out a side of me that enjoys riling her up.
I don’t even have this with Jessica. Jessica is all ice and water. Kyra is fire and sizzle. It confounds me more because it is so unexpected. Her short hair, slim frame don’t appeal to me. There is no height, no long legs, no ample bosom, no long hair, or twinkling eyes. No full mouth. No finesse. Nothing.
And yet, I enjoy pissing her off.
But I also see another side to her. She works hard. I can see it now that I’ve had to step into her shoes and do some work. And while from the outside, the factory looks like it’s going to fall apart, I am mildly surprised that inside it looks much better—aside from the buckets to catch the rain.
But my eyes are firmly on that coveted piece of land which I will turn into an acre of diamonds. A slice of paradise in the urban oasis. Not an urban jungle.
All I have to do is take down Kyra Lewis and the people of Greenways will follow her like a pied piper to a place far away from here.
By the time she finds out my part in all this, it won’t matter. It won’t matter because I’ll have amassed more wealth, more buildings, more real estate. All the things that really matter.
Chapter Fifteen
KYRA
I’m not usually so hard on people and Simona’s reminder that I am with Brad makes me consider why I’m being like this. Maybe she has a point. The breakup with my ex has hardened me.
Brad isn’t going to be here for that many days in the week, so maybe I should make an effort to be civil to him and not jump to any conclusions.
Perhaps I am guilty of some bias, and that’s why on an unconscious level, I find myself unable to trust him. He comes across as someone who hasn’t had it hard. I shouldn’t hate people who haven’t suffered hardship.
I don’t.
Simona hasn’t suffered, and neither has Fredrich. So, that can’t be it. Maybe I’m wasting too much time thinking about our interactions, and the best way to overcome the analysis, and to get Simona off my back, is to make a conscious effort to be nice to him.
“How about we go through a few things, and I share with you our plans for the future?” I say when he comes in the following week.
For a moment, he looks surprised, but he quickly covers it. “Sure.”
“Grab a chair.” Simona looks up from her desk at this looking very pleased. I narrow my eyes at her while waiting. This is Brad’s small reward for spending all day cleaning up the storerooms. Him doing that saved me from coming in over the weekend and for that I’m grateful. “This is what I envision.” On a large sheet of paper, I draw the layout of Greenways with the factories, and the row of stores, and large expanse of land at the back.
A whiteboard would help, because it would mean that Brad wouldn’t have to sit beside me at my desk, and that way I wouldn’t be able to catch a hint of his shower gel or cologne.
It’s distracting. I never notice this about Simona or Fredrich. I don’t waste countless minutes of my brain time obsessed about their shower gel.
“That’s a lot of land,” he remarks.
“Here is where we’re thinking of setting up another factory or warehouse.” I indicate the area to the side of our factory.
“But that’s not empty land,” Brad points out. “There are still buildings on either side of you.”
“I’m hoping that they might sell soon, and then we can either rebuild or take them over.”
He scratches his jaw as if he’s unsure. “Are you sure you want to stay here?”
“I’m absolutely sure. Why?”
“Look around you. This building has holes in the roof. The area is becoming more downmarket—”
“Who told you that?” I ask him. He blinks but says nothing. “This area is up and coming, especially with all of the new roads and infrastructure that they’ve been building around here. Soon enough, it’s going to have an impact and we will see the benefit.”
“I don’t know.” He doesn’t look convinced.
“Who told you that this area was diminishing in value?”
He shrugs and slaps a hand across the back of his neck. “Maybe I got it wrong.”
“You’ve been out of the loop too long. How long were you away for?”
“Away?”
“You said you worked abroad on community projects.”
“A couple of years.”
“A couple of years? I had