Chapter 3
Three days after quitting, I went and set up my own engineering consulting company.
Called it Northshore Engineering Solutions.
In my last life, I spent over twenty years grinding in the construction world. I had seen it all.
I knew exactly which projects were money pits, which ones were cash cows, and who was actually worth working with.
But the real kicker? I knew this city's development plans for the next eighteen years.
I knew exactly which areas were getting demolished, which roads were getting built, and which neighborhoods were about to become the next downtown hotspot.
That kind of intel? It was pure gold.
The company operated out of a small office on the north side of the city, about 500 square feet.
The rent came to a thousand dollars a month, and it was just me in there, with a computer, a phone, and a single desk.
Then I made a call.
"Jack, it's Michael," I said.
There was a two-second pause on the other end.
"Michael? I heard you quit?" Jack asked.
It was Jack Mason. We went to college together. He did earthmoving work and got a few excavators of his own.
We weren't exactly close in my last life.
But I knew the type. He was loyal, quick on his feet, just missing a partner who actually knew the technical stuff.
"Yeah, I quit. I'm striking out on my own now. Got a project I want to run by you," I said.
"What kind of project?" Jack asked.
"It's about the old neighborhood redevelopment on the east side. The official announcement drops next month, but I've got solid intel. Eastwood Avenue all the way to Riverside District, the whole area's getting demolished by the end of the year," I said.
Jack's breathing got heavier on the other end.
That whole east side was packed with old apartment blocks, thousands of families living there.
If the demolition really went down, just the earthmoving alone would be worth tens of millions.
"Is your intel legit?" Jack asked.
"If you want to know if it's real, take a gamble with me and find out," I said.
"So, when do we meet?" Jack asked.
"Tomorrow. You pick the place," I replied.
*****
I was busy laying out my plans.
Emily, on the other hand, was doing just fine for herself.
I didn't have to ask around to know it, because we still ran in the same circles.
She had posted something on Instagram: a photo from some restaurant, two glasses of red wine clinking together, captioned: [New life, new beginning.]
Linda was one of the people who had liked it, and her comment read: [My girl's finally living her best life!]
I just glanced at it and swiped right past.
I didn't feel a thing.
In my last life, a post like that would have kept me up the entire night, my chest feeling as if someone had wedged a stone into it.
This time around, I couldn't be bothered to let my eyes rest on the screen a second longer.
*****
In July, Richard moved into the house I used to live in.
One of my old coworkers told me about it.
Alex: [Hey, Mr. Cooper. Your ex's new boyfriend, Richard, just moved into your old house. Aren't you mad?]
I just sent back: [I see.]
Alex: [Seriously? You're not mad? That's the house you spent five years paying off!]
I typed back: [The house is hers now. She can let whoever she wants move in.]
Alex: [You're really carefree about this.]
Carefree?
Not really.
I knew how that house was going end up.
The east side redevelopment would going to roll into that neighborhood next year.
Demolition was coming.
But before the compensation plan drops, the housing prices there are gonna take a nosedive.
All that construction noise, dust, and the hassle of getting around was going to make life miserable.
Plenty of people would dump their houses at a loss in a panic like this, but I didn't care whether Emily sold. All I cared about was playing my own cards right.
*****
In late July, Jack got word through the city planning office that the east side redevelopment had been officially greenlit.
When he called me, his voice was trembling.
"Michael, how the hell did you know about this?" Jack asked.
"Ten years in this game, you start to develop a sixth sense for stuff like this," I replied.
"Come on, that's not just a hunch, that's insider info!" Jack said.
"Take it or leave it. Are you in or not?" I asked.
"Hell yeah, I'm in! We gotta team up!" Jack replied.
Our arrangement was simple.
He would supply the equipment and the crew, I would handle the engineering side and work the connections, and we would split the profits down the middle.
The first phase carried a budget of 30 million dollars, and the excavation and foundation shoring alone were worth around 2.5 million dollars in contracts.
That was just the appetizer.
Phase two and phase three would follow, along with relocation housing, road work, and new utility lines.
It was an entire business chain, and what I needed to do was wedge myself into every single link.---