Page 200 of King’s Ransom

‘I figured,’ I said. ‘The thing is, Yasmina needs to modify her pre-nup with you.’

That got his attention.

He looked up sharply, his expression darkening. ‘What?’

‘Her pre-nup,’ I said. ‘It’s way too one-sided. She’d like to modify it a little.’

‘Not gonna happen, son,’ Aristo King said with a smirk. ‘You do understand that pre-nuptial agreements are signed before a couple gets married. And I had a team of very good lawyers draft that one.’

I nodded again.

‘I think you’ll adjust it. Let’s say $500 million payout, plus the mansion on Meadow Lane.’

‘Are you insane?’ Aristo King gaped at me.

‘No, but I do have video evidence—from your own phone, secretly filmed in your own bedroom—of you having sex and doing coke with your underage gymnast goddaughter, Dede Derrickson.’

I heard Audrey almost choke beside me.

Mia Kimura gasped.

Aristo King stared at me in stunned silence.

I said, ‘So, we have a deal, then? Great. Nice doing business with you, sir.’

Meadow Lane, Southampton

2 January, 1200 hours

The next day, I met with Yasmina Ivanova at her gorgeous home on Meadow Lane in Southampton.

Meadow Lane is one of the most expensive streets in America. It is lined with gigantic mansions that all look out over the Atlantic Ocean.

Audrey and Heidi went with me.

When we arrived, we saw a shiny new red Audi electric sports car parked in the drive.

A maid led us inside the main house, where Yasmina Ivanova stood waiting.

She hugged me firmly and said, ‘Thank you, Dr Speedman! You are my hero! Thank you, thank you, thank you!’

I introduced Audrey and Heidi, and Yasmina hugged them, too.

‘Come, come, I have tea ready in guesthouse,’ she said, guiding us through the mansion.

We passed Georgy on the way.

He was in the kitchen, talking on the phone with someone, but he waved happily at me as we went by.

He covered the phone and said, ‘Hello, Dr Sam! I join you shortly.’

And so we had tea with Yasmina Ivanova in a guesthouse by the heated swimming pool and tennis court.

(This guesthouse was nicer and bigger than my whole house back in Houston. It had three TVs, a full kitchen, two bathrooms and a Jacuzzi.)

As we drank our tea, Yasmina’s two young children—Alexei and Katya—played with toys or watched their iPads like nothing out of the ordinary had occurred in the last two weeks. Kids.

Of course, Georgy had told Yasmina about most of what had happened: including Audrey getting shot; and his and Heidi’s participation in the high-speed ambulance chase when the Chinese had tried to snatch Audrey; Heidi’s investigations into the other ex-wives; and, of course, the untimely deaths of Yasmina’s old Russian tormentors, the Oberovs.