Page 8 of Enchanting the CEO

“I’ll drop by,” Gabe said from behind me.

Celia whipped her head in his direction, looking at him like he’d hung the moon.

“Thank you so much! You’re a lifesaver. Again.”

Sweet Lord. I’d better brace myself for tomorrow.

Chapter Three

Gabe

"I can't believe we're breaking yet another record," my assistant, Betty, said.

I looked at the article on my phone, grinning. "That's what we do."

"All right. I'll let you get back to work."

I shook my head. "No, I'm taking off early today."

I felt victorious. We’d made it into the Michelin Guide.

That was a fantastic milestone, even though we were already listed on various other top ten websites. But I knew a ton of tourists relied on printed city guides, so the more accolades we could acquire, the better.

"Good for you. Or wait, are you going to the bar tonight?"

"No, it's been a busy week, and I want the night off. Besides, I have stuff to do tonight.” I was meeting my half brothers, and before that, I had to stop by Celia's place to help with the bookcase.

I bid everyone goodbye before leaving. I trusted people to do their job without me hovering over them. And they didn’t think I was slacking just because I didn’t burn the midnight oil every night. I had a great team.

Maybe it wasn't fair, but I had to admit, I was more proud of the success of the bar than the distillery. Probably because it was my brainchild—I'd come up with the idea and set it up. Ultimately, I’d envisioned this as a franchise with a bar in each major city, and maybe in Europe too. The world was at my fingertips, and the possibilities were endless.

And to think there was a time when our grandfather wasn't sure his legacy would survive.

I didn't remember many things from when Dad left, but I did remember him telling Grandfather that the empire would go to waste without him running it. We'd proved him wrong. I didn't wish my father any ill will, but I never understood how he could turn out to be such a two-faced bastard.

Grandfather and Grandmother were two of the kindest people I knew, and for Dad to do what he did just made no sense whatsoever. But it didn't matter anymore now.

I was determined to build on to my legacy, and I'd been looking to expand the distillery for a while now. I couldn't keep up with demand within the space we had, and there wasn’t enough room on the property to grow. I needed space for adding another production line, and we’d have to move the operation before that could happen. I also wanted to venture into hotels and planned to open the first one next to the distillery.

My half brother Leo could help me find the right property. He ran the top real estate agency in the country and was absolutely the best. I called him on my way to the car; even though I was meeting him later, we wouldn’t have time to talk shop then.

"Hey, Gabe. Change your mind about joining us for tennis?" he asked.

"No. I told you I want to give it another try. I was actually calling because I'd like your help with a project."

"I'm listening."

"I want to look for a huge property in Stockbridge. I want to build a distillery there and also a hotel."

"Cool. But Stockbridge? That's oddly specific."

I had my reasons, but I didn't feel like sharing them with him. Yet.

“It’s mostly because that’s where I want the hotel to be,” I explained.

"Sure, I'm on it. That's going to take a while, though."

"I assumed so."

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