Chapter 6 Jacob
JACOB
Mayor Briggs gives me a sad, pitiful look, making him look like a bedraggled cat. Only bald.
When he agreed to meet me, I thought it would be as simple as putting the deal together and getting him to sign it.
I thought maybe I would have to persuade him, push him a little.
That was okay. But a town meeting? Asking every single other person in this stupid town what they think about my plan? Irritating.
I’ll do it, of course. It’s as good a chance as any to speak to them all at once, but I was planning on having a nice, calm day today, not one filled with angry townspeople.
I suck in a breath through my teeth. This is going to test my patience.
“You sure they won’t be convinced without it?”
“I’m afraid so,” says Briggs. “The people of the town are very passionate about what they think and do.”
“I can see that,” I say, thinking of the people who laughed in my face at the idea of leaving. “Okay, fine. I’ll have a town meeting if that’s what it takes.”
“Good,” says Briggs, sighing audibly in relief. Clearly somebody is pressuring him into this. He’s sweating too much for anything else.
I’m sure he’s okay at what he does when it comes to running the small things around here, but he strikes me as the kind of guy who would cave under pressure very easily. If it was only him and me, I’m sure I could sell this deal. Why does everyone else have to get involved?
But I want this island. My day here has convinced me of it. It’s a beautiful place — calm, tropical. The sun’s shining and the beach is warm. It truly is a paradise.
It’s a paradise that I intend to call home, and I am not the kind of person who doesn’t get what I want.
I allow Briggs to escort me out of his office and down to the town hall, where some of the townsfolk are assembling. There are already groups of people mulling around, and they all turn to look at me when we enter, their eyes harsh, glaring like they’re all trying to strike fear into my heart.
I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t working.
But it doesn’t matter. It’s not going to stop me. After all, this is the peaceful option. I’m asking them nicely right now if they’ll leave. They don’t want to know what will happen if I have to get nasty.
“Hi, everyone,” I smile. Nobody smiles back.
I’m not going to let it dissuade me. I can’t.
Mayor Briggs ushers me to the front of the room, where a makeshift podium and an ancient-looking microphone are set up. “How many people are we expecting to have here?” I ask him under my breath.
He shrugs. “Could be half the town for all I know.”
“And how many people is that?”
He shrugs. “We’ll find out when we find out.”
That does not fill me with confidence.
More and more people trickle into the room, and the hair on the back of my neck starts to prick up. Buy an island, James said. It’ll be easy, he said. Nothing about this is feeling easy at all.
Eventually, we’re twenty minutes past the time that the meeting was supposed to have started, and Briggs goes to shut the main door. He lumbers back up to the microphone, and as I stand behind him, I get a great view of his bald head shining.
“Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining us tonight. I’m honored to introduce to you all a businessman who is here tonight to speak to you about his proposal.” Briggs speaks with a horrid stammer, and I’m starting to wonder why he ever got the job as mayor. He seems totally unsuited for the role.
There won’t be a local governing body when I run this town because there won’t be that many people here. Even if there were going to be, I would find someone else.
I step up to the microphone. “Hello,” I say, and immediately the microphone greets me with a squeal of feedback.
Everyone winces. I clear my throat, grimace, and try again.
“Thank you all for taking the time to come and listen to me. I appreciate you choosing to spend your evening here instead of at home with a movie.”
A faint titillation of laughter goes around the room, which heartens me.
If I can make them laugh, I can get them on my side.
This is like speaking to investors. This is something I can do.
This is the kind of thing I’ve been doing my whole life, persuading other people that I know what I’m talking about.
Unless they’re laughing at me and I’ve failed to see an inside joke.
“You may recognize my name,” I say. “And that’s part of my problem. I’ve been looking for a while now for a place to live, somewhere I can feel as ordinary as any of you.”
A couple of people in the front row lean into each other to mutter, and I clench my fists beneath the podium. Maybe calling them all ordinary was the wrong move, but I continue. Charming. I can be charming. I am charming.
“I am delighted to announce that this beautiful island, this paradise of Havenridge, is exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
“Well, we don’t want you here,” calls someone from the audience.
I chuckle politely, turning on my very best smile. “Let me change your mind,” I say.
Usually, at this point, I would have some sort of presentation to show, but I don’t think the technological abilities of this town stretch as far as computers, so I’m going to have to paint a picture with my words.
“The unfortunate fact is that I will be asking most of you to move on, which I know will be hard for many of you who have lived your lives here. However, I am more than willing to work with each and every one of you to find your new dream home. My lawyers are putting together a generous settlement package to make sure you all get settled elsewhere, and it’s something I think you’ll all be able to agree is well worth it. ”
“Nothing is worth leaving our homes for!” cries a woman at the back of the room. A murmuring of agreement goes around the room, and my face falls into a frown. “This is our life. We won’t let you take it.”
The woman stands up, and I actually gasp.
She’s tall, blond, beautiful. She’s wearing a green summer dress that complements her sharp blue eyes and flows around her sun-kissed knees.
I clench my fists harder to stop myself from gawking at her.
I don’t think letting her know that I find her absolutely stunning would do anything to endear her to my cause.
“Thank you for your opinion, Miss…?” I pause to let her tell me her name.
“Billie.”
“Miss Billie. I understand that you feel strongly about this town. I’m sure many of you do, but I can assure you that I would look after your village.”
“That’s what the rich always say,” Billie shouts.
“You want to take over our island, build on it, take it and make it into your own. Well, we’re not having it.
This town is ours, and we’re not letting you move us.
” Another murmur of agreement goes around the room, and I grimace.
Why are they all being so difficult? Time to break out the trump card.
“Miss Billie, if you’ll let me finish. I wasn’t planning on doing any redevelopment here. I’m not selling this land, and I’m certainly not having tenants. I want somewhere I can escape. Somewhere where no one is going to bother me. Building apartments wouldn’t help with that.”
To my relief, some other people in the audience laugh. I haven’t lost them completely — not yet.
“I’ll tell you this,” I say. My lawyers are going to be furious when they find out I’m riffing, but I need to persuade these people.
If I have to pay out a small fortune, so be it.
It’s not like I can’t afford it. A billion dollars is far more than any person could ever hope to spend anyway, and I have several of them.
“I will buy each and every one of you your new dream home, no questions asked, no strings, no limits. Just a house in your name. Not only that, but I will give each and every one of you — man, woman and child — half a million dollars if you agree to peacefully leave my island.”
The people gasp in shock, and I suppress my smug grin. I can’t let them know I think I’m winning.
But this Billie character shakes her head. “You think we’ll be so easily bought? You’re wrong. We’re a community. We’re stronger together, and we don’t need you.” The agreement from the audience is weaker this time, but it’s annoying to see it’s still there.
People are clearly thinking about my suggestion. Why wouldn’t they? I’m giving them everything.
For some reason, that isn’t enough for her.
We argue for another forty minutes. This Billie is stubborn, arrogant, irritating, and worst of all, everyone in town seems to like her. Any time I posit a solution, she bats it down and gets everyone on her side. She’s making me look like the villain, but I’m not.
All I want is to stop people stalking me.
Even this stubborn woman must be able to see that there’s no evil in that. I mean what I say. I wouldn’t redevelop. I wouldn’t knock anything down. Well, nothing much, anyway. I certainly wouldn’t be building condos and hotels, and I would let some of them stay.
Hell, this Billie can stay if she really wants to. I’m sure there must be something better out there for her though. She’s a young woman and clearly a smart one. She must be lying if she says she’s never felt the call of something bigger. I’m offering it to her; I’m freely giving her the world.
Why won’t she take it?
When I get back to my hotel, I’m exhausted.
I say hotel; it’s the upstairs room at the local inn.
They do have tourists here sometimes, and apparently, those tourists like to stay somewhere quaint.
I don’t do quaint. That is something I’ll be building when I move here: a nice, modern house.
The internet seems fast enough, at least, but I don’t really care for this history and character stuff.
I want somewhere nice, clean and sleek to live, somewhere where I can see the ocean. Somewhere I won’t have to worry about mold and moths and furnishings from the nineteenth century.
I slump down on a bed and call James. He and the other lawyers left before I went to the town meeting.
They didn’t want to stay on my beautiful island, but I thought I should probably spend the night to make sure I can tolerate being out in nature like this.
It’s been a long time since I was away from the city.
The evening crickets are loud, but it’s peaceful in a way too. There’s hardly any traffic noise, hardly anyone outside the window shouting. It’s calm. It’s still. It’s nice.
James picks up the phone. “I need you to do whatever it takes,” I demand.
“What?”
“Whatever it takes,” I repeat. “I want this island. I don’t care how annoying stupid locals are. I don’t care how much resistance there is. Put in the offer. I’ll give all of the locals who will move whatever they want and those who don’t, well… figure out a way to get them gone.”
“Yes, boss,” says James. Usually, I’d be annoyed by him patronizing me like that, but today I don’t care. I’m too annoyed by everything to care.
And if young Miss Billie thinks that I’m backing down even for a single second just because she likes her town the way it is, well, she’s got a storm coming.
This is my island now, and she’s going to have to like it.