Page 39 of Billionaire's Accidental Marriage
Which caused the man with the name “Allen” embroidered on his hat to whistle to himself. “That’s some serious water leakage.”
Scott clicked on a flashlight and shined it up there. “Looks like the water damage has screwed around with the two-by-fours as well.”
I rolled my eyes. “Wonderful.”
Allen peeked over at me. “How long has it been since these pipes have been serviced?”
I flipped through my clipboard of paperwork for this store and almost cried when I found the date of its last service.
“Over seven years ago,” I said as shame mounted in my voice.
Scott drew in a deep breath before he put his measuring tape away. “Well, the pipe alone has to be fixed. But, if it’s been silently leaking for that long, that usually means either a valve had gone bad somewhere, or there’s leaking in another part of the pipe.”
Allen butted in, “See, this drop ceiling isn’t even. It slopes a bit, so the leak that we’re currently seeing wouldn’t rot out this entire space.”
Scott placed his hands on his hips. “So, you’re at least looking at two different pipe leaks and a possible valve issue.”
Allen nodded. “And there’s no telling what we’ll find once we service the rest of the pipes in this place.”
I sucked air through my teeth. “Any idea how much this is all going to cost me?”
Scott slid his hands into his pockets. “Just to fix the leaks? I’d say around four grand. And on top of that, you’ll need to have a contractor come in and—”
I held up my hand before I wrote down the number. “Is there any fluctuation in that number? What’s the highest amount this job might take?”
The two men looked at each other before Allen responded. “Worst case scenario? Upwards of ten thousand.”
I tried not to sob in front of them as I wrote down the figures. “Great. Wonderful. Now, do you have any contractors in the area you know, personally, that you prefer working with? I’m trying to forge new business relationships, so I could use the referrals.”
After jotting down the names and numbers of people to call, I ended up pulling the money out of my savings account to put the down payment on the work. The pipes had to be replaced, and even if the ceiling stayed exposed for a little while until the store could start bringing in enough revenue to justify the improvement, at least this was one business relationship that didn’t have a foundation of using credit. The last thing any of these businesses needed was more debt.
14
Michael
Watching social media was like getting a play-by-play of Maggie’s entire day, and I felt my stomach tie itself into knots. It took every last reserve of energy I had to chain myself to my desk and not go rescue her, but somehow I made it happen. I didn’t have the energy to focus on anything else, but I forced myself to abide by what she wanted.
Seeing her pictures pop up all over Twitter infuriated me, though, and when the news outlets started running their stories with captions that made me nauseous, I was ready to flip my desk out a damn window. I wanted to lash out. I wanted to call every news station and tell them to leave the woman alone. But I knew it would only garner us more attention.
In some respects, I was upset with Maggie as well. She had no idea how to deal with this kind of environment, and I did. Yet, she wouldn’t let me come to her aid. She wouldn’t accept my help.
At one point in time in our friendship, there wouldn’t have been a question. I would have been the one to get to her side and help her through this.
So, what the hell had changed?
As I leaned back into my seat, the last picture I saw of Maggie was one of her staring up at a sign in the middle of town. The caption of the picture turned my stomach, and it’s what made me turn off my phone. It’s what made me close my laptop. And as I leaned back in my leather office chair, I found myself staring up at the ceiling as I tried to contain my frustrations.
Maggie didn’t know how to deal with this shit. She didn’t understand how to navigate the grueling world of paparazzi. She had no idea what it was like to have cameras stuck in her face twenty-four-seven while they watched her every move. And if she made a wrong move, not only would they cut off her head on live television, but they’d annihilate any chance she had of getting her father’s businesses back up and running in good, working order.
So, going against the word I gave her, I sat up and called my PR team.
“Yes, Mr. Gainsley?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Langley, I need a favor.”
He chuckled. “It’s about time you called. The news stations are tearing your wife apart.”
I groaned. “I know, I know. She’s insistent on my not helping, but I can’t sit back and watch it anymore. She has no idea what she’s asking, and she has no idea what this will do to her reputation if we can’t rein it in.”
