Commissioner Hayes spread his hands, palms up.“I can do a personal review.That’s about the only thing left.”
So he hadn’t even looked at it personally before this meeting?I bit my tongue before I could respond, but I could feel the same outrage simmering inside Archer.
“We need a path forward too,” I reminded him.“Whoever put together this revocation didn’t say anything about why the environmental impact was not up to standards or what remediation is called for.We need next steps.Gideon Hotels has promised me that they’ll pull out of the city entirely if we can’t get this approval on track.”
That was a fib.Okay, an outright lie.But I knew that Commissioner Hayes was motivated by the bottom line, like most people in the planning world.
“Like I said, I’ll do a final, thorough review.I’ll see what can be done.I can’t promise much more than that, gentlemen.”
I didn’t like how his words left so many escape routes.It wasn’t concrete enough for me.But Archer was right.We’d hit them with a lawsuit by the end of the day if needed.
“We appreciate your time.”I stood and Archer followed suit, extending our hands.“Hopefully you can have a new decision within forty-eight hours.We’ll plan to proceed with the lawsuit if not.”
Commissioner Hayes led us out of the office, the air tense.We saw ourselves out and didn't speak until we were outside on the street, the noise of downtown Manhattan a welcome relief from that suffocating office.
"That was a fucking disaster," Archer said.
"Yep."I loosened my tie, trying to breathe."He's stonewalling us."
"More than that.He's lying.You saw his face when you brought up those other projects.He knows they were approved with the same ratings."
I pulled out my phone, scrolling through emails.“Good call on the lawsuit.Let’s get that lined up, because I don’t think he’s going to come back with a different answer.He hadn’t even reviewed this shit himself yet.Fifty million says he doesn’t review it personally even now.”
Archer watched the flow of pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk, his hands on his hips, staying quiet for a few moments.Then he turned to me with the same look he had in his eye when he wanted me to agree to be waterboarded.
“Don’t start with the waterboarding—”
“You remember who we beat out for this bid, right?”He lifted a brow.“Cross Developments.”
“Right.”It had been huge.Major.Nightly Developments was a scrappy rising star in the development world, but we’d never beat out Cross on anything until this project.
“What if that’s why we don’t have a path forward?”His jaw ticked and I could see the righteous rage clouded his gaze.“Because they’re going to scoop up the contract with a promise that they’ll be able to get things done.The exact same environmental impact statement will be rubber stamped without a glance.”
The thought made my head hurt.The truth was, we’d never had a clash with the Department of Buildings like this before.It made no sense.There was no reason for it, and that alone made me think his theory had merit.
“I almost want it to be true,” I said, “because it would make everything else make sense.”
“Where is Cross going to be next?”Archer asked.“I want to run into him.”
I sighed, abandoning my email to the lawyer.“God, I hate feeling like this man’s groupie.”
“We’re not trying to sleep with him,” Archer clarified.“We’re trying tofuck him.Capital F fuck.There’s a big difference.”
“Depends on who you ask,” I muttered, calling Marina.“But I’ll get you your chance to fuck him.Marina will figure out where we can intercept him next.”
The Urban Development Forum became the new item on our weekly schedule.Conveniently scheduled for the next evening, it was an industry mixer and networking event at the Mandarin Oriental hotel.Marina secured tickets for me, Clara, Archer, and Trojan, and we breezed into the event like the seasoned gala professionals we now were.The late-May air was fragrant and heady, unnaturally warm to the point that I wore my lighter suit coat and Clara only brought a thin shawl for her shoulders.
Thankfully, Mia had made a quick recovery from her stomach virus last week.Zoey was holding down the fort at my penthouse, where Clara and Mia had been staying most of the time.She hadn’t officially moved in, but she was damn close.As we stood in the foyer, checking out the scene and eyeing the bar, I slid my hand over the silky dip in Clara’s waist for maybe the hundredth time since we’d stepped out of the car.
She sent me a coy look and batted her eyelashes.“Something you like down there, sir?”
“You have no idea.”I tugged her closer.“I'm going to spend the whole night imagining taking this dress off you."
Clara giggled, pressing a quick kiss to my lips.“You can do whatever you want with this dress later.”
“Okay, lovebirds.”Archer’s annoyed tone broke through our canoodling.“We have work to do.Please focus.”
I punched Archer in the arm but did as requested.Almost immediately I spotted Sebastian Cross.
