Owning Beauty (Taking Beauty Trilogy 3)

Preston stared at me with an almost shocked look on his face, choking on his drink.

I felt my face flush and my stomach plummet, then fill with the wingbeats of a thousand butterflies as Preston laughed nervously and turned away.

Why the hell did I say that?

Chapter 7

Maddy’s first day as my new assistant became a lot more boring after Jane had finally stopped storming around the front lawn. Most of it was spent having her fill out all the appropriate paperwork and letting her look over Jane’s notes, most of which I’d managed to salvage after she’d torn through her desk like a demon in an effort to destroy as much company property as she could. Though I’d been dreading that moment for months, now that it had passed, I felt relieved. Maddy had been right. It was good to let go, especially before Jane was in a position to do anything worse.

“Are you concerned about what she said?” she asked me at lunch. I’d taken her to a bistro on the lake behind my property. “About the ‘assault,’ I mean?”

I shrugged. “Not really. Jane has anger issues, that’s true, but I doubt she’d go so far as to actually file a police report against me. And even if she did, she’s got no proof. I didn’t grab her that hard. And besides,” I added with a grin, “I have witnesses.”

“A witness, anyway,” Maddy said. “But that’s probably good enough.”

Although I put on an appearance of confidence, I certainly hoped we were right, the last thing I needed was that kind of publicity… Regardless of what was going to happen with Jane, by the end of the first day Maddy was already pretty comfortably settled in. Things almost felt… Normal.

Except that I couldn’t get Maddy’s words out of my head…

Do you fuck all of your secretaries?

Sure, it had been a joke. All in good fun… But it had my wheels moving in ways they shouldn’t have been moving.

I did my best to ignore it.

When weeks went by without hearing anything from Jane, both of us breathed a collective sigh of relief. I immediately forbade any more talk of her, fearful that invoking her name might make the demon return. I’d have to write up a rule somewhere that disallowed anyone from going into a bathroom with the lights off and saying “Jane Turner” three times in front of a mirror, but as it so happened, my attention was far more focused on Maddy.

I’d had every confidence in her that she’d turn out to be the perfect new personal assistant, and I’d been right. I’d just had no idea how right I would be. She was amazingly good at her job, meticulous and detail-oriented, always taking the initiative to organize and get things done. She’d memorized my particular way of doing things in practically no time at all, and by the end of our first month together, I couldn’t believe the stark contrast between her and Jane.

“I think I’m ready to pronounce you a permanent hire,” I teased her one day as she made me coffee. She’d finally figured out the French press, which was far more preferable than the automatic swill I got out of the machine.

She had smiled and looked at me through her lashes in that smug, know-it-all way I’d come to love. “Oh, please. I’ve been permanent since day one. At this stage, I don’t think you could live without me.”

“Too true,” I’d told her. But neither of us realized how much I’d meant it until a week later when she overheard me on the phone. At the time, I had no idea how that seemingly innocuous moment would change everything between us forever.

Chapter 8

“Yes, I realize that’s prime real estate. Yes, I know what’s there now, and I’m sure it can be done. I know my father wants this to go forward, but I’m just asking you, man to man… Do you really want to do this? What your asking crosses an ethical line. It may be, in fact, a bit… Extrajudicial.”

I stood on my bedroom balcony overlooking the distant lake. I could see the water gently rippling as a lazy breeze swept over it, just barely disturbing the otherwise placid surface. It was late and the sun was setting, but Mr. Verger wasn’t letting me off the phone without a fight. I watched the sky turn from orange to red, then a hazy purple as my high-strung client stammered on the other end of the line.

I sighed, hoping my Bluetooth earpiece didn’t pick it up. I had explained this at least a dozen times, but Harold wasn’t getting it. I understood why he’d gotten my father involved in this, I just didn’t want to be part of it. With the company in my hands during the windup to my father’s wedding, he’d dropped this entire sordid affair on my lap.

On the surface, it was simple. Harvey Enterprises has connections, able to bend the will of state and federal agencies that look into things like code violations. They condemn buildings all the time. In fact, nothing makes them happier than to slap a big yellow notice on a door that says ‘CONDEMNED’ on it. It’s like getting their dick sucked for them. They’d be more than happy to shut down the homeless shelter if the company threw money their way, and that’s exactly what Mr. Verger wanted me to do.

Mr. Verger had big plans for that space. He’d quietly bought up buildings on either side of the shelter, and once he owned the final piece of the puzzle, there’d be nothing stopping him from razing the entire block and putting up some gaudy condo tower in its place. Gentrification at work.

Sure, we would lose a rec center and the only homeless shelter within a twenty mile radius in the process, but Harold Verger had deep pockets—the kind that could not only pay off the code enforcement officials, but could go a long way in supporting Harvey Enterprises in all manner of future endeavors.

That was the rub. From what my father had told me, Mr. Verger had a very good shot at becoming a US Senator very soon. Money could buy you many things, but if you wanted real influence, you needed to know the right people. My father would very much like to know a senator. He’d very much like to have done favors for one, so that that senator might be amenable to returning those favors in his more prestigious future. And what my father wanted, my father got, even if that meant tearing down a perfectly good building to get it.

Only he wasn’t going to do it. He was going to make me do it. I wasn’t completely heartless, though. I’d first seen the job as a moral quandary. Homeless people already had it rough. Why make it rougher by eliminating one of the few safe spaces that they had?

I kept telling myself there were always more safe spaces, and there was plenty of land in the city. The non-profit organization keeping both the rec center and the shelter open could always open some new ones. It might take a year or two, but it would get done.

“Young man, I was a lawyer for twenty six years. Don’t lecture me on the law. I was under the impression you would take care of this without any questions being asked,” Mr. Verger said. “Your father made certain assurances.”

I could feel my temples throbbing. Though I hadn’t thought about her in weeks, I would almost have preferred a conversation with Jane to one with this guy.

“All right, Mr. Verger. I’ll get the ball rolling on Monday. We’ll have that homeless shelter knocked flat in three weeks or less. The recreation center might take a bit longer, but I’ll personally expedite t

he process. You have a nice weekend, all right?”

“You too, Mr. Harvey. Oh, and tell your father I say hello, will you? I’ve got a hankering to play some golf next week. Let him know I said so.”

I forced a smile into my tone. “I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.”

I could barely contain my excitement when Mr. Verger finally hung up. I couldn’t imagine that man as a senator, with the kind of power to make decisions that could affect all of America. He was incompetent, fidgety, uncertain, and a complete worry-wart. Then again, I couldn’t think of a senator who wasn’t completely ill-suited for the job in one way or another. I guessed there was always room for one more.

I turned around, taking my Bluetooth earpiece out and nearly running straight into Maddy. It wouldn’t have been the first time we collided, and I grinned at her as I shook my head.

“Maddy, we’ve got to stop meeting like this…”

“How could you?” she asked me, her voice barely above a whisper. She looked utterly horrified, and it took me a few seconds to realize she’d overheard the conversation I’d been having on the phone.

“Oh. You mean the shelter?”

She stared at me. “Of course I mean the shelter. And the recreation center! And oh God, what else is there?” Then she waved her hand and shut her eyes. “No. Don’t tell me. Really. If there’s more, I don’t want to know…”

“Oh, come on,” I said, moving past her and into my bedroom. “It’s urban renewal, nothing more. The condo development is going to bring in a lot more money for the city than a homeless shelter ever did, and it will reduce crime and vagrancy. Ten years from now, you won’t even recognize the city center. This is a win, Maddy. We should celebrate.”

I turned back to see if she was coming, but she hadn’t moved. I sighed, leaning against the wall. “Come on. I’ll take you anywhere you’d like. Do you like seafood? There’s this place over by the marina. It’s a bit of a drive, but the lobster is worth it.”