Chapter 99

Mike checked his time, it was 7pm on the dot, his appointment with Margaret was rescheduled to hold by 8pm, so he had 1hr ahead. He had called her to get the address of the place, but she didn't pick her call. He decided he would make use of the driver in the hotel with the hope he would know the place. He had already taken his bath, all he needed was a return call so he would be set to leave. He brought out three different clothes to choose from, there was a big mirror in the room, so checking them out wasn't a problem. He wore the North African attire, that looked like the English suit, but the top was long. It went all the way below the knee. When he was fully dressed, he looked himself up in the mirror, he couldn't see the confidence he desired, so he pulled that off. The second attire was a suit, it was one that he hadn't worn for long time now. He dressed up, looked himself up again, this time he loved what he saw, but there was this feeling that he looked overdressed and too formal for such an evening outing. He undressed and kept it aside. When he put on the last of the clothes, he smiled to himself in the mirror and told his image that he looked perfect. At the time he was through, it was already 7:30pm. His phone rang, he hurriedly picked without checking. The voice at the other end was a male voice;

Hello Sir, am I speaking with Mr. Mike? The voice asked

Yes, Mr. Mike on the line. Who is this? Mike asked.

The voice introduced himself as the chauffeur sent to pick him for his appointment at 'D Maggie'. Mike took a deep breath, as he responded to him in a very calm voice, he told him that he would be with him in few minutes. Although it came as a surprise to him, he was happy that the stress of making the arrangement to the venue was removed from him. He checked himself once again in the mirror, confirmed he was exactly the way he wanted, then he took his wallet and his phone, left his room to meet the so called chauffeur. 

He had just stepped into the lift, when his phone rang again, this time Margaret was calling, he picked up, after the usual greetings, she told him her calling was to make sure he had spoken with the chauffeur. Also she wanted to let him know he should take his time assuming he wasn't set yet, as she had instructed the chauffeur to wait patiently for him. Mike thanked her and the call was ended. He got to the ground floor, came out from the lift, the next thing he saw was a man neatly dressed in there piece suit, with a cardboard paper. His name was boldly written in capital letters on the paper, there was parked a Cadillac Escalade limousine with the passengers door open. He couldn't believe his eyes, what a flamboyant temptation he thought, already some people standing by seemed to have been waiting to see who the limo was waiting for. He didnt want to attract much attention to himself, so he quickly got in, the chauffer shot the door after him, and turned around to his side. He greeted Mike and welcomed him the official way before taking off.  The rest of the journey was a smooth one ass listened to some wonderful tunes that came through the speaker.

At Paris, Mary called Mrs Hart and asked if she could come over for a chat, Mrs Hart didn't waste time to respond, she told her she would be on her way in the next 5 minutes. She went into her room and got a change of clothing, then she called her personal driver to get ready for an outing to Mary's house. By the time she got out of her apartment, the driver was already waiting for her. She got into the car, the driver moved. On getting to the gate, he stopped, one of the agents got into the front seat, he greeted Mrs Hart, then shit the door. The driver continued the journey to Mary's place. The car was silent except for the radio that was giving out the news update. Mrs Hart was busy thinking what might be the message that Mary couldn't pass through the phone. She was curious already, at some moment, she felt the driver wasn't moving fast, she had to tell him to move faster. She was sure Mary called her on issue concerning Olivia and her request to find out what the trouble was. 

They finally arrived the estate, the driver being a regular in the estate and Mary's house, he didn't find it difficult to locate the house. He parked exactly in front of the house, the agent came down first and opened the door for Mrs Hart. She came down and walked to the front door. She had just pressed the door bell when the door flung open. Standing there was Mary, they hugged each other before Mary stepped aside allowing her room to enter the house. She shut he door and followed behind her. They got to the sitting room, Mrs Hart wanted to sit down, but Mary insisted they talk in her room, so they walked upstairs to her room. She left Mrs Hart, walked down to the bar where she selected a bottle of grape wine with two wine cups. She can back to the room, opened the wine and poured some in the cups. She handed one cup to her and held one. They had a toast and sipped. Although in Mrs Hart's mind, she felt all the drink and protocols were not needed, all she wanted was to hear the message, but she held herself from stopping her sister in-law. 

When the chauffer had got to a T junction, he took a road that looked lonely, Mike could see from the side there were long trees and bushes both ways. There were no houses, he thought to himself, what kind of place he was being taken to. He tapped the button to get the chauffeurs attention, the man opened the screen that protected him from the passengers. Mike asked him why they were taking the lonely and bushy part. The chauffer told him to relax as he was in a safe hand and that they were headed to the right direction. With that answer, Mike relaxed once again, while the man covered the screen and continued the journey. Mike looked at the time, it was already 8pm, he wondered when he would leave the place and return to his hotel, he had to make up his mind that if it got too late, instead of taking that lonely road late night, he would rather pay for a room in the hotel and stay till morning. His mind being that it was possibly a hotel that Margaret scheduled for the dinner. 

After about ten minutes drive, Mike began to see some beautiful and magnifier houses, the kind that looked like the palaces in the UK and the Arab countries. The houses were distant from each other, he wondered why the people living there would choose such an environment. The Chauffeur got to one of the beautiful gates, the gate slid open just like his does in his house in Africa. He drove in, found a space where he parked, then he alighted from the limo, walked around to the door where Mike was seated. He opened the door for Mike to alight, by then there was a lady standing with a vase filled with roses, standing behind the chauffeur. Mike looked at her to confirm if she was Margaret, when he was sure she wasn't,he came stepped down from the limo, looking up and around the beautiful building. The lady walked up to him, handed the vase to him and told him that he was much welcomed to 'D Maggies'. She told him to follow her, as she took him to the VIP lounge, she offered him a seat and told him that Madam, being Margaret would soon be with him. Mike could not sit down immediately, he wanted to take a look at the environment, being a lover of nature and art. He asked the young lady if she would excuse him to take a look at the compound, if possible outside the gate. The lady hesitated a while but as Mike insisted, she succumbed. She then took him outside the lounge, following behind as Mike walked in front, she would explain each art work on the wall and what each block of the building stood for. When they were done with the inside, they moved out of the gate, this time, Mike saw that there were many of such houses around. It was then he knew the class of people that lived there, and the reason they do. There class was of different level and most of them were politicians, movie stars, musical artists, High level scientists and so on. They loved a quiet environment far from the hustling and bustling noisiness of the city, explained the young lady. Mike was nodding as she spoke, he took some good pictures with his phone to serve as a memory. When the lady felt they had stayed outside for long, she pleaded with Mike that they go back in as he needed to relax before Madam came down. She led the way back to the lounge, by then, another waiter had brought a bottle of Champaign and two glasses, although he had kept it on the table, Mike noticed he stood there waiting for him to return. Mike appreciated the young lady to show him around, he took his seat and kept his eyes busy with the news on the plasma television on the wall facing him.

Margaret was upstairs when the limo drove in, watched through the window as Mike alighted from the rear seat. She couldn't help but feel aroused by his presence. His choice of cloth made his body building conspicuous, she could see the muscular lines on his shoulders and his arms. If only she would be held in those arms she thought. She would do anything to get into his arms this night she told herself. She had thoroughly planned her game, the chauffer had successfully executed his part, by delaying the movement to the house, the lady that welcomed him had also done her part well. The remaining she felt wouldn't be a problem. By this time, some regular guests had started coming into the building.