Alina approached Lolita in the hallway, a newspaper clutched in her hands. "Lolita, I want to show you something."
Lolita snatched the newspaper from Alina's grasp, her eyes scanning the headline.
YESMIN TRIXIE, RULER OF JAYLAND, DEEPLY SADDENED BY TECHNATE BOMBING OF DYNASTY TOWER.
Lolita rolled her eyes. "This is a publicity stunt."
Alina shook her head. "No, I think she is genuinely upset—"
"I don't need her sympathy; I need her money to cover the cost of rebuilding the tower." Lolita snapped. "She doesn't know what it's like to be in my position of power."
"Yesmin is the ruler of Jayland-"
"Yes, that's true! Jayland isn't crippled by a mountain of foreign debt! Her country is easy to rule, in comparison to mine! I receive endless complaints from civilians who're too out of touch with reality to realize I can't afford to give them what they want."
"But you can afford to give yourself what you want," Maxwell interjected from behind her.
Lolita had dragged him straight off his vacation, forcing him into a crisis meeting before he could even unpack.
"Don't be smart with me." Lolita glanced at her gold wristwatch. "We need to go meet with the committee members."
Lolita glided through the corridor, entering the boardroom alongside Maxwell, who settled next to Artemis. Fifty men clad in tailored suits filled the room; their faces etched with seriousness. Taking her place at the head of the table, Lolita basked in the sunlight streaming through the arched windows, illuminating her lemon-hued cocktail dress that perfectly accentuated her pear-shaped figure. The dress exuded confidence, making her feel as valuable as gold. Her hair was elegantly arranged in a high braided bun, complementing her poised demeanour.
"Artemis," Lolita began, her hand drifting up to nervously adjust her gold hoop earring. "Do you have the estimates to rebuild Dynasty Tower?"
Artemis's voice crackled through the tense silence. "It will cost two billion dollars minimum. We cannot absorb that project. The funds simply don't exist."
"And the environmental fallout from last night's strike?"
"The fire scorched thousands of acres of timber. It took five hours just to contain the flames."
Artemis said, pausing to sip his water. "The blaze wiped out a critical population of Technate Blue rabbits. If they go extinct, the Anau wolf will follow—they aren't fast enough to hunt other species."
Lolita's jaw tightened. "We'll make the Technate pay for every blade of grass. When we win this war, we collect their entire treasury."
"Lolita!" Maxwell slammed his fist on the table. "Going to war with Technate is a bad idea. We should talk about making peace with them."
Lolita narrowed her eyes. "My decision is final. If Technate didn't want war with us, they should have thought of that before they bombed us! We're not a pushover country. I'm invoking conscription for every man between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five."
"Lolita! We can't afford to do this. It'll cost billions of dollars to equip an army to send to Technate-"
"I'm going to borrow one trillion dollars from the World Bank."
Maxwell's jaw dropped. "A trillion dollars? On top of thirty trillion in sovereign debt? You'll bankrupt the country!"
"It's a necessary sacrifice for the safety of our people."
"We can't borrow that amount of money-"
"What do you propose?" Lolita snapped. "That we go to war empty-handed? Guns, tanks, and fighter planes don't buy themselves."
"I oppose the war entirely."
"You forget who's in power. I know how to run this country, you don't." She leaned back against the soft purple cushion of her chair and folded her arms across her chest.
"I am worried about the economy," Maxwell countered, refusing to back down. "People are starving to death in Intermarium. We should be spending our money on bread, not bullets."
"Those who enlist will be fed," Lolita replied with an icy smirk. "The military will have full rations. If the civilian population wants to eat, they can wear a uniform."
"And what about the ones who can't?" Maxwell leaned forward, his voice cracking with fury. "The elderly, the children, the mothers—what do you tell the people who can't hold a rifle? That their country has scheduled them to starve?"
"Then they will have to learn that survival in Intermarium is earned, not given," Lolita said smoothly. "Effective tomorrow, I am imposing a seventy percent luxury tax on all rice products and grain imports."
"How the hell are people supposed to eat if they can't afford food?" Maxwell slammed his hand on the table. "The dollar is collapsing, inflation is up another percent, and you've locked the minimum wage!"
"We need the military funded," Lolita replied coldly. "That comes first. If farmers have to work harder, then they will."
"Lolita, I can't agree with your decision to go to war with Technate."
"Maxwell, you're fired." Her voice didn't even waver. "Security will escort you out." She snatched her cellphone from the table, her thumbs flying across the screen as she shot a text to the guard.
Maxwell rose from his chair and cried, "Lolita! Please listen to me. I want to make Intermarium a better place, that's why I took this job." Tears streamed down from his green eyes.
"Shut up! Nobody questions my authority as Ruler of this country."
The door opened. Two security guards marched inside.
Lolita didn't even look up at Maxwell. "Remove him from the premises."
Maxwell left the room with his head down. The security guard closed the door.
Lolita said, "Tyler, I'm promoting you as the secretary of state."
Tyler smiled broadly.
"And Artemis. You'll be accompanying Axel and me to Catwerp."