CHAPTER 14
Maya balled her hands into fists and stared down James outside his office. She knew the two of them were gathering a crowd in the open area, but she didn’t care. Not one bit. Connor was due to sign the lumberyard purchase agreement in less than twenty-four hours, and he hadn’t replied to her email about James. As far as Em knew, he was still in Italy. It was time to deal with things, patience and all that bull crap be damned. Maya had given her ex-boss time to reflect. Now it was time to act.
“I don’t think you have Connor’s best interests at heart,” she announced, ensuring her voice could be heard by all the eavesdroppers who had suddenly found this area of the seventy-second floor incredibly interesting.
Em shot her a look of warning from her desk near Connor’s office. She was half out of her chair, uncertain whether to intervene or not.
“What do you know about business? You’re just some lowly assistant,” James replied, his face tight with anger.
A faint gasp rose from the eavesdroppers—mostly female assistants. Maya caught flashes of righteous anger before she returned her attention to the well-dressed businessman.
“I know when someone is using nepotism for his personal advantage, and selling out his boss.” She dropped her hands onto her hips and watched him consider running away. Nope. He had too much at stake to turn tail. Good.
James strode to the nearest desk, where a secretary cowered, her eyes round. She leaned away as he snatched her phone and punched in two numbers. “Security. Floor seventy-two. I need someone removed. Now.”
Maya smiled. “Thank you for confirming my suspicions, Mr. Culver.”
James paused, the phone halfway to its cradle. “What suspicions?”
“That you are corrupt.”
James slammed down the phone and pointed at her. “You were fired by Mr. MacKenzie. Do you really believe you are one to judge?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Maya spotted Connor’s second advisor, Bill Hatfield, appear in his office doorway. He took in the scene, then gently closed his door again.
She turned to the cluster of employees. “It’s true. I was fired.” She turned back to James. “Because of you.”
“I had nothing to do with it. You were causing a disturbance with your conspiracy theories.” Red crept up James’s neck. “It is time for you to leave.”
“Sure, but before I go, I think the staff might find it interesting that you bought a house in Florida based on a bonus you got from Connor.” She turned to address the workers, who were leaning forward awkwardly, straining to hear what was being said over the loud rain that had begun drumming on the large office windows. “Anyone else here get a bonus?” People shook their heads, their attention drifting to James. “Funny, because according to Accounting, neither did Mr. Culver.”
Whispers riffled through the room and James shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know what you are trying to prove, Miss Summer, but you are not welcome here. You are bad for morale.”
“And you’re bad for CME’s bottom line. Why else would you convince Connor to purchase a sawmill? There is no profitable reason for him to buy a primary industry—especially one that has lost money for almost a decade.” She casually leaned against a nearby desk. “Well, unless, of course, you were trying to do a favor for someone in your family. Maybe an uncle who owned the failing lumberyard and was wanting to retire? Maybe promise him a secure future at Connor’s expense, through a little something called a finder’s fee? Smaller, of course, than your own kickback—sorry, bonus.”
“Are you trying to accuse me of something?” James asked, his nostrils flaring.
“It must be hard being you.” The man’s jaw clenched, and she could tell he was itching for her to explain why. “I know how hard you have been working lately. Connor has been leaving more details to you.” She glanced around at the eavesdroppers. “To everyone, really. But being the man who never gets any credit from the public as to your role in the company’s success... It must be hard to take.”
“I don’t need credit.”
“That’s good. Because I doubt you’d want to be the one named for losing Connor’s company over four hundred thousand dollars.”
“I never!” James swung his fist down as though searching for something to slam.
“The overvaluation, though? It’s by over 400 K, James. I’ve done a lot of research, and it seems very odd that someone with so much experience in the business, such as your old high school pal, Peter Stoker, would make such a large error when determining the value of your uncle’s lumberyard.”
James licked his lips and swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. His eyes were shifting from side to side and Maya knew she had him.
“Well, unless Peter was also doing someone a favor. Say, in exchange for a brand-new SUV for his wife? How’s she liking it, by the way? Is it nice? I hear she got a lot of upgrades.”
“That’s a coincidence! You don’t understand the complexities of purchasing another company, and are jumping to unreasonable conclusions. There are tax benefits—”
“That come nowhere near covering the loss that Connor is going to take on this.” Maya spread her arms out. “That everyone in this company is going to take.”
She saw the fear in staffers’ faces as they turned nervously to James.
“This is utterly ridiculous,” he spat.
“No!” Maya shouted, her patience gone. “You are utterly ridiculous! The fact that you would do this to the man you work for. The man who taught you everything you know. To betray him so deeply...” Her voice shook with emotion. “Don’t you get it? Don’t you get who you have become? Don’t you get what you are asking these innocent employees to be a part of?” The crowd behind her rustled nervously. “Who would hire a man who has a history of being fined for taking kickbacks when overvaluing companies? Do you know how bad this is going to look in the courts?”
A heavy hand landed on Maya’s shoulder, and James’s expression changed. She turned to face Connor, who was decked out in a suit and looking very sexy and in charge.
“Thank goodness you are here,” she said quietly. Now he could finally see what she’d been saying all along, and make it right again.
“That’ll be enough, Miss Summer,” Connor said, his voice flat, the dark lines that had been under his eyes when they’d first met seemingly tracking across again as she watched.
She smiled in relief when he gave James a stern look. Her work here was done. That corrupt man was going to be packing so fast it wouldn’t even make it onto Facebook before he was long gone.
She glanced back at Connor, ready to reap her reward, but his shadowed jaw was set, his cheeks flushed, and he was staring at her in a way that made her hesitate. It was almost as though he didn’t think James was in the wrong. That maybe she was.
“Please come with me,” he said.
James gloated, crossing his arms and leaning back on his heels, as though he was a bouncer and she was about to be bounced.
How could Connor be so blind?
Maya pulled her shoulder out from under Connor’s grasp as two security guards rounded the corner.
Em stepped to Connor’s side, wringing her hands. “Mr. MacKenzie?” she squeaked.
“I’ve heard enough, Em,” he told her.
She nodded and stepped back as he addressed the security guards. “I’ll see that Miss Summer is seen out of the building.” He placed a hand on Maya’s lower back. Over his shoulder he said, “James, carry on taking care of things for me, please.”
The man grinned smugly. “Like it was my own company, Connor.”
“Excellent. That’s exactly what I need to hear.”
Maya shook off Connor’s hand. “I will let myself out.” As she headed toward the elevator, she addressed the room. “I know I’m not the only one who sees that James is about to lose this company hundreds of thousands of dollars. Why are you too chicken to say anything?”
Gazes flicked away as she tried to make eye contact with people as she passed.
“That’ll be enough,” Connor said quietly. He began moving them faster, his palm once again an insistent force on her back.
Outside the building moments later, he trailed her onto the wet sidewalk, where she wanted to run from the humiliation and never look back. Her heart felt as though it had been stung by a thousand stingrays, and her eyes were burning with held back emotion.
As he reached for her arm, she dodged him, pulling her jacket tighter around her shaking body. If he couldn’t come to the conclusion that James had to go, then it could only mean one thing. Connor was in on it.
“Maya.”
“I held you on a pedestal you never deserved.”
“Trust me, Maya.”
“You know what? You can run your company however you want, but I thought you were someone else. Someone I wanted to emulate.”
His body rocked as if he’d been hit. His eyes were dark and tired. “Trust me…” He reached out and grasped her arm, staring at her as though he wanted to say something else. Finally, with drizzle hazing the air between them, he whispered, “Thank you.”
“For what?” she spat.
“For seeing things.”
“If you are talking about what just went on up there, you need glasses, because you don’t know what the hell you’re even talking about.”
He lowered his voice. “Maya, patience.”
“You are such a goddamn tease! I don’t know what kind of power trip you’re on, but I hate you, okay? I officially hate you. Send that out in an office memo.” She waved a hand across the sky. “This just in―Maya Summer hates Connor MacKenzie because he is a duplicitous, corrupt, jerk-faced ass.” Her chest burned with anger and betrayal. “You’re about to sign a deal that will lose you a ton of money, and you think it’s funny to tell me to have patience? You’re an asshole, Connor MacKenzie. Ass. Hole.” She blinked and turned away from a woman who had stopped to gawk at her outburst.
She turned back and whispered harshly, “I thought you had a sense of honor and I’m embarrassed to have worked for you. I will never use that worthlessly vague reference you saved on my computer. I’m not a toy you can use in your games, Connor. I am a woman, and I hate the way you’ve treated me.”
He reached out a hand, his brow arced in pain. “Maya, our time at the cottage wasn’t like that.”
“I’m talking about what went on in there!” She shoved a finger in the direction of the skyscraper. “It’s like Arlene Dickinson said, it’s not about being the best. It’s about doing your best. And you failed, Connor. Big time.”
“I’m not who you think I am.”
“That’s for damn sure.”
He gripped her shoulders, drawing her closer. “Why do you care so much, Maya?” When she didn’t answer, he gave her a slight shake. “Why, Maya? Why?”
Her bottom lip trembling, she broke free of his hold. She felt shattered. This was worse than any heartbreak she’d ever experienced. And all for a man she’d never even had. A man who’d never been truly real with her.
“You wouldn’t understand,” she whispered as she walked away.
* * *
The rain continued to drizzle outside the cottage, and Maya and her sisters sat around the fireplace, enjoying the blaze. “I can’t believe he didn’t care. That he was such a―a…” Maya downed the rest of her hot toddy.
“Whoa, girl. You’re going to end up hurling if you keep drinking that fast.” Hailey gently pried the empty cup out of her hand.
“I like my drinks to go down fast and easy. And we’re finally drinking something that doesn’t give me brain freeze.” Maya turned to Hailey, taking in her jeans and sweater. “Don’t you have a flight to catch to New York or something?”
“I booked the red-eye. Tell us more about this thing with Connor. You really think his advisor is up to something, and that he might be in on it?”
Maya nodded, her head throbbing with held back emotion. “It’s the only explanation.”
“Are you sure?” Melanie asked, hesitation in her voice. “It doesn’t quite fit right in my mind.”
“Neither does him showing her out of the building and not James,” snapped Daphne, with enough indignation it could have been her in Maya’s shoes. Daphne was usually so “let it go” that Maya briefly wondered if something else was going on with her kid sister.
Maya pushed herself deeper into the cushions of her chair, the heels of her hands against her cheeks. “I don’t know anymore. Nothing is a snap. He was so calm, but he had this haunted look.” She reached for her cup to refill it. “Can we talk about something else?”
“Did you sort out that licensing thing?” Melanie asked.
“I meant something not me-related.”
“No luck?”
“Jamie’s girlfriend said she’d try. Everyone says they’ll try, but nobody is on my side. Nobody cares.”
“Yeah, go eat worms, would you?” Hailey snorted, tugging the filled cup away from Maya. She began singing softly, “Nobody likes me, everybody hates me…”
“I know, okay? I suck at making connections in the business world. I know, I know, I know. I’m too impatient. I want to get stuff done and people want to bond. You don’t have to say it, the universe is already saying it loud and clear.”
The sisters joined Hailey’s song, singing about eating worms because of not being liked, and Maya broke into giggles at the silliness of it all. “You guys suck.”
“Aw, Snappy, Snap, Snap,” Daphne cooed, making kissy faces as she pulled Maya close.
Maya laughed and pushed her away. “I hate you guys. I’m being serious.”
“So then?” Melanie asked. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to walk away.”
“But…” Hailey looked to her sisters for support.
“Maya, that’s not what you do,” Melanie said carefully.
“Yeah? And you guys have better ideas?”
Listen. Pause. Reflect. Connect. That was what she was supposed to be doing. Too bad that advice sucked.
“I have to get Tigger,” Daphne said, fiddling with her knit pullover as she stood. “The party she’s at ends soon.”
“Yeah, we should all go. Are you coming, Maya?”
“I’m going to stay here a few days. I need to get over this, and send out some more résumés. I may as well do it here without distractions. I might paint the screen frames, too.”
“Are we keeping the place?” Daphne asked, her forehead furrowing.
Maya shrugged. “We have paint, I have time.”
“Because, um, I have news.”
The sisters turned to her. The last time Daphne had had news and used that hesitant, the-world-might-end tone of voice was over five years ago, when she’d announced she was unexpectedly expecting Tigger.
“I was at the planning office for the protest I’m doing in Bala against the big development there.” She paused, inhaling in a way that made her chest heave.
Maya began planning out the rest of her evening in her mind, as Daphne, no doubt, was about to launch into the tale of another atrocity that needed desperately to be stopped. There was one every month, it seemed. Maybe after her sisters left Maya would check out head hunters to see if they could find her a job. And of course, finish off the last of the hot toddies. And maybe plot the demise of Connor, seeing as she couldn’t seem to stop thinking about him.
Daphne mentioned Baby Horseshoe Island and Maya perked up. “Sorry, can you repeat that?”
Her sister’s face pinched with worry as she said, “Rubicore Developments has bought out most of Baby Horseshoe Island and has plans to create a private resort complete with an airstrip, boating and wake boarding school, golf course, staff housing, mini marina, and hotel cabins.”
“What?”
“I know.” Daphne’s voice shook.
“When?”
“The plans are still a proposal. We need to go to the next town meeting. The environmental implications alone are horrific.”
“If we group together on this we can kick them right off that island,” Melanie said, swinging her fist through the air. “I’ll go to that meeting and show them exactly who they are messing with.”
Daphne shot her a grateful smile.
“But if they’ve bought most of Baby Horseshoe they’re not going to just roll over.” Maya shook her head, adding up the pieces. “Aaron referred to the Fredericksons as the holdouts when he stopped by the other day. Are they the last owners?”
Daphne nodded.
“They’ve even bought out JoHoBo—I mean, Missy’s Getaway?” No wonder the renovated cottage had been empty all summer. It was a miracle the place was still standing, seeing as at its core it was a hundred-ten-year-old cottage such as theirs.
Another nod from Daphne.
“And they offered to buy our island?” Hailey asked. “What does that mean?”
“It means they don’t want the hassle of us over here complaining.” Maya crossed her arms. “Daphne’s right. We need to do something. And we need to not lose Trixie Hollow.”
“We’re going to need more people on our side.” Melanie tapped her chin thoughtfully. “We need…a developer on our side. Someone who knows how these guys are going to duck and dive, so we can block them before they try anything sneaky.”
“Do you think they’re going to bribe council?” Maya asked.
“They probably already have,” Daphne said, blinking back what appeared to be several cubic meters of panic.
“We’ll figure something out,” Maya assured them all. “But in the meantime, we need to get our butts in gear and save our cottage, so it doesn’t fall into their hands.” She rolled her shoulders, trying to force herself to chill out. At least Connor hadn’t asked for a refund. That was something helping them in the right direction. Too bad she didn’t have much to live on, much less help pay the back taxes.
She walked her sisters down to the dock, their mood somber. Visibility was diminished due to the light rain and it was a nice break from the heat of last week. Plus, Maya thought ruefully, it matched everyone’s frame of mind.
As Maya watched her sisters’ boat disappear into the mist, another boat pulled up. She couldn’t make out who was under the yellow rain hat. Was it Connor? Did he decide that she was right? Had he realized they were an amazing team, and that he missed her?
She loathed the part of herself that missed him, and the way her hope turned into a disappointment so deep it seared her lungs when she discovered it wasn’t him in the other boat. She fought back the tidal wave of emotion. Maya Summer did not cry. Damn him.
The boat pulled up alongside the dock, the captain tossing her a line as he peeked out from under his yellow slicker.
“Jamie?”
“Girlfriend asked me to drop this off—I heard you were out here.” He passed her an envelope sealed in a blue plastic bag.
“What is it?”
“Some licensing thing she said was important.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
Maya clutched the envelope to her chest. “Did she get it to go through?”
He grinned. “It’s all there in black-and-white.”
As Jamie motored away, Maya stood under the protective eaves of the boathouse, reading the papers. Then she pumped the air with a fist and grinned. Maybe destiny wasn’t such a bitch, after all. Maybe she was just being tested.
* * *
Connor sat at the head table of the wedding party, a warm tropical breeze ruffling his hair, which was in need of a cut. He smiled at his brother’s delirious joy, having to admit the kid looked pretty good in a tuxedo.
“Having fun?” Curtis asked.
Connor nodded. Surprisingly, he was. He gazed out across the sandy Tahitian shores to the rolling ocean. What a view. If he ever got married, something like this would do the trick. Would Maya want a destination wedding? She seemed like a no-fuss, no-muss kind of woman. Despite her desire for everything big and important, she’d probably love a low-key event in a setting similar to this.
He stretched his hands, which had closed into fists. Why was he even thinking of her? She hated him. He’d lost out. He pushed his fingers through his hair, glad for the breeze slapping the large canopy above him. He’d ruined it completely, but he couldn’t let her in. He wasn’t ready, wasn’t there yet. And this was too big. Nobody could know. Not yet.
“I expected you to be on your phone all night.” His brother’s voice lowered with emotion as he clapped Connor on the shoulder. “Thanks, man.”
“For not being on my phone?”
“For being here. Really being here.”
Connor nodded, unable to speak. He’d become that guy who was never around. If he had a wife, she’d be doing everyone on the side in a quest for love and attention.
“Connor, you look fantastic,” Roberta said, leaning around her new husband. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was done up in curls that kept falling in her face in a way that reminded him of Maya. It seemed he couldn’t get away from thoughts of that woman. “We’re so glad you came.”
Connor nodded, his heart sinking. They had truly believed he wouldn’t take time to come to the wedding. He thought back to who he’d been two and a half weeks ago. Chances were he would have missed the flight, cramming one more thing into his day. Then he would have come on a red-eye and barely made it to everything on time, his mind still stuck behind his desk in Toronto.
“Have you been working out?” Roberta asked.
He nodded. “A bit. I took some time off.”
“Well, it’s good for you. You look less like death warmed up and served on dry toast. I was starting to worry about you.” She gave him an affectionate tap on the arm and turned her attention to one of her bridesmaids, who was whispering something in Roberta’s ear, assessing Connor. They were talking about him.
He fidgeted with the flute of champagne in front of him. Roberta wasn’t the only one who’d been worried about him. He’d met with his doctor yesterday before catching his flight, and while he had permission to go back part-time, Connor knew he wasn’t out of the woods. If he returned to CME he’d get sucked back into it all, and in a matter of weeks he’d be back in that ER. But without CM Enterprises, who was he? What would he do with his days? What could he do so he didn’t keel over?
Curtis swept his new wife onto the dance floor and Connor watched as they smiled and kissed, wrapped up in each other’s world. That’s what was missing from his life. That was what he needed. Someone like Maya to be his other half and lighten his life. She gave him hell all the time and was pushy, but he liked it. She knew what she wanted, and wasn’t going to turn into some vapid trophy wife just because of who he was. She’d do things that mattered and keep him on his toes, forcing him continually to be a better man.
The bridesmaid moved to sit beside him, her eyelids doing some strange batting thing that he figured was supposed to make him randy. He gave her a tight smile and focused on the dancers.
She walked her fingers up his arm. “Wanna dance?” She gave him an expectant look and he knew he’d be rude not to accept. But if he did it would lead to her being all over him for the rest of the night, and he really wasn’t in the right headspace for that kind of company. Unless it was Maya.
Damn her. How did she get to him so easily?
“I’m sorry, I don’t think my girlfriend would appreciate that.”
The woman glanced over Connor’s shoulder. “She’s not here, though, is she?”
“She is not.”
The bridesmaid pulled on his hand. “Then what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”
“No, but it might hurt me.” He offered her his untouched glass of champagne, and she accepted it with disappointment. Connor scanned the room and finally pointed to a man near the back who was watching them. “I think there is someone over there hoping you will notice him.”
“Who?” She turned, her eyes round with curiosity.
“He’s been eyeing you.”
She spun abruptly, putting her back to the man. “Really? Do you know his name?”
“Drink up and go find out for yourself.”
She did as he suggested, her dress flouncing in a way that reminded Connor of Maya’s niece. Saving her from the falling tree felt like forever ago. His mind drifted to the cottage bathroom, where he’d helped Maya doctor herself. He’d been such a broken husk. But was he any different now? Had he changed enough that he could finally be the man she deserved?
Sighing, he realized she probably wouldn’t see it that way, and that woman saw everything.
He laughed as his brother swept Roberta into a deep dip, pretending to drop her. Connor missed this―being able to be present at an event without feeling as though he was about to lose his company if he didn’t go check his email or texts. He missed people. Not everything needed to be about work all the time. But he still needed something the business world could give him. Something only James could deliver.
* * *
Connor sat at the large conference table and clasped his hands together. As long as James played his right cards, Connor was going to walk away a free and happy man.
Em, her moves edgy, offered the two men coffee. Connor waved her away, but James, bags under his eyes, accepted.
“Do you want me to stay and take notes?” Em asked Connor.
“No, that’s fine. I just wanted to chat with James and get up to speed.”
James and Em frowned. The conference room was considered neutral turf, and the only time Connor met with an employee for a “chat” in here, it led to either a pink slip or a severe reprimand. The fact that Connor’s second advisor, Bill, was not present made it more clear something was about to go down.
“How’s…” Connor snapped his fingers as though he was still burned out, and unable to pull up his other assistant’s name. “Stella?”
“Fine,” Em replied. “She can come back to work on Wednesday.”
“I had Accounting send her a bonus this morning. Can you be sure she gets it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’ll get one, too. I appreciate all you do around here.”
Em blushed as she nodded, whispering a “thanks” as she exited the room.
Connor, making sure his shoulders seemed weighted by fatigue, returned his attention to James, who was sitting at the other end of the table looking unsure, but also expectant.
“I want to thank you for taking care of the place while I was gone, James. I know it couldn’t have been easy, with me pulling the plug on myself in the middle of a deal.”
James cleared his throat and shook his head with vigor. “It was no problem, really.”
“Well, I want you to know that I appreciate it. And this latest deal with the lumberyard, which you managed to close yesterday, was a good idea. I was looking at the papers and how much it increased the valuation of CM Enterprises.”
James smiled, pleased.
“You’ve done a lot for me over the past year, in particular.” When his advisor nodded, his chest expanding, Connor added, “And so I would like to make you an offer.”
James leaned forward, hungry for details.
“I know you’ve been interested in having a larger stake in the company for some time.”
“Yes, yes I have. I think I would do an amazing job with more control.”
“How much would you like?”
James’s greed practically turned him green. “As much as you are comfortable giving.”
“I was thinking fifty percent.”
He grinned and leaned back like a fat cat. “That would be fantastic.”
“Or maybe you’d prefer to have majority control here?”
“What do you mean?” James’s voice was breathless.
“Buy the company.” Connor leaned back, hands folded behind his head.
“Buy the company?”
“Outright. You’ve done an amazing job, and your projections show that within five years you’ll be rolling in it. It’s a good time to buy.”
“Why are you selling?” James licked his lips twice, a tell that he was nervous.
Connor laughed. “Have you seen me this past month? I can’t even remember my own name. I’m not the king any longer and it’s burning me out trying to be. I’m done, man. I’m tired. You do a much better job of balancing things. That’s why I thought of you first. You are truly the new, uncrowned, king.”
James swallowed hard, sitting a little straighter with the compliment and the hint that Connor might sell to someone else if he didn’t grab the opportunity. “And what is the offer, exactly?”
“Purchase outright at your recent valuation.”
“My recent…” James cleared his throat. He blinked, licked his lips.
“Yes. I trust your valuation. If the past is any indicator, it’s probably conservative. Since it is your valuation, you know exactly what you are getting and, man…” Connor smiled and shook his head. “I can’t believe I am even thinking of selling this place. It’s been my everything for so long.” He spread his palms flat on the table, rounding his shoulders as though in resignation. “But I can see how I’m in your way. You are the new king and it’s time for me to step aside and let you shine.”
James grew in his chair, shoulders straightening. “Yeah. Yeah, maybe.”
“You in full control. Look out, world. Corner office. Fortune magazine calling you. Hell, I must be crazy.” Connor shook his head as though he couldn’t believe it. He gave James a moment to imagine it all, then leaned forward. “So? What do you say? Are you in?”
James nodded hesitantly, his eyes drifting to the large windows along the wall. “I’m not sure about the value…”
“Why? Is something wrong?” Connor made himself tamp his anger under a large weight, knowing one false move and he’d be stuck, not James, the man who needed to pay for his betrayal out of his own wallet.
Connor had checked the paperwork when he got back from Curtis’s wedding, and James had come out ahead on the past three deals, whereas CM Enterprises had not. James was the real reason Connor was so burned out. He’d been paddling a ship his advisor had been poking holes into. Now it was time for James to buy the damaged ship.
Connor grinned internally. Either way, James was caught. He couldn’t turn down the offer without showing how he’d become corrupt, and if he bought it, he was stuck with his own bad deals. Thank goodness for Maya and her threat to take James to court. No matter which way he moved he was screwed. Connor just hoped the man’s pride made him move in Connor’s favor for once.
“No, nothing is wrong.” His advisor stared at the shiny tabletop.
“Is it a fair price?” Connor asked. “Should we investigate it further? Maybe there’s something that has been overlooked?” He reached for the phone sitting in the middle of the table.
Anger radiated off James. But he stood and clenched Connor’s hand, shaking it as he practically growled, “We have a deal, Connor.”
“Legal has the contract ready for you to sign. Shall we go over there now?”
Connor made James be the one to break eye contact and pull his hand away first, as well as exit the room.
Oh, yes. Connor was still king.
* * *
Maya basked on a rock on the top of the island, the morning sun warming her bones. It had been a cool night in the cottage and now the sun was out to show her it was still summer.
Her phone rang and she answered it. The entrepreneurs.
“Maya, we’ve run into a glitch.”
“Are you freaking kidding me?” How many fires did she have to put out with this stupid project?
“The licensing is fine. It’s all set, thank you. But the distributor we wanted to use experienced a major flood, and it’s looking like everything is going to be delayed by months. They said they’d let us out of our contract, but time is so short and—”
“I get the picture. I can tell you’re feeling a bit anxious and stressed, but we’ll figure this out, okay?” Connect, connect, connect.
Son of a…
How the hell were they going to sort this out? She was going to have to call in favors from people she didn’t even know. Again. And lately, it felt as though every time she turned around she was asking someone to cover her butt and make it happen, because she’d messed up somewhere. How did she ever think she could get this device out into the real world?
“You know what?” she said. “I might know somebody. It’s a long shot. Really long, but I can ask.”
“Maya. You are a godsend.”
“I’ll call you back, okay?”
She hung up and rang Steve from Roundhouse Distributions, hoping he’d recall who she was.
“Hi, Steve? It’s Maya Summer, the girl with the taxi in Toronto.”
“Wow. How’d you know I needed a ride downtown?”
Maya laughed. “Sorry, I’m unable to take a fare right now, but I actually had a distribution question for you. Do you have a moment?”
“Sure.”
Maya explained what she needed. “So, I’m not certain if you can help, or point me in the right direction? We’ve ended up in a bit of a time crunch.”
“I’m actually heading to a meeting right now with a distributor who might be able to help you out. I can ask.”
Maya stared at her phone. If this was what everyone was talking about with the whole connections thing, then hot damn, it was the coolest thing ever.
“That would be amazing. Thank you.”
“No problem. Loving the Twitter jokes, by the way.”
“I’m glad.” Maya grinned at the sky. The Twitter jokes. She’d forgotten about the odd joke she’d been tweeting to him here and there. She had been connecting and maintaining their link without even realizing it. “Thanks, Steve. So much, really. I appreciate it.”
He let out a laugh. “I only said I’d ask. I can’t promise what they’ll say.”
“I know, but thank you just the same.”
She happily lowered her phone, feeling more hope than she had in ages. Listen, pause, reflect and connect. She and Connor could write a business book, because Snap was officially back in business. Too bad Connor was more interested in being a corrupt jerk, because she had a feeling they could make a lot of money as a team.