupt your meeting, but I think this deal isn’t good for you.
I think that there’s been a cover-up, and I know I’m new to this job and I know that I’m not an expert, but based on all of the research I’ve been doing, this is not a good deal.
” She stops and her eyes bore into mine.
I stare at the conviction in her eyes and I realize that she’s been taking this job much more seriously than I’ve given her credit for.
“I believe you. Let’s go and sort this out.”
“What?”
“Do you want to come into this meeting with me?”
“Me? Wait. Are you sure?” She suddenly looks unsure of herself. “I’m not at that level, yet.”
“You’ve done the research. Mr. Johnson, the hotel owner, is there. I want you to ask him some questions based on your research. I want to see how he responds. Do you feel comfortable with that?”
She nods slowly. “I do, but are you sure you want me in there?”
“Of course I’m sure.”
“I mean, I’m not an executive or anything like that, and maybe I’m wrong.”
“Don’t second-guess yourself. It was important enough for you to come and find me,” I smile at her. “Thank you for that. Now, let’s go and see what Mr. Johnson has to say about these allegations. Okay?”