Bad Love: An Alpha's Regret (Leah and Aaron) novel Chapter 124

Chapter 124
I spring off the table so fast I nearly break a heel.
“Where’s the bathroom?”
Aaron points to a corner of the room.
I rush over, still coughing and hoping he doesn’t smell or see.
When I get into the room I spit into the sink.
Blood.
Not a lot.
But enough.
Time is ticking. And no matter that I feel okay and the baby is growing, I’m still dying.
“Leah, you okay?”
It’s Aaron. He’s at the door. If I know him-and I do-he’s about two seconds from bursting
in here. “I’m good!”
I rinse my mo uth with water and spit.
AARON
Leah’s not acting right.
Maybe she’s shy.
* ནཾ6 ༈ ;, ༈
The s*x was phenomenal and she was completely exhausted afterwards, but we can’t exactly cuddle or curl up for a nap. At least not here.
There is a President’s Suite on the top floor. But that hasn’t been used since her old man started flaking off and I didn’t think she’d be as comfortable in that space.
A
༡༩༈༈༢།།$*,,。,༠,$ ༈ ↓༦ ༈ ༦..
I scrub my hands with soap.
As I stare in the mirror I hardly recognize myself. My eyes are bright. My hair is a mess. My skin is flushed.
I look like I’ve been thoroughly f**ked.
If it wasn’t for the blood and the pregnancy, I could pretend I was an average twenty-something engaging in an office affair.
I could laugh about what had happened and relish the naughtiness of it.
Instead, I have to think about politics and my pack, and a baby who is going to enter a world of strife and change, who won’t have me to love and protect him.
*,རྐ,,༥,、་,་་ན་€ བ ན *
A
Then again, I wasn’t really ‘thinking’ when I f**ked her just
now.
I often lose my mind where this female is concerned.
She started acting weird when I mentioned children. But that is the inevitable outcome for us. I don’t care that she’s human. That alone should convey that I’m invested in her and our marriage. Why else would I consider it?
L
There’s a knock on the door before Liam enters.
Smart boy to knock before entering.
His nostrils flare, no doubt scenting that we’d had s*x.
Which is probably awkward as f**k for him, seeing as how it’s his sister and all that. But I’m not going to apologize. I eye him hard. I’ll put his head through that conference table if he makes Leah feel embarrassed in any way.
“Each board member has been escorted from the premises. All clearances have been revoked and they’ve been locked out of all corporate servers.”
“Good,” Leah says. She steps out of the bathroom and has smoothed her hair back into some tight knot.
I don’t like it like that.
She moves to the head of the table and sits.
“Please,” she holds out her hands indicating that we should sit. I move to her right hand side and take the chair nearest to her.
Liam sits and opens a laptop. He slides it to her.
Leah cues up a picture of the Roberts Corp headquarters.
“This building,” she begins, “and the surrounding acreage of grounds total some 16 acres.”
We have over 16,000 acres of just irrigated pasture on our lands.
“We could sell it,” Liam says.
She shakes her head.
“I have a different plan. She pulls up drawings in quick succession. They’re a series of
four-story residential developments. “Housing,” she says.
“The smallest house here is over two million dollars. People need to work, but most can’t afford that kind of mortgage. But they can pay between 5-10k a month.”
“That kind of rent or lease is way more than most people make in a year,” Liam counters.
“For sure,” she agrees. “But not in this part of the country.” Leah pulls up another set of charts and diagnostics. “The cost of living
here is higher than in 97% of the rest of the country.”
Liam doesn’t look convinced. “So we just abandon the tech company? We have over a hundred engineers employed here as well as marketing, data analysts, consumer services…We have two government Defense contracts, Leah.”
I watch the interplay between them. I can scent the anger building in Liam. I wonder if Leah can, on some level, detect it
too.
“I’m not saying to discard years of work. I’m suggesting we downscale. Keep the products in development that have been beta tested. Honor the contracts with the Military. Table the ones that have not shown a profit.”
“So we can become housing landlords.”
Liam’s voice is thick with disdain.
Leah just smiles. “Yes. We own the land. We will own the buildings. We can continue to have a steady-and increasing—revenue stream for the next century. Big tech projects are s*xier and more fun-when they pan out. I’m just suggesting that we build our portfolio and diversify so we have revenue to protect against the unpredictability of all the projects that don’t succeed..”
“It’s a solid plan,” I say.
Both siblings look at me. Leah gives a tiny smile. Liam still looks pissed, only doubly so now because I inserted myself into the
conversation.
“Well,” Liam says. “I guess it’s good that you agree, seeing as how you have the controlling shares.”
“Precisely.”
“What’s the investment capital, Leah?” I ask her.
“150 million to break ground. Another 50 million to handle the interiors once the actual complexes are built.”
“Counting the twenty I already gave you?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I need that for daily operating expenses. If my short term investments can turn the profits I’m projecting they will, then the initial loan can be repaid more quickly.”
“Loan?” Liam looks surprised.
“Yes.” She stares at me, not her brother. “This isn’t a full takeover, Aaron. We’ll treat this as a loan, and you can profit on a fair interest rate. When the loan is paid back, you sell back 2% of your shares to Pack Roberts, again, at fair market value.”
“So you can regain control of the company?”
“Yes.”
“Why should I agree to that?” I ask her.
M
S
She counters with a smile: “Are you addressing that question to
ねん
your wife or your enemy Alpha?” she says.