Page 12 of Drakhana's Treasure
Surrounded by people but utterly alone.
Eight
Rastus
The next morning I’m up early. There have been recent developments to the financial situation and I want to get right into it and slash my competition to pieces. It’s what I’m good at. I hurry through my usual morning tasks, getting into the boardroom with my laptop and coffee well before 7am.
I can’t stop thinking about Kirralee.
The normal routines do nothing to soothe me. I told her she would have to go back to the mountain but I haven’t made an official move yet. I don’t know if she’s waiting for me to call it or if she flew off last night. Even though it hurts me to think she left in misery, maybe it’s for the best.
I have bigger problems than misbehaving recruits this morning. Over the last two days ice dragon representatives have been moving in on my established businesses. There was a very curious incident at one of our restaurants where the plumbing burst and our investors didn’t want to pay for it. We sold it at cost only to have ice dragons immediately buy it out.
The location was a cluster of our own cafes and fine dining spots. Now there is a great big mess of competition in the center that is slowly pulling business from our sites.
Several real estate deals turned suddenly as well, great investment building properties that we were well on the way to owning that suddenly fell through. Shares are going crazy, some of our best income streams failing because of other buyers paying a high price and leaving us with nothing.
It’s a targeted attack by the ice dragons. They didn’t own anything in Vegas until a week ago. Now several groups have come from LA and set up shop here. I noticed it, of course. I didn’t like it but decided not to move on them. Initially, I thought they would never gain a foothold in my town.
I didn’t expect them to suddenly spend millions of dollars out buying us at every turn. They are buying everything far above price, enticing my partners away with cheaper rates and bigger returns. This sort of move could bankrupt them, but they clearly don’t care. They just want to weaken me.
The human side of our business has always been just as important as the dragon side. There are too many living in the human world now to just fly back to the peak. Some of them can’t, anyway. They’ve been in the human world too long.
The way they have been systematically attacking us, they will steal our investors, romance our partners and kick us out of Vegas within a month.
I grab my phone and text Kane, Zelena and Bailey. I tell them to get dressed in their smartest gear and head up to the board room. When they arrive within a few minutes, I’m impressed. I’m even more pleased that they chose smart business suits to wear and all of them look smoothly confident.
“I thought I was in trouble or something.” Kane mutters irritably. I slap the table hard enough to make him jump.
“Lock that shit up right now. I’m giving you the opportunity to make a big leap here. You can go from student to executive consulting CEO within a few hours if you shake that immature bullshit.”
He looks up at me with wide eyes and I address them all, pleased that Zelena hasn’t even batted an eyelid.
“I invited you here because we are under attack by ice dragons—”
“Where?” Kane yells, looking around.
“Financially, dear.” Zelena says boredly, looking at her nails. I have to smile. She might be too much of a woman for Kane.
“I have partners arriving in the next twenty minutes. I’m going to show you how this is done and introduce you as my associates. Your job will be getting out on the ground. I want you on your phones constantly, getting out to our businesses and posting about events we have going on. I want you tagging famous people and promoting our casinos. You will be escorting VIP clients and investors and catering to their every whim.”
“When do we start?” Zelena’s composure breaks just a little as she shows some excitement. I’m betting heavily on her as my replacement.
My partners begin to arrive and I nod to the students, who immediately settle and try to look attentive. I welcome my partners warmly, not minding their frosty expressions.
For the next hour I lay out my financial plans for the next month. I show them the profit growth I can deliver and the future investments that will grow from these improvements. When they talk about the new guys in town and the money they have been offered, I’m quick to shut it down.
“Sure, they are offering you big dollars right now. So, you sell your shares or your rights at certain places and you get a nice wad of cash. Who doesn’t want that? But you’ve destroyed your future investment. There will be no further returns. If these jokers are offering you higher profits if you stay in, how is that even possible? They are spending so much money right now just targeting ownership of the income streams, what’s going to be left for marketing and maintenance?”
It takes some time but I get all my partners on board so long as I increase investment return within the next few months. The partners all leave for an all expenses paid lunch and the second the meeting is over the students practically fall over with relief.
“I thought it was never going to end!” Kane stands up to stretch, his spine cracking loudly. “How do you keep your cool?”
“Not by being firey, that’s for sure.”
Zelena laughs at my joke, pulling out her phone.
“Can I get started right now? There’s a VIP client coming in soon. Is it okay if I get straight to it?”
