View Park. Angela Winters

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СКАЧАТЬ building they were going to make their clinic. Alicia had been doing the legwork for the last month, and without her parents’ help, Leigh had to accept the best their pooled resources could get. It was a one-story, two-thousand-square-foot former veterinary clinic that had been abandoned for two years.

      “We’re sure this place isn’t condemned?” Leigh asked.

      “It’s not.” Alicia grabbed the keys. “I went through with two separate inspectors, whom we have to pay, by the way. It’s actually very sturdy. It just needs some cosmetic work. We have the money for that.”

      “My yearly trust fund allowance isn’t that big,” Leigh said.

      “Maybe if I talk to them,” Alicia suggested. “This is my dream, too. I shouldn’t make you do all the begging.”

      “They’ve never met you and my parents don’t listen to people they don’t know.” Leigh looked around the neighborhood, knowing what this clinic could mean. “It’s hard to explain to people like them, but I’ll try again.”

      “Without your mother,” Alicia said, “I don’t see how we can do this.”

      “I wouldn’t give you a dime if it were me.”

      Leigh looked over Alicia’s shoulder as a rugged-looking, caramel-skinned man in jeans and a Chicago Cubs T-shirt came from the side of the building. This was not the neighborhood to be popping out from behind buildings. “Who are you?”

      Alicia grabbed Richard by the arm, pulling him towards Leigh. “Meet Richard Powell. He’s a doctor at L.A. General. He just moved here five months ago from Chicago. He wants in on the clinic.”

      Richard held his hand out to Leigh, who hesitated before accepting it. “I was listening in on your conversation.”

      “Obviously,” Leigh said.

      “I didn’t mean to sound rude. I was just suggesting that…well you both sound defeated already.”

      Leigh’s arms folded across her chest. “If you had been paying closer attention you would’ve heard that I’m not giving up.”

      He nodded. “Those were your words, but your tone says ‘I give up.’”

      “You don’t know me,” Leigh said. “I don’t give up.”

      “After everything Alicia told me about you, I would assume you wouldn’t. I have some suggestions if you’re interested.”

      Alicia stepped between them. “Please.”

      “I don’t have any money, but I know some guys in construction who can give us a discount and we can pay anyone in the neighborhood here to help clean up and paint. That will save us more money for equipment.”

      “Then there’s marketing, advertising, insurance.” Alicia sighed.

      “There are a lot of places who will do that stuff pro bono for a clinic like this. We’ll have to weed them out. You didn’t expect Mommy and Daddy to do everything, did you?”

      Leigh watched his unflinching smile, thinking that he better be a good doctor if he wanted to join this group, because he wouldn’t get in on charm. “I was relying on them because our family’s foundation does exactly this type of thing.”

      “Her mother is known for her fund-raising expertise,” Alicia added.

      “Alicia told me they refused to help you.”

      Leigh’s tone gave away her embarrassment. “They want me to join a prestigious practice.”

      Alicia rubbed Leigh’s arms. “Leigh’s family is very—”

      “He doesn’t care what my family is like,” Leigh interrupted. “Besides, he’s living in L.A. now. He’ll find out soon enough.”

      “I read about your sister in the paper earlier this week,” he said. “Is she okay?”

      Leigh was taken back. She expected judgment, gossip, ridicule, accusations, and pity like she’d gotten from everyone else, but not genuine concern. “Yes, she’s okay. Thank you.”

      “If your parents know all of the right people,” Richard said, “then don’t you know them, too?”

      Leigh shrugged. “I guess, but not as well as my mother.”

      “Then you don’t really need her,” he maintained. “You have the contacts. You have the last name. You be the fund-raiser.”

      “I don’t know how to do that,” Leigh said.

      “You just came back from Africa. Your experiences must have been incredible.”

      “They were life changing.”

      Richard took a step closer, smiling. “I can’t wait to hear about them.”

      Alicia cleared her throat, but it failed to distract Leigh and Richard from each other.

      “You’re right,” Leigh said, getting her second wind. “I’ve got to go.”

      “What?” Alicia called after her. “I thought we were going to go over—”

      “Not now,” she yelled back. You can’t put inspiration on hold.

      Chase Beauty now took up four full floors at 777 Tower in downtown L.A. Steven’s corner office was, in size, almost equal to his ego, and was undergoing its third redecoration by Janet. Its current style was Manhattan minimalist. He wasn’t crazy about it, but he would rather suffer anything than disappoint his queen. Right now he was more focused on Carter who made it a practice to show up late to every scheduled meeting. He knew Carter treated his other clients better even though they didn’t make him ten percent of what Chase Beauty made him.

      He looked at Michael, leaning back on the leather sofa, the only soft piece of furniture Janet allowed him to keep. Michael, greatly lacking in the art of sensitivity, always reminded him of how undesirable his office was. All that mattered to Steven was that Michael wanted this office and would do anything to get it. A lesser man would be threatened, but Steven was proud. He had to be on guard against his own son and he liked that.

      “Hey.” Carter rushed into the office. “A client lunch got away from me.”

      “Does that client pay you as well as I do?” Steven asked.

      “So,” Michael said. “How’s it hanging, Cassius?”

      Carter sat across from his brother, a thin smile on his face. “Word travels fast in this town.”

      Steven got up, leaning against the edge of his desk. “One of the men with Flay was a WKLA reporter.”

      “I did what I felt I had to do.”

      “I only wish I could have done it,” Steven murmured. “I’ve been trying to reach him, but he’s been covered like he’s the president.”

      Carter wasn’t СКАЧАТЬ