"Actually there are two things . Croc, can you get that envelop from Legal for us . It has the Bug and the Queen's gift in it . " As Croc left the room, King paused .
Tiger continued "The first time we met the Queen, Bug here said that he would marry her . We told him it would not happen before the triplets turned eighteen . We had a bet six years ago that if Bug here married the Queen before the triplets eighteenth birthday we would give him two particular apartment buildings, one here in the neighbourhood with forty units and another nearby with twenty units . Bug put up two of his apartment buildings here in the neighbourhood . "
As Tiger finished Croc returned "Bug, here is the wedding gift that we promised . " With that Croc handed to Tan an envelop .
King turned to Anna and spoke . "None of us have children, and while Croc, Snake, Tiger, Lion and Lizard are all married, none of them have children . Croc and Tiger's wives have found out that they will be unlikely to have children but they are considering adoption . Shark, is engaged, and my wife died a couple of years ago . I suspect that I will not re-marry . "
"We have, since we met the triplets viewed the the princess and the two barons as our children . We promised them, and our wives agreed that we would give each of them a gift when they married, provided bug approved of their marriage . The barons will each receive three apartments in a central complex that we own, one for them to live in and the other two that will remain under the company management to provide them with an income stream for their lives . "
"Unlike her brothers who only did the two weeks Bug insisted they spend back here, the Princess would not only spend more time in the neighbourhood helping people out but coming and learning about property investment and development and investment generally from us . We knew a few months ago that she was learning and adapting investment skills quickly . "
"She told Shark, who heads up our general investments, about three months ago, in a week she turned a half a million US investment into almost a million . We figured then that her gift would be more that the barons, unless they showed us a reason to give them more . We are still waiting for them to prove that . "
Shark spoke "What we decided to give our princess, was four apartments plus one percent of the company shares . The shares will belong to her alone, along with two of the apartments, but the other two apartments we want to put in her and her prince's name . Empress, we need your brother's name, so that we can do this . "
Anna looked around "Oh my goodness . My husband is giving them an apartment, Tan you have also indicated that you will buy them something in Australia, now you are giving her four apartments and a shares in your company . "
"Empress, the princess is like our daughter . It is from all of us, and those of us who are married our wives" responded King . "We need to do that, as when Bug, the Princess and the Barons arrived here we all realised that we need to change our lives . Most of us, when we first met them were headed for prison . The day of their arrival in the neighbourhood made each of rea.s.sess ourselves . We could see how much Bug was out of place here . "
"While initially we thought about manipulating him Snake decided before we did anything that we had to find out his story . When we heard about why he was here we realised that we could not target him, and when we looked in the eyes of the princess and the barons that we needed to protect them . "
"It was that that made us change our lives and work to change the neighbourhood for the better . We used the power we had developed to control the area, make it safe, and the money we had was pooled and invested . That started our company . "
"We started investing in this neighbourhood, to the point we now own between a third and half the neighbourhood, as well as buildings throughout the city . Over time we moved in to property development, which now often occurs with the toff . "
"We have developed our niche that suits us, and about four year ago, we moved from domestic property investment into international investments . Where we have gotten to, is all because of meeting Bug and the triplets, and therefore we have to give them something for what they have done for us . Do not stop us, giving our princess and her prince a gift . "