I Was Counting Down To Leave Him novel · Chapter 20 of 24
Chapter 20: Ten Percent
Sunday brunch at Saltmarsh House was set for eleven, on the terrace, and I arrived at ten-thirty with all twelve of my staff.
I put them at the next three tables, in black, with coffee and a menu each.
"Eat something," I told them. "You're the audience."
"Is that allowed?" my assistant asked.
"It's my terrace."
Judith was already seated at the best table, the one by the glass rail, with the sea behind her and one pearl in her ear.
Beside her sat a man in a charcoal suit, very tanned, with an expensive watch and a leather folder.
He rose when I came.
"Ms. Marden. I'm from Harbor Crest Hotels. It's a pleasure."
"I'm sure it is."
I sat.
A waiter I had trained set a cup in front of me without being asked, and I thanked him by name, because I knew it.
Judith watched that.
"Flora," she said, in the voice she used when she was being reasonable. "You've won a great deal this week. I won't deny it. I want to make you an offer that lets you walk away rich."
"Walk away from what?"
"From the work. The hours, the lenders, the staff. A hotel is a terrible thing to own alone." She nodded at the man. "Harbor Crest will buy the company outright. Every share, at a premium that would pay for your mother's cottage twenty times."
The man opened his folder and slid across a single page with a number on it.
I read it.
It was a very large number.
My assistant, two tables over, put his fork down.
"It's generous," I said.
"It's final," Judith said. "I have spoken to the family. Ellery Hospitality's nine percent goes with mine. You would be paid last, but you'd be paid more than anyone."
"And then?"
"And then you go home, and Langston and I go home, and none of us is in the newspaper again."
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