His stomach hurt. The anxiety and stress of the situation rubbed him raw.
He really needed to use a bathroom.
“That was well done. A little dramatic, but… well done,” Lily said from the passenger seat.
“Thank you, Lily. Without you, that would have gone much worse.”
“Not over yet. We need to get our money first. But I think they’ll pay it all up. I imagine you might even get a phone call once they’re done, asking you to please not discuss the situation with their bosses, or why you asked them to step down. They’ll probably spin it as if they themselves asked to step down.
“For what it’s worth, it’s probably worth letting it go at that point. It’d earn you a win with those who remain on the board.”
Lily clicked her seatbelt into place and crossed one leg over the other. “Take us to lunch. Then we need to hire an accountant. I’ll handle that.”
Felix nodded a bit. He felt drained. He wasn’t cut out for talking to people. Slowly, he sat up and got the SUV moving.
They’d ended up not needing to hold that second meeting after all. Lily took care of the accountant that evening, and the books were cleaned up that night.
The rent would still need to paid, as it had been initiated.
He still owed the hundred fifty grand in rent, the forty grand to Dimitry, and the five grand to the bank.
The annual salary from the landlord’s job, about fifty-five thousand, would definitely help.
The bank debt could wait, as could the rent, since he was his own renter. He’d also get that percentage back.
The only problem was his debt to Dimitry. He had about two months to get that paid off or he’d be liable to get stabbed. That or be turned into a permanent debtor.
All of this was good to know, and hadn’t stopped Felix at all in purchasing a storefront that doubled as a home.
It was more of a warehouse with an attached front office, and a set of rooms at the top level that somehow had been zoned and approved as a live/work residence.
The front office would do the job of the storefront, and the warehouse as the “shop floor” for work. Which could be anything. Or even just housing purchases.
The neighborhood was decent and seemed on the lower side of middle income. There’d be no problems with clients being afraid to visit. Nor would there be access issues, since it was right off the freeway exit.
No, the biggest problem would be spreading the word. Advertising. They wouldn’t be able to purchase ads or anything like that.
It’d cost him almost every penny he’d made from the landlord back payments, and the gold he’d been turning into cash.
Now, though, now he could really start to make money. Everything he did here, he could also disguise and legitimately pay taxes on.
First, he’d need to transmute a few lead weights into gold over a few days. That’d be the seed money to build up his pawn shop purchasing.
Then he could start converting that quickly and easily into items. Items into sales.
Word would spread quickly about a pawn shop that bought almost anything.
Hell, in this day and age, in a month he could have an online store open to sell everything he bought locally.
That’d have to wait for another day, though. Today was moving day. They’d spent some time making sure only items that he owned went with them.
The rest of the furniture they’d had to buy from wherever they could get the right piece for the right price.
Miu had been ideal to take with him on those trips. She had a knack for getting people to accept less than they wanted.
Andrea had offered herself up as the moving team. There was now something like two hundred Andreas running around the rear delivery entrance and throughout the building. Felicia was acting as floor supervisor for them and directing them as they needed.
They’d backed up a moving truck into one of the loading bays and let her have at it. In return, she’d been allowed full control of her power for the day.
Most of them were exactly like Andrea Prime, though there were a few who were clearly very different.
They carried themselves differently, spoke in a different tone of voice, or even responded in a different fashion to the rest. They’d look right at a sudden noise, and one would cower and take cover.
Ioana had simply followed him around, dressed up in leather biker clothes. He wasn’t sure when and where she’d gotten it, but the hilt of a long sword angled out from her hip.
Now that he thought about it, everyone was running around today in clothes and things he knew he hadn’t purchased
“Ioana?” Felix asked, turning to look at his escort.
“Mm?” grunted the warrior. Her eyes swept the street up one side and down the other.
“Where’d you get the sword? In fact, where did everyone get all these clothes? I don’t recognize any of it. I’m not mad, only curious.”
Felix looked back to the storefront where Miu, Kit, and Lily were setting up the interior of the store.
Ioana met his eyes and then gave him a feral grin. “We raided our own safe houses. Whatever they did to us, we didn’t give them the safe house locations. Bank accounts are cleaned out, though.”
Didn’t trust me enough to tell me, and I didn’t think to ask about it.
“Probably got that through your bank cards. I imagine they probably raided your homes,” Felix said with a sigh.
“You think this’ll work?” Ioana asked him, throwing a thumb at the building.
“Can’t be any worse than what we were doing. Not to mention, I didn’t want to sit around and wait for things to change.
“No, playing it slow up to this point was excruciating. It’s time to make it work on my own terms.”
Ioana turned her head back to the street, watching it. “Good. The bold live more freely, even if with less time.”
Chapter 9 - Changes -
Felix flipped the vase over in his hand. Then he viewed it with his hypothetical ownership window.
Name: Imitation 19th century glass vase
Created In: 2013
Appraised Value: $10.00
Created By: Frank Putz
Actual Value: $10.00
Condition:Lightly worn
Asking Price: $3,200.00
Durability: 90/100
Mint Price: $12.00
Cost to Repair: 50 points
Shaking his head, Felix pushed the vase across the countertop. “I’ll give you ten for it, and that’s because I can probably resell it for twenty. It’s fake. Sorry.”
“What? You can’t possibly know that, if you—” started to complain the man who owned the vase.
“Sorry, not interested in it for anything more than ten. Is there anything else I can help you with?” Felix leaned onto the glass counter and looked around the shopfront.
The man grumbled, and walked out without another word.
Ioana opened the door for him, watching him with a hawk-like stare as he passed.
Kit, Lily, and Miu were working the shop counters. Andrea was working with Felicia in the back.
Felix was on appraisal duty. Kit had once again provided him with insight into his own power he didn’t realize he had. Rather than focusing on the upgrade and material aspect of his power, she had him focus on the ownership and item side of it.
Now he was an antique appraiser with an instant turnaround and perfect accuracy.
Word had spread about the eccentric pawn shop that had an employee who could appraise anything in minutes.
They now charged a small fee for his time, but provided no documentation. At least not yet.
Lily was working on that.
Sure is nice having a lawyer on the team.
Felix let his eyes wander over to Lily while thinking about her. He’d lucked out so far. Everyone he’d picked up had their own area of influence and ability.