Lilly’s story…

The wall was a very good place to stand.  Lilly pressed her back against the wall, wishing that she could be anywhere but here.  The hum of polite conversation and fake laughter surrounded her, as did the delicate clinking of glasses and the cloying scent of expensive perfume.  The amount of hairspray in this room could probably shellac the space shuttle, she thought with disgust and increasing resentment.

“Lilliane!”

Darn it!  She’d been discovered!  Unfortunately, Lilly knew her duty.  Pasting a bright smile on her features, she turned to face her mother, smoothing down the ridiculous, fluffy dress she’d been ordered to wear tonight.

“Darling, come meet Matthew.  He’s the next rising, political star,” her mother explained, laughing and pressing her breasts against the man’s arm as she tugged him towards Lilly.  “He’s just been elected to the House of Representatives.”  Lilly smiled politely at the bland-looking man.  He had the requisite brown hair, slicked back and sprayed into place, as well as the smooth, square jawline. But there was nothing about this man that stood out. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Matthew,” Lilly replied politely.  “And congratulations on the election.  I read in the news that it was a very tight race.”

The man laughed, shaking his head.  “It doesn’t really matter how tight the race was,” he explained with a patronizing tone.  “The end result is all that matters.”

Lilly disagreed, but kept her mouth shut.  If she were very brave, she might have challenged the man’s assumption that the end result was all that mattered.  In tight races, it felt as if the winning candidate should be a bit more…compromising.  But Lilly suspected that Matthew would toe the party line like a perfectly obedient newbie to the political realm.  His obedience would then be rewarded by more campaign funding from the national party level, or maybe even being given the nod for a senate campaign in two years. 

Instead of saying all of that, Lilly maintained her innocuous smile, silently wondering when she could get out of this tedious party and head up to her room to study.  “I’m sure that you will represent your district with distinction,” she told the man.

Her mother stepped back into the conversation, not trusting Lilly to mess up her performance.  “Lilly is the youngest of my four children.  We’re sure that she will do great things!”  Her mother laughed, even though nothing she’d said was even remotely humorous.  “Lilly is studying ancient French literature at Georgetown University,” her mother continued.

Matthew smiled and nodded at the exactly right moments before turning to look down at Lilly. “Is that so?  That’s impressive!”

Her mother patted Matthews arm once again.  “You two stay and chat.  I see Senator Bartholomew is heading towards the bar and I know that my husband wanted to talk with him about the latest defense bill going through the committees.”  And a moment later, Lilly was alone with Matthew the Bland. 

“So…!” Matthew nodded, obviously at a loss for what to say next.  He went with the trite. “French literature.  That’s an interesting field of study.  What made you choose that?”

Lilly sighed, taking a sip of her warm champagne.  “Actually, I’m studying business at George Mason University,” she told the guy, looking around for an escape before looking back into his brown eyes.  “I can’t even speak French, nor do I have the discipline to study ancient French literature, although I’m sure that it is fascinating for some people.”

Matthew chuckled.  “I guess French literature sounds more enlightening than dull old business, huh?”

Lilly groaned.  “I suppose it’s more of a conversation starter,” she agreed. Lilly searched through the information she’d read about Matthew, but for the life of her, she couldn’t even remember which district he had won or what he vowed to fight for during the campaign.  Not that politicians actually followed through on their campaign promises.  She’d been to enough of these political parties to know that any campaign promise that was actually achieved was done through only by accident and not necessarily because of intent.  If it wasn’t achieved through accident, then it was done because someone was earning a profit.  Political bribed didn’t have be a simple handoff of cash in a dusty bag.  Bribes could be much more…malignant.

“You’re from Michigan, correct?” she offered as a desperate search for a conversational topic.

“Maine, actually,” he replied, maintaining his bland smile but the light in his eyes dimmed slightly.  He didn’t walk away.  Oh no!  No man introduced to the daughter of the powerful Senator Von Deuch ever walked away.  Lilly’s father could crush any political candidate, or help lift him to the heights of success.  A relationship with Lilly Von Deuch was a golden ticket.  Actually liking Lilly, finding her interesting or even attractive wasn’t part of the equation.

“I suppose that the winters in Maine are pretty cold.”  She knew this for a fact. They were cold and beautiful and, sometimes, dangerous. 

“Actually, I’ve only lived there for a couple of years and I head down to Florida during the winter months.  I used to live in Utah but the political competition in that state was too tough right now.  Maine had an opening because of a weak opposing candidate, so I established residency there and…” he lifted his hands as if he’d done something magical, “here I am!”

Lilly laughed, but it was more of a forced sound than actual amusement. 

“Matthew!” a gruff, effusive voice called out.  “I see you’ve met my daughter!” Bernard Von Deuch bellowed above the din of others conversing around him.  “She’s a beauty, isn’t she?”

Lilly stared up at her father, barely able to stop herself from rolling her eyes.  A moment later, two other political operatives moved into their circle.  The men weren’t taller than Lilly, but they seemed to take up a great deal of space.  Lilly stepped back, allowing them to form a circle around her father.  This maneuver also allowed her to stealthily slip out of the room.  As she made her way towards the back stairway, an area that was normally reserved exclusively for the household staff, she slipped her shoes off and sighed with relief as she went upstairs to her bedroom.  It was the smallest bedroom in the house, but Lilly didn’t care.  It was also the furthest from everyone else.  And…safest. 

Drako’s story….

“Now look here, son!” one of the rotund men sitting across the conference room table from Drako snapped.  “You’re gonna sell that property to us for seventy-five thousand!”

Drako didn’t even smile as he stared back at the men who were about forty years older than him.  But at twenty-two, Drako wasn’t an idiot.  He’d done his research on the property four years ago and had bought it for only ten thousand dollars.  Even selling it now at seventy-five thousand would be a huge profit.  But Drako knew how to do his research. 

“Five hundred thousand,” he announced.

Both men sputtered, stunned that an “upstart nobody” would spout off such an outrageous number. 

The second man was the first to recover from his shock.  “Five hundred…!  We’re not buying that property for half a million dollars!  You’re outta your mind!”

Drako shrugged and stood up, buttoning his suit jacket as he nodded briefly towards the men.  “Then we have nothing more to discuss and you’ve both wasted my time by requesting this meeting.”

Both men sat up straighter in their leather chair, holding up their hands to stop Drako’s departure.  “Now hold up just a moment, son!” the other man called out.  “Let’s just…”

“Six hundred thousand,” he snapped, his eyes hard and unyielding.

Their mouths both fell open. “What the hell?  How did the price of that property go up by a hundred thousand dollars in the past sixty seconds?”

“You patronized me,” he asserted, his Greek accent coming out and his eyes hardening to crystal shards.  “I don’t like being patronized. I don’t like it when men think that I’m an idiot.”  He leaned forward, bracing his hands on the polished table.  “That property is currently zoned for only residential use.  But since the neighborhood has gone downhill over the past decade, no one was willing to renovate the building and make it habitable for anyone to live in.  Which is why a conglomerate has started buying up the properties around that area and is planning to tear down large sections of that neighborhood to put up a sports stadium.  The permits were issued by the city three days ago.”  He glanced at his watch as if he were pressed for time.  “I am flying to Paris in two hours.  If you don’t want the property for my selling price, then don’t waste my time.  If you do, then the price is six hundred thousand dollars.” He paused for a brief moment, looking at each man before announcing, “Cash.” 

The men stared at Drako for a long moment but he didn’t relent.  Finally, the two men leaned towards each other, whispering a frantic argument before turning back to him.  “Five hundred thousand.”

Drako resisted rolling his eyes.  Barely.  “Good day gentlemen.”

“Fine!” one of the men roared, obviously furious.  “Fine!  Six hundred thousand.  But we have to finalize the sale in the next three days.”

Drako lifted a dark eyebrow.  “You’re willing to forego the inspections?”

The men huffed a bit, acting as if they were doing him a favor.  But they both nodded their heads.  “No inspections.  Sale in cash.  We have the papers in the other room.  I just need to call my bank and tell them the amount.  Our lawyers are standing by with the contract.  We tell them the price and print out the documents.”

Drako considered that for a moment, then nodded.  “Fine.  Make it happen in the next thirty minutes and I’ll delay my flight.”

One of the men stood up and left, obviously walking out to speak with the lawyers.  The other man remained in his seat, leaning back slightly to survey Drako.  “You drive a hard bargain for someone so young.”

Drako rested a hip on the edge of the table.  “I do my research.  I never enter into negotiations about the purchase or sale of anything until I know everything.”

The man chuckled, shaking his head as if he knew something that Drako didn’t.  He even patted his rotund stomach and pulled out a cigar, ready to light it up as soon as the papers were signed. 

The lawyers came in and handed Drako a thick stack of papers.  Obviously, the men had anticipated this, which was exactly what Drako had anticipated. 

Drako ignored the five men sitting across the table from him as he went through all of the papers.  He crossed out two lines, one of which would allow the buyers negate the sale in three days.  “If you’re purchasing the property, the sale is final,” he informed the group waiting for him, but Drako didn’t bother to look up.  If they didn’t accept the elimination of that clause, he’d walk out.

There was one other item that he drew a line through and initialed, but that one wasn’t relevant. He was just waiting to see if they would agree or if any of them found a spine.  Silence.  They all agreed to the elimination of that clause.

When he reached the final page, he looked up and pulled his phone out.  “This is my bank account number.  Transfer the funds to this account and I’ll sign the papers.”

The two men were almost salivating.  One of the lawyers opened up his laptop and typed in the account number.  He pressed send at the same moment that Drako signed his copy of the contract, then the other.  He waited for the other two men to sign the contracts as well, then took his copy, stuffing it into his briefcase.  “It was a pleasure doing business with both of you,” he said, referring to the men but ignoring the lawyers. 

With that, he walked out of the conference room to the sounds of five men congratulating each other as they lit up their celebratory cigars. 

Drako nodded to his driver who opened the back door of the town car as soon as Drako stepped out of the building.  Drako stepped into the backseat and sighed with pleasure.  For a brief moment, he looked back at the building, but then he merely shook his head and concentrated on the next meeting.  He was flying to Paris this afternoon in order to purchase two ships.  These vessels would more than double his shipping capacity.  He’d use the six hundred thousand dollars he’d just banked in order to buy up four warehouses near the port of South Carolina. 

A week later, his phone rang and Drako smiled slightly at the caller.  Briefly, he considered ignoring the call.  He knew exactly how the conversation would go.  But in the end, his curiosity won out and he answered the call.  “Howard?” he greeted the man, but his concentration was on the contract in front of him. 

“You bastard!” the man snapped. 

Drako didn’t react.  He didn’t have to.  His lawyer had already filed the deed with the government office and the sale of the building was final.  “Howard, are you upset about something?”

“You knew that the sports stadium plan was moved!  How the hell did you know that?”

Drako flipped the page in the report he was reviewing.  “You thought I didn’t know about the planned sports complex?  I told you, Howard.  I always do my research before every sale.  And that’s how I knew that the people planning the complex had also discovered that the city had determined that the proposed highway ramps couldn’t be long enough to handle the increased traffic for that area of the city.”

There was a bit more yelling and cussing, but Drako didn’t have time for the man’s histrionics.  He ended the call and dialed a new number, his mind already shifting towards the deal in Paris.  Drako didn’t mind that most people considered him to be a cold-hearted bastard.  He only cared that he was one step ahead of his competition.