“I’m sorry, Stone. I have an important meeting about to start. Can you come back another time, or text me, or better yet, none of the above.” She may not want to punch the guy in the face anymore, but she also wasn’t going to roll out the red carpet.
“I’m honored.”
“What?”
“That you consider a meeting with me important, it touches me to my core.”
He was in her way, just trying to needle her. She didn’t want to be on edge when the insurance people got here. She wanted to be on her game.
“Stone, seriously, can you just? I have bigger fish to fry.”
“There can’t possibly be a bigger fish. Do you even readForbes?”
“What, what can I do for you?”
“It’s what I can do foryouif I feel it makes good sense.”
“I really can’t right now.” Libby looked behind Stone, around one of his impossibly square shoulders.
“Relax,I’myour meeting.”
“What?” Libby stared at Stone. There was a little smirk on his face.
“I thought the name gave it away, actually,” Stone said, shrugging.
“Wait, Granite Insurance? Stone,you’reGranite?”
“That sentence sounds ridiculous, but I am.”
Libby took a step backward and then began to pace. Stone was behind the insurance company that they’d been using! He was the one who’d paid out after the tornado. He was the one who she was hoping to convince to keep insuring downtown Irish Hills.
“Did you make it impossible for legitimate insurance companies to take our business? That’s unethical, that’s underhanded. That’s exactly what I should have expected from you.”
Stone raised his hands up; he did remember her temper from last year. “Hang on, hang on. No. You are a huge risk. This project is a huge risk. You got rejected by all the big companies all on your own. I had nothing whatsoever to do with that.”
“Then how?”
“I just happened to invest in a firm specializing in high-risk development projects. I thought I’d need it over in Covert Pier. But they got standard rates and coverage. You found Granite, not the other way around.”
Libby had beaten out Covert Pier in the competition for a development grant. Stone had tried to tilt the playing field against her by investing in that resort town while trying to take over Irish Hills for a stupid gas station.
She thought she’d won, but maybe that was all an illusion.
But what Stone said about the insurance was true. When they couldn’t get coverage, Libby had called every single firm in the country, and found Granite was willing to take a chance. They were the only ones willing to, and now she knew why.
“You did everything you could to beat us and couldn’t, and now, what? We’re not insured? You’re going to put a road block up for our projects, so I can’t go elsewhere. Admit it! Whatever it is, I’ll figure it out. It’s you who is no match for me!”
“I agree. One hundred percent.”
“So, what are you after? What’s the play?”
“I’m just looking to rent this very space we’re in, your last unleased spot on this side, right?”
“What? You’ve got the grocery store, and now you want this space? Am I hearing this right?”
“Yes, actually, you get this strip fully occupied and profitable. You can probably get any insurance company to take a chance on you after the contract is up. You’ll be off my hands. Or rather, off Granite’s books.”
“What’s your angle?”
