Chapter 12 Miss Arya Croft

Just as they were concluding, a knock sounded on the office.

Liam jumped up, furious someone would interrupt.

But when he answered the door, he froze. Arya Croft, Vice-Chair of the whole Fire Dragon Corp stood at the door.

While Liam had met her on previous occasions, it was rare to see her now except in passing, being that her office was on the top floor of the same building.

“President Liam, Is this Mr. Andrew I have been told about?”

“Yes, Ma’am.’

“When you are done with him, please send him my way.”

“Well actually, we are finishing now,” said Andrew as he stood from the desk. “Shall we?”

And with that, he left the room to follow Arya upstairs.

Liam was ready to melt and felt a huge pressure leave with Andrew.

Upstairs was an impressive area. The whole floor had a clearly fung shui focus and Raya instantly could sense that it was well done. There was even a large waterfall feature in the center of the floor that fell into a koi pond. On one side there was a long glass wall for a large conference room, and on the far end there were two offices, one looked dark and unused, the other was clearly what Miss croft was using. A whole row of smaller offices lay unused along the other wall.

‘Seems a bit lonely up here, but she sure adds a bit of flavor’ said Raya.

‘Indeed, it is a bit lacking for life. Cough cough, and yes, mhmm this miss croft does liven it up, some.’

Raya only chuckled at that.

As they strode for Miss Croft's office Andrew struck up a conversation with Miss croft.

“so you work up here alone?”

“For now Mr. Andrew. However, Mr. Jackson made sure we established in such a way to allow expansion as you see fit. You should be able to effectively run the upper management of whatever businesses you chose to engage in from here.”

 Miss Croft led Andrew to the conference room where he plopped into a chair near the center. That is when he noticed she had the whole table covered with various diagrams and files.

“This, this is the layout of your Fire Dragon group as it currently stands. Our largest holding is the Dreadnought Investment group, but we also have a sizable stake in a small cosmetic manufacturing group, a majority voting share of a pharmaceutical company, and have a sizeable working capital thanks to Mr. Andrew's contributions over the years. Most of this is invested in various markets with significant returns. We are prepared at any time to jump on whatever endeavors Mr. Andrew’s directs.

‘Wow, brains and beauty. I might be in love.’ Thought Raya.

“quiet, you.”

‘what? I can admire a fellow female’s form just as much as you! Just because I am stuck in my heartstone doesn’t mean I don’t still admire the outside world. Your mind can be rather boring sometimes. Don’t get me wrong I am always intrigued by your plotting and scheming, but seriously, we need a little action around here from time to time.’ Thought Raya.

Andrew just blushed from head to toe. How was he ever to have a normal relationship with people, with Raya commentating in his head 24/7?

“Is everything alright Mr. Andrew? Is everything to your specifications and needs?” asked Miss croft quietly. She had heard Andrew’s outburst to ‘be quite’, but it had not seemed to be directed at her. How odd.

“he hem yes, sorry I was distracted. Yes, this looks like a solid base to start from. You have done well. I will soon begin our expansion, so this is excellent. Jackson chose well with you. For the most part, you will not see me much in the office, but perhaps we can begin getting you a few more staff. It would be good to have this place more used.” Replied Andrew.

Not going to be in much… Arya was a bit confused by this statement, as she had thought Andrew was planning to take over directly. Was he planning to be a hands-off boss and leave her to run things?

“As long as you are amenable, I will leave you in charge as the face of Fire Dragon in Durres. I intend to be out and about doing things but should you need my direction, or if there is ever an issue you feel you cannot handle, please be sure to contact me directly. Otherwise, I believe things are going to be just fine in your hands. My red general is the true head of Fire Dragon, and when she arrives, you can discuss more with her,” said Andrew.

For the next hour, they discussed investments and the structure of the firm.

When Arya was done going over the business and felt she had a decent idea of Andrew's immediate goals, she prepared to say goodbye.

“Master Andrew, do you have any personal needs?”

Raya in his head jumped on the opening  ‘Hint hint! Personal needs! You going to take advantage of that?’

Andrew just replied “ I am still only recently back in town. Much has changed. The payment method for one. It seems increasingly rare for people to pay with the king’s gold. I believe I will be needing a payment card.”

Arya was quick to pull out a file folder she had made for Andrew’s personal needs, and quickly handed him a black and gold card. It had an ornate gold dragon emblem on it and the Fire Dragon name in bold.

Chairman Andrew was the name given.

“Sir, I had this made shortly after we were established. It was issued by the top national bank and can be used anywhere. It is a limited custom edition, so anyone of note should all recognize this card and the firm behind it,” said Arya Croft.

With that, Andrew thanked Arya and headed down to find something to eat.