I gave him a dry look. “You dabble in finance,” I repeated. “Does dabbling pay well then?”
He looked amused. “I’m sensing some good old-fashioned Midwestern disapproval emanating from you, Jenny,” he replied. “Since we are in the twenty-first century, I don’t have to work from nine-to-five in an office to make money.” He got up and moved towards me, sitting down on the couch and inclining his laptop towards me. “I’m a glorified stockbroker,” he clarified. “Primarily, I invest in the stock markets around the world. That’s where the bulk of my money comes from. About ten percent of my wealth is actively invested in new ventures. For those companies, I provide finance, advice, connections, that kind of thing.”
And Dylan? I wanted to ask. And Sylvia? How are they connected? But I could guess. He was rich enough that a portion of his wealth had to appear legitimate, even if the vast bulk of his fortune came through more unsavoury activities.
His phone rang at that point, cutting off further conversation. He glanced down at his screen and an expression of distaste crossed his face as his fingers swiped the screen. “Dylan.” His voice was cool. He rose to his feet and walked to the window. “What can I do for you?”
My heart started pounding. Dylan McAllister was on the other end of that line. This had to be concerning Alexander’s upcoming trip to Hanoi.
He saw me stare at him. “Hang on,” he said into the phone. “I’m going to put you on hold and take this call from my office.” He looked at me. “Sorry about that,” he said. “Work beckons. I’ll be right back.”
I watched him walk out of the room. I couldn’t tear my eyes away. The man on the other end of the line had kidnapped me and raped me and tortured me. In order to avenge these wrongs, I had trained for six long years, sacrificing everything that got in the way. Now, my long quest for revenge was coming to an end.
***
Alexander:
There was a vague sense of unease in me as I continued my conversation in the study. There had been something troubling in Jenny’s look. Some fixed emotion that I couldn’t quite decipher.
“What do you want, Dylan?” I asked into the phone.
“Is that the way you talk to me now?” he demanded.
I sighed. “Did you call me to chat about manners?” I inquired pointedly. I had made it clear to Dylan many years ago that I had very little to say to him. If I wasn’t actively engaged in making amends for his actions, I wouldn’t have even kept in touch with him.
“I need you to free up some money for me,” he said. “I need to move from Hanoi soon.”
“As your financial advisor, I have to tell you that your living expenses are bankrupting you,” I told him.
“You are the genius,” he said. There was a tone of desperation in his voice. “Sell some assets, if you have to.”
“What assets? You have very little left to sell.”
“The collection of Ming Dynasty figurines,” he said. “Sell those.”
“You have creditors waiting for liquid assets, Dylan.” My voice was icy. “Including me, I should point out. If you are selling assets, they’ll need to be paid. I might not insist on it, but the others will not be so kind.”
Dylan McAllister had indulged in his every desire for years, never stopping to think about money. A classic mistake among those who had inherited their wealth, not earned it. Now, the day of reckoning was at hand. For years, I’d been systematically reducing his fortune. I bought companies that he owned stock in and stripped them down, acting through shell companies so it couldn’t be traced back to me. I didn’t, in truth, need to do a lot. Dylan had been actively causing his own destruction for many years. I’d just provided a helping hand.
“When are you coming to Hanoi?” he asked me. There was a note of bluster in his voice, but I recognized the panic underneath it. “Surely we can work something out.”
The letter from Daniel Schneider was due any day now. “I’ll be there in a week,” I told him.
“Not sooner?”
“No, Dylan.” My voice had a bite to it. “Unlike you, I have businesses to run and I can’t drop everything and fly to Hanoi just because you ask. I will see you in seven days.”
Once I hung up, I stared into the distance. Hanoi was an eleven hour flight away. Dylan’s business would take a couple of days to sort out. The whole affair would involve me leaving Jenny alone for at least four days, and I found myself reluctant to do so.