The Other Side of Greed by Lily Zante

Chapter Ten

BRANDON

She surprised me, and that’s a rare thing. People rarely surprise me, but Kyra Lewis did. For someone as tiny as she is, she has the power of an ox. Those boxes and restaurant containers were heavy, as I found out later when I had no choice but to help her.

She drove, and I sat in that filthy, broken-down, rackety van with everything clattering in the back. It took so long. My whole evening wasted on some goddamn cause I find to be a waste of time and money.

Who knew such a thing even existed? Kyra said many good people and businesses in the city donated the food on those nights. I had no idea.

I hauled as much as I could, and we returned items to the restaurants. After that I was ready to leave. I’d had enough, but then I felt bad for letting her clean up in the storeroom by herself. So I offered to help her with that.

She observed my every move. I sense that she doesn’t trust me or my motivations.

Wise woman.

She’s smart. I have to give her that.

By the time we checked everything and locked the factory, ready to go home, it was almost midnight.

Midnight.

Apparently, she does this every week.

And she doesn’t earn a cent out of it.

It’s insane.

A complete waste of time and effort.

For nothing.

This is not how successful businesses are run. I don’t understand these people, but I can already see that it’s going to be eye-opening working here.

No wonder her business is a nonprofit—which is exactly as it sounds—nonprofit, because she’s making squat. She’ll never get rich, no matter how clever or smart or determined or hard-working she is.

She doesn’t deserve to have Greenways. The value of that piece of real estate is lost on people like that. Far better for someone like me to move in and take care of things.

The next morning, I update Emma.

“You fed the homeless?” she asks, as if I’ve announced that I’ve got the nuclear codes.

I scratch my wrist. The thought of last night mixing with those people sends shivers down my spine. I stood under the shower for a good while after I got back, dousing myself with shower gel to make sure I had gotten rid of all the grime from that place.

“I did. You would have been proud of me.”

“This won’t end well, Brandon. I hope you know that.”

“I’m only interested in securing that piece of land.”

“Remind me again as to how exactly this is going to help you?” Emma’s folded arms and stern expression indicates her continued disapproval. I’m sure she was secretly pleased when Kyra didn’t hire me that first time. But this latest turn of events has really helped me.

“I’ll earn Lewis’s trust. I’ll give her lots of great business advice. I’ll convince her to believe in me. She influences many. The Greenways business owners listen to her. She’s active on the committee over there. Through her, I’ll earn their trust and along the way I’ll advise her to move someplace else. Then I’ll swoop in and take what I need without the headache of dealing with eminent domain.”

“You don’t think she will find out at some point?”

“Who cares? Nobody knows which company is behind a development. Nobody. Not the average layperson, that’s for sure.” I run my hand over my stubble and decide not to shave for a few days so that I will fit right in at Redhill. “It might not be such a bad idea for her to move. She wants to expand and she has a crazy idea about building another place next to her factory. It’s going to be easier and will make more financial sense for her if she moved somewhere that had everything she wanted.”

“It’s wrong, it’s so wrong, on so many different levels.” Emma’s shoulders sink. I wouldn’t be too surprised if one day she walks in and tenders her resignation. There are limits, and I seem to be pushing hers all the time.

“Let me be the judge of that.”

“If she’s agreed to let you work for her,” Emma air quotes the ‘work’ part, “who’s going to take care of your business interests here?”

“I’ve taken care of that.” I explain to her how, when Kyra and I were unloading things into the storeroom, I casually mentioned that I’d found another job helping another company for a couple of days a week. She didn’t seem to care. If anything, she seemed relieved to hear that I wouldn’t be at Redhill today and that I’d come in the day after. I only offered to work there for two to three days a week, and that’s two days too many. This whole charade is costing me a shit load of money, and it hurts.

“The things you do,” Emma says quietly.

“Don’t go leaving me. I rely on you. Also, I’m not hurting anyone.”

Her eyebrow raises. She annoys me when she goes all Zen-like on me.

“I’m not physically hurting anyone,” I clarify.

“Lies, lies. So many lies. One day, they will all catch up with you.”

“I’m not going to get caught.” I straighten my tie and sit up, ready to get to work. I have a lot of things to do in my office today, especially if I’m going to be splitting my time between here and Redhill. My businesses can’t go unattended. There is too much money, and there are too many investments for me to take my eyes off Hawks Enterprises for too long.

“I’m pleased to hear that you fed the homeless. It might do something to reset your karma.”

I look up and loosen my tie. “It’s not easy feeding the homeless. I could have caught something bad; fleas, pneumonia, bronchitis or even TB.”

“How worrisome for you.”

I blink at the lack of Emma’s sympathy. “You don’t know what it was like, dishing out the food, then refilling the containers. Then having to take everything back to the restaurants. Then we had to go back to the factory and finish off there. I was ready to drop when I got home.”

“My heart bleeds for you.”

“It should, because on top of that, I had to give up a really good steak.”