Page 96 of Courage, Dear Heart

I’m not fine at all.

FIFTY-THREE

Elliott

I walkto the building and don’t look back. If I do, I don’t think I can keep acting like nothing happened. Did she hear anything? And if so, how much? I don’t think she could hear anything with the door closed. We were not talking loudly. And the offices are built with privacy in mind.

I take the elevator up to my floor, glad it’s empty. Make my way down the hall, walk past my father’s office. His door is closed. It always is. Find my cousin’s office and peer inside to make sure she’s alone. She is. I walk in and close the door behind me. Nikki greets me with a raised eyebrow.

I sit down in front of her desk. “Do you know anything about the Sunrise Acquisitions Project?”

Nikki frowns and sits back. “I’ve heard rumors. But nothing concrete.”

My hands grip the arms of my chair. “What kind of rumors?”

Nikki drops her pen to the notepadshe was writing on. “The kind I don’t wanna be involved with. And neither do you.”

I drag in a deep breath. “I need to know.”

She sighs. Wheels her chair closer to the desk. “I’ve heard they’re trying to take an entire city block, and the plan is to turn it into a luxury apartment complex with its own stores, gym on site, private garage, and a bus service. Whatever you can think about, you name it, and it will have.”

My turn to frown. “And why would that be something I don’t want to be involved with? It doesn’t sound like anything illegal.”

Nikki gets up, walks around her desk, and sits on the chair next to me. “Because there’s one building owner holding out. They got the rest of the block. And I fear if they don’t agree to sell, then they’ll play dirty.”

“Play dirty how?”

She presses her lips together as if she doesn’t want to reveal what she knows. “They’re planning on eminent domain to take over the property if they don’t agree to sell.”

Eminent domain is not my area of expertise. “How? We’re a private company. Even if that was possible, it would take months, maybe even years, to get approved. And based on what I heard, whatever it is they’re planning is happening soon.”

“It wouldn’t take long when they have a couple politicians in their pockets. And they can justify it by saying the new owners will generate more taxes or jobs. Which they would. Property taxes alone would be tenfold or more with what they have planned. And hundreds of jobs. Both during construction and after.”

“Politicians? What are you talking about?”

She leans closer. “Listen, you didn’t hear this from me, okay? None of it. If you thought keeping us girls from making partner was bad, you have no idea how bad it really gets. My sister and I are looking into getting out. Doing our own thing together. But first we have to figure out a way to get around the noncompete agreement we have.”

I make an effort to keep my voice low. “Please tell me what the fuck is happening.”

“I haven’t said anything to you before because I have no proof. They’re very careful to cover their tracks. But there have been bribes. And a lot of bending of the rules. And some creative accounting happening. I stumbled on something I shouldn’t have seen. It’s not good.”

“Who’s behind it?” I already know, but I need to hear it from someone else.

Nikki presses her lips together and looks away. “As far as I can tell, it’s your father, Josh, and Uncle Michael.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “And the politicians and people they bribed?”

She lifts a shoulder. “That, I have no idea.”

I squeeze my temples. The beginnings of a headache forming. “How do you know any of this?”

“You’ll be surprised by the kind of things they talk around me and my sisterin code”—she makes quotation marks with her fingers—“and think we can’t understand.”

I sit back, staring at the wall, saying nothing at all. My mind is a jumble of chaotic thoughts. There must have been signs that I missed.

Nikki reaches out to me, squeezes my hand. “I’m sorry about your father. I know it must be hard to hear he’s involved.”

I scoff. “Not hard at all. Honestly? I can’t say I’m surprised. My father has never been the most—how can I put it—most kind or most compassionate of men.”

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