He carried a large briefcase in his left hand, and extended his right hand to her. “It’s a pleasure,” he said.
She shook his hand and was pleased to find that his grip was firm. She hated a weak handshake. He was beautiful to look at, but he also was confident and masculine, which appealed to her. “The pleasure is mine, Mr. Morel.”
“Hugo,” he said.
“Leana. I’ll be frank with you, Hugo. Today is my first time here. I’ve been working on my own project on Park.”
“The hotel?”
“That’s right.”
“I read about it recently.”
He was referring to news reports of what was written on the tarp. “That’s a kind way to put it.”
Instead of responding, he offered a half-smile.
“My father brought me in today for a second opinion about what you have in mind. As you can imagine, the stakes are high. Unfortunately, I’ve only been here for a little more than an hour, so I haven’t had time to find a place for us to meet, but I can do that now.”
He looked perturbed. “I thought you’d be ready for me.”
“I am. I just need to ask someone where we can sit down and talk.”
“I can answer that. There is a suite of offices on the third floor. If you’ll follow me, we can use one of them, look at the concepts and the marketing plan my team and I drew up, and see if they meet your expectations.”
Leana was surprised by the clipped tone in his voice. “Of course,” she said. She started to walk to her left, but he stopped her.
“The elevators are over here,” he said. “This way, not that way.” He furrowed his brow at her. “Pepper assured me that you were familiar with the site. Apparently, you’re not.”
“I don’t know why Pepper would give you that impression when she knows it’s not true.”
“She said you’ve been here several times. That isn’t true?”
“It isn’t. This is my first time here.”
“That’s curious, especially since this building is by far your father’s most impressive. As his daughter, I’d think you’d want to see it. Or, more to the point, that you’d be eager to see it.”
“My father and I have been estranged for three years, Mr. Morel.”
“That’s none of my business.”
“But it answers your question. When someone challenges me, I have no problem answering their concerns and moving forward.”
“I wasn’t challenging you, Miss Redman.”
“I’m afraid you were.”
“Either way, I was hoping you’d be prepared. My time is valuable. Worse— we are losing time that should being spent staging one of the apartments and getting a marketing campaign underway that will bolster the weak campaign running now.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe my father came to you first and offered you an exclusive on this building. But you turned him down because you were busy. Is that not true?”
“It is true. I was busy.”
“What’s curious to me is that you decided to jump in again at the last minute, probably because you realized your mistake. You’ve seen what this building has become. You’ve read the press and you’ve heard the buzz. You want to be associated with it because you’re correct. The building is impressive. In fact, as we both know, it’s beyond impressive. It’s going to be a landmark. I believe we’ve been more than accommodating of your sudden request to come to the table so late in the game. But my father wants to work with you, so here we are.”
“And you don’t want to work with me?”
What is his problem? “I guess I’ll know that when you show me your plans. But I will tell you this, Mr. Morel. I’m my father’s daughter. Pepper is his niece. She already has weighed in on your ideas, but my father will hear the final word from me.” She nodded at his briefcase. “I hope what you brought is creative and convincing.”
“I guess we’ll see. If you don’t know this building as well as Pepper does, allow me to lead you around. I think that will be more efficient.”
“Perfect,” Leana said. “Because I have to tell you, Mr. Morel, my time also is valuable.”
They started to walk toward the elevators, Hugo leading the way. Leana forced herself to keep her anger under control. Why is he being so hostile? She didn’t understand it. It wasn’t just arrogance. It was something else. He pressed a button next to one of the elevators. The doors slid open, they stepped inside with Sean, and Hugo pressed the button for the third floor. He looked at her eyepatch. “I understand you’ve been under some stress.”
“Is that what you call nearly losing your eyesight?”
“I was raised to be polite, Miss Redman. I read about what happened to you. In fact, you couldn’t escape it. I think all of New York knows what happened to you at this point.”
“Have I done something to offend you, Mr. Morel?”
“Not at all.”
“Are you certain about that? Because your tone implies otherwise.”
The elevator doors slid open. “The conference room you were searching for earlier is just to your right,” he said.
* * *
The drawings were detailed and impressive, but she was so distracted by his attitude, she had difficulty focusing on what he was saying about why this piece of furniture needed to go in that corner, that piece of art needed to go on that wall, and that chair was critical to the overall aesthetic.
Frankly, she just wanted to take the plans to the ninetieth-floor apartment and get a better feel for the space and his vision for it.
So, that’s what she proposed.
Hugo Morel looked up at her, mid-presentation. “You want to take these to the apartment itself?”
“I do.”
“But it’s all right here.”
“I haven’t seen the apartment.”
“I’ve drawn it for you, Miss Redman. Everything you see here is what you’re going to see up there.”
“Not really,” Leana said. “Your drawings are fine, Mr. Morel, but they lack the sense of drama and excitement I know I’m going to feel when I step into that apartment. I want to experience the space and see how well your plans suit it. Bring the drawings. I know your time is tight. So, let’s go to the apartment now.”
“This is exactly how your cousin said this meeting would play out.”
And then Leana saw all of it.
“Sean,” she said, “would you mind stepping outside for a moment? You might want to close the door. Mr. Morel and I are going to have a little chat.”
* * *
“Exactly what did my cousin say to you?”
He rolled up the plans and then looked at her. “You want all of it?”
“All of it.”
“Let’s see. She said you didn’t want me on this job and that you lobbied your father against it. She said you were no fan of my work, but that she was going to try her hardest to overrule you and convince your father to go forward with me. Right now, that’s looking doubtful. I think I should just leave, Miss Redman.”
“I think you’re being melodramatic. Am I talking to the former model or to the businessman?”
“Go to hell.”
“Oh, please.” She held out her hands in an effort to cool him down. “First of all, I said none of those things. My cousin feels that with me now on the job, she’s losing the power my father handed to her. She feels threatened. She’ll say anything to undermine me and what she said to you proves it. This is New York. Don’t tell me this is the first time you’ve seen this kind of ambition from someone, especially when they’re as desperate as Pepper Redman is to leave their mark. I have no reason to lie to you, Mr. Morel, because I really don’t care what you think of me. All I care about is getting this job done in a professional and successful manner. I do like your designs, but if we’re going to go forward, I need you to listen to what I just said and drop the attitude so that we can come to terms and hammer this out. Are you willing to do that?”
“I�
��m afraid not, Miss Redman.”
“Then at least show some respect to my father, who stopped everything for you when you called him. Frankly, you owe him that.”
She pulled out her iPhone and called George, who answered on the third ring. “Dad, I’m with Hugo Morel, who is upset for good reason. I’m going to put you on speaker and I need you to answer my questions and possibly his. Are you ready? You’re on speaker now.”
“What’s this about?”
“Have I ever lobbied you to not hire Hugo Morel?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Just answer the question.”
“Of course you haven’t. Why?”
“Because Pepper said I did. Next question. Have I ever said that I wasn’t a fan of Mr. Morel’s work?”
“In fact, you said just the opposite.”
She looked up at Hugo. “Is there anything you’d like to say to my father, Mr. Morel? Now’s your chance.”
He looked at her for a moment, then his face softened. “Mr. Redman, I do have a suggestion for you.”
“What’s that, Hugo?”
“Keep your niece in line. She almost derailed this meeting.”
“I’ll fill you in later, Dad.” Leana clicked off the phone. “Are we good?”
“We’re good.”
“I apologize. I thought I left grade school years ago. Apparently, thanks to Pepper, I’ve returned to it.”
“Families can be difficult, probably even more so when they are under the pressures your family is under every day.”
“Let’s not talk about family for that very reason. I would like to see the space because, in spite of what Pepper said to you, I have not seen it. Would you mind?”
“Not at all.”
They left to see it with Sean, and Leana and Hugo Morel spent the better part of an hour going over his plans and, with her input, changing them considerably. They sat on the floor of what was to become the apartment’s living room, which was sprawling and looked directly over the Park, the views of which Leana had never before seen—at least not like this. They talked about what they liked about his design, what might be changed, and then came to a consensus.
“Are you happy with the changes?” she asked.
“I am happy with them. You know, you have a good eye.”
When he said it, she couldn’t help but laugh.
He flushed and stared in horror at her eyepatch. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
“I know you didn’t, but it’s still funny.”
Whatever tension had been between them earlier had now evaporated.
“I’m sorry I was such a bastard earlier.”
“I’m sorry I was such a bitch.”
“You only were reacting to me. Pepper really set me up to not like you.”
“Poor Pepper. A lost fox in the woods.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Who knows? I can’t figure her out. She’s probably off her meds.” She looked down at the plans. “With your permission, I’d like to show these to my father. I think he’ll agree with me that we should go forward with them immediately.”
“They’re yours.”
“Do you have time to talk about how we market this beast? I know my father already has done a fairly substantial push with another agency. But now we need to take it to the next level. If you don’t have time and want to meet later, we can. But it should be soon.”
“I have time,” Hugo said. He pulled out his cell from his jacket pocket and pressed two buttons. “In fact, with my calendar now clear, I have the rest of the day.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
When Leana returned to Redman International later that afternoon, she found her father in his office.
“These are the plans you should go with,” she said when she walked inside.
He looked up from his desk. “Don’t you knock?”
“Did Celina knock?” She put the plans on his desk. “Look at them.”
“I’ve seen them.”
“Not these, you haven’t. Look at them.”
He unrolled the plans and saw a completely different concept from the one Pepper showed him yesterday, which she approved and which he liked very much. “What is this?” he said.
“A better plan.”
“Hugo came to you with new plans? I don’t understand. He knew we liked the others he presented.”
“I didn’t like what he showed me, so he agreed to work with me on developing what you see there. It’s more streamlined now. The position of the furniture allows a potential buyer to sit down and see a better perspective of what you’re really selling—the views. There are other changes. A lot of them, actually. You can compare these plans with the originals, and go with whichever one you want. I don’t really care.”
“Leana, do you always have to have a chip on your shoulder when you speak to me?”
“Do you want the reasons why? Probably not. So, let me ask you a question—have you reprimanded Pepper?”
“I’ve talked to Pepper. She denied all of it.”
“Well, that was a mistake. On the phone, Hugo told you that because of her, your deal with him nearly derailed.”
“I understand that. I also don’t believe her.”
That surprised her. “So, what are you going to do about her? She almost lost you Morel. What else will she screw up?”
“Nothing,” he said.
“And how do you know that? Did you fire her?”
“No,” George said. “She’s answering to a new boss. You.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
For a moment, Leana stood there, stunned. She didn’t know what to say to her father. For years she had waited to hear that kind of support from him. She felt at once confused and elated, but then she took a mental step back and considered what his offer meant to her now, at this moment in her life.
It could change its course.
Her own career was about to flourish. She was on the cusp of creating something for herself through her own hotel. And then other projects would come. There was more that she wanted to do by herself. If she became Pepper’s boss, what would it mean for her and her own plans for the future? It meant a step backward, not forward. She would be working for her father, not for herself. And yet, to finally hear her father recognize something in her that made him want to make her a part of Redman International was meaningful in ways that few would understand.
Harold would have got it, she thought. And Mario will get it, though he’ll tell me to go my own way, just as Harold would have.
“Have a seat,” George said.
She sat down and realized that this was a pivotal moment for her. Her father’s acceptance was key to her. So why was she filled with doubt now?
“The new plans are excellent,” he said. “Better than the others. How much input did you have in creating them?”
“I told Hugo that we could improve upon his concept, and we did. We worked hard on it. Our input was equal. We were in the ninetieth-floor penthouse. We sat on the floor, and kept riffing off each other until we came to a place where both of us were happy.”
He looked down at the plans. “This is the quality of work Celina would have done. She would have challenged Hugo, as you did, to get better work out of him. Pepper didn’t do that. What you pulled off benefited the project. Couple that with how you’re handling the opening of your hotel and I’m impressed.”
“I appreciate that.” For once, she could sense that he actually was proud of her. It seemed surreal to her. And dangerous.
“I need you to manage Pepper on this project,” George said. “She’s too young. And she’s lying, which I won’t tolerate. She almost destroyed our relationship with Morel today. What is it between you two?”
“The truth? I resent her. You took her under your wing in ways that you’ve always refused to do with me, for whatever reason. And she’s happy to remind me of that whenever she can. She shoves it down my throat. We hate each other.”
> “Hate is a strong word.”
“Hate is the right word.”
“Can you work with her?”
“If you sat down and told her there would be repercussions if she didn’t follow my orders, I could work with her. But she’d need to know that she’d be sent home to Arkansas if she didn’t. Our relationship is too contentious for her to have any respect for me, but she at least needs to take my lead seriously and do her job as directed by me. If she can do that and can put all of this other shit behind us, which I’m willing to do, I think we could work together and all of us will benefit. But I’m not going to bullshit you. It’s not going to be possible unless you intervene.”
“I’m ready to do that, but only if you’re prepared to take the job.”
“You know I’m opening The Park soon. I need to be working there now. You know how important the final days are. How will that affect working for you?”
“I can give you the time you need to work on your hotel on a part-time basis. Zack Anderson is there for you now. Lean on him. Have him take over once the doors are open. He’s fully capable. You can work at the Columbus Circle project in the mornings, and spend time at your hotel in the afternoons and evenings. When your hotel is finished, you can come to Redman International and work for me.”
“What happens to Pepper in the meantime?”
“Pepper has other projects that I’ll oversee more closely, but none of them are as important as the Columbus Circle project. You’ll need to manage her as best as you can on that job. She’ll hear from me what’s expected of her. She’ll know you’ll come on full-time when your hotel is open. We’ll take it from there and determine who’s doing what. In the meantime, if she pulls any of the shit she pulled with you today, she’s done. I will send her back to Arkansas.”
Park Avenue (Book Six in the Fifth Avenue Series) Page 21
