Page 56 of Open To Negotiation

“We don’t need him to be able to afford this plan which was half of the problem. They were asking us for too much without giving us enough ownership. The construction wouldn’t be anything out of scope for our teams and there are enough rich people in the area to draw initial interest. If we added rooms for guests to stay in, we could make it a vacation destination as well,” I said, turning more pages.

“Noah has made contacts with a few people who have land outside the city. Find someone old that’s ready to retire. We could build an estate,” Will added.

“Cuts down significantly on the costs if we don’t have a middleman.” Oli looked distant. I’m sure running numbers in his head. “Plus, then we own one hundred percent of it.”

“Let’s bring it to a vote at our meeting tomorrow.” I rapped on the table twice and stood up. We would put the idea forward with Ash and Noah present and it would pass. It was a good idea, people paid top dollar for something like this. It would be a golf resort with all the amenities that would allow us to charge an exclusive price.

“If this works, we could take the same model to London. We know how much people love exclusivity there,” Jaxson mused as we started to file out of the boardroom.

I grabbed his shoulder before he could head down the hall to his office. “Did you get Lucas fired?” A man like Lucas didn’t appreciate losing, so I enlisted Jaxson to take care of the problem before he could become one for Quinn.

I didn’t like her ex, even before he’d grabbed her, the little she had told me about him had made me want to punch him, but it wasn’t jealousy. All of this was about her safety.

A sly smile slid over his face. “He was escorted out of his office yesterday, I meant to tell you but I got distracted on the Henderson file.”

I never had a doubt he would get it done. “Where is he now?”

“He tucked tail and ran to his parents’ place in some small ass town in Manitoba. We sent him a message not to come back, pretty sure he’ll listen, but I’ll know if he tries to contact Quinn.” He slapped me on the shoulder before making his way down the hallway.

I pulled up my emails on my phone as I walked back to my office, trying to decide what I needed to tackle first.

“Shelly,” I called as I walked by her desk, “I have that call with Anderson in fifteen, can you make sure I end on time and notify me when Miss West gets here, even if my meeting isn’t over.”

“Miss West isn’t coming.”

I froze in my doorway and turned. “What?”

“Yes, she had to cancel.” Shelly didn’t look up from her computer. “The VP of HR in London needed fifteen minutes of your time to review headcount since they need to do more hiring but need your sign off. I put her in the slot which still leaves you some uninterrupted time to get some work done.”

I didn’t give a shit about any of that. “Do you know why Miss West cancelled?” My tone was harsh enough for Shelly to stop typing, look up from her computer and raise an eyebrow at me. The woman was a saint and was rarely surprised by my moods anymore, but apparently this had done it.

“She didn’t say. She called and apologized profusely but said something had happened and she wasn’t able to make it.” She smirked at me as I pulled my phone up, already dialing her number. “She called Arthur herself to let him know as well, such a sweet girl.”

“Quinn,” I said as her voicemail picked up. “Call me back right now.” I hung up, sent her a text with the same message and squeezed my phone, not knowing what to do next.

“You know…” I leveled Shelly with a glare as she dragged out her words. Most people would cower under my gaze but not her, she just looked more amused. “She sounded funny on the phone.” I quickly moved forward to stand in front of her.

“Funny how?” I demanded.

No matter her answer, my decision was already made. I fired off a text to Arthur.

“Don’t know. Arthur thought maybe she’d been crying but she just sounded stuffed to me.” Shelly hadn’t even finished talking before I turned back into my office.

“Call Anderson, reschedule. I’ll let you know if I need to cancel more of my calendar,” I said over my shoulder as I shoved my computer into my briefcase and yanked my charger out of the wall. I shoved some of my papers and my notebook into my bag and walked back out of my office.

“Of course,” Shelly replied with a smile on her face.

“Call me on my cell if you need anything.” I made my way quickly out of the building, thankful I avoided the rest of the guys, and got into Arthur’s waiting car, annoyed at myself for not driving today. I would have broken speed limits to get to her, unlike Arthur.

Twenty minutes later I was knocking on Quinn’s door. I’d tried calling one more time on the drive over, but she hadn’t answered and my text hadn’t been responded to either. I knocked as loud as I could, again, and was contemplating trying to track the landlord down.

My chest was tight and a feeling of panic that I wasn’t used to was clawing at me. I needed to get into her apartment. I turned to go find someone I could pay off to get me through the damn door when the lock clicked. I spun back around.

“Theo?” Quinn’s face was visible from the gap in the door, but the panic grew at the rasp in her voice and the hacking that followed.

“What’s wrong?”

I took a step forward and pushed the door open further. Her hair was in a messy bun on top of her head, her face was free of any makeup, her nose was red, and she looked pale. I couldn’t even appreciate that she was wearing my T-shirt and nothing else.