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“Don’t you have enough?”
He laughed. “You know there’s no such thing, Mr. Petrosyan.”
He was using the name to goad me, but I wouldn’t allow it.
“What do you want, Raphael?”
“I think five percent is fair,” he said.
“Five percent of what?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” He’d looked very satisfied before, but I could see that I had thrown him off.
“You’re asking for five percent. Five percent of what?”
“Five percent of whatever you’ve got going on,” he said, though he was clearly flustered.
“And what do I have going on?” I asked.
“I don’t know. And I don’t care. I just want a cut.”
I didn’t know if he was more stupid or more greedy, but with each second that passed, the urge to end his life grew stronger.
“You’re playing a very dangerous game, Raphael,” I said.
He leveled me with a cold-eyed stare, one that might have gotten to me if I were someone else. “I’m not playing, Mr. Petrosyan.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I’m the aggrieved party here, and my business and legacy are at stake. That’s worth something,” he said.
“That I’m allowing you to continue to breathe should be payment enough,” I responded.
He just smiled. “Was that a threat, Mr. Petrosyan?”
“Do I strike you as the type of man who makes threats?”
He blanched ever so slightly, but as I watched, he rallied his courage and decided to push on. “No, you don’t. But you do strike me as a practical man,” he said,
“Meaning what, Raphael?” I asked, officially bored with this conversation.
“Meaning we could be at each other’s throats, and you’re right that you could end me without a second thought. But you don’t want problems, and getting rid of me would be much more trouble than just paying me.”
Though I hated to admit it, he was right. “Fifty grand per month for the duration of this operation,” I said.
“Seventy-five,” he countered.
“Fine,” I replied, disgusted by his pettiness.
He nodded. “I’ll send you the account numbers.”
“What, are you going to email them, Raphael?” I asked.
“If that’s what you want,” he replied, sounding every bit the idiot I knew he was.
I scoffed. “The cash will be in your trunk tomorrow. Put it wherever you want after you get it.”
He shrugged, his arrogance and stupidity making me hate him that much more.
