Jen narrowed her eyes on the asshole. If she was at all intimidated by him, it didn’t show. I had to laugh when James gaped at her.
“Sir, we don’t know one another, but I’m asking you to trust me. Not James, as I’m sure he’s burned every possible bridge already. If it makes you feel any better, I’ve never laid eyes on him until we walked into this room. I have zero loyalty to him. My goal here is to help you and James’s nephew both walk out of here satisfied, but I think it’s for the best if you’re not in the room for this part of the discussion as it doesn’t pertain directly to the money owed to you.”
The man scrubbed at the back of his neck, furrowing his brow as he studied Jen, probably weighing his options. Finally he pushed back from the table. “I’m not leaving the main area of the hotel, but I will give you five minutes.”
“Thank you.” She offered a polite smile, and I stifled a laugh. Only someone who knew her well could read the underlying message through her saccharine-sweet response. Once we were alone, she turned her attention to James, pushing the first contract across the table to him.
“What’s this?” he asked, mumbling as he skimmed over the papers.
“That is the contract you’re going to sign, promising that as soon as the inn clears probate, you will sign over your stake to us,” she explained to him.
He stiffened, and I thought he was about to say something stupid.
Luckily Jen saved him from himself. “Mr. Montgomery, you’ve made some grave mistakes, and now you have problems you’re incapable of solving on your own. This is your only option if you want to save your ass. You can either sign this contract as well as one with your nephew regarding a loan for the rest of the money, or you can walk away and consider what that guy plans to do to you if he doesn’t get his money. Prove to your nephew that you’re not a complete idiot and do the right thing.”
“My father wanted one thing that was all his, and when he died, it was supposed to come to me.” James’s voice cracked, and I almost felt sorry for the guy. As angry as I was with him, I was starting to see that he wasn’t malicious. He just didn’t think about the consequences of his actions.
“No offense to your father, but that seems to be a poor choice given what you’ve done. You should consider yourself lucky to have family who’s willing to offer you a solution,” she scolded him.
James sank back in his chair.
“Perhaps you were under the impression your nephew would be so overjoyed to hear that his grandfather left part of the inn to him that he’d bail your sorry ass out. If that’s the case, I’m sorry to say you have a lot to learn about Dane Montgomery. He’s a good man who’s had to fight for everything he has. And even if hewasinclined to rescue you without any sort of reassurance you’d repay him, he can’t do it alone.”
She reached into her purse and waved a cashier’s check in the air. “Lucky for you, he has people who have faith in his ability to run the inn and the resources to buy in. Andthatis why you’re going to sign those papers.”
“What happens if I do?” James scratched his chin, then wiped beads of sweat from his brow.
“That’s easy.Whenyou sign both contracts, I’ll call the muscle back in here and arrange for him to accompany Dane to the bank so they can take care of getting the money where it needs to be,” she explained, leaning forward and resting her arms on the table. “When probate clears, we’ll sit down again to make the transfer of your stake official.”
“Why would you give it to him?” James seemed annoyed by her plan.
“Because I need his reassurance that they will leave us out ofyourbusiness dealings in the future,” she clarified.
“I don’t think I should make any decisions without my lawyer present.” James kept flipping through the pages, not reading anything at this point.
Jen pulled out her cell phone and slid it across the table. “By all means, call your lawyer and explain to him what you’ve done. I’m sure he will agree this is the only remaining option. Muscles out there doesn’t strike me as having much patience left for you. Do you really want to explain to him that this could have all been cleared up, but you wanted to make sure your nephew, who you’d never talked to until you needed his help cleaning up a mess, isn’t going to screw you over? The way I see it, you’re getting one hell of a deal because Dane’s not charging you interest on the money he loans you, even though I’m sure we all know it’s unlikely he’ll ever see a penny in repayment.”
James shoved the phone back toward Jen. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”
Jen handed him a pen and excused herself. Her heels clicked against the laminate floor, and she returned a minute later with James’s “friend.” I wasn’t sure what she’d said to him, but he seemed much more relaxed than he had earlier. They took their seats, and all of us watched as James signed over the inn. As soon as he put down the pen, I let out a sigh of relief.
The inn was safe, and my grandfather’s legacy would become ours.
