Sheila scoffed. “Really, Marina?—”
“That means community land trust housing. You also utilize a renters-first model and create the framework you want, but it would be a mixed model of expensive and affordable units. There’s also space for social interaction and a way to further community connection within the building itself.”
Sheila waited. “I still don’t see what’s in this for me.”
“It buys you time.” Marina shrugged. “Like I said. You’re going to be under investigation. By doing a project in an entirely new way, one that makes you appear to be someone who cares about the little people, it will provide you with a sort of counterbalance to the dirt you’ve now got under your nails. Your money is also still going into building a community, and those buildings and businesses will still be assets on your portfolio.”
Sheila tapped the sides of her glass, her dark eyes distant as she appeared to mull that over. “It’s a long game.” She nodded, her eyes narrowing. “It helps my legal position and allows me to save face, but in the end, I still own most of the area. When everything blows over, I can reevaluate and I’ll have the financial control to create the outcome I want.”
“With solid contracts and the right wording, you come out looking like the victim of a smear campaign. In the meantime, the area begins to thrive, and you look like the hero who rescued it after getting to know the people who live there and seeing how important it is.” This wasn’t the way Marina had wanted the path to go. She hadn’t considered that Sheila would look beyond the immediate benefits to see how she’d tear it all down in the future anyway.
“You’re a genius.” Sheila shook her head, looking Marina over with admiration and other, less clothing-involved,expressions. “Why didn’t any of my team suggest this? I should fire them all and just have you at my beck and call.”
Marina sipped her iced tea to try and wash the thought of that out of her brain. “You have experts in types of law that I’m not part of. And you’re going to need them all when it comes to the other stuff. But this project, here and now, is one I can manage. I think it will work, and that it’s the kind of publicity you need right now.”
Sheila motioned for Marina to hand her the folder, and then she flipped through the pages, scanning, taking her time. Marina looked out over the view of the city, and the feeling that she’d done something dirty made her twitch. Her thought when she’d been with River had been that she could do some good for the South Shore communitybecauseof the journalist’s digging. And that was a good thing. But now, she wondered if she’d somehow sold them out too.
“Very well.” Sheila handed the folder back to her. “Set things in motion. But I want those contracts airtight. When the time comes, I want to be able to go ahead with my project my way, regardless of how those people have thrown away my investment money. And if they have somehow managed to make something of it, that will mean less construction and lag time when I begin real renovations.”
“You understand that you’re going to need patience? You have to give the community time to develop ideas, set up assets and community groups?—”
“Yes, yes. I understand that. I have a project in Spain that I’m working on, and I’ll just turn my attention to that while my lawyers shut down the rest of this nonsense.” She sipped her drink and looked at Marina speculatively. “In fact, perhaps we should go to Spain together. You can give me your expert opinion on my project while we sip sangria. I’m sure you have a bikini that would be suitable.”
Bile burned the back of Marina’s throat. How had this woman become such a misogynistic asshole? “It’s cold this time of year in Spain too. No beach time for me. And I’m going to be buried under the revision of your project here.” She stood and picked up her coat. “In fact, I should get back to the office. Are you okay with me discussing the changes with Montgomery?”
Sheila nodded, not making any move to leave with her, fortunately. “And contact my office to discuss it with my team.”
“Will do.” She gave her a quick smile and began to walk away.
“Marina.”
She turned to look back, and Sheila’s expression was dark.
“Airtight. Donotdisappoint me. I’m fond of you, but I don’t let personal feelings get in the way of business.” Her gaze bore into Marina like she was searching for gold.
“Of course. Professional all the way. As I said. Oh, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to meet your colleagues for dinner tonight, since I’ll be focused on your work instead.” She gave her a neutral smile and walked quickly to the elevator.
Once she was back in the Lyft she’d ordered from the lobby, she finally allowed herself to breathe. That last exchange had felt…wrong. Threatening. It shouldn’t be surprising, given the evidence of Sheila’s dark dealings. But somehow Marina hadn’t expected it to be directed at her. She should have known better. There probably wasn’t a person on the planet Sheila wouldn’t have taken care of, mafia style, if she felt like they were in her way.
When she got back to her office, Cari came in moments later. Without speaking, her expression solemn, she went to Marina’s computer, typed something in, and stepped aside. Marina sat down to watch the news report, where the rolling bar at the bottom said there was likely to be a federal investigation into the business dealings of Black Pinnacle. Marina nodded and shut it off.
“Will you get me head of Pinnacle’s legal team on the phone, please? And sit in here to take notes while I talk to him. Oh, and see if Montgomery can sit in too. I don’t want to have to go through all this twice.”
Marina looked out over Lake Michigan, her thoughts whirling. She’d just given herself an incredible amount of work to do, and it had to be done quickly. Yes, it was going to look like a Hail Mary and like it wasn’t at all authentic. Both of those things were true. But money would flow, and that was a key factor. If she could pull this off, that promotion was as good as hers.
And if she did make it happen, was she sliding a time bomb into the South Shore neighborhood and giving Sheila Black the trigger? River’s smile and laugh came to mind, and she groaned. Talk about catapulting any possibility of something between them into the atmosphere. There’d be no coming back from this when it inevitably blew things to pieces. But Marina would have that office on the next floor up, and wasn’t that worth just about anything?
CHAPTER 22
“You’re joking.”Audrey stared at River from her place behind the counter.
“Nope. I looked it up out of curiosity when I got home last night. Three hundred and fifty bucks for a bottle of wine she didn’t even finish.” River continued to check off stock as she put it into boxes for Apple Fest. She hadn’t heard from Marina since their dinner, but she wasn’t putting too much stock in that. Given what she had going on with her client, she probably barely had time to breathe. River had sent a quick “thank you for dinner” text and received a thumbs up in response. Not exactly the stuff of romance novels.
“Hopefully we can put all this landgrab nonsense behind us now.” Audrey grinned. “Can you imagine the black balls of energy floating around that devil woman’s office right now?”
River sat back on her heels and looked up. “Devil woman?”
“The developer, not your personal devil woman.” Audrey’s eyes narrowed. “Itisover, isn’t it?”
