"I got your email." Gaia kept her tone emotionless. "Is it really necessary to close the mine?"
Stewart laughed as if she'd made a joke. "Miss Vasse, the mine at Lorikeet Island is under water. Twenty metres of it, I'm told. Unless you're aware of an underwater mining technique that you'd like to try?" More condescending laughter. "That won't change our need to let the current staff go. None of them are trained in your magical new technology."
Gaia gritted her teeth. "I'll give you a response by the end of the day. Is there anything else I should know?"
"Nothing worth bothering you about while you're on holiday. Just leave the business of running the company to me."
She'd had enough of his smooth voice, so she ended the call. Gaia wanted to smash the phone on the floor, but she knew it wouldn't help. It was Stewart's face she wanted to smash, and she'd never do anything so crass. No, the only way to get rid of him was to force him into early retirement. Why couldn't Stewart have been the one to succumb to a heart attack in his sleep, instead of Morrigan?
Then she wouldn't have to worry about what to do with the contract sitting on her dining table. For Mother, the answer would have been simple: the company came first. Always.
But Mother had never wanted a man as much as Gaia wanted Jay Felix right now. She would never have understood.
What she wouldn't give to have someone to talk to about these things, but billionaires didn't have friends like ordinary people. They had staff...and they had family.
So Gaia called the only member of her family left.
FORTY-FIVE
"Hello, Daddy."
"Hi, sweetheart. How are you holding up?"
Gaia took a deep breath, then counted to five as she released it slowly. "I wish Mother was still alive."
"Me, too. She was taken too young." He cleared his throat. "I thought it'd be me to go first, not her."
Gaia felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. "Oh no, Daddy. I couldn't bear to lose you. Then I wouldn't have anyone to talk to." She swallowed. "I wish you'd come to the funeral."
"You know she wouldn't have wanted me there."
She knew, but that didn't mean she understood. "Why? I know you two didn't get along and you parted ways so many years ago I barely remember the two of you in the same house together, but it's not like she would have actually seen you. I wanted you there." Her voice was plaintive. Yes, even weak, but her father was the only person who would never take advantage of her weakness. He loved her.
A sigh. "I know, sweetheart, but I'd like to think that there's something after death and Morrie...it's what she would have wanted. She wanted no further contact with me and I respected that, even though I didn't like it."
Morrie. Only Chris Grey had ever called her mother that. Morrigan had never referred to him by name, as far back as Gaia could remember. He'd always been "your father" on the rare occasions when the words had issued from Morrigan's pursed lips.
"Why, Daddy?" She'd asked him so many times why her mother hadn't allowed her to spend much time with her father, but he'd never answered. Not properly, anyway. Until she'd turned eighteen, he'd been allowed to send her birthday and Christmas presents, and occasionally there'd been a telephone call. Now, the calls were more frequent, but it didn't make up for the years she hadn't seen him.
"Because your mother didn't want me to corrupt you with what she called my sentimentality. You needed to be one of the best business minds in the world to be able to manage her company in the years ahead, and that meant hard thinking. She said I'd make you soft." He laughed. "Talk about switching gender roles. Boys used to be taken from their mothers to be trained as warriors, future fighting men, who showed no weakness. But Morrie always got her way, and it was the same with you. She wanted her hard little chairman-in-training, and I knew it was the best way to help you with your financial future, so I stayed away. She could make you one of the richest women in the world, just like her. Morrie and I both wanted the best for you. Is financial security such a bad thing? It's harder to be happy without it."
"It's hard to be happy at all," Gaia said.
"What's wrong, sweetheart?"
"With Mother gone, everything falls to me. The company, dealing with that odious managing director, and there was an accident at one of the mines..."
Chris made sympathetic noises. "So the seawall at Lorikeet Island finally gave way? It was only a matter of time. I told your mother she needed to do something about it. So did James Stewart, but she didn't like listening. Sometimes you have to think longer term than the next ore shipment."
Gaia found herself nodding. "What should I do, Daddy?"
"You're asking me? I've never managed a mine, sweetheart. I'm better sticking to real estate and property management. But if you were one of my clients, who'd just lost a building in some sort of disaster, I'd ask you: can you rebuild?"
"Well, yes, but – "
"Does it make financial sense to rebuild?" Chris interrupted. "When there was that big earthquake in Christchurch a few years back, one of my clients did lose a substantial high-rise. Insurance would have covered the cost of rebuilding, but building approval would take a long time, and he wouldn't receive any of the rental income from the tenants whose building had come down until the new one was finished. He invested his money elsewhere instead, and sold the Christchurch property, or what was left of it. The new investment in Perth...it doubled in value in that time, all the while bringing in a steady rental income. Sometimes you have to cut your losses to see a profit. Have you even seen Lorikeet Island?"
"Yes. I'm out in the Buccaneer Archipelago now, on one of the nearby islands where there's a resort. We flew out there a few days ago and it's a mess. There's nothing left of the sea wall. The airstrip's gone and buried most of the mining camp and the port's cut off from the island by the deep water over what used to be the mine." She drew a deep breath. "But Mother said of all the assets she owned, she'd never lose Lorikeet Island. It was our luck."
Chris chuckled. "Morrie always was superstitious. She hated black cats and ladders, and spilling salt. I remember her crossing the street to get away from a cat once. It wasn't even black. Sort of a mottled, black and brown moggy. But she wouldn't take the risk, so across the road she went."
"But it was where Grandfather first made the family fortune. That made it special." Even in Gaia's ears, the reasoning sounded weak. Funny. It never had when Morrigan had said it.
"Sounds like Morrie being sentimental, when she swore she was hard as nails. Your first investment is just a stepping stone to the next, nothing more."
"Did you keep your first?" Gaia pressed.
Chris cleared his throat. Stalling, perhaps. "I kept it for twenty years, and then an opportunity arose to sell that was too good to pass up. A development nearby needed the land and my little townhouses were in the way. They offered me market value at first, but I knew the development couldn't go ahead if they didn't have my land. All the other homeowners sold up quickly, wanting to get away before construction started, but I held on. I still had tenants paying rent, and the developers had investors clamouring about the delays. It took weeks of back and forth phone calls, but I finally settled for three times their value. They were just a bunch of old townhouses, ripe for renovation or demolition, in this case. And it was good business."
"So you'd advise me to sell Lorikeet Island?"
"Who to? Do you have a buyer lined up?"
Gaia chewed on the corner of her broken nail, one of yesterday's many casualties. "No. I don't think anyone would buy it right now. With the decline in the Chinese yuan and the plummeting iron ore prices, we've had to cut production everywhere else. We kept Lorikeet open, of course, but now..." She sighed. "I wish I was more like Mother, or that she was here. She'd know what to do."
"Maybe. Maybe not, too. Seems to me her bad decisions are what resulted in this mess. You need a different kind of thinking to get out of it. You might be exactly what the company needs." He tone softened. "Y
ou always had a plan, sweetheart, and I'm sure you have one now. Tell me – what do you intend to do?"
Gaia thought of the contract Jay had signed, sitting on her dining table. "I intend to rebuild. With the camp in ruins and the mine under water, that's a lot harder than I expected. We'll need alternate accommodation during construction. Something ready-made and nearby. Like the resort I'm staying at now." Jay's resort.
"Resorts aren't cheap," Chris said, "Especially if it's a luxury one. I saw one at a trade show this week asking a thousand dollars a night for one of the most basic rooms on the island, with the more upmarket accommodation at up to ten times that in peak season. Some gimmicky name, too – Romance or Valentine Island or something."
Gaia found herself nodding. "Yes, that's the one. Even with a substantial discount, their prices are much too high for staff, even in the short term. When iron ore prices were at their peak a few years ago, we might have considered it, but not now." She took a deep breath. "So I offered to buy the resort."
Chris laughed. "I bet that didn't go down well. That place was on the market a year ago – and it was overpriced then. The owners wouldn't want to sell at a loss."
"He didn't. When I explained to him that his property value would go down with the increased shipping traffic from the upgraded mine, and he'd be better off selling, he laughed. Like he didn't understand a thing about real estate."
Chris cleared his throat. "Hang on a second, sweetheart. You just handed him a negotiating tactic he could use against you. No wonder he laughed. Because if he blocks your upgrades by not helping you, you won't get him to cooperate at all. He's better off without the mine and he knows it, too. I thought the new owner would have to have more money than sense to buy that overpriced white elephant of a resort, but he sounds more shrewd than I gave him credit for. Who is he?"
"Jay Felix." Even as his name left her lips, Gaia's tummy flipped.
Chris swore. "The rock star? If I didn't know him, I'd definitely have said he had more money than sense. The guy's loaded, with fans buying everything he puts out. And he's got a real estate profile that rivals mine, because that's where he puts all his money. He beat me to a Melbourne property I had my eye on, too. Or at least, his investment advisers did. He might be a prize peacock, but whoever handles his investments doesn't play around. They won't let him sign a deal that doesn't bring him a hefty return."
Dread curled its tendrils down her throat. The contract he'd signed last night. Was it the same one her legal team had drawn up, or something else? Was that why he'd signed it so easily? She crossed to the table and flipped feverishly through the pages. No, it looked exactly like the one she'd printed. None of this made any sense. Maybe he really had been drunk last night. Drunk enough to sign away the resort he loved.
Could she truly take this place away from him?
"Daddy, what if I changed my mind, and decided not to buy the resort after all?"
"Then I think you'd be making a wise decision. If you get into a financial fight with that man, you won't win." Chris sucked in a breath. "Why would you change your mind, though? Last time I checked, you were as stubborn as Morrie. More so, maybe. When you have a plan, you see it through to the bitter end."
Gaia swallowed. "What if I don't want it to end...or be bitter?"
He laughed. "Now you sound like Morrie when I first met her. She wanted my client's property, and he didn't want to sell. We met for drinks, and one thing led to another and..." Chris coughed. "In the end, I did negotiate the agreement between them. She got what she wanted, and I got the biggest commission I'd ever seen for closing the deal. I still think she did it out of love for me, though she denied it."
"Why didn't you and Mother stay together?" Gaia asked.
Chris sighed. "We separated for you, but I think it was just an excuse, really. I know your mother loved me as much as I loved her, but to her, that was unforgivable weakness. Something that made her softer than the hard persona she portrayed to everyone else, even you. I challenged her, made her feel less in control than she wanted to be. Something she just couldn't handle. So she lied to me, said she no longer loved me, and made me leave. I was her one weakness, and she was the love of my life."
"So you're saying...in order to be the chairman Mother was, I shouldn't fall in love? Because it's a weakness?" Gaia's heart sank. Her mother had said such things many times, but to hear it from her father, too...
"God, no! That was nearly thirty years ago. Morrie was a woman trying to make her way in what was predominantly a man's world, when most women her age were getting married, having children and staying home with them. She'd been brought up to believe in that. Most big Australian companies didn't have a single female senior executive, let alone chairman, back then. So she was fighting every day of her life, proving to herself and the men she worked with that she didn't belong at home with her children, when I think that's what she secretly wanted."
Gaia found that hard to believe. "Mother didn't like me. She avoided me as much as she could. Other kids got to play, but I had private tutors before and after school to make sure I was the best. On the rare occasions she was home, she was always working. If I interrupted her, I'd be sure of a lecture on everything she was doing and why. The school holidays were even worse, when she made me spend time in her office under the beady eyes of her nerdy assistants. She only stopped after I told her one had tried to kiss me when I was fifteen. Then she made me sit in on all her meetings. Ugh."
"Training you in business, I understand, but she didn't do any of that because she didn't like you. She avoided you because you were even more of a weakness for her than me." He coughed. "I'm sorry if your childhood was unhappy because of it. I shouldn't have given in to her, but it's too late for regrets now. I wanted to make her happy, but she wouldn't let me. Don't live a life as miserable as your mother's, sweetheart. No company is worth giving up everything – love, happiness and family – for. Promise me if you fall in love, you'll let yourself be happy."
"What if...what if I've already found someone?" Gaia's voice was so soft she could barely hear herself.
Chris evidently heard them loud and clear. "Already? Who's the lucky man?"
"Jay Felix. The owner of the resort." Gaia held her breath, but he didn't laugh, so she continued, "Ever since I met him, I get these feelings that I've never experienced with anyone else. My heart beats faster. I can't seem to take my eyes off him, even when he's on the other side of the room. He's nothing like the men in the office, or anyone Mother allowed me to associate with. He's not boring. He's...vibrant. Like everything that was missing in my life. And...he cares about me, too. I know he does. But I'm so conflicted, Daddy. About the island. I know it's best for the business to close this deal, whatever it takes, but I don't want to. This is his home, and it's where he belongs. Much more than me. If I try to take his island from him, he'll hate me." A tear slipped down her cheek. "I don't know what to do, Daddy."
"Do you love him?"
"Yes." The word fell from her lips before she'd even thought about it, but Gaia knew it was the truth. She'd never loved anyone like this in her life.
"And if you had to choose between him and Vasse Prospecting, which would you pick?" Chris pressed.
Gaia hung her head. Last night she'd picked Vasse Prospecting, and she felt sick at the thought. "It's not that simple, Daddy. The company – "
"Has all the staff it needs, ably led by James Stewart. Even Morrie admitted it, and that was a big thing for her. Let him run the company, while you look to your own life." His tone softened. "You're the only daughter I have, sweetheart. And I don't want you living the rest of your life with a broken heart, like Morrie and me. You deserve better. We both worked hard to make sure you have a better life than either of us. One with some happiness."
She didn't know what to say. That wasn't the advice she'd expected at all. "You think I should give up Mother's job for some guy?"
"He sounds like he's more than just some guy to you, sweetheart. Th
e company won't collapse because there isn't a Vasse pulling all the strings. Stewart won't let that happen. Let the man do his job while you live a little. You'll still be the chairman of the company. Just make it more of a ceremonial role. Like being the queen."
Queen of Lorikeet Island, while Jay was king of Romance Island. A perfect match.
"Thank you, Daddy."
She ended the call, but she didn't put her phone down. Instead, she replied to Stewart's email with three words:
Approval granted. Proceed.
She set the phone down on the table, her attention drawn to the papers beside it. The ones Jay never should have signed. They weren't legally binding unless her signature sat beside his, as the representative of Vasse Prospecting. All she had to do was sign...
Screw the paperwork. She wanted Jay.
She picked up the one with Jay's signature on it and tore it in two. Then she proceeded to shred each page until no piece was larger than a postage stamp. There was nothing left for her to sign. Jay's island was safe.
FORTY-SIX
Gaia wanted to run back to Jay's house and tell him the good news, but she remembered what he'd said earlier: not to come back until she'd read those books, and was ready to try something kinky.
Was there even a jar of Nutella or peanut butter on the island? Even if there was, she wouldn't have the faintest idea where one put it to arouse someone.
Gaia sighed. After all, she'd watched all those awful adult movies, and learned nothing. Surely just reading a romance book couldn't be too bad. It's not like anyone would notice while she stayed in the privacy of her villa.
The Rock Star and the Billionaire Page 13