“I didn’t realize tourism was so important.”
“It’s more than tourism. It’s also Parisians staying out late and getting coffees and drinks and taking taxis…it all works together. I hate Americans as much as anyone else, but when they come here, they spend money, so I can’t hate them that much.”
“I don’t mind them. Why do you hate them?”
“They come here and gawk at our women.”
She gave a slight scoff. “I’ve never heard a man be possessive over an entire gender before.”
“French women are beautiful, and I pride myself on that fact.”
“Well, the French men aren’t so bad either.” When she looked at me across the table, there was a smile in her eyes. “I like this.”
“What?”
“When you talk.”
Like a searchlight had found me in the dark, I stilled.
“That’s why I ask you about work. It’s the one thing I can get you to talk about.”
I reached for the wine and finally took a drink, which tasted like juice compared to the scotch I had at the bar. My arms crossed over my chest as I relaxed in the cheap chair, the curtains over the windows open to reveal the nearby buildings. It was an overcast night and would probably rain at some point.
“What were you doing before the Fifth Republic?”
I almost didn’t answer, wanting to be stubborn and uncooperative. But there was something about her that made my dam open and the water rush out. “I was lower on the food chain. A coke dealer. The 16th arrondissement was my jurisdiction.”
There was no judgment in her eyes at all. As if she’d been exposed to drugs her whole life. “How did you go from that to this?”
“I already abided by the code. Didn’t involve innocent people in my affairs. Didn’t deal in the eyes of the public. If a woman was in the wrong place at the wrong time, she was always excused.”
“Meaning?”
I almost didn’t want to tell her, in case she didn’t realize the horrible things that used to happen to women in this city. “They weren’t raped or trafficked. At least, not by my crew. If they accidentally got hooked on our line, we always tossed them back into the water. Other dealers would grab them and put them to work against their will… And made them do other things against their will too.”
She didn’t react to that, either because it wasn’t news to her or she didn’t want to show me she was disturbed. “How do you go from that to a French Emperor?” Her dinner had been abandoned like she’d lost her appetite or simply couldn’t eat everything she’d plated. She grabbed the bottle of wine and poured another glass.
“President Martin hired Bastien for a job, and that’s how the whole thing began.”
“Hired who for what job?” she asked.
“Bastien was a hit man before he became First Emperor. He appointed me as his second, along with three other guys to make up the five. We have our different jurisdictions because there are too many gangs for one man to police. But we all report to the first. And when Bastien left, I became the first.”
“And how do you know Bastien?”
“Everyone knows everyone in this game,” I said. “He appointed me to the position because he knew how I conducted my business. Together, we picked three other guys. Now, there are four of us.”
“Will you find a fifth?”
I considered the question before I gave a slight shrug. “It’s not a necessity right now. It would have to be a huge hit to take out all four of us at once.”
“Why did Bastien leave the French Emperors?”
“Met a woman and settled down.”
She gave a slow nod. “He couldn’t have both?”
I was about to tell her about all the shit that had happened to Fleur, but I didn’t. Kept it to myself. Selfishly. “They wanted to travel.”
