“Just promise me that after you see what I can do you will leave her alone,” Jesse screamed but Richard just smiled without saying anything.
“Okay, bartender, fill up everyone with whatever it is they are taking and put it on my tab,” Jesse said angrily trying to prove to Richard that he had money.
“Beauty, men like him hide in suits and have nothing.
Come to me and I will give you money,” Jesse told Macy who just smiled at him without saying anything.
“Do we really have to do this? Just let him go,” Macy tried talking to Richard but Richard wouldn’t have it.
“He insulted and disrespected you first.
Let him pay for it,” Richard said.
If it was him whom Jesse had disrespected, Richard would have thought of letting it go. But this was Macy.
He wasn’t about to let it go just like that.
“Is that all?” Richard asked.
“How much is it?” Richard asked the bartender.
“Three thousand one hundred and eighty cents,” the bartender said and Richard scoffed.
“Why are you scoffing, can you do that?” Jesse asked.
Richard laughed and produced his phone.
He made a call and waited for a while.
“Do we do any business with Rodgers Enterprises?” Richard asked on the phone.
“Okay. Okay. Take away one tender and tell them that it is because of their son Jesse,” Richard said and then hummed and hang up.
“Ha ha ha! You think you can threaten me with a fake phone call?
That’s Rodgers Enterprises.
I am unreachable by people like you.
You think you can make me afraid by wearing a fake cheap suit?” Jesse said in amusement as he sipped on his drink.
Richard looked at the twenty thousand dollars designer suit Macy bought for him and laughed.
In the course of his work, he had seen a lot of idiots but this was on another level.
They waited and it was almost ten minutes after Richard made the calm and Jesse was till mocking him about his fake call.
“Aren’t they taking too long? Come on. I thought you were better than that.
Why don’t you just give up.
Just accept defeat and walk away while I’m still leaving your dignity intact,” Jesse mocked and Richard didn’t say anything.
He was about to say something else when the phone in his pocket buzzed.
“Hello? Dad what…,? He didn’t even finish speaking before the man on the other side of the line started screaming at him.
“Dad? Dad, what are you saying? What Armstrong?” He asked and then listened.
He staggered and sat on a chair with a scrunched brow as he sweat.
He looked at Richard and then at the phone where his father had just hang up.
“What the fuck! Who are you and how are you related to the Armstrongs?” Jesse asked as he walked towards Richard with a menacing aura.
“I am a no one, remember?
I am in a cheap suit and you have all the money.
Just don’t go around annoying people you don’t even know.
And that’s how big boys roll. You are just a little boy. Take it easy.
And by the way, thank you for the drinks,” Richard finished.
“Why are you thanking me? I didn’t buy anything for you,” Jesse asked.
“It’s his club,” the bartender said and smiled at Jesse.
Jesse was left mouth hanging as he watched Richard take Macy’s hand and lead her out.
He didn’t know what to say.
He had been played and he fell in it with the whole body.
After Richard and Macy left, there was an uproar in the club while Jesse left in a huff.
“Jesse baby,” the girl, Ada, who had started the whole thing called him as she clung to his arm and Jesse threw her arm off.
“Don’t touch me and get out of my life. This is all your fault.
Why did you have to go and pick on that girl? She was just seated there taking her drink.
Do you think you own me? Never call me again, bitch,” he finished as he threw a wad of cash at her and left the club.
In the car, Macy was quiet. She didn’t know where to start since she thought that she had got rid of Richard but he had found her.
She guessed maybe he was visiting his club and found her just by coincidence.
“Where do you want to go? Mel misses you,” Richard asked her and added.
It was a trap and Macy knew it.
“Take me to the apartment building. I’m very tired and I want to get ready for Monday,” she said and Richard didn’t see anything neither did his face show any emotions.
Macy had already learnt that Richard only had one facial expression: a straight face except when he was laughing with Mel.
Otherwise, he would never be caught with any other facial expression.
They drove in silence until they got to the apartment complex and Macy just said good bye to Richard hurriedly and left.
She didn’t want to take any more time than was necessary in that car.
Richard, being a man who was used to reading people for a life, could read her well.
He knew the problem was from when he kissed her.
He also couldn’t tell what had come over him.
When Asher called him telling him of the game the people at the celebration venue were playing and that Macy had been asked to kiss anyone who walks though that door, he felt a fear rush through his heart.
He didn’t know why he felt that way but he knew that he wouldn’t want Macy to kiss another person.
He thus called May and asked her to make sure no one got in through that door.
He couldn’t let Macy kiss Any other person even as a joke.
He thus changed quickly, lied to Mel that he had an emergency at work and tucked her in very quickly and left.
He took one of the fastest cars he had and he run through a lot of red lights.
He wanted to be the one who she kissed.
And yes, he made it on time and when he took her lips, he felt heaven come down to earth.
He didn’t want to let go but when he felt that she was frozen in his arms and wasn’t responding to the kiss, he broke it albeit unwillingly.
He knew he must have shocked her and that was why he didn’t want to force her to stay at the mansion tonight.
He wanted to give her time to process it.
He also had an inkling that she would run away and that was why he asked someone to make sure she was safe and he came to Gemini immediately he received news that someone was picking on her.
He had even forgotten about the things he and the hotel manager had discussed.
It was about truffles.
Their hotel was renown for selling exotic dishes that were genuine and fresh.
Among then were French truffles.
They sourced them flesh and Richard made sure that they used legal means and that his hotel had the license to import them.
This was because truffles were considered endangered species and not just everyone could be allowed to import or export.
But his manager told him that someone had hijacked their latest cargo and the truffles that were to be sold that week had gone missing at the airport.
Again, Richard sighed as someone was trying to play with him.
He didn’t mind though, such useless idiots gave him something to think about when he didn’t have big missions to take care of.
He called May and asked for a Favour, and he “set up a fake auction for truffles.
Say that you will be buying them at a price that is two times higher than the market price.
Also insist that the truffles must be French and freshly sourced.
Two days max,” Richard said and hang up.
Since no hotel could sell truffles without a license, he knew that whoever stole his cargo wanted to sell then to the black market.
And what better way than to set a black buyer himself.
This is what is meant by set a thief to catch a thief and Richard was an expert at catching thieves.