SWNOVELS : Chapter 51
Fiona
It did not take long before I realized exactly what my coworker had meant when he told me that this project would be impossible to get off the ground.
The concept behind the project was simple. Our biggest client, a real estate developer, had all the resources in place to support a rapid expansion into the residential housing market. The only problem was a competitor that was leasing similar properties at unbeatable rates.
Alexander had left the palace for the afternoon, leaving me to my research. I was in bed, propped up against a nest of soft pillows and sipping tea
absentmindedly while clicking around online, looking for information about the rival development firm when, suddenly, a familiar face was smiling up at me from the screen.
It was Scarlet. Alexander’s stepmother, the Alpha King’s Luna. The reigning queen.
And the very same ruthless, conniving woman who tried to turn me against my fiancé, attempted to frame me for theft, and then wickedly disparaged us both before Alexander’s vicious father.
I gasped involuntarily as the pieces clicked into place in my mind, and wound up briefly choking on my tea as a result. Once I caught my breath, I continued reading and confirmed the daunting situation that lay ahead of me.
Scarlet was the primary shareholder in the rival
development company, which had cornered the market on residential housing across the nation. The further I researched, the more connections I found. All roads led back to Scarlet. She had a nearly complete monopoly on the industry.
It was not until my legs and hips began feeling achy that I realized I’d been reading for hours. I closed my laptop and eased my way out of bed. Stopped into the restroom and freshened up. Began to tidy up all my work clutter. All the while, thinking…
About what the future was going to look like, when my new job was requiring me to start a war with a powerful woman who already viewed me as an enemy.
“Is everything alright?” Alexander was looking across the dinner table at me questioningly, his honey-gold eyes full of concern. He reached out for my hand and
“Oh, yes, I’m fine.” I smiled, enjoying the warmth of his touch and relaxing my hand into his. “It’s just work.
I keep thinking about the project I was telling you about this morning. I’m sorry that I am so distracted.”
Alexander nodded understandingly. “You don’t need to apologize,” he said, letting go of my hand. “Were you able to get your research done this afternoon?”
“Well, I would not call it done. But yes, I did some research and reading. And, well, I actually came across something interesting I wanted to tell you about… about your stepmother.”
“Oh? What about her?” Alexander filled his mouth with a forkful of steak and potatoes and looked away.
I had been expecting him to be more alarmed, I guess, at the mention of Scarlet. But he looked as
cool as ever, and even, strangely, almost disinterested.
“Well, it looks like I am in for some more conflict with her soon,” I continued. “As it turns out, she is a part owner of the real estate company that we will be competing with once we begin the expansion project and break ground on new developments. I will have to go head-to-head with her at some point, competing for a share of the market that she’s currently dominating.”
Alexander swallowed down his food and cleared his throat. “I did know that she invests heavily in real estate.” He shook his head, looking down the length of the long dinner table contemplatively. “She will not be an easy opponent to challenge.”
“I don’t expect so.” I studied Alexander’s face, trying to read the complicated expression that had just
appeared on it. “I have only just begun my research, but her company’s profit margins seem tremendous.
Competing with their rental rates will be our greatest challenge. I will have to figure out how they’re keeping their building costs so low.”
I could tell that this piqued Alexander’s interest.
“Hmm. And how do you think you will be able to figure that out?”
I laughed. “Honestly,” I admitted, “I have no idea.”
I wound up thinking about Alexander’s question all that evening, and all throughout the following day as well.
How was I going to figure out what Scarlet and her company were doing to pull off their massive profits?
All I could do was simply get started. Research,
research, and more research. Find out everything that I could and see where the information would lead me.
Nina texted me Sunday night, asking if she was ever going to see me again now that I was working all the time. I wrote out a reply promising we’d hang out soon, but then deleted it slowly, thinking about my project. I simply had to devote all my time and energy to my work right now.
I wrote her back: The next month is going to be a beast for me. I’ll have to keep you posted.
She replied: Ok. Just promise you’ll take care of yourself while you’re working so much, alright?
I found myself holding my phone to my chest for a moment, missing my best friend. I was grateful for her concern. I reassured Nina I was okay, then silenced my phone and flipped it over. And went right back to
work typing search queries quietly under the dim blue glow of my laptop screen, with Alexander fast asleep at my side.
I didn’t plan to pull an all-nighter, but my mind would not have let me rest, even if I’d tried to sleep. I clicked every link I could find and learned everything I could about my competitor, from the founding of the company to every detail of their current public records, and everything in between.
Sunday night became Monday morning, and three a.m. found me dressing quickly, wired with adrenaline, and then I was seated in my office on the eighty-ninth floor less than an hour later. The pitch-dark sky and distant city lights beyond the wall of windows made it feel more like night than morning.
Most of the floor was dark, but light and sound from Conrad’s corner office told me that my boss was also here early.
The longer I thought about it and the more I learned, the more my mind was desperate for an answer to the question of how Scarlet’s company was making the kinds of profits they were reporting quarter over quarter for the past ten years. The numbers simply did not add up.
Something was missing from the public record.
Something that this company did not want anyone –
not just their competitors – to know about.
The incongruities I was finding between what they should have been spending on construction and material costs and the business’s gross revenue could not be chalked up to business strategy or trade secrets. They were up to something. Something illegal.
And I was going to find out what it was.