Chapter 24

"Come in." Rayne said, sitting up in his chair.

His beautiful cousins sat opposite him as the opened a bunch of pictures on their laptop of the previous events they had organized.

"Hello," in walked a short bespeckled man, "My name is Walter."

All three of the cousins greeted him, "Hello, Walter."

"I am here to answer your questions. Mr. Slader said you had many."

Rayne nodded to a chair opposite the desk, "If you'll sit down. We won't take a lot of your time but we will need you to come see us whenever we have important questions. We are not used to this hotel or the events organized here, you see."

The man fixed his glasses as he walked through the room quickly and took his seat, "I understand."

"My name is Rayne," Rayne smiled warmly, "And these are my partners in business: Sasha and Leah."

Walter gave each of the girls' polite nods.

There was an awkward silence.

"Okay," Rayne's voice cut through, "First things, first. We need to see the main hall."

Walter raised an eyebrow, "The main hall, sir? You mean where we will be hosting the event?"

"Yes," Rayne said, "Any idea where that is and if we could be permitted a tour of the place? We need measurements and everything."

"A blueprint would be great," Sasha said suddenly, "but we can just take pictures if you take us there."

Leah nodded, "Organizing means first knowing the venue to decide on colours and size of décor and table placements. There's a lot that goes into a party, you know."

Walter looked surprised before he nodded.

He pulled out a notepad and hurried to scribble something down immediately, "When is the earliest you would like to know this information?"

"When is the earliest you can give it to us?"

Walter paused before nodding as he scribbled down some more words, "Alright. Please give me until this evening to formulate an answer."

The cousins looked at each other, silently speaking to each other.

Finally, Rayne agreed, "Alright then. As quickly as you can please."

Walter nodded, "And then?"

"We will take care of the invitations later," Rayne continued, "But we really do need to know how many people would visit and at what time. How long will they stay? I've noticed people who conduct businesses tend to… leave early. They are busy understandably."

Walter nodded and looked up from his notepad.

"I understand what you're asking about. Although many people attend the celebrations, very few stay on till the end and it is usually the ones who are young and close to the person being celebrated."

"I see," Rayne said as Leah hurriedly typed into her laptop.

"How many would that be in this case, Walter?" Rayne asked, "and would they be mostly girls or-"

An urgent knock on the door caught everyone's attention.

"Yes?" Rayne called.

A female attendant hurried inside and announced quickly, "Ms. Kane has requested that the Dearcrofts join her for tea. She is to be seated with her father and older brother and would like your presence to be there."

Leah's eyebrows raised.

How interesting.

"W-We accept the invitation."

Leah looked over at Rayne who looked shocked.

The female attendant nodded, "I will inform them immediately, Mr. Dearcroft. Is this office to your liking? Should I arrange for refreshments?"

"No," Rayne smiled, "But thank you. What time should we join them and where?"

"They are to gather around five," the attendant was prompt to inform, "And it is at the balcony dining area in the west wing. I will have someone sent to fetch you at around four forty five. Is that alright?"

"Yes."

"Of course."

"Sure."

The cousins had found their voice and the female attendant nodded before exiting quickly through the heavy door and closing it.

There was a silence in the room that Sasha broke.

"What did she just say?!"

"Why am I so nervous?" Leah laughed as she felt her neck sweating, "Why are we acting like we're going to our significant other's thanksgiving party?"

Rayne chuckled but Leah could see he looked ill at ease.

"Do we wear whatever we're wearing now?" Sasha asked looking distraught, "So casual? Would they disapprove?"

Rayne tried to respond before Leah cut in, "We can't just leave and go home though! Mr. Slader was already quite sarcastic in the morning."

"But wait," Sasha's voice rose in horror, "Will they ask about progress? So soon? Oh nooooo!"

Rayne hushed her annoyed, "Of course not, I mean. I don't think so… Would they? It's only the second day and that is technically. All we did yesterday was get introduced."

"This is just another introduction, right?" Leah sounded quite concerned. "I really don't want to be quizzed by such important people. Maybe they expect a certain level of speed!"

Walter cleared his throat and the cousins jumped.

Rayne yelled in discomfort, trying his best to smile, "Walter! I am so sorry. We forgot you were there."

Walter did not smile back, "I know. Should we continue the discussion?"

There was a long silence as the cousins let their feelings slowly and fully sink in.

"Tell you what," Rayne smiled when he straightened in his high chair, "Walter, you and I will continue our little chat while my two quick partners in business run a much needed errand."

He stared at the clock that showed the time to be one in the afternoon, "As fast as humanly possible."

He shot his grateful cousins a pointed glare.

--

Adonis Kane walked through his office, wondering what else he needed to do before his important and extremely dangerous mission that night.

He let his strong, toned body rest on his desk, his eyes studying the carpet on the floor intensely as he calculated in his head.

Yes.

Everything was in place.

The mission would go smoothly and any hiccups or unexpected events, he would handle.

Adonis had trained for years and had succeeded in every mission he had ever faced. This one would also be easy.

Glancing up, he saw a magazine on a chair in his room.

He frowned. 

Adonis' office never housed magazines or anything of the kind.

What a strange incident.

Leafing through the thing quickly, he ascertained it wasn't anything suspicious before throwing it into the garbage bin.

It was most likely one of Clara's many magazines. Maybe one of his men had picked it up when going through his own files back at Bruce's office at the hotel.

Clara had a habit of leaving her stuff around important business.

One of the models on the cover had blond hair and his mind shifted to what his grandfather had said about finding a wife.

Adonis brushed the words away.

He had decided a long time ago not to marry or carry-on romantic relationships.

The position he held was too dangerous to bring someone into it alongside him when they were ill-prepared.