I gave him the complete tour of the gym, and he took it all in with great interest. He’d been pleased to meet Georgio as well, and genuinely seemed interested in the place.
“We offer a thirty-day trial. If you’re interested, just speak to Ri at the front desk and he’ll sign you up and take you through our membership options.”
“Sounds great to me, Ben.”
“Benny,” I corrected gently.
He nodded. “Right. I must admit, I’ve come with ulterior motives, not just to scope the place out. I very much like what I’ve seen, and I have a business proposition for you, if you have somewhere we could discuss?”
I was right in my hunch that he wasn’t an athlete, then. I took him to the office, and he made himself right at home, taking a seat as those pale eyes looked at the papers scattered over my desk.
I took a seat as well, quickly scooping the papers up and tapping the stack into a neat pile before setting them out of the way.
“Ben, I came here with pretty high expectations, and I’m glad to say they’ve been met, but I can’t help thinking you could go further. Have you thought about expanding?”
Now that hadn’t been the type of business offer I’d expected. I’d thought maybe he wanted me to partner with him to sell his company’s energy drinks in the lobby or something.
He wasn’t a sales rep either, then.
“Uh, not really. The dream had always just been this place.”
“Ah, but you’re young, and you seem to have a capable team. I can’t help but think you’d be up to the task. I’m sure you weren’t planning on retiring quite so early.” He frowned. “I am terribly sorry about your injury, but perhaps there’s a silver lining here. You’re young, you’re ambitious. Take what you’ve built here and let me help you make it even bigger. Think of it—a Forrester Fitness in every major city in the country. An empire of your own.”
I huffed. “There isn’t a lot of money in retirement, mister…”
“I’m sure there isn’t. But that’s where I come in, Ben.”
“It’s Benny.”
“Think of this store as your flagship, the foundations for us to build your empire. It would take time, of course—one location at a time, and you’d have to relocate to setups—but I think you’d be more than capable of handling it.”
The idea of Forrester Fitness becoming its own empire was appealing, and something I’d never let myself put too much thought into. It hadn’t been realistic while I’d still been fighting, and I’d been so focused on my recovery and then Harper afterward that I hadn’t thought of expanding at all. I could handle the extra work, but there was something else he’d said I didn’t think I’d be able to handle at all.
“I’m afraid I’d be unable to relocate.”
He frowned. “It wouldn’t need to be for long. You could still be based here. But it’s important for a king to be seen in his kingdom. Your strong presence would be essential in establishing new teams in new locations.”
Apart from relocating, this all sounded good. Maybe a little too good. “So, what’s in it for you?”
He smiled. The business plan he’d come prepared with already tucked away in his briefcase was detailed, and very appealing. It was certainly worth thinking about, and I’d need someone better with business things to look it over and make sure there wasn’tanything I was missing that would screw me over. Harper would be better at this than I was.
“I’ll think this over with my partner,” I told him. “And I can reach out to you next week?”
His smile faltered. “Yes, well, about that. I’m afraid it’s part of my conditions.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll be candid, Ben. I’ll help you get your name in shining spotlights all over the country once again, and in exchange, you never speak to Harper Lorens again.”
The room was suddenly so cold.
I understood now why he seemed familiar. His platinum-blond hair, his pale eyes. I’d seen those eyes before, only younger and softer, not this twisted mirror of them. They belonged to the man I loved, but they were inside this predator. They were the eyes of a shark circling its next meal.
“Leon.”
He smiled.
Heknew.
