The man’s face sharpened.
Ethan knew him.
“Caleb Reed,” Ethan said.
Naomi’s eyes narrowed. “As in Reed Meridian?”
“Yes.”
Lupita looked between them. “Is that another hotel company?”
“Private equity,” Ethan said. “They buy distressed hospitality assets, cut staff, sell the real estate, and call it efficiency.”
Naomi swiped to another document.
“Reed Meridian made an unsolicited offer for the Grand Regent Chicago nine months ago.”
“I rejected it.”
“And three weeks later,” Naomi said, “Robert signed the first North Harbor contract.”
The room went quiet.
There it was.
The shape behind the insult.
The motive behind the rot.
Robert had not merely been lazy.
He had been useful.
A hotel with discrimination complaints, staff turnover, guest mistreatment, deleted HR files, and viral lobby footage could become a wounded asset.
A wounded asset could become a bargain.
And a bargain could make Caleb Reed very rich.
Lupita’s voice was low. “So they wanted the hotel to fail.”
