“Mummy had it planned all along. She knew we wouldn’t be getting any money from the Shang Trust, and so she wanted us all to get the most money possible out of Tyersall Park. That’s why she split it up like she did, and now she’s working a miracle for us.” Victoria’s voice brimmed with conviction.
Nick suddenly stood up and looked at his aunties. “Look, you can tell yourself any story you want if it helps you to sleep at night. Personally, I can’t stand the idea of this house going to the family that almost killed my wife! I don’t think we can trust them to keep their word about preserving the house—I can tell that Kitty’s just waiting to get her claws into redesigning it from top to bottom. But if I can match Jack’s offer, will you sell it to me?”
Rachel looked at him in surprise, while Alix answere
d, “Nicky, don’t be silly. It would be absurd for you to buy this house at that price! We couldn’t let you do that!”
“You didn’t answer my question. If I can get us ten billion, do we have a deal?”
The aunties looked at one another.
“Okay, we will give you one month,” Felicity finally relented.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
SENTOSA ISLAND, SINGAPORE
Twice a year, the acquisitions board of the Singapore Museum of Modern Art convened to go over potential new purchases for the permanent collection. The exclusive board was composed of the city’s young elite collectors, mostly descended from the country’s most powerful families. As with most entitled scions, it simply wouldn’t do for them to actually have to perform their duties at the museum’s perfectly nice but rather ordinary offices, so some new fabulous location with celebrity-chef-prepared cuisine was always selected for the acquisitions board meetings.
Today, the meeting took place over breakfast at the Capella on Sentosa, the island playground off Singapore’s southern coast. When the museum’s curator Felipe Hsu arrived at the gorgeous reception room overlooking a beautiful tiered infinity pool, he found the atmosphere positively buzzing among the dozen or so members that had already assembled.
“I couldn’t believe it! Absolutely couldn’t believe it!” Lauren Lee Liang (the wife of Roderick Liang of the Liang Finance Liangs, and a granddaughter of Mrs. Lee Yong Chien) whispered in a corner to Sarita Singh (former Bollywood actress and daughter-in-law of Gayatri Singh).
“How can you possibly recover from something like that?” Sarita shook her head as she fingered the mother-of-pearl medallions on her Van Cleef and Arpels necklace as if they were rosary beads.
“Well, the one consolation is that her tits did look great. I wonder if she’s had them lifted?” Lauren said as she shielded her mouth with her VBH clutch.
Felipe strolled over to the buffet to help himself to two soft-boiled eggs and some toast points. Patricia Lim (of the Lim Rubber Lims), who was standing next to him trying to decide between eggs Benedict or eggs Norwegian, gave him a look. “What a morning, huh?”
“Yes, it seems like everyone’s caffeinated and ready to go! Good, good, we have quite a long agenda today.”
“Are you thinking of making any sort of announcement, or do you plan to maintain a dignified silence?”
“I’m not sure what you’re referring to, Pat.” The curator frowned.
“Don’t play dumb with me, Felipe! Oh dear lord…SHE’S ACTUALLY HERE!”
The room went dead silent as Astrid entered. She said hi to her cousin Sophie Khoo (of the Khoo Enterprises Khoos),* grabbed a pain au chocolat from the buffet and sat down at the head of the long marble table as everyone took their places. Then she stood up abruptly. “Good morning, everyone. Before we dive headlong into our agenda, I have a confession to make.”
Most of the board members gasped audibly as they stared wide-eyed at Astrid.
“When it comes to Anish Kapoor, I am totally biased. I have loved his work for many years now, and as you probably know I own several of his pieces and yes, I was the anonymous donor who helped to fund the new installation in Antwerp. So we will be examining two new artworks from him for possible acquisition, and I will recuse myself from that vote.” Astrid smiled at everyone and sat down again.
“Un fucking believable…” Lauren Lee muttered under her breath.
Sarita Singh tapped on her coffee mug with her spoon, and everyone looked at her as she spoke up in a righteous tone. “I was expecting our chairwoman to humbly announce her resignation, but since she has shown no intention of doing that, I’d like to start a motion for Astrid Leong’s immediate removal from the acquisitions board.”
Astrid stared at Sarita in shock.
“I second that motion,” Lauren Lee immediately said.
“What the hell?” Felipe blurted out, his mouth still full of soft-boiled egg as the room erupted in commotion.
“Sarita, why are you suddenly suggesting this motion?” Astrid asked.
“Astrid, let’s be perfectly honest here. We’re going to lose funding now because of your actions. The entire museum’s reputation is going to be affected because of you. I can’t even believe you dared to show up here this morning.”
“I’m really not following…is this because of my divorce?” Astrid asked, trying to remain gracious and calm.