Chapter 17: Meeting With Leo King
The next morning, Violet woke up very early. Aside from it being the day she’d meet with Leo, she also had to start shopping. With the 25 million that was left, she could afford to buy a lot of things.
Although Violet had grown up in the city, she had never been to any major market before, so she had to carry out research on which market to go to. After doing that, she read the news for the latest updates on Jill and Jones.
Later, she instructed Jen to rent a car and told her she’d be following her around the city as her assistant, so she should wear something comfortable but fitting.
That afternoon, she heard the doorbell ring and went to answer it. She opened it to see Jen standing on the other side.
There was a weary look on her face, which she tried to hide behind makeup.
"Good morning, ma’am."
"Welcome." Violet said, and stepped aside, allowing her to enter.
After closing the door, she walked straight to her room, and Jen followed behind her, clutching a makeup box.
"I got the car, as you requested." she said, placing her makeup box on the table. She dipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out a phone. "And this is the phone, it’s the Solis Z10 the latest version."
Violet was now seated while Jen stood beside her. She took the phone from her and studied it before nodding in satisfaction.
She had asked Jen to get her a phone. She couldn’t use her old one, not only because it was old, but because it could be traced.
"Thank you." Violet said in a clipped tone, setting the phone on the table. "I forgot to ask, how good a driver are you?" Violet questioned.
"Quite good." Jen replied.
Violet noticed that Jen didn’t speak too much. She gave the necessary answer and didn’t ask any questions. Her brows were furrowed in concentration as she applied makeup to Violet’s face.
Violet wanted to ask if she was okay, but stopped herself. She reminded herself that she wasn’t friends with Jen, she was just her assistant, and getting closer than she should be was dangerous.
Once Jen was done with the makeup, she returned her tools to the box and stepped back. Violet was deeply pleased with the look.
She had become Kierra Adams once more. "Get the car ready, I’ll meet you downstairs." she told Jen, who nodded and left the room.
When Jen left, Violet placed her old phone into her space before walking to the bed, where her clothes were neatly laid out.
She wore black trousers and a white chiffon top with big puffy sleeves; it gave off a professional vibe but also made her look classy and eccentric. She accessorised it with minimal silver jewellery. Afterwards, she put on black heels and grabbed a pair of sunglasses.
When Violet opened the door to leave, she saw the butler outside, and with him were two staff members. After they exchanged greetings, "We’re here to carry out the routine cleaning." the butler explained, and Violet simply nodded before walking past.
Violet gave Jen the address of the restaurant where her meeting with Leo would be held. The Lux House was a building painted entirely in white, with a handful of cars parked around it, discreet, unmarked, the kind of place that didn’t advertise itself.
She had once read about this place. The Lux House was where the country’s top people went when they didn’t want to be seen by anyone.
Privacy was prioritised, so each room was properly soundproofed. Jen killed the engine and made to open her door, but Violet stopped her.
"Don’t worry. You don’t have to come with me. I have another assignment for you." Violet said. Jen angled her body to the side so she could see Violet properly.
"What’s the other assignment?"
"You need to find shops that sell wholesale rice. I did a bit of research and found out Bellrose Market usually has it. But I’ve never been there, and I don’t know when this meeting will end." Scratch that, she didn’t even know if Leo was coming. "If they have it, you’ll meet with the owner and ask that a large wholesale order be made ready by tomorrow, if that’s possible twenty tonnes each of six varieties of rice: long-grain white rice, parboiled rice, jasmine rice, basmati rice, brown rice, and glutinous rice. Also, get a warehouse ready. It shouldn’t be too far from the market."
"Why are you buying so much? Do you want to open a shop? If that’s the case, buying from Bellrose Market wouldn’t be the best option, I know of a place where things are sold far cheaper. But the only problem is it’s on the outskirts of the city."
Violet didn’t have to think about it, if she could get things cheaper, she’d be happier, that meant saving more money. But if it was on the outskirts of the city, that meant Jen might not be able to go and come back in time to pick her up after the meeting.
"But I need to know what you plan to do with the foodstuff, because a warehouse might be a bit difficult to secure out there. If it’s for a shop, it’ll be easier to get one."
Jen was just being curious and genuinely wanted to help. However, Violet couldn’t tell her the real reason. She couldn’t tell anyone she was stockpiling for the coming apocalypse, Jen would think she was going crazy.
But then, she also knew Jen had a point. If they bought from the outskirts of the city, what about the warehouse?
"The warehouse should be in the city, we’ll have the rice transported over."
Her plan was to store everything in the warehouse before moving it into her space. This was so as not to arouse suspicion.
From the look on Jen’s face, it was clear she didn’t understand Violet’s decision, but she didn’t question it further. She simply nodded.
"Just look for a warehouse today, we’ll go buy rice together tomorrow."
"Alright, ma’am."
"I’ll send you a text when I’m done, so you can come pick me up." After saying that, Violet alighted from the car and walked into the building.
With each step she took, the dull ache in her chest increased. She remembered the firm look in Leo’s eyes when he’d told her he wasn’t interested.
’What if he didn’t come?’ she asked herself.
She stopped in front of a man wearing a crisp white button-down tucked neatly into black trousers. "Good afternoon. Welcome."
"I’m Kierra Adams, I made a reservation here ye—"
"I know who you are." he said with a smile. Then he gestured to the side. "Come with me, your guest is already here."