Chapter 42 The Opening
Vincent
The Grand Meridian opening was tomorrow, which means there were a lot of things to do as both the CEO and chairman. First was a meeting with the board of directors, as this was our biggest project in a long time which was finally being commissioned, then a meeting with the financial department to calculate the estimated returns for our first night.
The events director sent me the lineup of events for the night, including the lookbook for my approval and the PR team brought the final list of guests and report teams that will be at the event tomorrow evening.
By 8 pm, I was still looking through some documents, the long list of paperwork I'd ignored due to the problem with the factory when my phone rang. Well, one of my burner phones.
I picked it from the table and recognized the number displayed across the screen almost immediately. Alex. “It's done?”
I could barely hear her above the music playing in the background. Seriously?
“Yup. He's probably placing a call to Derek already by now.”
“Where are you?”
“A club.”
“Come back immediately.”
“What? Why? I'm just having a little fun.” I didn't even bother replying to that and just cut the call. She knew better than to defy me, despite our relationship.
I placed the phone back on the desk and looked up as Kael walked in at that moment. He was with the cup of coffee I'd asked him earlier for with a large box in his other hand.
He placed it on the couch, then walked over to hand the cup of coffee to me. Black, like I asked.
“What is that?” He went back to pick up the box. “The dresses. Ethan called me to inform me they were ready, so I picked them up with the rest of the equipment on my way here.”
“Has she left?” I didn't need to mention her name for him to know I was talking about Ariel.
“Yes sir. Victor Coleman sent a car to pick her up at her apartment. It picked her up about an hour ago, by 7 pm.” I nodded satisfactorily.
“And things at the factory?” He brought out the first dress and handed it to me.
“Everything is good. We've rearranged the distribution system, corrected the first order error and begun operations again.”
“Hmm…” It's been weeks since the whole thing happened, two weeks to be exact and within that period, I've had to listen to complaints, spend an extra amount of money and manage the hit to our reputation. It was good to know things were back to normal, at least for now, till Derek gets back from his cruise and finds out his nephew got a little hurt.
I was anticipating the worst but who knows? He started this.
I peered at the dress in my hand. “Where is it?”
“In the bodice. This, in the corset wire and this, in this little bow attached to the back.” He raised up the rest of the dresses we'd come up with the great idea to lace with wire... or bugs. A little recording device that no one would suspect.
I peered at the bodice, still unable to find the thing. “And how long did he say it'll last?"
“Ten to fifteen hours. It has a good range too so any conversation between twenty and twenty-one feet, we should be able to get it too.”
I finally spotted the little thing, woven into the seams of the bodice and handed the dress back to him.
“Tell Darius to increase the security everywhere, especially the house. Alex has paid a visit to Rafael Malone, so it's likely we'll get a reaction sooner than later.”
He nodded. "I'll do that, sir.”
“Have you checked on Hollander yet?” I asked as he placed the dresses back into the boxes. “He's holding up for now and ready for the opening. The accounts should be ready by a week, just in time for the external audit.”
Great. I nodded my head again satisfactorily. It was important we passed that external audit. That would be the final leg in cleaning the money after so many years since we started the project.
“That'll be all then.” I dismissed as he picked up the box.
“Are you ready to leave now?”
“Not yet. I'll just stay here and finish this." I pointed at the huge pile of paperwork.
The opening event started by 6 pm and almost went by in a blur. Guests arriving, greeting them, taking pictures and interviews with reporters, and giving my speech. Everyone didn't really relax until it was time for the tour around the property.
I took a backseat for that one and let the interim manager take over.
“So…” I whipped my head around to see Marco beside me. He was dressed elegantly for once and looked just like her without that gloom the house usually casts on everyone. “This is nice.”
I rolled my eyes. “You mean to say this is a huge success.”
He smiled. “That also. It's just nice to know you did it. You didn't just start her work but you finished it and honoured her, even though you wouldn't just bring yourself to admit it.”
I fiddled with the glass of champagne in my hand, feeling uncomfortable at the unwanted emotion filling my chest.
“Yeah.”
He smiled sadly and raised his hand to pat me on the back. “You would visit this time though, right?”
I moved away and looked down the empty hallway of whichever floor we were on. “I don't know.”
“Vincent…”
“I need to go. It'll probably be weird if the CEO isn't interacting with guests, right?" He didn't protest as I walked away. I got into the elevator and tapped on the ground-floor button.
I don't want to think about it and I definitely don't want to feel these… emotions. I hate them!
Kael helped in forgetting them momentarily when he approached me the minute I stepped out of the elevator. “What is it?” I asked, already knowing something was up with the look on his face.
“It's Ariel. She sent a text.” He handed me the phone so I could read it.
“MC. I got a second meeting with General Yuri.”