Felix had arranged a meeting with Jacob Kennedy by emailing him on the computer in the lobby. They sat in the common room of the parliament building. Felix knew Jacob Kennedy was a very busy person, with little time to spare. However, inside, he was burning with questions, making him restless when he tried to sleep at night.
Felix asked Jacob Kennedy as he sipped his mug of coffee. "Jacob. Why did you refuse sell Purple Island to Lolita?"
"Intermarium is not even close to the Island. She'd wanted to own the island because then she wouldn't have to pay taxes on wine that was being shipped to Intermarium. I'm not going to give her a tax break, not when she's an alcoholic and needs to stop drinking."
"Do you know why she bombed the Island?"
"She did it out of spite! She'd wanted to buy the island for two hundred million dollars. I'm not going to sell her for that! Not when it's worth over one billion dollars!" Jacob's green eyes were tense.
"It'd would prevent the war-"
"I'm not giving in to Lolita's unreasonable demands! Felix, I like you, but you aren't a ruler. You don't understand how politics work amongst countries."
Felix stared at his red and white sneakers. "It's just, I didn't want to be drafted to go to war. I have nightmares that haunt me."
"I understand. But sometimes war amongst nations is inevitable, Felix. Yesmin Trixie shouldn't have loaned Lolita money."
"The money went towards the victims of the flood."
"The money was spent on herself; she'd spend more money on hiring staff in her castle. She needs to grow up. She can clean her room; she doesn't need to pay somebody to do it for her. To make matters worse, she pays her staff almost nothing for working for her. She needs to stop being lazy." Jacob glanced at his gold wristwatch. "I have to go meet with Samuel."
"Who is he?"
"The ruler of Anua. We need to discuss trade agreements."
Felix left with Jacob's security escorting him outside the parliament building.