It was 5:00 am the next day and Mr. Zho had me seated in a dimly lit booth at the restaurant.
"Mariah, I absolutely, need, need, need everything to go perfect today, the amount of money they're offering, could be enough to keep us afloat." Mr. Zho said moving his hands with the 'needs'
"Was the money we made yesterday not enough? And you didn't even tell me how much they were offering, I'm the one going to the meeting, why am I the last one to find out?" I retorted furrowing my brows.
After everyone left the restaurant yesterday it was a fairly normal business day, a few people came in here and there. But I couldn't wait for that clock to hit 8:30, I was extremely exhausted and so was everyone else.
Ethan, Camilla, and I washed around 60 plates yesterday, and that was just plates alone. I think we washed around 400 dishes if you include cups, bowls, and utensils, and on top of that we still had to serve the people who came in after the event was over. After all of that I got home at 9:25 had and to wake up at 4:00 just to be here now.
"No, yesterday's money wasn't enough, how could it be enough when we could have more? And what do you mean I'm giving you their address right now, that's enough information." He questioned, narrowing his eyes.
"How could an address be enough information when I could know more?" I challenged flipping his previous question back onto him.
He shook his head and ran his hands through his hair, pushing it back, "Mariah, Mariah, Mariah, Okay how about this," He sighed "The Casper's sent you a private car to pick you up from here, they'll tell you everything when you get to wherever it is your going, if you have any questions then... don't ask me, cause I don't know, all I know is the amount that was offered for the wonderful skills you have." He said grabbing and shaking my hand with both of his while smiling.
"I'm going to be pissed if I get murdered, you know that flickering light in the back, once I die I'm going to haunt it and yell curse words at you in morse code." I said, grabbing my belongings from the cushioned booth seat and walking toward the entrance.
"Wow look at the time, the driver that they sent should be here." Mr. Zho said lightly pushing me out the double doors. "Make me a lot Mariah!" He said, closing the doors behind him.
I stepped out onto the sidewalk and immediately spotted the car. The black SUV with tinted windows was hard to miss, especially with the muscular guy holding the backseat door open for me.
"Ms. Breaux." The deep voice said while nodding. I stepped into the dark car and sat down. Shortly after, the door closed behind me, trapping the darkness in the car. I really need a coffee right about now... and a nap.
I propped my head up against the tinted car window as we began moving. I took one last glance outside the nearly black window and closed my eyes.
—
I instantly woke up when the light from the open door bled into the car. How long did it take to get here? It was dark outside when we left.
"Ms. Breaux, we have arrived." The deep voice from earlier stated. He offered his hand to help me out of the car but I politely declined and hopped out. Once my eyes adjusted to the outside light I couldn't believe what I was witnessing right now.
Right in front of me was the hugest house... or mansion, I've ever seen. I walked further away from the car on the brick driveway and scanned the environment. The expansive front yard seemed to have gone on further than I could see with visible patterns in the grass. There were well manicured hedges lining the driveway of the already opulent entrance with colorful flowers placed strategically throughout the front.
I turned away from the entrance back onto the grand house. I was so distracted by the lawn that I didn't even notice the fountain placed in the middle of the circular driveway. The outside of the mansion itself was white and filled with windows, there were multiple visible balconies and pillars near the entrance.
This was one of the biggest houses I had seen in my life, did people actually live here? I didn't even know how many acres this place would be and I honestly didn't even want to know.
I guess I looked dumb founded because an older man in a suit walked up to me and chuckled, " I know Ms. Breaux I know," He said with a welcoming smile.
Similar to the other people here he had on a black suit with a white button up. His gray hair was slicked down and a thin mustache framed above his upper lip.
We walked down the brick covered driveway and passed by a bunch of bush sculptures, until we made it to the tall doors, the muscular guy from before came and opened the double doors for us.
I gave him a quick thank you and looked around the house...mansion... place? I still didn't know what this was or atleast what the proper term was, all I know is that it was massive.
The inside was extremely spacious, there were marble floors seemingly going on endlessly. There were high ceilings and sculptures adding elegance to the already beautiful interior.
A young looking guy came up to me with a silver serving tray, removed the lid and asked if I wanted a croissant, to which I delightfully took. I was so hungry and tired, I thought I was going insane.
As we walked further into the mansion I started to notice what everyone had on. Similar to yesterday people were wearing black suits throughout the place. Did these people work here?
I already felt severely under dressed, I had on black dress pants, black loafers and the brown puffer I had on yesterday, because it was still winter of course.
The older man gave me a slight tour of the first level of the property and wow, I didn't think this would get more shocking. So far on the first level alone, there were multiple spacious living areas, formal dining rooms, offices, stone carvings in almost every room, and even a library, all adding to its elegance and impressiveness.
I thought we were done until he led me to the biggest chef's kitchen I've ever seen, "Here's where the main kitchen staff work, I don't know if you will be down here though you might have a special place." He stated while looking at me.
A special place? this is honestly crazy, I thought I was going to have to make everything in my apartment. I didn't think it would get more crazy than this, "Follow me, they're waiting for you upstairs." He spoke.
We made it across the sea of marble floors and sculptures to an elevator. He pressed the button and the doors opened. There were 7 buttons inside the elevator but only 2 of them were visible. The other buttons seemed to have golden covers over them.
I assumed we were going to the second floor since that was the only other button that wasn't covered. Until the older man made a fist put his finger to the third cover, which opened and revealed a gold button.
"They even have magic here?!" I asked him, entirely shocked. The man chuckled before responding and showing me a gold ring on his finger.
"We use rings sort of as key cards and regular keys here at the Casper Estate, not everyone has access to one though." He explained it to me.
He then pressed the third button and the elevator began moving.
Shortly after the doors opened which revealed a level which seemed to be full of conference rooms, I was starting to get a little worried.
"The Casper's will be in the last room straight ahead Ms. Breaux, good luck." He said and walked back to the elevator which I soon heard ding and close. Once he left I experienced the worst stomach pain known to man.
I probably shouldn't have eaten this morning.
As I walked down what seemed like an endless hall, I made it to the frosted office at the end of the hall. I took a few deep breaths and reached for the handle but didn't make contact with it.
Maybe I was making this a big deal, it's just probably a small event. But then I quickly remembered how the "small event" from yesterday ended up having around sixty people attend. I can handle that, could i handle that?
I pushed the thoughts out of my mind in fear of being late and opened the frosted door.
I was instantly met with a circular table and four familiar faces. "Ms. Breaux I'm so glad you could make it, was there any trouble getting here?" The woman from yesterday asked and I quickly remembered her name was Nora.
"Oh, none at all, it was no trouble, good morning everyone." I said while nodding my head, I did not want to end up on their bad side.
"Take a seat please." Damon said to me, motioning his hand to the open seat. It seemed like they were all dressed casually. If this is casual it doesn't look like a big difference from yesterday.
I pulled out the chair and sat down. Sitting to the left of me was the son who I didn't know the name of yet, and across from him was Nova.
I didn't bother to meet her eyes, Especially with the effect they had on me.
"I don't think we've all had a proper introduction yet. You already know I'm Nora, this is my husband Damon, here's our son Noah, and you must have heard about Nova." She said, and as she was listing the names my eyes averted around the room and soon landed on her low gaze.
She was wearing a black blazer with a white button up underneath and multiple gold chains around her neck. I couldn't get over her neck, especially the tattoos. I was instantly pulled out of my thoughts when Noah suddenly spoke.
"I'm out, I have business to attend to but it was cool sticking around, catch you later." He said, glancing at me then walking out of the room.
"Alright, let's get down to business then," Nora spoke. I tried to focus on what she was saying but I was staring at Nova through my peripheral vision. "We need you to cater and make the food for an event 25 days from now, you won't be doing it alone, you will have helpers of your choice, the event will have around 150 people, and you can have all the creative freedom you like, we can discuss money now or later," She said.
"Now please." I whispered.
"We wanted to pay you 4k up front to get started, next week you'll receive 5k and once the event is finished you and the restaurant will receive 10k each, if any of this is an issue or if you had a different price in mind feel free to let us know." Nora smiled.
My brows were raised and my mouth was slightly open, was this real? I don't think I've ever even seen 4 thousand in person.
"I'm sorry, uhm, what?" I breathed out. No way they were actually paying me this much.
"We already added the 4k into your account, we'd like you to get started as soon as possible" Damon said.
"I- uh, yeah sure I can do that" I shook my head.
"It's Nova's event, we're only here for the business aspect for now, everything else and any other questions you have, please refer to her from this point on." Nora added. The couple got up from their chairs shortly after.
"Oh I forgot to mention you'll be staying here for the 25 days you'll be working, you have your own room, transportation, and necessities are taken care of.
Wait, staying here?
"Oh I didn't know I'd be staying here too," I said surprised.
"We hope that's okay with you, we can send workers to your apartment right now to pack everything you need up, and have it here within the hour." Nora informed me.
Nova has yet to say anything yet, maybe she's not the talkative type, I didn't really see her say much at the restaurant.
"That's fine, I'll get everything packed" I said, it wasn't really fine, I wasn't planning on staying here, that was overstepping a bit, but for nearly 20 thousand...
"Once again this is all Novas project, but we'll check on you if needed, have fun!" Damon added before him and Nora walked out. Closing the door behind them.
It was just me and her alone in the room, and I don't know why the air suddenly became thick, maybe it was just me.
"I won't have you do anything today, please get settled in, I assume you've seen the elevator, you'll be staying on floor 4 at the end of the hallway, majority of the people who work at the estate stay on floor 4 so please let me know if there's any problems." She said while standing up from the table and gathering her belongings.
Before she left she placed a velvet box in front of me and said "Please meet me back in this room at this time tomorrow so we can discuss the matter thoroughly." and then walked out the door.
I think that's the most I've heard her say to anyone. I averted my gaze away from the door and onto the table where the box was.
I slowly opened it to which a note immediately popped out,
To get to your room
It was a golden ring with a C engraved in it.
I put the ring on and to my surprise it fit, maybe it was one of those one size fits all rings.
I soon closed the box and began walking down the hallway back to the elevator.