Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22588 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 113(@200wpm)___ 90(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22588 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 113(@200wpm)___ 90(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
“Or the best way of showing it.”
She shook her head. “No, they would accept me for who I am, but the truth is, they just want to constantly make money. They don’t even care who they hurt in the crossfire, just so long as the money is the bottom and only line.” She stopped and he watched as she took a sip of her wine. He didn’t like the sadness in her gaze. “You know, they think I’m useless.”
“No, they don’t.”
She laughed. “You don’t have to lie for them. Trust me, I know what they think of me, and I guess, in a way, they don’t see what I’m doing. They never have. I’m sure if they did, they’d find a way to keep my trust fund from me.”
He frowned.
Anna-Beth smiled. “You don’t have a clue what I’m talking about. That’s fine.”
“Tell me.”
He saw her hesitate, biting her lip.
“If I tell you, you cannot say anything to anyone.”
“You’re making me curious.”
This did make her laugh. “I don’t mean to make you curious, I … it’s not even complicated. I know my parents wouldn’t approve, and they’d find some way to hurt them, and ruin them.”
He didn’t like how little faith she had in her family. “I won’t tell a soul. Does that help?”
She nodded. “It does. Uh, so I was in HR for quite some time, not just HR, but you know when they tried to send me to college, and I did the whole work experience thing. Anyway, you don’t need to know all the details. I met some people. One of them was the amazing cook that worked for my parents. Niah. Then there were a couple of tech guys, and I don’t know, the list kind of goes on. Either way, Niah, as an example, was an amazing cook. She had qualified as a chef, but she didn’t have the money to get a diner off the ground.”
“A diner?”
“She didn’t want to have another restaurant. She had this vision of a family place where people could come and go, and just the whole atmosphere and the food was why they kept coming back. She was nervous about starting up her own company. I knew how good her food was, because I’d been eating it a long time. She’s an amazing chef. One day, I remember seeing her looking so downhearted. The money she had been saving to put aside to open her diner, she had to use it on her husband’s medical bills. It was gone. The place she’d put a down payment on was going to be lost to her, because she could no longer afford to pay for it.”
He was intrigued.
“I didn’t tell her right away, but I went and checked out the space, and I paid for it. It was an amazing location, exactly where she had always dreamed, and I knew she could make it work.”
“You became a silent partner?”
“Yes. I paid for the space, and all the start-up costs, and for the first year of her … um, fees, I don’t know. After that, I started to make some money back, and my investment was paid back, but she kept me on as a silent partner. I don’t have a large percentage. Niah offered to go fifty-fifty, but I refused.”
He frowned at her.
“I know some people would say it’s bad business sense, but I wanted to help her, so we agreed to twenty percent. I would have gone for ten, because I know over time she will go from strength to strength, and she does.”
“Tell me more.”
George listened in shock as Anna-Beth told him that she was in fact silent partner in not one, but multiple small businesses, to which none of them compete against each other, but they do attempt to rival large businesses.
The Knights didn’t even realize they had a rare gem in their midst, and all they wanted to do was marry her off.
Anna-Beth had a vision, she saw promise in people, and worked to build on it.
Even without her family, from what he could quickly calculate, including the taxes and everything else, Anna-Beth was a millionaire within her own right, and no one knew about it.
****
Anna-Beth sliced into the steak and took a bite. It was delicious, with just the right amount of cracked pepper.
She felt her mouth watering for another taste. “That is exquisite,” she said.
He’d ordered in the steak as he didn’t like to cook. She had offered to raid his fridge, only there was nothing in his fridge. In fact, it had only held beer and bottles of water. He didn’t have time to cook.
“The best French restaurant in the city.”
She smiled and he watched as she speared some potatoes and put them in her mouth. Anna-Beth was very aware of his gaze on her at all times.