Page 18

He is the one in power and he would like me to squirm in my seat.
I take a sip of my drink. That’s one thing I’ll never do. Squirm for him. The only person who has ever made me squirm is LaraFitzpatrick. Like mustard on a worm, I’m twisting hard. There is a knock on the door and I look at my watch again. Only five minutes late. He has already lost the power struggle.
“Enter,” I call.
“Mr. Ivanovich,” he greets quietly as he heads in.
He expects me to stand, but when I remain seated, he smiles and takes his seat as well.
"My apologies for being late," he says. "I don’t usually come to this part of town, but I do appreciate your invitation. Hopefully, we'll be able to put the opportunity to good use and get some progress out of our meeting."
"A drink?" I ask.
He looks towards the hostess, his eyes roaming her curves. “I’ll have whatever Mr. Ivanovich is drinking. If it’s good enough for a billionaire it’s good enough for me.”
The hostess pours him a drink and walks away. His eyes watch her ass as she leaves. He turns towards me when the door closes. “Nice girl.”
“There are more like her upstairs. I will take you up when we are done here if you want,” I say casually.
His eyes become sharp with interest. He hides it by looking down into his whiskey. “Thank you. I will take up your offer, Mr. Ivanovich.”
“Call me Ivan,” I invite.
“I've read up on your impressive success story, and always thought we could be friends, but of course, we move in different circles.”
"And yet here we are in the same room having a drink together.”
He takes a sip of his drink. "Yes, but only because you believe I’m about to dislodge you from your exalted circle.”
I smile. “No one can dislodge me. Not even the Department of Justice of the United States of America. Even if they succeedin unjustly stealing everything from me, in a few years, I will be again sitting in this club, in this room, and you, the representative of the unfair monster, will still only be a guest here because of my benevolence. And that is because this is where I belong, David.”
“What a shame for you then, that your real problem is your roots. Which means you will always be fighting the monster."
I know exactly what he is referring to. "You're referring to the assumed ties I have with my family?"
"Exactly. You're from a royal lineage, from a dynasty spanning all the way back to the last emperor of Russia. While you claim that your illustrious family has nothing to do with your businesses or your source of wealth, I find this hard to believe."
"Is that why you're investigating me?" I ask. "Because my family is rich and you don't believe that I’m a self-made man?"
He laughs. "This is the land of opportunities and capitalism, so I will not say you had absolutely nothing to do with your immense success. In fact, I don't care whether your family contributed or not. Hell, I wish I was from a bloodline like yours; being poor is not all that it's cracked up to be."
I take a sip of my drink. "Poor? You’re the DA of New York."
He watches me keenly. "True. Some days I feel like a king, and other days, well... more like a bug that can be crushed by people with raw power in higher places than me."
I lift my gaze once again to hold his. "What of now? How do you feel?"
He smiles slowly. "I feel like a king, Ivan, and I will feel even more like one once I get upstairs."
I smile back. "In that case, I’ll not make you wait much longer. Let's get straight to my case. What excuse are they using to look into my affairs?"
"The same reason the French and British are coming after you.”
“Because I am Russian and I am rich?”
He has the grace to look uncomfortable at the truth. He clears his throat. “Unfortunately, you invested in Chinese steel. Your steel, Mr. Ivanovich, builds our bridges and buildings. We can't have them being subpar. That's an unthinkable loss coming our way even if it's two hundred years from now."
As if anybody in the political sphere gives a damn what happens in two hundred years. All of them only care about what happens during their tenure, but I don’t voice my thoughts. "Yes, I’m one of the investors in those steel companies, but you know as well as I do, that the US can’t embargo me because of a problem of quality control.”