Raise The Price

by Mark Stanley

  "I am comforted by that promise as I am after meeting you both. I feel that the four children will be very lucky to have an adoptive parent, with your love, courage and compassion and I unhesitatingly will approve, sign and seal the Order as of now."

  Victoria reached across and squeezed my hand as the Judge did the necessary paperwork and got his Clerk to witness before he handed the papers across to us.

  "Thank you for coming in, I've found it to be as enlightening as I expected. Lady Stanley, for someone of your tender years I find the maturity and eloquence that you show to be uplifting and you Lord Stanley are a quite remarkable man and I think, if the rumours prove true, that you will make a very fine Prime Minister but do try and stay safe Sir. Goodbye."

  We walked outside and into the noisy London traffic holding hands and I turned, now that we were out of the earshot of the Court, hugging my wife and then I kissed her which elicited a honk from a black cab and a shout of. "Get a room!" Victoria laughed, took my hand as we walked the short distance to 'The Delaunay' , for a celebratory lunch.

  After lunch, we went to see one of Victoria's new charity initiatives.

  "Wow, they've opened!"

  We were standing in front of 'The Parade'. The crescent of boarded up shops that Victoria had purchased sometime ago and now...we stood outside and the transformation was astounding. Gone were all of the boarded up shop windows, they had all been refurbished and what a transformation.

  "Where did you find the tenants?"

  "Giles and Ludo have been very instrumental in making this happen. They took on the project to shell and coring the units and then Ellie did the Corporate design that will always stay overall, but each unit can have a design, within the design, do you see?"

  "I see very well. I love the whole feel of quality that's been achieved. I think that the mix looks good as well, can we go inside?"

  Victoria took my hand and we went into each of the units. Some had been extended into another unit but they were all so correct.

  "Where did you find the tenants?"

  "Ludo was adamant that we shouldn't go with the big brands as Mount Street has done and I agreed. I always wanted a mix, but primarily real artisans, people that could not only succeed in the area but could go and be bigger and better and so I roughly divided the shops in half, one half for the artisans and the other for proper shopkeepers, the sort that used to exist in Mayfair but have been driven out by rents?"

  We walked into the most beautiful shop, the window dressed impeccably with the sexiest shoes I have ever seen. I picked one up and looked at the craftsmanship it was made of the most beautiful leather and the finish? I'd never seen better.

  "Mark, this is Sophie Isabel the owner?"

  A rather plain girl, with a dazzling smile, stood in front of me. "How do you do? Can I say I think that you're shoes are just stupendous?"

  We, three chatted as we were shown the process that each shoe went through, from the arrival of the hides, to the cutting and the sewing, through to the polishing and the finished article.

  "Do you do everything here?"

  "Yes everything apart from the dying which is done by specialists in East London."

  There were four people in the rear area, all visible to passers-by which was really unusual but an excellent idea, as people could browse and see how the shoes are made.

  "The shoes look…expensive?"

  "Sadly it's a fact of life, you can't achieve what I wish to achieve and sell the shoes at twenty pounds a pair. We use the finest hides coupled with the finest craftsmen and that all comes at a price the shoes start at four hundred and fifty pounds a pair."

  "Where do you get the hides?"

  "From my Uncles back in Spain?"

  "So from birth to the grave and then you turn them into something that's far more beautiful than any cow. Where did you find Sophie?"

  "I went to the London College of Fashion and met some of the students, Sophie being one. They were so good Mark, I could have taken half a dozen but in the end I took just Sophie and the guy at the end of the row who I'll introduce you to later."

  "How's business Sophie?"

  She exhaled before she answered. "Exhausting, we have orders and we're struggling to fulfil them but Victoria secured us another workshop in Margaret Street and once it's ready, which should be by the end of this month we can start to market the shoes more widely."

  "I think you need to look at the marketing very carefully for you have a product which is very beautiful and I don't think that you want to cheapen the brand by pushing it into mainline retailers or boutiques? If it were me, I'd look at growing the business organically by word of mouth and keeping the exclusivity, Victoria can help immensely, she has lots of very wealthy girlfriends who will adore having something that's not on the high street and they will pay a premium for that exclusivity? Once the word gets around and Victoria is seen wearing them at her next Vogue shoot the orders will be the least of your problems."

  "See, I told you he would solve the problem about which way to go!"

  We went to see the women's dress designer, with his name over the entrance 'Theo Blake' . He was also equally impressive, but had a business plan that he was following and is very driven to succeed. I liked him a lot as I did all of the other tenants and I thought the mixture of artisans along with the ubiquitous coffee shop, general store and suchlike, were an excellent mix. There was also a fantastic flower arranger or as Victoria corrected me a 'flowerologist', what a load of bollocks. I was most surprised to see my old barber had returned.

  "Mark! Sorry, Lord Mark."

  "No Gary it’s still Mark to old friends. How are you? I thought when they got rid of you from down the road that would be it?"

  "Your wife tracked me down, working for another barbers in Cricklewood and when she offered me the chance of opening here, well I couldn't turn it down. I hope that you'll be coming back? In fact you need a cut now!"

  "I keep my hair a little longer now as I have a bit of a problem?"

  His face lost its smile. "I know, let me have a look and see if I can suggest something?"

  "How did you manage to track Gary down?"

  "I have contacts too Billy and it wasn't too difficult, after all good barbers are few and far between and by the way, he has made a terrific job of restyling your big head!"

  I laughed. "How much is all of this costing?"

  "Rent free for five years but we take forty percent of the profits?"

  "Didn't answer the question, how much is it costing?"

  "Leaving out the purchase, the refurbishments cost a little over two million and the underwriting will add another million in the first year, but hopefully reducing from then on and finally break even by year six."

  "That's all manageable, let's hope they're all successes."

  "A profit would be great but just to start to reinvigorate the area and offer alternatives will be a start."

  "I agree, but I think we should look at buying up some of the other properties, then they can be refurbished and eventually, when we have enough, we can make the whole appearance match the vision that we hold."

  The month was running away from me again and I knew that June was going to be crazy so it was very important to try and cover as much ground with the business as was possible, during May. The new appointments were working out really well, except for me, I had a temporary PA who was really nice and really sweet but not very useful and so I was spending huge chunks of the working day searching for stuff which Felicity would have laid on the desk in front of me before I knew I needed it, still I'd survive. Felicity had taken it on herself to find the permanent replacement and I had left her to it because as she had told me on numerous occasions, I'm a difficult son of a bitch to second guess.

  "Markey Mark, getting hold of you is proving increasingly difficult and you never return calls!"

  "That's rubbish Robert, when did you leave a message?"

  "Everyday over the last week?"

&n
bsp; I looked down at the calls I missed and I couldn't see...

  "Have you been telling my PA you're Bobby?

  "Yeah, it's a bit friendlier than Robert."

  "Well you're a prat because I don't know a Bobby and so that's why I haven't got back to you!"

  "Leaving that aside, did you see her?"

  "Who?"

  "The fucking 'Lady Victoria'!

  "Ah, the horse, yes I did, looked quite good didn't she?"

  "I should fucking well hope so, you paid one point two million for her!"

  "Frankel's first few crops were always going to be expensive, but she's breed to be good, Bobby."

  "Well breeding and ability don't always go hand in hand, look at you. Anyway with her in the Queen Mary, Carlyle Beau, in the Royal Hunt Cup and Nipper in the Prince of Wales, I think you're going to have a bloody wonderful Royal Ascot!"

  "With the amount of money we've invested I do hope so, after all there are some well established trainers chomping at the bit to be sent some of our next purchases.

  "You wouldn't. Would you?"

  "No probably not although when you keep ragging me I'm sorely tempted."

  "Victoria would never forgive you."

  "She might, if I said, that you had said that she's looking a little fat."

  "But I would never say such a thing."

  "She doesn't know that."

  "You haven't forgotten, we're going to your parents this weekend?"

  "No I haven't forgotten is everything arranged?"

  This was a mistake. Not a cataclysmic mistake, but still a mistake. Victoria gave me the look the one that causes rising anxiety to anyone receiving it. No words follow, they never do. She holds the look, for a full five seconds and then, usually turns and moves away, unless it's me, where she hits me.

  "Ow! Don't hit me, I'm sorry okay?"

  "Steven? Is everything arranged for this weekend celebrations?" I had sought out, our Mister Fix-It because that's his job and he wouldn't hit me. He smiled, well he would.

  "Yes Lord Mark. Everything's arranged, marquee, caterers, motor homes, all under control. They're erecting the marquee on Thursday and then everything else will follow on."

  "Excellent and my sister will arrive on Thursday as well?"

  "Yes Lord Mark, she and her family will land around 10am, before being flown up, landing at approximately 10.45am."

  I should have asked him originally and saved another bruise. The logistics for the family were more and more onerous and that was without trying to arrange a surprise party, hence Steven. When we travel en famille, we do so with, two parents, six children, two nannies, two PA’s, one concierge, four members of the household staff and sixteen close protection officers and that's only for a short trip.

  Getting my parents to spend some time away from the farm had been more difficult to achieve and in the end I'd had to enlist some of their friends to ensure that it succeeded. Now they would return home late on Saturday afternoon in time for the party. My parents had been born within two days of each other, my Father's 70th birthday was on Thursday and my Mothers on Saturday, it's also their 50th wedding anniversary on Sunday, my parents like to get celebrations over with quickly.

  Before all of this happens, there's still work to be done and now that Charles had been banished, there's a much bigger company than MSP to look after. Brompton Estates are a slightly different beast as they are primarily landlords, rarely do they sell property as they are in it for the long term. Therefore, the staff they employ are less creative than those employed at MSP. They have lots of people with a numbers background, whether they are accountants, money men or asset property managers. This lends itself to a more studious environment, with everything having its own profit and loss column although the loss columns were devoid of activity. Even here the hand of Charles had lain and although a more natural company for his own expertise than MSP, the atmosphere was still lightened by his departure. Today I was in the domain of Brompton's, accompanied by Giles and Ludo as we looked through the latest progress reports on the biggest development to date, South Audley Street. This had been commenced almost two years ago by Victoria and was her baby, well before she left to have her own babies but it still remained very close to her and so we all wanted it to be a huge success. It was now entering the polishing stage, the stage that, if done well and you could be assured it would be done well, will get the figures that we're looking for. At the outset, Victoria had hoped that it would realise £850 million, leasehold of course, so that Brompton's retain the freehold. This figure was for selling for ninety four apartments and seven town houses and now? Well that's what we were sorting out today.

  "Are you sure Ludo?"

  "I am the recently retired Maestro of Estate Agents is I not? Yet you have the temerity and gall to question whether I'm sure? Have I ever been wrong old boy?"

  I didn't need to think about that question, he was many things and some of them are so wrong but in property, not on my watch.

  "Giles?"

  "Out of my pay grade Mark, I only build them; I leave the figures to Maestro's!"

  It gave us all a chuckle.

  "Then that's it, let's give them to the agents and see how they get on. How long before they're all sold Ludo?"

  "Well if it were me doing the selling, and sadly it isn't, but if it were, they would already be sold old boy but with the vagabonds that we're now forced to use...less than a week."

  "Really? Perhaps we should add a few more pennies?"

  "Haven't I been saying that for the last hour?"

  At the end, when we had massaged the prices, again, we left it to our own people to tell the agents and retired to The Wolseley for a well deserved lunch.

  "So old man, got rid of Charlie Boy, rather sharpish?"

  "I wasn't left with very many options. It wasn't only you two who were finding him...difficult, Victoria had been aware of dissension at Brompton's and so it couldn't continue, but nor did I want to lose him as a friend and despite everything, he can offer excellent counsel."

  "He's a smart man Mark, it's just that he came from a big corporate background and couldn't moderate that with either company."

  "I know Giles and that's why I've sent him back to the Corporate World, for the UN is his playground, there may be ructions, there may be diplomatic incidents, but he'll do well there, mark my words."

  "So Billy, what are we doing now?"

  "Well, with all of the children, settled and a calm house, I thought that you could entertain me?"

  "Really? Por qué ?

  "Why you ask? Well I shall tell you. Two years ago when you lured me into your office and then presented me with your vision of South Audley Street, you asked what I thought it would achieve."

  She smiled as she remembered the discussion. "I did Billy and I said £850 million and you said something like..." And tried her best deep voiced impression. "Oh no child. If you manage it right it'll be over a billion." She coughed and sipped some water as the impression had irritated her vocal cords.

  "Mm, you don't improve on the impression front and if I actually had said child, I can imagine the repercussions."

  "True, but do get on with it Billy, I'm getting revved up, thinking about how best to entertain you."

  "Well, with my superlative skills on design, changing the leases from 99 years to 125 years, putting in a Concierge and..." I was distracted as she crossed her legs and revealing rather too much thigh.

  "Concentrate Billy, the prize will be worth waiting for."

  "I do hope so. As I was saying, rather than the measly ill-educated price that you thought they would achieve and my considered valuation, well even that looks low. They went to the agents today and when they sell and the agents have been told that there are no discounts available, so when they sell, they'll bolster the coffers by, drum roll..." As I slapped by thighs. "...Loose change, over two billion."

  Victoria sat, just looking at me, no words just a look.

  "Aren't you go
ing to say anything?"

  "What? Oh yes, of course, well done Billy. Sorry I was distracted thinking how to reward you, come on Billy I've got lots of ideas!"

  Saturday and the house was crammed, not only us but also my siblings and their families. The day was overcast and there was a chance of rain but we had a party to get too. Steven had travelled to the farm on Thursday to ensure that the arrangements were completed and that he was satisfied with them, attention to detail, that's what counts. We were all breakfasted and it was time to try and relieve some of the pressure on the house, so James and Holly took their families along with a chunk of our off-duty CPO’s and relocated to Wiltshire. We would follow in an hour or two's time, once the helicopter returned and so we were to be found, as usual, messing around in the pool. At the last house, the pool had been used but not to the extent this one is, Victoria hardly ever seems to be out of it and finds that the children relax far more in the water. Flora was behaving in her usual manner, delighted to be dunking me and she was being led on and encouraged by the older children. She then caught sight of my plate on my head and became very concerned before, much to everyone's amusement she bent down to kiss it better.

  My parents were well aware that we and James's family were coming to share the evening with them but I suspect they couldn't quite believe their own eyes as they turned in off the lane. The first change was a row of motor homes, not one or two but ten neatly stood in a row. Then, as they approached the farmhouse they saw the outline of the huge marquee and us their family standing ready to greet them and to start the celebrations and when he had all kissed hugged and wished them well, Holly and her crew appeared and for once my own Mother was silenced.

  "How many?"

  "A hundred and eighty Mum that's all we could seat, feed and entertain, so if we've missed anybody, blame Mark, it's always his fault anyway!"