Burned Hearts (Burned 3)

“Ari, a bomb went off in the lobby. Your fourth-floor office was wiped out. I’m thinking the whole damn thing has to come down.”

“Not necessarily.” I stood and returned to the photos, grabbing a red marker from my desk along the way. Gesturing to the largest picture of the heart of the Lux, I said, “The night the hotel was on fire, I saw this incredibly eerie similarity to another burning building.” Turning to the photo, I drew a circle around the lobby. “There’s a huge, gaping hole right here. It reminds me of the Pentagon after the plane crashed into it on 9/11.”

“Yeah, that was all jacked up.”

“But they didn’t have to bring down the entire Pentagon, post-collapse. They had to rebuild the damaged portion, but not the entire structure. So, yes, the lobby of the Lux, the administrative offices in the west wing, and the hotel suites in the east wing that were destroyed will have to be restored, but maybe not the entire housing.”

“And that makes it less of an overwhelming project? And when did you become an expert in the resurrection of a horrifically damaged resort?”

“I’m not. I’m the funding source. I have a list of the professionals Dane worked with and I can hire them to reinforce everything, restructure everything, whatever. I have all the original schematics from Dane’s files, and while I won’t be able to replace every fixture he’d had specifically crafted for the lobby, I can come up with close replicas and other items that complement his vision.”

Kyle studied me a few moments, not exactly hating the idea, I could see, but not loving it, either. Finally, he asked, “Does Dane even want the Lux rebuilt?”

“I don’t know. He doesn’t talk about the hotel. It is literally the one and only thing he won’t discuss with me.”

“Maybe there’s a reason for that.”

“Maybe,” I agreed. “But remember when Amano drove you and me out there and he said that Dane would probably just have all the other buildings and the rest of the resort mowed down and he’d sell off the land? If there wasn’t a 10,000 Lux the way Dane had envisioned it, then there wouldn’t be one at all?”

“Yeah, so?” Kyle asked skeptically.

“Don’t you think that’s a complete waste? Have you ever seen anything more extraordinary than that hotel?”

“It was pretty astonishing,” he concurred.

“It still is. With the exception of our mammoth hole.” I indicated the red circle again.

Kyle shook his head. “You’re forgetting about all the scorched grounds from the fire. And shit, Ari. The fountains are all ruined from the debris that struck them and there’s more metal and marble in the treetops than there are branches. Where the trees weren’t ripped out of the ground from the flying pieces of the Lux, that is.”

“I’m not saying it’ll be easy clearing it all out and fixing all the landscaping—though that’s something you could certainly help with, since you did such a great job at Macy’s retreat while we were there.”

He neither confirmed nor denied he wanted to participate in my grand plan. His blank expression gave nothing away.

So I continued. “It’ll be a mammoth effort to coordinate. So will reconstructing the lobby. But it’s not like we lack for time, right?” I challenged.

He regarded me again, then said, “This goes back to that discussion we had about how once you’ve worked at a place like the Lux nothing else compares.”

“It’s more than that. Yes, I want a career. No, event planning anywhere other than 10,000 Lux would never be the same. We poured our hearts and souls into prepping for a spectacular launch we never got to experience. But above all that, what I saw the night we visited with Amano was a legacy shredded. My son’s legacy. Dane’s son’s legacy. 10,000 Lux was his dream from way, way back. He made it come true—then someone demolished it.”

I returned to my desk and set the marker on the leather blotter, emotion creeping in on me. I took a few deep breaths, because Kyle was right about what a tremendous undertaking this would be, if I committed to it. But something ate at me, compelling me to move forward with this strategy.

I speared Kyle with an intent look and said, “What if I could give this all back to Dane?”

“Ari.”

“He deserves it, don’t you think? After all he’s been through? Considering all he’s doing? The sacrifices he’s making, having to be away from me, especially when I’m pregnant? I can see how torturous this is for him. I see it in his eyes, even as he tries to hide it from me. And he feels as though—”

My stomach clenched, my heart constricted. I couldn’t betray Dane by sharing with Kyle his insecurity that he wasn’t giving me what he thought I deserved. A perfect life.

So I shook my head and just said, “He should get something in return for all of his suffering.”

“I’m not discounting his efforts,” Kyle said. “I’m just commenting on the obvious. You’re talking about a multi-billion-dollar project. And, again, what the hell do you know about building a portion of a hotel, let alone bringing it back on-line?”

“Not much,” I conceded. “But don’t forget a key resource. Amano has worked side by side with Dane on three hotels.” I smiled triumphantly.

Kyle snickered. “I’m with you, chief, but here’s the thing. Asking for Amano’s help leads to what?”

My smile instantly vanished. “He’d tell Dane what I was up to.”