“Yes. I want you to give me six months before I start paying you the amount of rent that was discussed in the original contract.” She nodded with a frown, as if she wasn’t so sure what she was asking. “I know that was not in the initial contract I made with my uncle, but since you’re going to end up with the property anyway, I want those first six months to be rent free so I can at least try to make some profit.” She paused, thinking. “I think you can afford it. And truth be told, I can’t. Sure, the rent I’ll be paying you is nothing for a place on Madison Avenue, but with everything going on, I won’t be able to afford it. But those rent-free six months will help me get a good start.”
I studied her more closely. “You’re right, I can afford not getting rent from you. Deal. Is that all?”
“I… Yes, that’s it.”
“You could ask me for the half of the property. If you had gotten married to Joshua, you’d get the half.”
“Would you give it to me?”
“I’m afraid the answer would be no.”
“I thought so. Not paying rent for six months will help me.”
“Good. Then we have no problem. Let’s join the meeting.”
“Just like that?”
“Do you have any more questions?”
“Only about a hundred.” She stopped next to me and met my eyes.
I arched an eyebrow. “I’m afraid we can’t go through them all at the moment. Maybe next time. You’ll have plenty of time to ask me anything you want after we’re married. Let me do the talking in the meeting and we’ll be fine.”
Paler than she’d been when she had first entered my office and maybe a little shell-shocked, she nodded and followed behind me as we headed toward the meeting room.
I cursed myself for the bastard I was with every step I took.
When we were only a few steps away from the meeting room and I could see Bryan and Jodi Coleson sitting next to each other, their backs to us, I glanced at Rose and saw her breathing was a little out of control, her eyes huge and unsure.
“Ready?” I asked, already guessing what her answer would be.
“Can’t really say that I am.”
I nodded. That was good enough.
“When was the last time you talked to your cousins?”
She rubbed her temples before looking up at me. “Last week, maybe? Maybe more? Why?”
“Leave it to me.”
We stepped in the room. Standing side by side. She had that particular death grip on her handbag that was hanging on her shoulder again.
“Tim,” I interrupted and everyone in the room, including Jodi Coleson and Bryan Coleson, turned to look at us. “I’m sorry for being late to the meeting.”
Tim shuffled the pages he held in his hand, stood up and took off his glasses, his eyes on Rose. “Hello Jack. Miss Rose, I’m glad you could join us. I won’t hold you for too long, we just need you to—”
“Tim,” I said again and waited until his gaze met mine. “I thought you’d like to be informed so you can make the necessary changes. Rose Coleson is my fiancée and we’re getting married in a few days.”
“You’re…you’re getting married to Miss Rose? What?” While Tim stood there staring at me and Rose with a stupefied expression, Bryan slowly pushed himself up and faced Rose.
“What’s going on here?” he asked, his already hard gaze jumping from Rose to me. “Explain.”
“Bryan, Jack and I are getting married.” She forced out a laugh and shifted on her feet. “I know that sounds a little—”
“It sounds like you’re fucking with me, cuz.”
I took a step forward and left, putting myself in front of Bryan and forcing Rose to take a step back.
“I know this is a surprise to your family, Mr. Coleson, so I’ll let that one go, but I’d suggest you watch your words when you’re speaking to my fiancé.” I looked away from him and addressed the room. “I proposed to Rose last week, and we thought this would be a good time to share the news with you. We couldn’t do it before because we wanted some privacy to celebrate. Tim, I believe this will change the situation regarding the property on Madison Avenue.”
“This is complete bullshit,” Bryan burst out as his sister, Jodi, sat there and watched it all unfold with a bored expression. “This situation, whatever the hell this act is, changes