The Perfect Life (The Perfect Stranger #4) - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,36

was and how certain he was that his sons should not inherit this place. This is just a wrinkle that we are going to have to deal with.”

I take a few deep breaths to calm my breathing.

“I know you wanted to start a whole renovation project,” Jacob says. “I'd advise against that.”

“What are you talking about? This is my hotel!”

“I know. You paid for it and it's yours right now, but everything is up in the air. I don't want you making any changes or investing any money into that property if someone's going to get away with it. It's just not worth it.”

“What about everything that I’ve done already?”

“Like what? You didn't sign any contracts to start a major renovation job already, did you?”

“No,” I say. “I made all of these changes to the systems of how everything is done here and I just started reaching out to contractors.”

“No,” Jacob says, shaking his head. “Oliver, you cannot do this. Don't sign anything and don't obligate yourself to any projects.”

“So, I can’t do anything to improve the place?”

“Yes, you can, but make sure that it's all superficial. You can work with the staff. You can try to make sure that everything is running more smoothly. Just don't invest money into this place.”

I get up and walk around, pacing. There isn't much room, it is a boat after all, but Jacob sits down to give me space.

I'm not sure what to do. I had all of these plans and aspirations.

Now I feel like it's coming to a sudden stop. The problem is that it takes money to implement most changes, not just checklists and staff meetings.

“The washer and dryer are on their last legs. The linens are old. They’re still using these terrible bedspreads that make the place look dated and dirty. There are lots of rooms and I can't just make changes to one.”

“You can't make changes to any,” Jacob says. “I'm serious about this. This is a big deal.”

I shake my head again, trying to process everything that he is saying.

“You think I wanted to come here? I thought that this deal was done. Everyone signed and everyone was happy.”

“Well, apparently not everyone,” I point out.

“We knew that the sons in the family weren't happy, but that's not unusual. Still, this was Mr. Elliott's hotel and he doesn't have to give it to them just because they are his sons. Many people sell their businesses because they don't actually make that huge of an amount of money until you sell it.”

“You don't have to tell me any of this,” I say, pouring myself another drink.

“I know, but it's something that I have to tell myself.”

“This was supposed to be over. How can they do this?”

“I didn't think that was possible,” Jacob says. “On occasion, when the signatory is old enough and there's some evidence that he may be impaired–”

“There is no evidence,” I cut him off. “You saw him. I saw him. Mr. Elliott is in full control over all of his decisions and all of his thoughts. He's sharp and he was doing this to start a new life. He wanted this place to be with someone who cared about it. His sons want to sell it off for parts.”

Jacob shrugs his shoulders.

“You didn't know that?” I ask.

“What do you mean sell it off for parts?”

“One of the restaurants is doing a lot better than the other. They knew that they could cut a good price for it and then sell the other one to someone else. This whole thing would be a lot more valuable if it were sold off one by one, but this wasn't the first time that Mr. Elliott had heard offers like that. He told me that he never entertained them. He told me that the one thing that he wanted to do was to keep everything together even if it didn't make sense.”

“Don’t you see?” Jacob says, shaking his head. “That's the whole fucking problem.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It would be one thing if you wanted to keep running this place as it was and ran it into the ground, which he was apparently doing, but he was making the decision to sell it. As you have said, it doesn't make sense to sell it as one big thing as it would fetch a much higher price if you were to sell it off one by one.”

“So what? We're entitled to make stupid decisions. People do it all the time. People with