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“I’ll have something from America. I heard the tobacco was stronger here,” I say.
“I have just the thing,” James replies, and then he vanishes into one of the humidors.
He comes out a few moments later with a mahogany box, opening it for me and allowing me to choose one of the identical chocolate brown cigars inside. I take the middle one, pulling it across my nose and inhaling the sweet scent.
I smile. “This one will do.”
“Then I will join you,” he says, taking another from the box and setting it on the glass table in front of the couch. He sits in the chair to my right, pointing at the cigar cutter and lighter already on the table. “Enjoy.”
After we’re cut and lit, James gives me a moment of peace before he begins berating me with questions. I knew this was coming, so I prepared replies for each of his inquiries beforehand. Nothing can seem out of place if I want to pull this off.
Everything must go exactly how I planned it.
“It’s something of a wonder you were able to locate another uranium mine in Russia. I thought they had all been discovered already,” he says nearly bouncing out of his chair with excitement. “How did you go about finding it?”
“I have operations all across Russia,” I reply. “And it’s an enormous country. Very cold, too. I believe there are many places one could find more precious resources if only they looked carefully enough, but not everyone is willing to do the work.”
“Incredible,” he says with clear admiration. “And nobody else knows about it? Not even your government?”
I wave my cigar through the air in a theatrical sort of way, watching his eyes follow it like a child watching a puppet on television. “Not a soul knows, except for you and the men who discovered it for me. There’s a reason for that. I like to conduct business with men who know what they’re doing, and you obviously know. It’s no small task to manage as many mining operations as you do.”
My praise does not go unappreciated. James grins from ear to ear, as though he’s never gotten a compliment in his life.
I want to feel sorry for him, but I think my ability to feel any emotion at all vanished from witnessing so many people die for my selfish pursuits. One more isn’t going to break my soul when it’s already shattered beyond repair.
I puff on my cigar, taking a moment to soak in the flavor. I may find James distasteful, but his possessions suit me quite well.
I doubt his clothes are my size, though. He has considerably more around the middle than I do, and his shoulders are narrower. That, and every time I look at him, I have to look down.
James checks his watch, jumping to his feet and putting his cigar down in the crystal ash tray on the table. “I need to go check on Taylor. She should be at the table already, but you never know with that young woman.” He looks at me, and I see regret in his eyes. “Oh, not that she’s a problem at all. I mean, she’s very good with guests and what not, but she doesn’t always take me seriously. I’m sure you wouldn’t have an issue with her,” he says, sweating as he hurries past me.
I’m not sure how anyone could take a man like James Lafford seriously, but his daughter won’t be an issue for me. I have a very particular way that I like to discipline the more delicate sex, but it only works if you’re not a weak man like James. Otherwise, you’ll have women running circles around you until you’re dizzy.
That seems to be the case with James because he returns after a few minutes looking like he just took a piss he’d been holding in for hours. He sighs, a relieved smile appearing on his clammy face as he picks his cigar back up from the ash tray. “Taylor is already at the table, but I hope you’ll excuse her for being a bit underdressed. She tells me her dress had a hole in it.”
“Not a problem,” I reply, taking a few puffs and leaning back. I hardly care about such things, and besides, I’m not interested in what Taylor looks like with her clothes on. I’m much more intrigued by what I’ll find beneath them.
James sits down again, checking his watch several times like the hour will change drastically between seconds.
He looks up at me and cocks his head. “You’re sure about the mine, right? I mean, you have the deed and everything.”
I nod, pretending like his constant questions and worrying isn’t getting on my nerves. Normally, I would cut ties with someone this jumpy, but since the payoff is so large, I have to play his game. Anything to keep him calm long enough for me to walk away with his daughter.
And his fortune.
“Good, I want to see it before you go, if that’s alright,” he says.
“Absolutely,” I reply with a thin smile. “We will take a look together directly after dinner.”
“Good, good,” he mutters, nodding his head and pretending to think.
I know he doesn’t have much going on in his head. Any man willing to trade his daughter to a Russian Bratva boss for a supposed uranium mine can’t be all that bright. I don’t feel the smallest bit of guilt for doing this to him.
“Alright, well, I think that’s the time,” he says, checking his watch for the hundredth time and standing up. “Dinner should be served any moment, so if you’ll follow me, I’ll show you to the dining room.”
I stand up with him, leaving my cigar with his as we leave the lounge and venture down the hallway to the dining room. It takes us almost five minutes to get there because the house is so large, but when we finally arrive, I’m not disappointed.
The long table has been set with two rows of gleaming white plates, a full set of forks, spoons, and knives arranged on either side of them, and a large arrangement of wine bottles in the middle where there would normally be a bouquet of flowers.
