Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 164263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 821(@200wpm)___ 657(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 821(@200wpm)___ 657(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Deschanel and Edward have a long history filled with heated arguments. He’s a do-gooder who hates everything about the casino in Monte Carlo. Edward’s a businessman who is sick and tired of him standing in his way.
“Two minutes.”
“Listen,” Louis whispers. “You will sit there and you will play nice. The entire board of directors are counting on you to behave today.”
Edward clenches his jaw. “This fuckwit has me over a barrel.”
“Exactly. It’s fifteen minutes, suck it up.”
Merrick and I stand quietly as we disappear into the walls.
The door opens and the familiar face comes into view. “Gentlemen.” He smiles as he looks between them. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“No bother at all.” Louis smiles as he shakes his hand. “Thank you for seeing us.”
He turns to Edward and outstretches his hand. “Hello, Edward.”
“Hello, Pascal.” They shake hands and sit down.
“Beautiful day,” Pascal continues.
“Yes.” Edward forces a smile and then drops it immediately. “Get to the point.”
I roll my lips as I stare at the ground, he’s such an ass at times that it’s hard not to react.
“Your office has been renovated since I was here last time,” Louis says as he looks around.
“Yes it has,” Pascal replies. “It’s lovely isn’t it, they did such a good job.”
“It is,” Louis agrees.
“Such a joy to come to work.”
Edward drags his hand down his face and Louis widens his eyes in silent warning.
“So…we’re here to have the preliminary meeting regarding the request for an operating hours extension for Casino De Monte Carlo.” Louis tries to move things along.
“We received your application.” He opens the folder and begins to flick through it. “You have requested a daily four-hour extension.”
“That’s right,” Edward replies.
“You are currently open from 2 p.m. until 4 a.m. daily.”
“Yes,” Louis replies. “We are receiving several requests for extended hours from our patrons, they want to be able to have lunch with us.”
He looks up from his folder and smirks as if finding that statement amusing. “I find that very hard to believe.”
Edward bites the side of his cheek as if to stop himself.
“You see, if we grant you an extended license we will be in fact giving you a license to close down every restaurant in Monte Carlo.”
“Restaurants in Monte Carlo have nothing to do with us,” Edward fires back.
He clasps his hands together as he looks across the desk at him. “Edward.”
“Mr. Prescott to you.”
Louis steps on his foot and Merrick and I exchange subtle glances.
This isn’t going to end well.
Pascal’s eyebrows shoot up as if surprised. “Alright, Mr. Prescott.” He leans forward in his chair. “We are opposed to the extension of hours and will not be accepting your request at this time.”
“You said that two years ago.”
“And our decision still stands.”
“Don’t fuck with me, Pascal.”
“That’s Mr. Deschanel to you.”
Animosity bounces between them. “I’ll take you to fair trading court,” he tells him.
“You won’t win.”
Edward smiles and sits back in his chair. “We both know that you don’t have the funds to fight me.” Louis squishes his foot into the ground and he rips it from beneath him. “Stop.”
“Just because you are wealthy, Mr. Prescott, doesn’t mean you are above the law.”
“It’s called restriction of trade and it’s illegal. It is you who is not above the law.”
They glare at each other across the table.
“Now, gentlemen,” Louis stammers. “Let’s workshop this and try and come to some middle ground.”
Edward stands. “I will not be workshopping anything.”
“What does that mean?” Pascal asks.
“It means I will see you in court.” Edward walks from the office and we walk out after him. As we make our way down the corridor I hear Louis stammering and scrambling, trying to defuse the situation.
Edward hits the elevator button. “What a waste of my time,” he mutters under his breath. The door opens and we follow him in and stand at the back. Louis comes running down the corridor and gets in. He nervously glances over to Edward. “That wasn’t great.”
“Why didn’t you just drop to your knees and suck his cock under the table?” He raises an eyebrow in question.
“I’m trying to network.”
“You’re pathetic,” he barks as he adjusts his suit coat. “I presumed lawyers were supposed to have some fucking balls.”
“Do you always have to be so aggressive?” Louis fires back.
“Only when my lawyer is a pathetic wimp.” The doors open and he strides out and Louis scrambles to walk beside him.
“The next meeting will go better,” he promises.
“It will because I’ll have a new lawyer. You’re fired.”
“What?” Louis stammers. “You can’t fire me.”
“I just did.” He strides out of the building and out onto the street. I open the back door of the car for him.
“Well, what am I supposed to do now?” Louis cries from behind him.
“Apply for a job at Grow A Set dot com.”
ALORA
My eyes skim the page but not a word registers. I get all the way to the bottom, I go back to the top of the page and start again. Pascal is brushing his teeth as I pretend to read in bed.