prodigal

adjective

1. spending money or using resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant

2. having or giving something on a lavish scale

I had been tricked. Lot 114b Salem St, Mt Sommers City was not just an apartment. It was the Whole. Dang. Building... The Liberty Building as it was formally titled. And now it was mine. Because I didn't do my homework before I signed a legally binding document. If I'd looked it up on a map. Or asked a few more questions...

Wallace laughed and laughed and handed me a portfolio of the sixteen floor building, just to the east of the main street in down town. It was an older building that had been renovated in the last five years with a range of retail shops on the ground floor. Including one Library Cafe. I looked through the rest of the portfolio package. It read as follows:

"Developed in 1989, the Liberty Building was fully renovated to earthquake and national safety standards five years ago. The building enjoys four sided natural light, and 3 large, modern high speed lifts. Occupants include a multitude of professional tenants, quasi government bodies, and foreign business corporate headquarters. Each floor is 430 sqm, and many are already split into smaller professional suites. The top five floors hold prime rental apartment. Total floor area, 4878 square metres, including 120 secure car parking sites."

It went on to list the number of businesses situated in the retail space on the ground floor and in the office suites throughout the building. The tenants in each apartment were also listed. There were some big names there. Probably businessmen in close relationship to Wallace. The car parking spaces were even rented separately in some cases.

I turned the page and found out just exactly what it was worth each month in rental income. Wallace, or rather I, now that I owned it, was raking in a butt-load of cash. With just this building alone, I'd be profiting over eighty four million dollars. A year. Freaking eighty four million!

"Woah! Are you for real?" I looked up at my step dad, who had gone back to work after he stopped laughing at me. I frowned as he ignored me. I then continued reading and found out that the agreement for the cafe was up for renewal. I think this may have been why I was given this particular building in the first place. There's my the location for my new teahouse, right there.

The last page outlined all the expenditures for the whole building. Maintenance, security, lawyer stuff, insurances, banking details, and even though it was a large amount, I'd still be making close to seven million a month.

Freakin parental units. I've been jibbed! No only am I now responsible for this whole building and all the businesses and tenants involved, but I'm making just over eight times the amount my current business was worth, just in rental income alone.

"You could have warned me." I grumbled.

"Let this serve as a warning for future dealings. You really must do your homework thoroughly. Who knows? Next time, you may be ripped off instead of gaining a gold mine."

"How do I know that I haven't been ripped off? I know nothing about real estate or asset management, Wallace." I whined and sighed. "Do you have someone already managing the building? Will be be willing to work for me?"

Wallace then handed over another folder, and I wondered how many more of those things he had waiting for me in his stupid desk draw.

"This holds the contracts for everyone involved in the managing of the building. Security, cleaning, procurements, parking. These are all peoples working directly for you. You are responsible directly each and every one of them, including your building business manager. "

He then hands me another folder and another and another.

"This holds a copy of all the contracts for every tenant, business and private in the building. This one holds all the maintenance carried out in the last five years since I took it over and renovated it. This one holds the insurances and banking details. A copy of the financial reports for the last five years." I held out my hand again, sure there was another folder he wanted to hand to me. He paused, smiled and handed over the thinnest folder yet.

"I had an interior designer redesign the Library Cafe for you. The current tenants are very keen to retire and move on. The place is now yours. Godfrey August is the man to talk to, once you've looked over his initial designs. I heard from your mother that you were interested in a traditional teahouse theme for your new cafe. I gave him a call and he was excited to work on the idea for you."

"Is he related to your event manager, by any chance?" I asked as the surname August sounded familiar.

"Yes, brother and sister. They can work together to get your cafe redesigned, pull together your opening ceremony, and also help launch your new hot beverages brand."

"You do realise I have university classes to attend for the next three to four years, yeah?" I complained.

"Yes, and I'm sure you will do perfectly fine. Use the people resources at your disposal to the best of your advantage, and don't forget I am always here for you. Now, get going. I have an important call to make." He smiled to take the sting out of his words as he kicked me out of his office. I stood up just as the door opened and Patricia appeared when I was wondering how I was going to use crutches in both hands and carry out all my new folders.

"Thank you Wallace, this means a lot to me and my business, even if it is heaven's high-overwhelming for me right now. I appreciate all you have done. Thank you." I gave him a deep bow and he nodded his head. Smiling he wave me on out of his office.

Patricia collected my phone and files and followed me out, closing the door behind us. I turned to my older assistant and raised an eyebrow at her as we stopped just outside Wallace's office door.

"Did you know about all this?" I asked as I pointed at the files in her arms.

"Please elaborate, Ms Lily." She replied in her ever-stoic emotionless way.

"I just sold my app and on top of the ten million as payment, I was also given an apartment." I smiled a cheerless smile. She nodded, I guess happy for me. Then I continued. "They also gave me the whole building the apartment was situated in. I'm now the proud own of Liberty Building. The whole building." I watched her reaction closely. And there it was. A twitch of both her eyebrow and a micro freeze of her whole body. She was just as shocked as I was.

"I know, right?" I asked and hobbled away.