Knight Reed, his buddy and another of Royal’s best men, headed Reed Corp. Had since his grandfather, Gerald, died our junior year. This was well known in our circles, and like me, Knight had a board running things until he graduated from school. I’d just decided to get involved with my family business early, and his was technically number one in the real estate and development game. At least, when it came to Maywood Heights.
The Reeds and Prinzes built this town, partners in its creation. The Prinzes had their names on everything, and the Reeds help them build the empire. The Mallicks, my father and the other members of our family who later emigrated over, came in late, but our income was more diverse. Mallick Enterprises was global, but my father always had full backing from the Reeds and Prinzes.
I mean, they made him mayor.
Funded his campaigns and everything.
At the mention of his friend, LJ lifted his eyes to the heavens.
“Oh, he knows.” He sat back, opening his hands. “I went to the fucker first. Wanted to buy some of his properties.”
“And?”
“Completely shut my shit down.” He chuckled. “Knight may be my boy, but he’s also a competitive prick. I think it actually got him off I was trying to get into the game.”
Not surprising, knowing him. The dude was scary, but in this case, had both LJ and me laughing.
He braced his arms. “Ain’t getting any help from him. I’m on my own with this. A one-man show.”
Something told me he wouldn’t be for long. He wasn’t just trying to get ahead but build something, help people. I opened my hands. “I’ll deep-dive more into this, but I’m going to be real, man. I do answer to people.”
Even with as big as the offers were that didn’t mean my people would say yes. Some of them thought the same way as Knight. Though, obviously not for the same reasons. What LJ and Knight had was a friendly rivalry, but in business, people could be money-grubbing douchebags.
Some of the board might want to white knuckle the properties just maintain their current status in the game. Stupid, I knew.
I did make the final, final decisions around here, but going all rogue after just arriving probably wouldn’t be a good idea. I had to pick my battles, and people already thought I was crazy for buying one art gallery. They didn’t trust me, thought me young and naive, and with all the drama I came in with, the Brown shit…
“I get it.” LJ shook my hand, the pair of us standing. “Just let me know.”
I certainly would. I actually really admired the guy, coming in here and putting it all out there when he was new. It also took a lot to do what you wanted to do. It took bravery.
And that was something I’d forever respect.
Chapter Twenty-One
Ramses
Honestly, taco night with Mom nearly got canceled that night. One, because it was yet another night Bri’s and my schedules clashed and I couldn’t see her. She didn’t feel comfortable schmoozing up to my mother while the pair of us secretly fucked behind the scenes. And two, I found myself so wrapped up in LJ’s business plan I hadn’t wanted to leave the office. I’d actually brought all that shit home with me, pretty engulfed. By the time I looked at the clock to meet my mom for dinner, the hour had gotten away from me. I called her to cancel, but she wasn’t having that.
Before I knew it, she’d driven over to my house. My actual home in Maywood Heights. My condo on campus was just a place to keep my stuff while I went to school, but I saw it more than the old colonial-style I’d purchased my freshman year of college. My inheritance had opened up around then, and naturally, I’d needed a place near my mom.
These days, it was merely a place to rest my head on days I worked too late, and Brielle had never come here. I hadn’t asked since I barely stayed here myself.
I had people to keep up on it, dust and what have you, while I was away, and Mom made herself right at home the moment she arrived with her arms filled with bags upon bags of food. She knew how I ate so she brought a lot.
“Don’t you worry. I’ll get everything all set,” she said, making me spend time with her. I told her I was bringing work home with me, but she insisted. She eyed me. “I see you basically once a week, and you won’t deny me my fix.”
She made me kiss her on the cheek after that before she filled both my kitchen and home with amazing smells. I felt bad. I didn’t see her a lot, but LJ’s plan intrigued me and I wanted to know more about the properties he sought to acquire.
Oddly enough, the files for said properties had been readily available when I’d asked for them. As it turned out, Mallick had just finalized a deal surrounding them. They were scheduled for demolition actually.
For a mini mall.
And so, the powers that be in my company had planned for what they obviously considered their own progress and had actually paid people out of their homes to do it. It’d been a fine deal—on paper. But definitely not with people in mind. According to what LJ had given me, he wanted to fix up the neighborhood.
“Are you going to work the entire night or actually interact with your mother?”
On the floor with me, Mom toed my leg in her pantsuit from the office. It’d been a long time since we’d done things like this, ate on the floor like when I’d been a kid. She had been a housewife during the days of her marriage to my father, putting away her dreams. He’d gotten locked up and she’d gotten to take them back, her love for history and academia.
Pembroke had welcomed her back with open arms. Of course, they had. She was fucking awesome.
I smirked at her above my Mac but did steal a taco off a plate she’d put together. She’d laid everything out for me to work.
“I told you I was bringing work home with me,” I said, after basically shoving the whole thing in my mouth. Again, my mom knew how I ate. I winked. “But give me two seconds. Won’t take long.”
Of course, I’d probably been saying that for like an hour now. I couldn’t help it, and I had told my mom about what I was looking at. I think because I found it sad how terribly inhuman the whole process of business, progress was. I knew it was that way—obviously. I mean, I was in the thick of it and knew no other way. I’d also been trying to mind my Ps and Qs at the office, so I’d gone out of my way not to make waves.
I felt I should make more after reading over everything LJ gave me, though. He seemed to have big plans for the city, and changes didn’t have to be bad. In fact, there were many things in Maywood Heights that could use an overhaul.
Clicking away, I went back to work but noticed my mother’s eyes still on me. She had my flat screen on while she ate, keeping herself busy with HGTV, which was basically her drug of choice.
Because it was, I definitely shouldn’t get her eye as much. Of course, she wanted to spend time with me, but when it came to work, she didn’t bug. She got it. I eyed her. “Something else?”
I knew my mom. Something else was definitely in her eyes. She started to pass it off, but then brushed taco bits off her hands. She picked up the remote, shutting the TV off.
“Uh-oh.”
“What uh-oh?” She frowned. “I can’t just talk to you?”
“You can.” But lately, she’d been delicate about it. Like there was always something she wanted to say while we ate tacos and scarfed guacamole together. I figured that had to do with our talk about therapy at the beginning of term. It hadn’t gone well, and when she found out I’d only gone to the one group session, she hadn’t been pleased. My mother never wore her worry well, and she was definitely worried, worried about me.