“Who drove?” Viktor asked.
“One of his men picked us up. We only had the one meeting. It was in a basement.” Ronald’s gaze drifted about the room. “There were two guards. Apparently this guy was an ancient with a lot of money. Lenore did all the translating. But I got the feeling he understood me just fine.”
Ronald combed back his hair with his free hand, and I could see why people trusted him. He was handsome, dapper, smelled good, drove an expensive car, and carried himself like a successful man who knew exactly what he was talking about. When he took off his gold watch with his teeth, I noticed it had left deep marks around his wrist from where Christian had bound him with the cord.
He slipped the watch into his pocket. “I don’t know exactly what she said to him, only what he said to me. I promised to bring his wealth into the new world. He couldn’t keep hoarding his possessions in different locations. Some of them actually bury the stuff in the ground. Human governments take over unclaimed land. I convinced him it wasn’t safe anymore to stash things, especially with multiple people who might swindle him or die. Breed financial advisors can only do so much. Since I know the ins and outs of the human world, I can easily manage his money to earn a substantial fortune while shielding his identity.”
I thought about the three men in the picture. “What was the real plan? Because I can’t imagine a bunch of war criminals coming out of hiding to give their money to a human banker.”
“I’mnota banker.” Ronald huffed, trying to get the wrinkles out of his pants.
“He’s hiding something,” Christian said.
Ronald tried in vain to jerk his arm away from Christian’s grasp. “I’m not hiding anything. I was getting to it.”
Christian looked perturbed and let go of Ronald’s wrist. He stepped behind the chair and placed his fingers on Ronald’s neck and his other hand flat over the human’s chest. Then he bent down close to his ear. “Don’t panic. Just breathe. I’ll know if you’re lying. I don’t have to see your pupils to know, human. I can hear every little skip of your heart, every breath you take.”
When Ronald swallowed, his Adam’s apple undulated. He was breathing more heavily as he stared at Viktor. “I explained that I could do for him what no one else could. This dude was scary. You know how some immortals have that dead look in their eyes? That was Borislav.”
“Answer Raven’s question,” Viktor demanded. “Why would these men come out of hiding to give a stranger their fortune?”
Ronald reached up and wiped his sweaty forehead. “We didn’t plan this from the beginning. At least, I didn’t. I got the feeling they were talking business on the side. It felt like she was using me to get him to trust her. Her position with the higher authority made him nervous. So then she tells him that the independent groups like you are a bigger threat than lawmakers because you can’t be bribed. But you can always bribe a politician.”
“During your meeting, she said this?” Viktor asked.
“No, this was later. That’s what she told me when I asked what they talked about on the phone.” He cleared his throat and looked down. “The next thing I know, she wants to take out notable bounty hunters. Borislav has a lot of underground loyalists, so it wouldn’t be hard to galvanize them with an order. Lenore said she’s spent months recommending officials to the higher authority—people she can manipulate and control. Honestly? I don’t care about all this political stuff. Lenore felt she had a firm grip on the higher authority, and it wouldn’t be hard to tip the scales in her favor. This really interested the Russian, and that’s when he agreed to hire me. I was busy acquiring assets, and Lenore was plotting against bounty hunters to keep him happy. I wasn’t kept in the loop. I’m still not sure if this was all part of her original plan or something that snowballed when he wasn’t eager to work with her at first.”
Viktor got up and paced away before standing with his back to Ronald.
“Targeting bounty hunters and people like you was not my idea,” Ronald insisted. “Lenore’s the one who put that thought in his head. She’s power hungry.”
Christian leaned around to look at him. “And you’re not?”
“No. I’m money hungry. There’s a difference.”
Viktor finally returned to his seat. “How did the three come together?”
“After Lenore introduced us and later discussed her agenda, he seemed more interested and agreed to hire me. I guess he wanted to make sure he could trust us, and that’s when he brought his two companions into the fold. He wanted me to do the same for them, so I told him the only way that was possible was to consolidate their assets. I can’t operate multiple accounts; it’s more complicated than you think. It’s kind of like laundering money. Lenore got nervous after that call. She didn’t want the other men in the picture. She was afraid Borislav had bigger plans to take over Cognito and might cut her out.”
Huh. And here I’d thought Lenore was just in it for the money. “What was her objective? Sure, kill some bounty hunters and all that, but what was her endgame?”
Ronald loosened the knot in his tie. “I think all she was hoping for was to infiltrate different leadership groups and have influence. Change laws and all that. Then she started rambling on about how men are always using women to get what they want before casting them aside. If you ask me, I think she was afraid they would stop talking business through her as the translator. She was getting paranoid and told me if Borislav tried to contact me to let her know. Can I have a drink of water?”
Christian bent down. “I can urinate in your mouth if you’d like.”
Ronald’s lips thinned as he cleared his throat again. “When the other two men flew in, all three came to our penthouse for a private meeting. Since it would be the only time we got together, Lenore had that new guard sneak a photo of them out on the street. I don’t like that guy,” he said, trailing off. “During the meeting, you could see a real camaraderie between the men. They had interpreters, and as far as I was concerned, all things were a go. They trusted Borislav, so in turn they trusted me. It took a couple of weeks before they could transport all their hidden assets here.” Ronald wiped his forehead again, Christian’s hands still on his neck and chest. “One night Lenore and I had a long talk about the situation. This was after I moved the physical assets into a safe location. I was still working on the monies, and there were a number of different accounts we had to remediate. Rich guys like them have others hold their money—people who aren’t bankers.”
“What was conversation with Lenore about?” Viktor pressed.
Ronald took a deep breath. “She kept going on about how they were going to cut her out of this. One of them had taken over the plan about going after the bounty hunters or something. She said Borislav was asking her for a separate list, and she was hesitant about giving it to him. Going forward, they were going to need me more than her. Honestly, I didn’t see what the big deal was, but you’ve never seen that woman upset.”
Christian rolled his eyes. “I’ve seen a wild hippo charging, and it’s roughly the same experience.”
Ronald wasn’t amused. “After she really explained who these guys were, I won’t lie—I wanted to back out. She said it was too late; we were in too deep. She kept asking me what we could do, and I kept giving suggestions. None of them were what she wanted to hear. Then I mentioned what would happen if we took them out of the picture now that I had access to their fortunes.” Ronald heaved a sigh. “This was worse than getting mixed up with the mafia. It didn’t seem like it would be hard to pick them off. Then we wouldn’t have to constantly worry about becoming expendable to them.Thatinterested her. She said she knew some people who could do it, and she only trusted you,” he said to Viktor. “You knew these guys, so you wouldn’t be stupid enough to go public or else you’d put your lives and organization in jeopardy. She said you two had a thing and you’d never agree if she was the one who asked. I thought we could give you guys a cut of their money, but I guess that’s not how it works.”
“Nyet. That is not how it works.”
Ronald wiped his forehead again. “She said if you were given the offer anonymously, you’d come to her since you’re her contact with the higher authority. That would allow her to control the situation. She could manipulate the reward so you would only work for her. But guess what? Lenore didn’t have any intention on notifying the higher authority about the deaths. I guess you thought you could work with her, get the reward, and be shielded from anyone knowing the details behind their deaths. That’s the way sensitive cases like this work, right? Well, Lenore was going to bypass all that and pay you out of her own pocket. Otherwise the higher authority would be looking at her to figure out where all their assets are. After that…” Ronald shrugged.
