Page 18 of Kade

Right now, though, she was irritated. Her contractor was late.

“So…about that pizza?”

Leave it to Jasper to remind her own belly she was starved. “You call Saul’s, and I’ll try to reach the damn contractor.”

“You got it.” Jasper had his phone out Googling Saul’s while she searched through her contacts for Jim Bachri, the construction manager. He picked up on the third ring.

“This is Jim.”

“Jim, it’s Angel Kincaid. Someone was supposed to meet me this morning to go through my new building to do an estimate.”

“Chad isn’t there? He’s our estimate guy.”

“No. I’ve been here for a few minutes, and no sign of him.”

“Not to worry. If you can text me the address, I’ll come over myself and do the estimate. I do apologize. He might have gotten stuck in traffic.”

“I understand that, but a phone call or text saying so would have been nice. It’s just good customer service to let the client know you’re going to be late.”

“I assure you, nothing like this will happen again.”

“I’m going to be frank with you, Jim. This first impression has not gone well. If I start having costly delays or things that go way over budgetandcrews not showing up on time, I will have no problem firing you.” Angel kept her voice even, but she put a bit of a bite into it. She’d dealt with guys like this back in Boston when Pops renovated his bar. They liked to try to sneak things by you.

“I completely understand, Mrs. Kincaid. If you’ll text me the address, I should be able to get there in about thirty minutes, give or take a few minutes.”

Angel agreed and hung up. Hopefully, Jim got the picture that she was not a lady to be fucked with.

Looking around at the garbage, the crumbling walls, and the general filth that covered every surface, she still saw the potential of what itcouldbe. When Nikoli toured it, it had been hard for him to see past the mess, but he believed in her. He was going to front her the money to build the physical bar itself, as well as working capital for her first year for a twenty-five percent stake in the business. Nik had even helped with her business plan and co-signed with the bank so she could get the loan to buy the building and renovate it.

Saul’s delivery guy arrived before Jim did, which didn’t sit well with Angel. Granted, Saul’s was only a short walk, but still, they’d had to cook the food before bringing it.

“Well, shit.” Jasper looked around, perplexed. “Where are we gonna sit and eat? This place is filthy.”

He had a point. The thick coating of dust and God only knew what else covered the floor. Angel wasn’t exactly sure what the building had been before, since all fixtures and signage had been stripped. They hadn’t even left a random chair sitting around. It was just one big open space with a few rooms in the back. They were as empty as the front.

“I guess we’ll eat standing up.” She shrugged and walked over to help him with the bags. She’d asked for a salad and pizza. Saul had her regular order on hand, since she’d stopped so often to pick up pizza for dinner. The heavenly smell floating in the air didn’t make her stomach rejoice at all. It protested instead, and nausea decided to rear its ugly head.

“Hello?” They both looked up to see a large man lumbering through the front door, a clipboard in his hand. “Mrs. Kincaid?”

“Jim?” Angel turned away from the pizza, but it didn’t really help her stomach all that much.

“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded and shut the door behind him. “Sorry for the delay this morning. I still haven’t been able to reach Chad. I’ll be happy to walk the building with you and do an in-depth estimate in his place.”

As irritated as she was at the situation, he had gotten here in the timeframe he’d promised, so she bit back her smartass remark. She needed to get the ball rolling. Nik did a thorough check of the contractors in the area and assured her this man was one of the best.

“I appreciate that. I’d like to get work started within the next few days.”

“Of course. I can have crews ready to go as early as tomorrow.” He looked down at his clipboard, his expression changing. “I almost forgot. I found this on the door outside.”

Angel took the manila envelope he handed her, frowning. It was addressed to her. Opening it, she pulled out photos and felt her world tilt.

Photos of her.

She blinked, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

Photos of her in a hospital bed.

In Miami.

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