Adeline noticed Darien's hands clench on the table, his jaw tightening as tension rolled off him like heat from a furnace. The air between him and Mr. Heisenberg thickened until it was almost suffocating. Neither spoke, but the cold stare they exchanged said more than words could.
Darien wouldn't be sitting here across from his late father's best friend if he didn't desperately need help. The hotel project had become a battlefield. Ever since he'd purchased the land through an auction six months ago, powerful men had been circling like vultures, claiming his permit wasn't legitimate. The plot was prime real estate—a golden piece of property in the heart of New York City and those who lost it to a man his age had never forgiven him.
Now, rumors and bureaucratic threats were strangling the project before it could take off. Mr. Heisenberg was one of the few people with enough influence to untangle that web — and Darien knew it.
