“Ugh.You remember me telling you about the Empire Ridge article I’m working on?”
“Sure. The David and Goliath one that Marjorie’s all excited about.”
“Yeah.” I blew out a breath. “So, my whistleblower sent over some financials, which I’ve been trying to untangle. From everything I can see, Anthony Harmon had spent years trying to level up the family business he’d inherited—bigger jobs and bigger payouts, that kind of thing. So when this mega-huge company called Empire Ridge approached him about doing some work for them as a preferred vendor, it was a no-brainer, right?”
Tam nodded. “Unless there was a catch?”
“Exactly. I mean, Anthony admits himself that he should have known better. I guess this company had approached Anthony’s father a bunch of times about buying some of Harmon’s property, and Anthony’s father had refused, claiming Empire was shady. Anthony thought his dad was just being shortsighted.”
“Oooh.” Tam rubbed Tierney’s back. “Trust your parents, kids.”
I snorted. “I guess. Anyway, Anthony hires more guys, takes out loans and buys equipment. Scales up the business, you know, since now he and Empire are best friends and he’s got all this work coming in. But then Empire says, ‘Since we’re besties now, why don’t you let us buy this piece of property from you for an obscene amount of money?—’”
“Wait, the same land Anthony’s father hadn’t wanted to sell?” Tam demanded.
“Yep. Except now, Empire Ridge has Anthony over a barrel, don’t they? If he tells his besties he’s not interested in the land deal, are they gonna take away all his pretty contracts and leave him broke? Now, according to Anthony, he’d already started to suspect his dad had been right, so he tried to back out…”
Tam winced. “Didn’t go well?”
“Nope. They came at him with both barrels,” I confirmed. “They invited him to a meeting and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. ‘Oooh, sorry, friend. See this map? We’ve bought all the property around you, and if you don’t sell us your property, too, so we can build River Bend—that’s the name of the housing development they built, worst name ever—we’re gonna use our shady contacts and connections to get the town involved. See this firehouse here, on the land you currently own? The town wants that firehouse, and we’re gonna get them to take your land by eminent domain. If they do, you’ll walk away with a pittanceandno contracts. Orrrr you sell it to us for way more than the land is worth, and you get to stay our bestie subcontractor, and we’ll all be happy.’ Can you guess what he did?”
She shook her head. “He sold the land.”
“Ding ding ding. And Anthony got the money and contracts as promised. He claims he hated every minute of doing business with Empire Ridge since they insisted on cutting corners, but he was too cowed at that point to speak out. Says he just wanted to get the project over with.” I took a sip of wine. “But then, as a parting shot, Empire Ridge pointed the finger at Anthony’s company, accusingthemof shoddy workmanship and using improper materials.” I shook my head. “Poor guy can’t get hired to screw in lightbulbs now.”
“Fuck,” Tam breathed. “I’m with Marjorie. This sounds like an important story to tell.”
“Sure would be,” I agreed, “if I had any proof besides Anthony’s say-so. Anthony’s financial records show Empire Ridge knew exactly what materials they were buying and approved them. Great. But what shows they bullied him? What shows he’d been manipulated from the start? What’ll help sway public opinion, at least enough to let him rebuild his business? I feel like it exists, but…” I shook my head. “I can’t figure it out.”
Tam made a considering noise, then sighed. “I can’t imagine what’s distracting you. I mean, it’s not like you’re living in a construction zone, with a certain… big, beautiful, muscly person as your new roommate.”
My stomach flipped, but the wine was already hitting me pleasantly and loosening my tongue. “Yeah,” I said in a small voice. “There’s that.”
“So why not just jump him?”
I blinked, sure I’d heard wrong. “Jump Brewer? The man renovating my house? The man doing work for me? That’s the very thing I want to avoid doing.”
Lie.
“Okay, but wait. Let’s talk this through. You said yourself that Brewer’s beautiful. He’s sweet?—”
Regrettably true.
“—and he’s totally your type. And yes, I agree that it’s a little… something… that he’s your contractor. But he’s not your employee. There’s not a consent issue?—”
“Isn’t there?” I said weakly.
“And if the two of you were getting along, I’d probably say to wait until the job is done to do the jumping, but since you’ve also said your attraction is making it hard for you to work and hard for you to communicate about the house?—”
It was making many thingshard.
“I don’t think I actually said?—”
“Why not get it out of your system so you can move on? Seems like if you want to get busy on that article, you and Brew need to get busy first.” She bounced her eyebrows. “He’s got some serious toppy energy. You’re into that, right?”
I stared at Tam and then at the baby in horror. “Tamsen Marie Monroe. I will not discuss my sex life with my sister. Especially not while you’re holding that precious, innocent?—”
“Pfft. Tierney can’t understand a word we’re saying?—”
