Page 72 of The Billionaire Land Baron

Chapter 18

Jake remembered the feeling of loss when his parents died. It had been crushing, even though his dad was hardly involved. But knowing they were both gone, both at the same time in a car wreck—some drunk driver running a light—it was like the air got sucked out of a room. Except that room was his life. It was a black hole of emptiness that for a while, he fell in. The only light was that he and Candace had each other. Together they cried and laughed and called each other in the middle of the night. They packed up their childhood home, doing all those things you have to just do, even if you don’t want to. They were alone, but alone together.

When he looked up from his phone at the click of the door and realized Shelby was gone, it felt like that same black hole opened right back up. Except now he really was alone. He felt the loss in the very center of his gut, deep and unending.

He shouldn’t have been on the phone when she left. Losing Shelby was the worst thing. The deal didn’t matter. But somehow, Jake had looked at his phone, scrolling through all the messages from Xander, the weight of how much trouble he was actually in sinking in with each message. It was a tiny moment of distraction, but it sent a big message.

Shelby was gone and he didn’t blame her for walking out.

He ran after her, even took the elevators down to the bottom floor and ended up locked out of his room and unable to even get back up to his floor without help since he left his card key in the room. It was like she’d never been there.

Had she? The last day felt like a dream. Of the best kind until the end. A relationship with her, while complicated, seemed inevitable. Unavoidable. Impossible to ignore.

Jake had made the classic mistake of so many movies—he’d kept something from her. Something so huge that he probably couldn’t rectify it. He had to try.

First he called Xan, just to face the music.

“Oh, now he calls.”

“I’m sorry, Xan. I turned my phone off. What happened?”

Xander sighed. “Nothing that could be helped, I don’t think. Not unless you wanted to marry the mayor’s daughter.”

“Definitely no.”

“Things were precarious anyway with the permit office, but you ticked off McClure. He used this to his advantage and called in some favors with the parks department and the state wildlife fund.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Essentially, McClure shut us down on two fronts. He called in all his favors, I guess. The Lucky city planners denied our proposal and then Louisiana said no to the bridge over the wildlife refuge. It’s done.”

“Wow. He’s good. I mean, bad, but good.”

“Tell me about it. We underestimated the allure of power to a small man. I don’t know what he’s got in the works now, but something, obviously. He’s using the headway we made to make his own something. Not sure what yet. Honestly, I suspect this was his plan all along. I don’t know that he ever was going to support the project. The daughter was probably just an excuse. It’s not your fault. I just wish you’d been around while I was dealing with this.”

“I’m sorry,” Jake said. It seemed like all he did today was disappoint people.

“Whether you answered or not, this was falling through. Did you at least get the girl?”

“I thought I might,” Jake said. “Until she found out—not from me—that I was part of the reason she lost the house.”

Xander groaned. “No happy endings? That stinks. Well, maybe you can buy back her land for her. I mean, how much was it, anyway?”

“Pennies,” Jake said. “I don’t know that it will win her back after what I did, but it’s the least I can do. They’ve lived there forever. Did I tell you she has an alligator named T-Ball?”

“I’m sorry—what? I think you need to get back to Chicago, stat. You’re starting to sound crazy.”

“Maybe I am. Well, let me wrap things up here. My car will be done tomorrow, I think. I had a message from the garage I didn’t check yet. I’ll head to town tomorrow, get Layla, see about fixing her land.”

“Get the girl, Jake. We may have lost the deal, but there’s got to be something redeeming this.”

Even if it wasn’t possible, Jake knew he had to try. He couldn’t give up on Shelby. Even if it meant giving up on everything else.

When Jake arrivedat the garage the next day after a night of almost no sleep, Greg was inside behind the counter. Jake smiled, but Greg didn’t. “Hey, Greg. I heard a rumor that Layla’s done. I’m still happy to let you drive.”

He grunted. “She’s done, but I don’t want to drive her. Let me total you out.”

Jake’s stomach dropped. Greg was being too cold. He must have heard about Shelby or the land or both. Would she have come back and told everyone what happened? He didn’t see her like that, but it had only been the night before and now Greg was clearly mad.

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