179 Chapter 179:

"So, Ace, was anything found?", Samantha asked Ace, he shook his head, and explained, "Nothing really tangible, but do not worry, I am working on getting something soon, and while he or she is most likely expecting that, the timeframe will surely take them by surprise, for now, we just wait and react, without acting of our own accord. Take things slow.", he said, and she nodded in agreement, before turning to his sister, "And you? Any progress?"

She nodded, "Yep, I have accumulated all of it into files, which you should have already received, but if with all due respect..", she made a small pause, looking at Ace, before turning back to Samantha, "More than a few of my friends have made comments, a few even come out with full-on offers, of…", she looked at Ace again, and he stopped her with a slight motion, understanding what she was getting at.

"Ok, tell me who it is, and we will see how things progress, but they are not stupid, so we will have to play this properly.", he said, as he sighed internally, knowing that by the end of the summer, he would most likely have to do something that he was extremely uncomfortable with, however, he knew the necessity of it, so for now, he would have to deal with it.

"Thank you for meeting me, I have a few things to attend to now, but maybe… Lunch at thirty?", they both nodded, and agreed to meet Samantha in her office in half an hour, so that they could all go for lunch as a family.

***

Half an hour later

They met up and walked to the elevator, where they went down to one of the floors where restaurants were situated. This time, they chose a simple, yet classic deli, something that seemed like a mom and pop's diner, and well, they would be right, if they also guessed that mom and pop had three Michelin stars combined.

They served a variety of foods, but focused on more typical, and what many would consider simpler, dishes. And yet, not many could offer such a wide array of amazing foods, varying from an oven cooked lasagna, or a shepherd's pie. They were seated right away, and greeted by both chefs, before they took their orders and went to cook their food personally. It was a relatively short wait for their food, and meanwhile, they talked about how the Tower was doing. As it seemed now, it was a huge success, and it appeared that guests were wildly entertained by all that was available. By now, some of the guests that had come earlier had already left, and made their wishes known, that they wanted to reserve a spot for next year, even before the bid for the earlier and therefore better rooms in the Tower were open. Of course, there would be winter sports available, which meant that it was not simply something that was visited in summer, the winter holidays, particularly Christmas and the end of the year would be extremely busy, and many people hoped to get a spot already, even before halfway through the summer.

It was for this reason that expectations were good, and while it would still take time for them to make up the costs of preparing the whole island, the way it seemed, by the end of next year, due to the frightening expenses guests had, the money would equal out, and from there, everything would be profits. Of course, there were still huge costs of maintaining everything, and setting up all the next activities and so on. Regardless, this was made up fast, when considering the price of things.

Because of this, they were hopeful for the future, the ratings from people were sky-high, and the projections for future years looked good, as long as they could make new attractions. This was the least of their worries, however.

They had already gotten word from their informants, that people had begun to look for Ace's sister, and while she seemed totally relaxed, maybe even to the point where she could hide it from Samantha if they did not spend much time together, and avoided the conversation. For Ace, however, it was clear, she was worried by what could happen, she most likely thought that Samantha would not protect her once it truly came down to it, and so she was getting nervous, now that the 'enemies' had become uncomfortably close to finding her.

Ace had his own suspicions, though, as I am sure the others had their own, and that was that the hitwoman that had made her way to the island, Selene Harris, as she had chosen to call herself, had been looking for her, not Ace. Of course, the other two were not stupid, and most likely thought that already. Ace had been regrouping information, and once he found something interesting, he would share it with the others so they could pile all they had found individually together, and hopefully find something even bigger, maybe even make a breakthrough.

As the food came, though, they moved away from more dreary topics and talked about their plans for the future. It seemed that Ace's sister would stay with Samantha, helping her and Vanessa run the company, not that they needed much help. This made Ace relax, since now his sister would be under constant watch, and it also meant that he did not have to fly back every weekend.

Ace, would, of course, take part in the exchange program, as to where he would go, that was slightly iffier, but he had a variety of options to choose from, so he was sure to find something interesting. He had some initial plans, of course, but those could always be either postponed, or delegated to one of the many executives that would be more than happy to do his bidding.

***

"Thank you for the amazing lunch, I hope you have a wonderful day,", Ace said, as he smiled at the two proud-looking chefs, and walked out of the restaurant, an amazingly thick milkshake in hand.

It was thick as petroleum, and the former tasted just like the latter sold, wonderfully. He had a satisfied smile on his face, as he went up straight to his room, where he sat down in front of his computer, leaving the milkshake to the side, on a side table, on top of a coaster, that had his family's engraving on it.

He launched his game of choice, and looked at the time, it was currently 3:47 pm, which meant he could play for some time before he had to get ready for the party he had already made plans to go to with his friends. It was one of the many that had and would happen, but the special thing is that supposedly, there would be some sort of celestial event occurring - Ace had not looked much into it, wanting to keep it a surprise for himself, and so there would be a massive party thrown at the rooftops of the Tower, which could, of course, be accessed.

The party would supposedly be wild - not that there was much innovation there, but the importance was that they had used the opportunity to make it the first party to ever happen on the rooftop, there had been a few 'smaller' celebrations, but this was going to be the real deal, and no one could miss it.