Rhonda shuddered as she awaited Kareem’s return. Marquis had sweaty palms and was slightly lethargic. They both needed to calm down. Sweating would not be good for their costumes. Marquis had borrowed the extra thirty pounds, beard, and make up to pull off the heist from his theater program at NYU. Marquis and Rhonda morphed into the Flemings for hours, but they had a $250,000 reward for the work.
When Kareem knocked on the room door on the 10th floor of the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel, Rhonda and Marquis was relieved. Rhonda hugged him and Kareem went to the window and looked out over Central Park. It was a lovely command center to coordinate how the money would be broken down.
Marquis, the marketing and promotions director of Kareem’s company had graduated from NYU and now studied Fashion Marketing at the Fashion Institute of Technology. He had momentarily given up his acting career, well, in the traditional sense. He had thought about settling down with a woman, having been jealous of Kareem’s and Dre’s love affairs. Meanwhile, he was bogged down looking for the best location for Kareem to open a flagship store in New York. He also looked for the perfect venue to debut the fashion line. Marquis poured glasses of champagne and tapped his glass with a fork. “To a long and prosperous life,” he said, toasting the amazing theft.
“You two were great. Just like a real husband and wife. I saw Rhonda about to attack you for snatching that duffle bag full of money.”
“I missed the no nod,” Rhonda said, a little disappointed that she had missed Kareem’s cue at the bank.
“Don’t worry, you were good for your first time,” Kareem said, and gave her an encouraging hug. To Marquis, he said, “How much did Men’s Vogue say a full page ad was?”
“$90,000.” Marquis said after consulting his notes.
“They have to be kidding,” Rhonda said. Her eyes bulging and mouth open at the amount.
“Fine. Reserve six pages tomorrow. What do the contractors need?”
“They’re waiting to quote until they have the square footage. Everything hinges on the size of the property.”
“Let’s have that location list narrowed by Friday, so that we can make a selection and get production under way.”
“Hello, I’m still here,” Rhonda said, rolling her eyes.
“Sorry, Rhonda. $25,000 should send you on your merry little way,” Kareem said, smiling. Usually they split the profits, but the team was on a mission. Avariciousness could not be apart of the equation.
“That money is fine, but I want to be apart of the company,” Rhonda said.
“No problem. I need an advertising director.” “Looks like you have one,” she said.