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“Lose it…after all, birthdays only come once a year.” I grinned.
“God bless you,” he muttered, undoing his jeans.
Chapter 23
This was vile.
“How much have we spent since December?” I gasped as I used my finger to count the zeros behind the number 14 and then looked at Balduin, waiting for him to hit me and wake me from this nightmare.
“Fourteen and half million, sir,” he said as he adjusted his glasses.
“Balduin, it is March! We are not even halfway through March! What is this?” I lifted the folder he gave me, ready to fling it across the room like a bad curse.
“It’s actually less than what we’ve spent in past years since you added the cuts across the palace and all royal properties as well as adjusted everyone’s allowance,” he said proudly. “Usually, we are looking at close to 20 million during this time of year.”
Twenty million?
I leaned back in my chair, gasping for air. I knew the palace burned through money. In my mind, it was more like individual hundreds were burning at a time, not this. This was basically shoving trucks filled with money into a volcano. And this was how we had been going for years?
“It’s mostly because of all the festivities at the end and beginning of the year,” he went on to explain, pulling out his chart for me to look at. “I asked the palace accountants to give us an in-depth breakdown of this season plus previous years. Last year, due to Prince Arthur’s mourning, there were no celebrations, so it did not give us a good comparison. The year before does that, as you see here, the royal families spent…”
“68.4 million that year alone?” I lifted the paperwork, checking to see that during the winter of that year, we’d spent 22 million. I could not believe my eyes. “Property maintenance 29.3 million. Payroll 19.7 million, hospitality 8.4 million, travel 5.7 million, utilities 2.1 million.…what in the world is other staff costs and why does it cost us 3.2 million?”
“That would be like tissue and staplers…”
“Tissue and staplers cost 3.2 million dollars?” I asked, looking at him.
“Of course not, sir. It’s anything miscellaneous the palace may need that is bought throughout the year.”
I couldn’t speak. The sovereignty tax brought in about 89 million a year for the royal family. But after paying off all the family debt, we only had about five million left from the tax, which meant I would have to use Odette’s money already until we were paid this year. No, this wouldn’t put a dent in the billions Odette had given to this family, but still, the fact that I had no choice but to use it right now, when we hadn’t been married a year, bothered me. And it made it clear how we had ended up in such desperate times. If we were spending almost 70 million a year and only making 89, any year we overspent it, or if taxes changed, could put us in dangerous territory…there wasn’t enough of a buffer.
“I get it,” I whispered to myself as my shoulders relaxed.
I understood why my father had started to invest so rapidly. He saw this issue, too. Even if we made cuts in the palace, we still needed higher income. His idea was good. But a few bad investments could ruin us….it almost had. I needed to do something too, but I didn’t want to fall into the same trap. Luckily, because of Odette, I didn’t need to rush to find a solution like my father did. Her money alone would allow us to live comfortably for years, if not generations, if we simply cut back and hunkered down. But I didn’t want to just kick my feet up and rely on that.
“Balduin.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I want to meet all the accountants in the coming weeks. I would also like you to find me the best minds to work on new business proposals and revenue streams for the palace. Let’s not rush, but we need to start working on this.” I promised Odette I would be careful with her money…she always corrected me and said it was our money, but still. I wanted to keep my promise.
“Will do, sir,” he said, giving me a pen to sign off on the spending.
“This hurts my heart, Balduin,” I said as I scribbled my name quickly.
He chuckled. “Your father used to say the same thing, sir.”
I thought back on my father freaking out at the cost and also remembering how he lectured me on all the parties I kept throwing or travel I did. I never understood before, I never cared—where the money came from wasn’t my problem. I was going to enjoy my life. Now, look at me.
“Balduin, I think I’m growing up,” I said softly.
“I know so, sir,” he replied as he took the last paper.
I glanced at the family photo of my father, brother, and me on my desk. It wasn’t my photo. It was put there by my father, and I had never removed it. “How much time do we have before the prime minister comes? I feel like I should call my mother, check up on my father.”
“You can, sir. We have about thirty minutes or so?” he said, checking his watch. “I’ll go deliver these as you make that call.”
“Thank you,” I said, already picking up the phone.
