“Congratulations,” I said. “Was this…part of the plan?”
“Yes and no,” said Ahmed, shrugging. “But we were in Cairo drinking a lot and fucking most of the night. She can’t take birth control for health reasons and she just looked too good to pull out, so here we are. It wasn’t planned exactly, but it wasn’t a surprise.”
“Well, congratulations,” I said, inclining my head.
“You better make sure I get out of this alive,” Ahmed said, shaking his head. “Each time I stop and think about what we’re about to do…I just hope we can pull it off.”
“We’ll pull it off better than you pulled it out at least,” said Duran, smirking.
“Ha, very funny,” said Ahmed in stilted French. “But in all seriousness, what is your plan, Lucien?”
I poured an espresso and lit a cigarette and shifted back in my seat, “Viktor will be here in a few days,” I said, also switching to French. “I have a meeting set up with the four of us at my residence. We’ll all go over the details together then and iron things out.”
“Let me guess,” said Ahmed. “I’m the sniper who takes out the guards.”
“Close. You’re the one who makes sure no on leaves through the front door. If Romano or Aurelio attempt to, you’ll shoot them on the spot. Duran’s job is to pretend that he’s cheating on his wife so he can use the entrance through the kitchen to access the control room. From there, we can cut the cameras and dispose of the guards.”
“How many guards are there normally during parties?” Ahmed asked.
“On average, over the last three years, Romano has sixteen guards patrolling the property and house during social events. But we only have to worry about five of them in the control room and on the upper level of the house. The others will be downstairs and shouldn’t notice anything if all goes according to plan,” I said.
“And if it doesn’t?”
“We have two out of the six underbosses on our side, although they don’t know it yet,” I said. “But they will back me when it gets down to it, I have no doubt. Romano’s worn out his welcome in their territories and I’ve built strong relationships with them. Then we have you Ahmed, Duran, and ten of Viktor’s men. Even if this goes to shit, as long as we keep our heads, we’ll come out on top.”
“And if it doesn’t, what happens to our women?” Ahmed crossed his arms over his chest.
“Adriana is still in Cairo, so she should be safe,” I said. “Olivia and Iris will go to Russia to live under Viktor’s care, along with Sienna. Whether we’re successful or not, she belongs to him.”
“You’re a cold fucker, trading your cousin like that,” Ahmed said.
“It’s how things are done. And Viktor isn’t a cruel man. On the contrary, I think she’ll get a better life with him than she would marrying Aurelio Romano.”
“I have heard things about the Romano son,” Ahmed said, nodding slowly. “Not good things.”
“He’s rough with some of the women at the clubs and he forced a waitress at one of Romano’s parties a few years ago,” Duran said. “But apparently roughing up women is something Lucien does now too.”
“What?” Ahmed’s forehead creased.
“Shut the fuck up,” I snarled, leaning forward. “If you must know what I did with my wife in the privacy of my bedroom, I fucked her consensually and, yes, it was rough, but she had a safeword. The only thing I’m guilty of is embarrassing her, for which I’ve apologized.”
Duran lifted his palms and sat back in his seat. Beside him, Ahmed watched us both, his eyes flicking back and forth over his espresso. There was a long, tense moment and Ahmed let out a low whistle.
“If you two are going to pull this off, you need to get over whatever this is and get on the same page. I don’t care if you have to fight it out in the parking lot, but I won’t go into a combat zone led by two men at each other’s throats.”
I released a tense sigh. “We don’t have any issues.”
Duran pressed his lips together in a thin line. “We do not.”
“Clearly,” said Ahmed, raising his brows.
We talked for another half hour, discussing the finer details for a while. The conversation moved in a more casual direction as it wore on into the afternoon. I knew I needed to get back to the office, but it was good to take a moment to breathe for the first time since long before my wedding.
I left a little before five, heading back to the office to finish up a few contracts for my less legitimate businesses. Then I pulled on my overcoat and went to the revolving door in the front of the building to wait for the valet to bring my car around. It was snowing lightly outside and I leaned my head against the wall, gazing out into the dark.
For the first time, I dreaded the thought that I might die. I had something to live for, something to look forward to at the end of the day. In the quiet months between when I’d brought Olivia to the mansion and our wedding day, I had grown sensitive to the sound of her feet and the soft lull of her voice. And, if I was truly honest with myself, I had began to love her on our wedding night. How could I have helped myself? She was a bright spot in an otherwise dark world, a piece of captured light, a flame to melt the deepest parts of myself.
The door opened and the valet appeared, cutting short my reverie. The drive home felt ten times longer than usual, and when I finally pulled into the snowy driveway, the house was dark except for a light on upstairs in Duran’s room.