“She was the old lady that died in the opening scene of that Last Emperor movie, wasn’t she?” Kitty said in a quiet voice.
“Yes, the Empress Dowager Cixi was one of the concubines of Emperor Xianfeng, and after he died she launched a palace coup and became the true force of power in China. Cixi had a greater impact than possibly any other emperor in the country’s history—she transformed it from a medieval empire into a modern nation, opened the country up to the West, and abolished foot-binding for girls. And she did all this, Kitty, even though she technically had no power at all because she was a woman.”
“So how did she do it?” Kitty asked.
“She ruled indirectly through her five-year-old son, who succeeded to the throne as emperor. And after he died as a teenager, she adopted another boy and put him on the throne so she could rule through him. As the Empress Dowager, court etiquette decreed that she wasn’t even allowed to be seen by men, so she took all her meetings with her ministers from behind a silk screen. You could learn a great deal from Cixi, you know. You need to bide your time and solidify your position by being the best mother to Harvard that you can possibly be. You need to be the most influential person in his life, and in time, he’ll come to rule the Bing empire and you will be the power behind the throne. Throughout history, Kitty, the people who wielded the most power weren’t always the ones who were in the spotlight. Dowager Empress Cixi, Cardinal Richelieu, Cosimo de’ Medici. These are the people who flew under the radar in their own time, but they amassed all the power and influence through patience, intelligence, and stealth.”
“Patience, intelligence, and stealth,” Kitty repeated. Suddenly she rolled over and sat up on the massage bed, the hot stones rolling off her back and scattering onto the floor as Elenya scurried to pick them up. “Has the contract to buy Tyersall Park been signed yet?”
“I think the lawyers are still drafting the agreement.”
“So it’s not a done deal?”
“No. There’s a gentleman’s agreement, but it won’t be official until the contracts are actually signed.” Oliver wondered where she was going with all this.
“Didn’t you tell me that there were other interested parties in Tyersall Park before Jack bought it?”
“Well yes, my cousin Nick was trying to buy it, but he never managed to scrape up enough money to match Jack’s offer.”
“How much did he need?”
“I think he was short about four billion dollars.”
Kitty’s eyes gleamed. “What if I became a secret investor in the house? What if I put in the money and stole this house away from Jack?”
Oliver stared at her in surprise. “Kitty, do you have that kind of money on your own?”
“I got two billion in my divorce settlement from Bernard, and I invested all that money in Amazon. Do you know how much those shares have gone up in the past year? I have more than five billion dollars, and it’s just all sitting there in an account managed by the Liechtenburg Group,” Kitty proudly announced.
Oliver leaned forward in his armchair. “You’d really be willing to invest all that money in a deal with my cousin?”
“You’d still get your commission either way, wouldn’t you?”
“I would, but I’d just be concerned about you putting so much of your own money into one venture.”
Kitty went quiet for a moment, touched that Oliver cared for her beyond her money. “It will be worth every last cent just to know that Colette doesn’t get her hands on that house!”
“Well, let me make a few calls.” Oliver unbuckled his seat belt and left the spa cabin. Five minutes later, he returned with a smirk on his face. “Kitty, there’s been the most interesting development. I just spoke to my cousin Nicky. It turns out that Tyersall Park has been deemed a national historic landmark, and he and a group of partners are putting together a radical new proposal to challenge Jack Bing’s offer.”
“Does this mean Colette won’t get it either?”
“Well, that’s very likely. However, they are desperate for one more investor. They’re short three billion dollars.”
“Only three billion? Sounds like a deal.”
“Should I call the cockpit and get them to turn this plane around?”
“Why not?”
Oliver picked up the phone by the console. “There’s been a change of plans. We need to get to Singapore, and fast.”
“Not too fast. I want to get back to my hot-stone massage,” Kitty purred, as she stretched languidly onto her massage bed again.
EPILOGUE
TYERSALL PARK, SINGAPORE
ONE YEAR LATER…