“It’s late, let’s not bother anyone,” she says.
“Miss Fairfax?” The officer calls to her again.
“Right, sorry, hey Dad, you wanna come with me?”
“You go ahead, I want to meet your friends,” he says as he steps past her and looks at me. “You’re one big son-of-a-bitch.”
“Dad,” Sofie gasps.
“This is years of internal planning on how to torment any man who thought he was worthy, and you never brought a boy home for me to do so.”
I hold out my hand, “Aleks Kilovac.”
“Russian?”
“Dad,” Sofie protests.
I nod, “Yes.”
“Gonna guess you’re the one here for her since the other man is with her friend?” I nod, and he continues. “What makes you think you’re worthy?”
“Are you expecting a sales pitch?”
“I’m expecting you to understand that if you’re looking for a pay day?—”
“I don’t need a pay day, I have a job.”
“Yeah?” He crosses his arms. “What do you do?”
“I play hockey, professionally.”
“What happens when you get hurt? How do you expect to live if you can’t play hockey?’
“I’ve invested wisely. I —”
“Dad, he’s not going to get hurt, and he hasn’t asked me for anything.” Sofie sighs.
“It’s okay,” I assure her. “He’s asking the right question.” I look back at him. “I’m not reckless. I knew hockey had an expiration date before I ever stepped on the ice at Yale.”
That gets his attention.
“I was recruited for hockey,” I say, steady. “But I chose my degrees for after.”
“What degrees?” he asks, not sharp, just curious.
“Global Affairs and Statistics. Data Science, technically.” I pause. “I learned how governments behave under stress, and how to model risk when people lie to themselves.”
Sofie’s eyes flick to me. She looks impressed, which, yeah, I like that.
“I invested during 2021,” I go on. “Cybersecurity for infrastructure. Secure communications. Energy logistics. Things that get funded when the world feels unstable.”
He nods once, slowly.
“I didn’t gamble,” I add. “I planned. Made enough money and pulled it out at the right time.”
“And now,” he says, “you’re comfortable.”
“Yes, sir.”
