I hadn’t understood why Grandfather wanted me to come straight from the airport to work until I walked into my office and saw him sitting at my desk, going over printed copies of the contracts I’d emailed him earlier that week. I’d managed to get the company to go green, but he still preferred to read the paper version of things rather than digital ones. He said recycling was green too.

I supposed he deserved a couple quirks in his old age.

I walked over to my desk but didn’t ask for my seat back. I could stand while we talked. I took a sip of coffee and then began giving him the rundown of how our New York office was doing. We’d been doing this for so long that it was almost second nature to rattle off the statistics I’d read through again on the flight home. He leaned back in my chair and held his hands in front of him, his fingers touching, mouth pursed in what I’d always thought of as his ‘thinking’ face. He wasn’t looking at me, but I knew he was hearing every word.

He always did.

When I finished, I fell silent and let him take everything in. I might’ve technically been running the company, but as long as Grandfather’s mind was sharp, and he was interested, he’d be involved in any important decision-making. He was still majority shareholder.

“I’m assuming that you’re satisfied, then, with the executives and their vision for the new year?”

I put my hands in my pockets and leaned on the chair. “I am. They were prepared, but not so much so that it made me think they were hiding something. No strange firings, or accusations from employees. They’re hard working and expect a lot of their employees, but they also reward them.”

“Excellent.”

I took a deep breath. Even while I’d been reviewing information on the plane, I had this idea in the back of my head. I was drunk when I first thought of it, but it wouldn’t go away. Not until I’d examined it, fleshed it out, considered it from all angles. If it wasn’t feasible, then I could put it aside, but until then, it’d be like one of those annoying songs that got stuck in your head.

“Have you ever considered branching the company out to building businesses in addition to taking them apart?”

He raised one eyebrow, an annoying ability that I’d inherited but didn’t like directed at me. “Was this a topic of discussion at the meeting yesterday?”

I shook my head. “Just something I’ve been thinking about recently.”

“Building a business is a much different animal than dismantling it.”

I swallowed a curse and a sigh. Grandfather had his lecturing tone. There was no point in trying to counter anything he was going to say or even responding until he was done with whatever knowledge he wanted to impart.

“The company we have is virtually recession proof, as long as we do our homework,” he continued. “We control how things are broken up and resold. If no one’s looking to buy something that’s mostly intact, then we cut it up into parts people are willing to purchase. Sell the equipment for a call center as a whole, or sell off each computer, each headset, piece by piece.”

I nodded in agreement. I’d heard that speech so many times I could quote it, but Grandfather knew that. Something else had to be on his mind.

“When you’re starting a business, you can do all the research you want, but little things can come into play before you can even think. A turn in popularity. A bad review. Why risk it if what we’re doing still works?”

He honestly wanted to know, but a part of me still felt like a little kid getting a lesson in Running the Family Business 101. “I saw a club in New York that was doing well and thought it might be an untapped market here.”

“Boston doesn’t need another club.”

He wasn’t being dismissive, but I knew that he considered the matter closed. He couldn’t see the point, and unless I brought him hard proof to contradict what he was thinking, he wasn’t going to waste his time with it.

“Besides, we have another project we should be looking at.” He stood, picking up a set of rolled-up papers.

He carried them over to the low coffee table that sat in front of the small loveseat in the corner. I watched as he unrolled them, and then walked over to see what he had in mind.

“One of my contacts at the city planner’s office sent me a tip this morning.”

And now I understood why he’d insisted on us meeting this morning at the office rather than me giving him a brief summary of the trip whenever I happened to see him at home. This wasn’t about our New York office at all. It was about whatever plan he’d hatched.

“There’s going to be some changes made soon, and the prices of the property in this neighborhood are going to shoot up.” He glanced up at me, and then traced a space on the city map. “If we can obtain any of the businesses here, the property alone will make us a considerable profit.”

The reasoning was sound, of course, and I didn’t doubt his information was good. He’d built this company by himself, not even having my father to help him back when he was alive. Dad’s interest had only ever been in journalism. I’d seen, even as a child, how much it hurt Grandfather to not be passing down his company from father to son. After Dad died, I’d known that Grandfather would be looking to me, so I’d gone along with it. I had a knack for it, at least.

I studied the map carefully, taking in not only the area but the specific businesses that were already there. It wasn’t in the best part of the city, but it wasn’t in the worst either. With whatever the city had planned, I didn’t doubt things would improve there, so it would make sense to invest.

I tried to get my focus on what Grandfather wanted, but as soon as I saw what sat on the corner, I knew it would be perfect for what I envisioned.

A single story but with high ceilings. Zoned for business. It was large enough that I doubted the entire thing was a bar. The back was probably storage since there was no basement. It’d be easy enough, though, to make it all one open space.

Perfect for my own BDSM club.