Nadine Book 4

49. Ocean Vacation Here

A couple of days later, we're sitting at the conference table. My boys and me.

Dipak sits back. "We got the rest of the servants interviewed. Lifted the bans. Mary had to help, but it's done. Marcus has the underage girls. The servants were fitted for the dresses. We seem to be good for the ball. It's in 5 days, so we're not rushed. The paintings got hung up. Everyone's projects are good. The park and the school are being built. The advisor apartments and medical area are still on going. The servant area in the Nox new castle is being built. I don't think I'm missing anything."

"You're doing amazing, love."

Tre checks his notes. "The arena opening day will be a festival with races. It's going to be in 3 weeks. We will have real racers there in the evening. But during the day the guards will be racing."

"Can people still bet on the guards?"

"Yes, but it would be pointless. It's not like we can predict who would win."

"Don't tell them that. We still get 3%, and it's for fun."

Tre nods. "That's true. We think we have an idea of where that treasure map leads too."

Me and Tye sit straight up.

"We'll leave the day after the ball."

I jump up, so I can jump up and down, but I hit my leg on the table. "Ouch. Ouch, that hurts a lot."

"What are you doing, sweetheart?"

"I want to jump up and down. But I hurt my leg."

Tre sits back. "Come sit with me."

I sit down and he rubs my leg.

"That better?"

I smile and lay my head on him.

"Anything else?"

"I have to sort out the titles. Do you have an office I can use? I don't even need an office, I need a table to keep papers on."

"Use mine."

"I use it for other things. I need this one for papers. I have to keep them organized."

"You need another office so it can be organized?"

"Yes."

They laugh.

Dipak rubs his eyes. "The office beside my old advisor office is empty. You can use that one too."

"I need a lock on the door and the bookshelf sealed."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want people adding numbers to their totals for the titles."

"I see what you're asking for. Why don't I wall off the back corner of the sitting room across the hall? We can put a table and chair in it, with a filing cabinet. You keep everything in that. We can put a lock on the door. And everything is under guard up here."

"That would work. I need a lock box outside it for people's letters."

"I'll get you something over there."

"Thank you."

"Anything else?"

Tye sits up. "I want to buy the inn we stayed at. It's for sale."

"How much?"

"100k. It's got a bit of land beside it and behind it as well."

"100k is still quite a bit."

"Probably another 50k for renovations."

Dipak rubs his eyes. "Just because we have the money, doesn't mean we should buy everything."

I sit up. "Can he hold property and a business?"

Tre laughs. "No, I would end up holding that one too. Until he's of age. But I've been wanting to buy the Egypt inn for a while now. Dipak is the hold out. But with it being for sale now, I would say buy it."

Dipak stands up. "Let's go see it before you throw 150k at them."

Tre stands up. "Yea, we should probably make sure the island isn't sinking or something weird."

"Would this be castle owned or would Tye own it?"

"I would own it."

Dipak shakes his head. "It's the castle's money."

"No, don't argue. I want Tye to own it. With my business, the castle supplies everything. The servants make my products. It makes sense that it's castle owned. But with an inn, it doesn't make sense. The money is ours. Why make the castle the owner? He can own this on his own. He doesn't have to pay the castle any of the profits. He won't need the castle for anything other than the money to pay for it. But we have enough of that."

"Then he should pay the castle back the 150k. Like you did when you paid the castle back to buy your building."

"We have a lot of money, right, Dipak?"

"Yes."

"It's ours, right?"

"Yes."

"Why are we paying ourselves back? If we're smart about it and help each other, we can each start a business or buy one. We can make money on our own. The castle won't miss a few hundred k. Why not use some of the excess money to set ourselves up for life? Make our own money. That doesn't involve the castle. We can start something."

"How much is the inn you want, Tre?"

"Not for sale."

"Everything is for sale. Go ask how much they want." I glare at him until he leaves.

Dipak watches me. "You are taking your own money to do this."

"That's why it doesn't make any sense. I make money with my business. When I get to much in my bank, Tre buys gold and gives it to the castle vault. That money is mine, Dipak. Not the castles. If I want to buy something expensive, then I have to ask the castle if I can use my own money that I earned."

"But keeping gold in the bank isn't the answer. It needs to be vaulted."

"Then give me my own vault. Give us our own vaults. Let us do this on our own."

"250k is what they want." Tre sits down.

"Dipak, we have the money. 250k each and our own vaults. You lose your money, it's your own damn fault. You make money, you have your own vault to put it in. Nothing to do with the castle."

"You're both so young. Tre will be doing paperwork for both of you."

"We have to learn. We can't be dependent on the castle or you for everything. We need to learn how to make real money. We need to learn the paperwork. We might be young, but we have to start somewhere. Why not young?"

"I mean you are all young. How would you know if the island is sinking?"

"Well, help us out with that stuff. I guarantee Tye doesn't want to buy land that will disappear in a few years. He wants to make money too. If you see something like that, say it. We're not going to get mad if you say something is a bad idea, if you have a real reason. We're teenagers, we'll come up with a new idea."

Tre smirks. "Yea, in like 3.2 seconds."

"Fine, let's go see the island. 100k is what they want Tre."

We walk around the island for a few hours. Dipak spends most of his time at the bar. Tre checks property lines and their records. Me and Tye talk about the ideas we could do there.

Then we go back to the table.

Dipak starts off. "I talked to everyone in that village, I think. It seems the village is growing. No rumors of anything bad coming. However, the dock for ships is quite a ways away from the inn. I mean the dock may be an eyesore to stare at, but when people get off a boat, will they go by 3 other inns to get to yours?"

"He could put up a dock in the other direction. So it's not right in front of the inn."

"Docks are expensive to build. That would come out of his 250k. A dock alone makes no money."

Tre nods. "75k to build a dock in the other direction. And why would people dock in a spot that has no village? Chances are another village would pop up there and then more inns."

"So no dock. We add a door in the village with a sign that says, ocean vacation here. They can go through and be on the beach."

They laugh.

"Why not boys? The villagers make money, they need vacations. He can make the door, it's free. We can make a building that says 'Vacations' and they go in, pay for a night or week, whatever, get a key and go through the door. They get in the building and already have their keys. It's easier, no traveling to get there."

They stare at me.

"What?"

Tre closes his mouth. "That's a good idea."

"Oh, thank you."

Dipak blinks a few times. "Anything you found with the beach inn Tre?"

"Traffic isn't great. I think we already knew that. It only seems to make around 2k a month. And that's renting the rooms at 200g a night. But the location is amazing. The building is in very good shape. They said everything comes with it. So there would be no extra costs for beds or anything like that. Why would you need 50k to fix it? I couldn't find anything wrong."

"I have some ideas to make it better."

"Well, when it makes 2k a month, it would take you 8 years to make back the 150k. By then you would have to buy new stuff. So I'm not sure if it's worth it unless you could increase customers."

"But if we use her idea, I could buy another inn on top of that one. Give people another destination to go to. Charge them 2k a week. I mean, it's through a door, and they are on vacation. People will pay for that."

Dipak nods. "Some people only dream of being able to go to the ocean someday. They would love that."

"2k a week though, that's a lot for the villagers."

I wiggle. "Do like 2k for the 4th floor. The other 3 would be cheaper. They would be more accessible to the villagers that way. And you should put a nightly rate too."

Tye stands up. "Yea, I'm buying it."

I look at Tre. "You're ok holding it until he's of age, right?"

"Yea that's fine. Do your own paperwork. I'll check it. When your birthday hits, we'll move it to your name. It's only a few months. I'll start it. You can always come back with questions."

"Thank you." Tye gives me a hug. "Thank you too, babydoll."

"I love you."

"I love you."

Dipak stands up. "I'll get you 150k out. Then I have to make vaults. I'll put 100k in yours."

Tye kisses my head. I can tell he's trying not to cry.

"Tre are you buying that building?"

"Yea I am."

"I'll get you 250k out. The castle will put nothing in your vault."

"Do you want money for something, sweetheart?"

"No, I'm good. You can put 250k in my vault. Maybe I'll find something later."

Tre smiles. "I'm surprised you don't want the Paris inn."

"That painter doesn't feel right to me."

Dipak nods. "He told me he seduced the last queen. Got exiled from his village."

"Keep him away from my queen." He kisses my head again and cuddles me.

I give Dipak a dirty look. "So help me." I push Tye off and slam my hand on the table. "IF YOU BUY A WHOREHOUSE... I WILL GO WORK AT IT."

"EXCUSE ME?" His eye's go red.

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR RED EYES DIPAK. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BUY A WHOREHOUSE."

Everyone starts walking in.

Dracul scratches his head. "What now?"

"DIPAK WANTS TO BUY A WHOREHOUSE."

"I DID NOT SAY THAT WOMAN."

"YOU WERE THINKING IT."

"WELL THEY MAKE A LOT OF MONEY."

My eyes go red. I jump up on the table and take off running right at him. "I WILL RIP YOUR HEAD OFF."

He turns and jumps out the window.

"Sit back down, Tye. It's going to be a minute."

We go out the window and turn to dragons. I chase him all over, blowing fire at him. He's quite evasive. We go over the market, in the village, and they cheer when I almost hit him with fire. Then he flies back in his office window.

I fly in and blow fire at him.

He hides under his desk. "I WON'T WOMAN. IT WAS A BAD IDEA. THAT'S ALL. I WON'T DO IT. I PROMISE."

"Someone go put that desk out."

I change to my human form. "IF YOU DO, WE REALLY WILL GO WORK AT IT."

"WOMAN, DON'T YOU EVEN JOKE ABOUT THAT." He pops up with red eyes.

I turn back to a dragon and blow fire at him.

Him and Kane jump out of the way.

"IT WAS A BAD IDEA SWEETHEART. I LOVE YOU. I DON'T WANT TO UPSET YOU. I WON'T DO IT."

I change to human form and glare at him.

"I promise sweetheart."

I sit on Tye's lap. I lay my head on his shoulder and release the power.

I wake up in Tye's arms. He kisses my head.

I sit straight up. "DIPAK."

Tre winks. "Your dragon already chased him around, blowing fire at him. He promised he wouldn't and that it was a bad idea."

He walks in and I glare at him.

"I'm sorry sweetheart. You know I have stupid ideas. I won't buy a whorehouse. I promise." He kisses my head.

"I will burn it down."

"I know."

"After, Thora and I go dance at it and steal your money."

"I know sweetheart. It was a bad idea."

"Go sit down."

"Ok." He sits in his spot and everyone tries not to laugh.

I glare at him. I sit back on Tye and cross my arms. I notice that Johen and Marcus are here. Must be an Omar day. I think he's catching Marcus up now though.

Daddy wipes his eyes. "I love days like this."