The next day, Steven woke up and went for his gym session. He returned about an hour later and chatted Lena up.

"Good morning, my beautiful. How are you this morning? Already at work? I just got back from the gym."

Lena’s reply came almost immediately.

"Good morning, my handsome. I’m fine this morning. My night was fine too. Yes, I’m at work. And I had no idea you workout."

Steven smiled when he saw her message, and he replied immediately.

"Well, so how’s work going this morning?"

"It’s fine. Still working on the documentation from yesterday. It’s moving, just slowly," Lena replied.

"It will sort itself out. How are you feeling about it today compared to yesterday?"

"Better, actually. Fresh eyes help. I think I was just tired last night. What are your plans for the day?"

"Nothing much. I’ll probably spend most of it at home. Might take the bike out later if the weather holds."

"Sounds like a good day. I’m a little jealous."

Steven smiled at the screen.

A moment later another message came through.

"I miss you, by the way. Just wanted to say that. Take care of yourself today."

He typed back without hesitating. "I miss you too. And don’t overwork yourself. The documentation will still be there if you take five minutes."

"I’ll try. No promises though."

"I’ll hold you to the try. I’ll text you later."

"I’ll be expecting it. I love you, Steven."

"I love you too, Lena."

He smiled to himself, as he walked to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

He was still making breakfast when his phone started ringing. He stretched his neck and looked at the phone on the counter, and he saw that the caller was Hargreaves.

He immediately remembered their conversation yesterday and he picked the call.

"Good morning, Hargreaves," Steven said, turning the heat down slightly on the pan.

"Good morning, Mr. Craig," Hargreaves said. "I’m calling regarding the Buffalo Speedway property. I have the introductory calls scheduled with both management firms for this morning, as arranged. The first is at ten and the second at eleven."

"Actually," Steven said, "I want to simplify that. Pick whichever firm you believe is the better fit for the asset and handle everything on my end. Contract, handover, ongoing oversight — all of it. I don’t need to be in the calls."

A brief pause on Hargreaves’ end. Not surprise, just the particular attentiveness he brought to instructions that required him to act with full discretion.

"Understood," he said. "I’ll make the selection today and have the management agreement in place before the end of the week. For reporting, how involved would you like to be on an ongoing basis?"

"Quarterly updates unless something significant comes up," Steven said. "If it requires a decision from me, call. Otherwise, handle it."

"Noted," Hargreaves said. "I’ll keep you informed when the agreement is signed and the handover is complete. You won’t need to do anything further unless you want to."

"That’s exactly what I want," Steven said.

"Is there anything else this morning?"

"Nothing else," Steven said. "Thank you, Hargreaves."

"Of course, Mr. Craig."

The call ended.

Steven set the phone back on the counter and turned his attention back to the pan, with one less thing on his mind. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Delegating the decision to Hargreaves had occurred to him later the previous day. The whole point of having JP Morgan behind him was exactly this — having the right people in place to handle the things that didn’t require his direct involvement. Hargreaves had the expertise, the network, and the resources to make a better decision about the right property management firm than Steven could make from a parking lot visit and a document.

That was what the relationship was for.

Steven had no interest in being the kind of person who had access to that level of support and still insisted on doing everything himself. That wasn’t diligence. That was just inefficiency dressed up as control.

He plated his breakfast, carried it to the dining table, and sat down.

He ate his meal without hurry. And after he was done, he took the dishes to the kitchen, washed them and left them where they should be.

After that, he walked to the living area, to spend the rest of his day as he always did.

He had just sat down on the sofa when his phone started ringing. He looked at the screen and it was Racheal.

He picked the call without a moment delay, as he understood the reason for which she was calling.

"Good morning, Rachel," Steven said.

"Good morning, Mr. Craig," Rachel said. "I’m calling with an update on the Caldwell’s offer. Holt’s office reached out to us this morning."

"Go ahead," Steven said, leaning back into the cushions.

"His representative called about an hour ago. They’ve reviewed the offer letter and the due diligence package. Holt is prepared to accept the offer in principle. He’s not pushing back on the number and he’s not requesting a counter. What his team is asking for is a brief meeting before the formal agreement is signed. His representative described it as a formality, that Holt prefers to meet the acquiring party before completing a transaction of this size."

"When?" Steven asked.

"They’ve proposed Thursday afternoon," Rachel said. "Two o’clock, at his office. If that doesn’t work, they offered Friday morning as an alternative."

"Thursday works," Steven said.

"I’ll confirm with their office today," she said. "I’ll also prepare a summary document for you to bring into the meeting. The summary document will contain the offer terms, the proposed closing timeline, and a clean version of the due diligence findings. You’ll want to have everything in front of you when you sit down with him."

"Good," Steven said. "Anything I should know about Holt going into the meeting?"

"From what we’ve been able to determine, he’s straightforward in his business dealings," Rachel said. "He doesn’t overcomplicate things and he doesn’t enjoy having his time wasted. The fact that he’s agreed to meet rather than negotiate suggests he’s already made his decision. This is more about him putting a face to the offer than anything else."

"Then it should be short," Steven said.

"That’s my read as well," she said. "I’ll send you the summary documents by tomorrow morning so you have time to go through them before Thursday. Is there anything specific you’d like included?"

"Just make sure the closing timeline is clearly laid out," Steven said. "As soon as possible. I want that front and centre."

"For a cash deal with clean documentation and no financing dependencies, we can realistically propose a seven to ten business day closing from the date the agreement is signed," Rachel said. "That’s aggressive but entirely achievable on our end. If Holt’s team is as motivated as they’re presenting, they shouldn’t have any objection to it."

"Put seven days," Steven said. "If they need more time they can ask for it."

"Seven business days from signed agreement," Rachel confirmed. "I’ll draft it that way. If there’s no pushback from Holt’s side on Thursday, you could be looking at a completed acquisition within two weeks of today."

"That’s exactly what I want," Steven said.

"I’ll have everything to you by nine tomorrow. Is there anything else?"

"That’s everything," Steven said. "Thank you, Rachel."

"Of course, Mr. Craig. I’ll be in touch."

The call ended.

Steven set the phone down and picked up his controller, thinking of how packed his week was becoming.

He had a gathering to attend tomorrow and a day after that, he would be meeting up with Holt to sign the acquisition agreement.

Things were finally starting to move fast on the restaurant acquisition end.