Aslin’s features shift into a perfect expression of surprise. “He loves me?”
I stare at her. “You don’t know that?”
“He never said it.”
“We’re here negotiating with a mob boss for you.”
She shrugs. “Maybe that’s part of the package deal, it’s not like the rest of the vacation amounted to much.”
“Yes, he loves you. I love you.”
“What?”
“What?”
She says what first, I say what second. I am half-surprised I told her that. I’m half-surprised to find that it’s actually true. I’ve fallen for her as hard as Soren has, it’s just my better judgement tells me what a huge fucking mistake that is likely to be.
“You love me too? Why? God! Look at me.”
“You’re cute, and yeah, you’re trouble, but you’re, well, you’re our kind of trouble,” I admit.
“But I’ve lied to you… I’m still lying…”
“Yes. I know.” I say it simply. “Would be really fucking nice if you’d knock that shit off.”
“So you both love me,” she says, her tone curious and a little strained. “And that’s why you’re here. Because you care about me?” She sounds so unsure, as if she’s almost embarrassed to say it out loud.
“Yes, Aslin. That’s why.”
“Oh, man,” she says. “Then there’s some stuff I should really tell you.”
13
Soren
My meeting with Luca is going well. He’s polite and patient. He could be cursing and threatening me, but I don’t think Luca is the sort to make threats. I think he is the kind to carry them out, however. I am very well aware that if this does not go as well as he anticipates, or if I displease him somehow, death is a likely consequence. There seem to be even more of those quiet men dotted around the room, the ones who appear to be there for their own purposes, and yet don’t do anything without reference to him.
“I understand Aslin took some money from you. I’d like to ensure the return of it.”
“Very kind,” Luca smiles with his lips, not his eyes. “Though I was going to ask for her as well. You do know, by now, that she is my wife.”
“I would have thought it would be doing you a favor taking her off your hands. Or are you interested in remaining her husband? You keep threatening to have her killed, and yet it’s obvious you don’t want her dead.”
Luca tilts his head at me with a handsome, composed smirk. It strikes me what a handsome couple they would make, Luca and Aslin. “Why assume that?”
“Because she’s alive. And when men like you want someone dead, they tend to end up dead.”
Luca takes that as a compliment. It’s not.
“I want my money back, and you should be careful. She’s bad news. Bad luck. She’s a little monster.”
He’s said that twice now. Whatever Aslin did to him, besides steal an incredible amount of money, it has left a mark. The marriage, such as it is, is clearly not a happy one.
“If you two have any sense at all, you’ll ditch her. She’s a liability, and you’ll never be able to trust her. I know she’s cute, but she’s like”—he makes a clawing motion with one of his finely manicured hands—“one of those deep sea fishes with the little light that hangs in front of the big needle-teethed face. She seems innocent and maybe even useful, but there’s a big ugly void behind it, and you’ll get sucked right in.”
I sent Luca Vitori’s name to Brian as well. I got his rap sheet and profile. I wanted to know exactly who I was meeting. He’s a well-known figure in the criminal underworld. I know what this man is capable of, the crimes he’s behind, the bodies he’s left in his wake. He is not a man who scares easily, or who is given to meaningless dramatic outbursts. This is a man with a brutal past and more than likely, either jail or a violent death in his future, possibly both. Hearing him talk about the brat Jason and I fell for in Nepal this way is either amusing or concerning, depending how you look at it. She may be a little monster, but he is a bigger one. It is amusing that he should be horrified by her.
“I’ve organized a transfer out of her accounts, pending resolution into yours. We assume she spent some of it. If that’s an issue, we can resolve it, though admittedly, not quickly. We can reimburse some of the…”
“Don’t worry about it,” he says, waving his hand. “If I get ninety cents back on the dollar, that’s enough.”
He’s a businessman. Sharp. Smart. In another lifetime, we might have been friends.
“Thank you for being so reasonable. Give us the bank details and we’ll get her out of your hair. Forever.”
He cocks his head and looks at me curiously. “What are you two getting out of this, exactly? Because I’m telling you now, she’s not what you think she is.”