“What makes you think she’s fake?” I asked.

“The whole clumsy, stuttering, innocent girl act. She only puts it on around you. When you’re not around, she’s busy flirting it up and pushing her tits in the face of any person who will look.”

“No way. She’s a good worker.”

He sighed. “Must be hard believing everyone in the world is a good person.”

“I don’t think Jason Rollsfield is a good person.”

“Congratulations, Connor. You don’t like one person out of seven billion on this planet,” he sarcastically remarked. “Then again, you hate him and still gave him a job. Shocking. If you knew about Rose’s past—”

“No!” I hollered, tossing my hands up. “Don’t tell me. Every time you tell me about a person’s past, it changes how I view them.”

“As it should.”

I called Damian the grave digger. He had an ability I’d never seen before in a person—the ability to dig up dirt on anyone and everyone. He’d been able to unlock secrets people thought were buried deep. The only secrets he was unable to uncover were probably the ones he craved the most—the story behind his biological parents. No matter how hard he tried, he’d never been able to track them down. I knew it ate at him every single day.

When he and I met, I made him promise not to dig up dirt on people I knew before he came into my life. I didn’t need to know the skeletons of my business partners. Rich people did a lot of weird shit.

Damian was dressed in black from head to toe, as always. Black suit, black tie, black shoes. Every single day, he showed up wearing all black, had ever since I met him. He said it was his favorite color like his soul.

I couldn’t help but smirk at his emo tendencies.

At the same time, he was built like a linebacker. He stood at over six foot four with muscle on muscle. I wasn’t too closeminded to state he was a good-looking guy. Women would’ve been all over him if he wasn’t grimacing all the time. If it wasn’t for his cold personality, he’d have women throwing themselves at him on the regular.

“Anyway, got bad news,” he said, brushing his thumb against his nose.

“First, I didn’t get to tell you the joke of the day.”

He gave me a blank stare. “Are you serious right now?”

“I’ve told you a joke every day for the past two years. Of course I’m serious.”

“You won’t be in a joking mood after I tell you the bad news.”

I stood from my desk and slid my hands into my pockets. “Which is exactly why I should tell you the joke now.”

He sighed and shrugged. “Okay whatever. Go.”

“Did you hear about the new restaurant called Karma? There’s no menu—you get what you deserve.” I snickered, smacking the side of my leg. “Get it? Karma? You get what you—”

“I get it. It’s just far from funny.”

“I’ll get you laughing one of these times. Mark my words.”

“Don’t hold your breath. Now, can I tell you the shit news?”

I nodded.

His brow furrowed, and I could tell whatever he was about to say was going to be bad. Whenever Damian’s brows got closer during our meetings, nothing good was coming from him.

“The Brooklyn property fell through.”

I moved toward the edge of my desk, feeling as if I’d been sucker punched. Every inch of mirth evaporated from my body. “What do you mean it fell through? We had that in our grip. It was all but a done deal. Besides, no one even knew about it except us.”

“I know. Don’t know how it happened, but they decided to sell the building to another buyer.”

“Who?”

“They wouldn’t say.”

Dammit. Damian was right—after that news, I was far from in a good mood.

“I’m going to find out, though,” Damian said, resolute and sure.

“Yeah, thanks.”

He grimaced, of course, and stood from his chair. His gray eyes locked with mine as he shrugged again. “Your joke was kind of funny,” he dryly stated, trying to make me feel better.

“You don’t gotta lie, Damian.”

“All right. It wasn’t funny at all.”

I rubbed my hands over my face and sighed. “When you find out who bought the property, let me know.” I moved back around to my desk and plopped down. “You coming to the dinner party on Friday night?”

“Am I coming to a dinner party for an asshole I hate to the depths of my core to celebrate him getting a job he doesn’t deserve? I think I’ll pass. I don’t even know why you hired someone as incompetent as that douche to run the west coast division. I could do a better job than he ever could. He’s a joke.”

Was he wrong about my new business partner, Jason? No. He was the only person I truly couldn’t stand in my life. Everything about the spoiled jerk rubbed me the wrong way. But, was I giving Jason the opportunity because his father offered to partner with me on my dream of building luxury low-income properties if I hired his son to be a business partner with me? Yes.