The Silver Lining (24 page)

“You don’t know what you’re doing. This will ruin me. I will have nothing left.” My mother gritted her teeth and glared at me. I ignored her mumbling.

“I’m a nice guy though, so I’ll let you stay in my house until they take you into jail. I’ll even pack up your stuff and place it in storage along with your car just like you did mine.” Her eyes were on fire now. “You don’t win a race without trampling over your opponents, and the queen doesn’t get a castle without killing off a few commoners. Those were your words, right?” I leaned into her ear. “Checkmate, bitch.”

I grabbed Emily’s hand and walked backwards, keeping my eye on Victoria. “Oh! Tell your husband, Carl, he’s fired, immediately. I won’t need his services,” I said.

Her face pruned up, which made me smile. She was livid, standing there and she hated it. Finally she had a taste of her own medicine and I couldn’t have felt more justified. I slammed the door on my way out. Emily shook my arm.

“Is this really happening?” she asked. “This feels unreal.” Emily shook her head.

“Take a look around, honey. This castle needs a new queen. Will you be my queen?”

“You already have me.” She flashed her ring at me.

“No. Seriously I want to make you my wife. Pick a date.” I bit my lip staring at her. She was too cute.

She put a finger up to her temple. “Christmas Eve.”

“Interesting date. Any special reason?”

“There is just something magical about the day before Christmas. There is a bit of excitement and anticipation, like the way I feel about you.”

“That’s beautiful. I think it’s perfect, baby. Whatever you want.”

She stood there smiling and rubbing her belly. This moment in time was amazing. I was buzzing with adrenaline and I didn’t even know what to do with all of this energy. We hopped in the car and took off to go back home for now.

“Well, since we don’t have to unpack I guess that leaves time for other things.” She smiled.

I looked over at her and grinned ear to ear. “Cookie time?”

“Cookie time.” She nodded.

“I don’t even think we need to go home for that, since you have a dress on.”

We ended up pulling over on the shoulder of the road. Nobody was out and about. She climbed on top of me and did her magic. The space was tight and the steering wheel was a bit awkward, but we made it work even with her little baby bump. It was the best quickie I ever had. I couldn’t get enough of this girl. She rocked my world.

After we finished on the side of the road, I drove her home and dropped her off. Emily was feeling a bit exhausted from the day and wanted to go rest. I had plans to stop in at King Hotel to meet and greet my staff. This wouldn’t be easy at all, but I was determined to make these hotels in my father’s vision, something he would be proud about. I drove up to the valet and handed them my keys. It wasn’t long before I stepped foot inside of the place. I had so many memories with my dad here.

“Mr. King. It’s been a while.” The hotel manager, Bryan, came up to me and shook my hand. Brian had been around for a long time, ever since I could remember. Brian was probably the most composed person I had ever met. He stood before me with not a hair out of place. It reminded me of my brother and then it reminded me of how my mother wanted things. Perfect. His salt and pepper hair was combed and maintained perfectly as always, just like the rest of him. I looked down at his suit, not one wrinkle. I had known Brian long enough to know the man was close to my mother. Maybe too close. I didn’t trust him yet. He ran the hotel just like she did, and I didn’t like it. I’d give him a chance to change, but I had a feeling he might not stay with the new changes.

“Yes it has,” I said, as I looked around.

“What brings you in today?”

“I’m taking over ownership of King Hotels. I wanted to meet and greet with the staff. Do you think you could round everyone up for a meeting?” I stuck my hands in my pockets.

Bryan looked surprised, but he didn’t question me. “Of course, sir.”

“Thank you.”

“Conference room A is open if you want to meet us there,” Bryan added before he walked away.

I made my way down to the designated room and picked a chair out. I dragged that chair center stage and waited. Staff slowly started to trail in. Some looked worried. Others looked relieved and a few looked like they weren’t sure what to think. The poor employees were so used to my mother’s abuse. You could see it in their mannerisms. I waited until Bryan closed the door and gave me a sign that told me everyone was here.

“Most of you probably don’t know me personally. My name is James King. I’m Victoria King’s son. Victoria is no longer going to be running King Hotels. I will. You all will be reporting to Bryan, who will report to me. In the next year there will be significant changes to how we do business.” I saw one hand shoot up. I pointed to the lady with the silvery brown hair.

“Are we being fired?”

“No.”

“Oh. Thank god.” She held her chest.

“This isn’t about firing. This is about the hotel. Anyone who has been here long enough to have worked for my father and remembers what a great man he was, my promise to you is to do my best to live up to his legacy, and to treat you all as well as he did. The reign of terror is over and no one will work in fear of my mother’s tirades and indiscriminate firings for petty offenses. My father had a dream, a vision if you must, and my goal is to get back to that type of practice. This hotel has lost its way and I’m here to bring it home. Do we have any questions?”

“What will happen to Mrs. King?” a man asked from the back row.

“She is going to take some time out to find her way as well.”

I looked around and waited for more questions. The room fell silent.

“Thank you for coming down. I see a few familiar faces, but I look forward to getting to know the rest of you. You can proceed back to work.” I waved for Bryan as the employees left. They seemed calmer walking out then they did walking in.

“I need you to get me a list of expenses for the hotel including payroll. I’ll be in tomorrow to pick them up.”

“Sir, can I ask what is going on? I heard the rumors, but Victoria kept me in the dark,” Bryan questioned.

“Tomorrow let’s have a drink and we can go over everything. I’ll answer all of your question’s then.”

Bryan nodded as if he understood and walked toward the conference exit door.

I sat down on the chair and looked around, thinking of what I’d need to do to revive my father’s vision. This was a new beginning for me, for the hotels and for Emily. It’s like all the cards were lined up. There was no better timing. I was about to be a father and a husband and now owner of King Hotels. This was it. I would not fail my own father.

I thought about failure and all of the bullshit that happened in the past two years. Nothing came easy to me. It came hard and it came fast, but it was never easy. I was thrown to the wolves and I came back a pack leader. That’s how I look at it. I stumbled, I fell, but I dusted my ass off and got back up. I’d change the King Hotels. I could do this. If I could go through everything I already had and still be standing here then nothing could stop me.

I was indeed still standing here because of her, Emily, my silver lining. I’d like to think I was hers too. We all need a silver lining in our life. It’s something that motivates us. It was something that pushed us to keep going when things went bad. It was that small hope we held on to, or that pretty object that got us through the day. It was the rainbow after a storm. To me Emily was all of that. We went through our issues, but what couple doesn’t. This was that love shit I talked about. She let me love her and she made my head stop spinning and yeah, I kind of like that.

The End

Jennifer Raygoza is also the author of the smoking hot vampires series The Guardians I: Feel the Fire, The Guardians II: The Revelation, and The Guardians III: Blood Vengeance and Unleashed Poems. She enjoys writing in the sunny state of California. She loves to hear from her readers at
[email protected]
and hopes they will visit her updated website as well. She reads all her email and answers what she can.

For more information on this author:

Visit her website
http://jenniferraygoza.webs.com/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/jenniferraygoza12

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/RaygozaJen

Amazon:
http://tinyurl.com/pzyggqk