Felix Moore was so shocked beyond words, his body could not help but tremble. “Alex, you’re… you’re not joking, are you?”
Alex shook his head. “You can start working at Golden Stone tomorrow, and you can bring Quinn Shetford along too.”
“So soon? What about Hudson Designs?”
“That… We can discuss that later.” Alex waved his hand before he turned to Hudson and Winson. “Well, are you better now? If the effects aren’t good enough, don’t hold back. I can prescribe some more medicine to ensure that the two of you are completely cured.”
Hudson and Winson’s cheeks were burning. It felt even worse than if they had been slapped ten times, so they were in no hurry to respond to Alex.
Their great opportunity to mock Felix had fallen short and Hudson was very dissatisfied, but there were no words he could say. He did not even know what to say and all he wanted was to desperately leave this place. If it was possible to turn back time, he would never have come out and acted all gung-ho earlier.
Winson was as regretful too. As he pondered with a sullen face, his eyes suddenly lit up. “Alex Cohen, so what if you let Felix Moore manage Golden Stone? Can he do it? I can guarantee that sooner or later, he’ll fall. The higher you are, the harder you fall! He’s been working as a manager for so long, but isn’t he still renting the same sh*tty place as I am? It doesn’t matter how high the position is, making money is the most important thing.”
“Good point.” Alex nodded understandingly and said to Felix, “Weren’t you in a hurry to buy a house? Now that you’ve bought one, what’s next on the plan?”
Having mostly returned to his senses, Felix answered without thinking, “Pay off the debt and mortgage.”
“After that?”
“Um… Buy a car.”
“What kind of car do you want to buy?”
“An off-road vehicle, I guess. You know how guys like off-road cars.”
“In that case, you don’t have to buy one.”
“Huh?”
Felix paused, not understanding what Alex meant.
Winson interrupted smugly, “Felix Moore, you still don’t understand? What he means is that with your salary, it’s barely enough to pay off your debt and mortgage. Where would you get the spare money to buy an off-road vehicle? Even if you can afford to buy it, you can’t afford to drive it!”
Felix was completely speechless with Winson, so he just ignored him and continued to ask Alex, “Alex, are you advising me not to buy an off-road car?”
“Nope, I’m saying that you already have a car.” Alex casually took out the keys to the Mercedes-Benz and threw it over. “Felix, you’ll soon be the head of Golden Stone. It’ll be inconvenient if you don’t have your own car, and that wouldn’t fit your status too. Since you’re moving soon, I’ll just give you a housewarming gift in advance.”
“Huh? Alex, you’re giving me a car? A… A Mercedes?”
“Yep, I just bought it today. The car is parked downstairs. You can go have a look.”
“I’m not dreaming, am I?”
Felix flipped the car keys and surveyed them with an incredulous look.
Becoming the head of Golden Stone was already a big surprise that was beyond his imagination, so he had never thought that he would be given a car too! He eagerly ran to the window and pressed the button on the car key. When he saw the car, he became even more excited.
He did not know much about cars and he could not see what model it was from such a long distance as well, but he knew at a glance that it was a good car.
He had originally wanted to go downstairs to take a good look and drive it to have a feel of it. However, he then realized a problem. “Alex, we took our driver’s license together, but after I got the license, I haven’t driven once. I might dare to drive if you gave me a worn-down car, but you’re letting me drive a Benz straight up. I… I don’t think I can.”
“I’ve considered that point before I bought the car.” Alex waved his hand and pointed to Hansel. “Felix, from tomorrow onwards, Hansel will be your driver. You know Zeke Martin, right? I mentioned him to you before that he’s a childhood friend of mine who’s like a brother to me. Hansel here is Zeke’s old comrade-in-arms. He’s one of our own.”
“Your arrangements are so spot on that I feel like I’m dreaming! Alex, what… I’m just an ordinary person, not a big boss like you. How can I have a driver? I’ll familiarize myself with the car in a few days. At one glance, it’s clear that Hansel is not an ordinary person, so you should let him carry out more urgent tasks. Making him my driver would be too demeaning.”
“For me, protecting my family, my brothers, and my friends is the most important task.”
“Alex, I… If I were a woman, I’d definitely be moved to tears. You guys can take a seat first. I’ll go down to have a look at the car.”
“Let’s go together. We can have a meal together later.”
Taking Big Ken and Hansel along, Alex then followed Felix downstairs. While Hansel and Felix went to familiarize themselves with the car, he called the contractor, Old Sid, to invite him for a meal together. He had not seen Old Sid ever since Old Sid helped him renovate the villa and now that the Greenville project had entered its final stage, it was time to arrange follow-up work for Old Sid.
There were some people whom he would never want to cooperate with after working with them once.
There were also others whom he would start talking about a second collaboration before the first one ended.
For Old Sid, being able to gain Alex’s trust and high regard was all thanks to his clear mind and dependable character.
Felix studied the car for a long time before finally gathering the courage to drive it at a speed that never went above ten kilometers per hour under Hansel’s guidance. After circling the neighborhood and overcoming his fear of driving, he eventually found a rough sense of driving. However, he would only dare to drive in empty places, but he was still afraid to drive on the main roads.
With this, besides the role of a driver and bodyguard, another role was added to Hansel’s job description, which was to train Felix to improve his driving skills.
At 8:00 pm, Alex and his party of four arrived at a high-end hotel owned by Ryker Gardens, where as soon as they entered, they heard the sound of an argument. Following the sound, they saw several employees in uniform confronting two young people by a window seat.
A staff member, with a tag saying ‘Lobby Manager’ pinned to his chest, quickly ran over and smiled at the two young people before he said, “Please don’t misunderstand. We don’t mean to drive you away. But it’s like this; our restaurant has a special waiting area with tea and ashtrays. Please understand that smoking is not allowed in the dining area. Besides, since many guests are dining at the moment and you’re waiting for a private room, you can move to the special waiting area so we can clear out this table to serve our customers. When a room opens up, we will arrange them according to the queue order..”
“Fine, fine, we’ll go now!” A young, elegant-looking man with glasses nodded repeatedly and said to his companion who had a mohawk, “Ethan, let’s go.”
“Don’t worry about this. If you want to go, then you can go on your own!” Ethan Cage slapped the elegant man’s hand away as he glared at the lobby manager. “To be clear, we’ve booked a private room a long time ago. I’m just waiting for a person here, not a private room. Your rest area and dining area are merely separated by an aisle, so why is it that you can smoke in the lounge but not the dining area?”
“The lounge area is equipped with an exhaust fan, but the dining area isn’t. When you smoke in the dining area, the smell of smoke cannot be eliminated in time which may affect other guests, especially children… Moreover, since you’ve booked a private room, please wait in the private room. You can smoke in there as well. When the people you invited has arrived, someone will bring them to you.”
“Why are you wasting your breath? I want to wait here, and I want to smoke here. If you have the guts, then chase me away!”
Upon saying that, Ethan Cage pulled out a cigarette, lit it, took a deep puff, and exhaled the smoke on the lobby manager’s face.
Shaking his head, Alex walked over briskly and snatched the cigarette away from Ethan’s mouth.
If this happened in other restaurants, Alex would not stick his nose into such business, but this was one of Ryker Gardens’s shops. Jordan Finn Ryker had left a good impression on him and he was very polite to him. So now that he encountered an unreasonable customer, he had to step in when it was inconvenient for the staff to handle by force.
Alex then handed the cigarette to the waiter and casually fished out his membership card, showing it to the lobby manager.
Ethan froze for a few seconds and glared at Alex. Raising his hand to shove Alex, he cursed, “Who the f*ck are you? Do you want to pick a fight?”
