Saving the Billionaire

2. Jace Alexander Pisano

/Third Person POV/

Jace was staring at the 10x10 inch pre-primed canvas, a Winsor & Newton deep edge canvas. The size six and size ten brushes laid out neatly by his side along with the bottles of ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow and burnt umber acrylics. He was inspired to draw a landscape because it was suggested by many of his followers.

As he stared at the blue, his mouth twitched. Often the bluer the painting, the richer the patron appeared. Most of them undermine the colour that blue brings out. Earlier the colour Ultramarine blue famously used to be more expensive than gold maybe because it was extracted from semi-precious stone.

As he picked up the size ten brush to apply a coloured ground, he heard the scream. It was so loud and ear-shattering that the brush slipped from his hand and landed on the floor.

Jace rushed out of his room when he noticed the commotion in the living room. Everyone was rushing outside, flailing into each other, trying to get away. He managed to walk past them and land on the edge of the bridge when he noticed it. The east side of the wing, crumbling down, piece by piece. His ears rang as the pieces landed on the floor with a thud.

He couldn't believe his eyes at sight in front of him. It felt as if he was watching a film on television. There was dust everywhere, making it almost impossible to see what was going on. People were rushing past him, but his eyes were trained on the building.

He coughed, his nostrils filling with the sand and dust particles when he was pulled back. Everything felt blurry after that. The last thing he remembered was seeing his childhood room collapsing and mixing into the ground.

***

A week after that incident, he was sitting with his stepbrother and sister. They have to decide what to do about the east wing. Fortunately, no one was inside that building when it collapsed.

Alex snorted, nudging at his sister, "I am sure the golden boy has already figured out. We are just wasting our time."

Jace tried not to get affected by the comment. He should be used to it by now, but it still stung. Their chief housekeeper was also in the meeting room, a deep frown on her face.

Alice rolled her eyes but stayed quiet. She was on his side. He knew that. Not that it was a competition, but it felt nice to know his sister had his back. After all, she was the only one he could trust.

Greta cleared her throat, "So what did you decide, Jace?"

Jace took a deep breath at the question. It was annoying how he did not want to involve himself in the family matters but always got dragged into it. He made it clear that he should not be held responsible in any way because he was younger. But no one liked Alex, so they always turned to him.

"I think we need to call someone and renovate the place."

Alex scoffed, tugging at his hair,  "Renovate? No one ever stays there. I don't see why we need to spend money and get that s**t building fixed."

Jace clenched his jaw tightly, trying not to say something he would regret later. That building was unique to him even though he refused to step inside. It held a lot of his childhood memories, and there was no way he was going to let it go just like that. Why didn't his brother feel that way? They all grew up there after all. 

"Alex! Are you serious right now? That is our childhood" Alice frowned, crossing her arms against her chest.

"Yeah right like that was a fun time for us."

Jace never understood the real reason why Alex of all people despised that building. He was the one who loved the most and had an entire floor for himself.

"I don't care what you have to say Alex. We should go with Jace idea and renovate it." Alice crossed her arms together, staring at Jace.

Alex chuckled bitterly, the sound sending shivers down Jace's spine. He abruptly stood up and buttoned his blazer jacket. Jace noticed that he was wearing his fancy tie as well, which meant he was planning to go to the office.

"Every single time" Alex snickered, his eyes narrowing towards Jace.

"I don't understand why I am invited to this Jace fan club meeting. Did I not make myself clear on how much I don't like him?"

Jace gritted his teeth, "It's not-"

"Whatever. Enjoy it! After all, it is your thing."

With that, he kissed Alice on her forehead and stalked out of the room. Jace stared at his back when he felt Alice touching his knee.

"You know he doesn't mean it, right? Alex just-"

"Hates me." Jace chuckled with a shrug.

Greta, their housekeeper, shook her head, stood up from her seat, "Let me know after you both finalise the decision."

Alice hummed and turned back to Jace.

"He doesn't hate you."

"You don't have to cover for him. I know him, and it's okay."

Alice sighed, "It's not."

"Let's just forget about it" Jace gave her a forced smile, hoping that she would just drop the subject.

And she did. Alice pulled her phone out of her bag and started scrolling.

"So what do you think? About renovating the building?" He questioned, staring at her.

"I am on board with it. Ask your assistant to search for an interior designer"

***

The search was heading nowhere. Because most of them knew about their family, no one was ready to come forward and work for them. It was painful for Jace to stare at the half collapse building every single day and not be able to do anything.

Another week later, he was able to get a hold of a company through **. Thanks to the sister. They were located in New York, so he knew that they would readily accept the project if he offered more money. As he scrolled down, he was impressed with their content.

He mailed them the pictures along with the address and his offer. As they were located overseas, he did not have to pay for the consultation. The one who readily agrees has to stay for a while and look after the entire process.

He was sitting in the Pisano building, going over the marketing strategies presented by the promotional staff. Alex did not take any interest in promoting or marketing, believing that their family name was enough to attract passengers. It made Jace want to pull his hair at how irresponsible his brother was. From the past few months, they were experiencing fierce competition with the other airlines due to their attractive advertisement, so Jace was trying to think something out of the box.

As he was going through the file, his intercom buzzed.

"Hello?"

"Sir there's Nia on the line from New York. Should I connect the call?" His secretary, Mila, questioned.

Jace felt his heart in the mouth at that. Maybe she was finally sending someone. He nodded his head, not realising that he was on the phone.

"Yes... please."

"Just a moment."

As soon as the call was connected, he cleared his throat, "Hello?"

"Hi, Mr Pisano. This is Nia from Bright Colours, New York. You contacted me earlier about your mansion."

Jace licked his lips, "Uh...Yes, Miss Nia. Are you sending someone?"

"Yes. One of my interior designers will be consulting the site and get back to you. Err...about the payment-"

"Shall I add some more?"

Nia chuckled, "No no that's very generous thank you. But it depends on my designer's opinion. First, she has to see the site and get a good view of it."

"Sure. No one has touched anything. They cleaned up the dust, that's all."

"Perfect. She'll be there in a week, so I'll just send you the details of my designer."

Jace hummed, "Okay. Should I make a booking for her stay?"

"Please don't worry, she assured me she would do it herself."

He would have asked his secretary to do it as they have few tie-ups in the city.

"Okay, sure. Just send me the bill, and I'll be happy to pay."

"That's not necessary. You are already doing enough, Mr Pisano."

He was grateful that after so many people avoiding his calls and pretending to be busy, someone was accepting his deal. But she didn't need to know that.

"It's no problem."

"I'll email you the details shortly."

Jace bobbed his head, "Thank you."

"Have a good day."

After he hung up the phone, his laptop chimed with the mail. Curiosity got the best of him, and he opened the letter. As the photo was loading, he went over the basic resume and information.

"Isabella Clark" He mouthed the name, staring at the details.

As he glanced at the previous project, she was involved his eyebrows raised in appreciation. The boathouse in Boston was her last project, and he had been there. As the photo failed to load, he slumped back on the seat.

He'll see her in one week anyway.

***