Then she smiled her bright white smile. “What brought that on?” she asked him.
“Nothing,” he said, looking deep into her eyes. “And everything. Sorry about last night. I fell asleep on top of you, Mrs. Drakos.”
“I’ve got news for you, Mr. Drakos. You weren’t the only one. I fell asleep beneath you.”
Alex laughed.
“We both were exhausted last night.”
“But we made up for it this morning,” Alex said with a wink and a smile and Kari smiled too.
“Hope we didn’t disturb the boy,” she said.
“Where’s he anyway?” Alex asked, as he began putting away his phone. “Shouldn’t he be up by now?”
“I’ve got to get him up,” Kari said, “or he’s going to be late for his competition.”
“Yeah, I’ve got to get going too. I’ve got a meeting.”
“This early? With who?”
“My legal team. I ordered them to come to town after I fired Shannon. We need a working plan should the Feds come-a-calling again. They’re known for harassing casino owners. Reno Gabrini gave me the heads up on that.”
“How is he and Trina?”
“They’re okay, I think. I’ve been too busy and he’s always too busy. We don’t communicate as much as we used to.”
“And you’ve got yourself another packed schedule.”
“I do indeed. But I’m having lunch with you and Jordan regardless.”
Kari appreciated that. Alex made it his business to put her and Jordan first in his life. “That sounds good, Alex,” she said. “Jordan will be happy to see you for an extended period of time. Pick the place.”
“I’ll text you when I decide on a place.” Then he kissed her before drinking the last of his coffee.
He picked up his phone, as if he was about to leave, but then he looked at Kari.
When she looked at him, he spoke. “I saw that woman’s blog from yesterday,” he said. “Priska Rahm told me about it.”
Kari stared at him. She knew what blog he was talking about.
“She Live-streamed Shannon getting on my plane in New York on yesterday.”
“With the caption is the billionaire playboy still playing,” Kari said. “Yeah, I saw it.”
“Shannon was my attorney,” Alex said. “That’s all she was to me.”
Kari was pleased that he brought it back up. But she needed the second-half of that puzzle piece. “And that’s all she’s ever been to you?” she asked him. He didn’t have to go there. He was, undoubtedly, single at the time and had every right to bang his lawyer if he wanted to. But that lawyer had come to her town. Kari preferred to know who she was dealing with. Was the woman his lawyer. His former lover. Or both.
“And that’s all she’s ever been to me,” Alex said.
Kari felt relieved. She nodded. “Okay. Thank you for telling me.”
“I don’t play with your heart, Karena,” Alex made clear. And then he smiled. “I know what a precious, unique commodity it is.”
Kari laughed. “You give me too much credit, trust and believe.”
“You don’t give yourself enough credit,” Alex said, and Kari appreciated that too.
But Alex, in truth, would never hurt Kari. And what she still didn’t seem to realize was that he’d do anything for her. Anything in this whole world. But he wasn’t ready to expose that much of himself.
He leaned down and kissed her again. “These lips up here,” he said to her, “and these down here,” he added, pinching her vagina and causing her to jump and laugh, “belong to me tonight. Got it?”
Kari, still smiling, nodded. “Got it,” she said. What night, she wondered, didn’t they belong to him?
And Alex, smiling too, finally left.
Kari continued to smile as she thought about how fortunate she was to have a man like Alex, and pleased that he mentioned that doggone blog. The world saw him so differently than he truly was, and that was a shame to Kari. But she knew, like he knew, that nothing could be done about it. People were going to believe what they wanted to believe.
Then she thought about Jordan, and the fact that he was still snoring away as if he bore no responsibility whatsoever in waking up on time for his very first competition. She took another sip of her coffee, sat down the mug, and then hurried to her son’s bedroom.
CHAPTER SEVEN
It was a who’s who of Florida’s wealthiest, and many in the know would say dirtiest businessmen sitting at the round table. They were in Harold Rivven’s office, in Pensacola, on a bright Saturday afternoon, and all of them were wary. They all were business leaders in the eyes of the public, and they had that reputation to uphold. But behind that façade were ruthless men who wanted what they wanted and would do whatever it took to get it. And they all wanted in on those West Florida properties surrounding that cash cow called The Drakos, and they wanted in now.
Harold had called the meeting, assuring all five men he had invited that he had an ace up his sleeve. But all they saw was some potbelly man in a cheap suit who looked like a bad imitation of a gangster.
“We all know what the problem is,” Harold said as he and the gangster stood at the head of the table in front of the five men. “We all know how Alex Drakos bought up every inch of available hot property from here to Tallahassee when he bought the land for his hotel and casino over in Apple Valley. Property we should have grabbed a long time ago.”
“How were we to know The Drakos was going to be as successful as it is?” one of the five, a businessman from Apalachicola, asked. “We thought it would flop like all the other attempts from all those other hotel-magnet-wannabes flopped too. Yeah, it had a star-studded grand opening like they all had. But then we figured it would fizzle out after that weekend and he’d be happy to unload all of those properties for dirt cheap, including that hotel and casino.”
“Boy, were we wrong,” Harold said. “Now The Drakos is being called The PaLargio of the South and people from all over the world are flocking there. They have to turn people away from that joint!”
All of the men knew it too. And they all had ulcers because they all knew those properties Alex purchased beforehand had been theirs for the taking for a long time, but they wouldn’t bite. West Florida, at that time, had a boatload of what was considered shaky investment properties with values continuing a downward trajectory. And even those properties with upsides had too many risks attached. They were waiting for the bottom to fall out, and then they, as a group, were going to bite.
“And now,” Harold continued, “what’s being called The Miracle of the South is happening right under our noses and we have to sit back, watch Drakos collect all the big bucks and accolades, and we get nothing? We were here before he even knew Apple Valley existed! We run Florida, not some New York Yankee! But he’s getting all the profits and we get nothing?”
“But he won’t sell,” a third businessman, from Jacksonville, said. “My people met with his people again, and we offered him three times the price he paid for one particular property near Destin. But they turned us down cold. Three times the price we offered him. But he still said no.”
“South Florida is congested. There’s no new hot properties to be had in that part of the state I don’t care how hard you search,” said the Apalachicola businessman. “Thanks to Drakos, west Florida is now where it’s at. And you don’t think Drakos knows that? He knows he’s sitting on a goldmine. He’s not turning over shit.”
“Not voluntarily, he’s not,” the man standing beside Harold said.
They all looked at him. “And who are you supposed to be?” the Jacksonville businessman asked.
“He’s Patholous Jupalani,” Harold said. “But everybody calls him Paddy Jupe.”
The Jacksonville businessman couldn’t believe it. “Paddy Jupe? Are you serious, Harold? You called us all the way to Pensa-fucking-cola to listen to some Scarface-wannabe called Paddy Jupe?”
“Just trust me, alright? He’s the ace I told y
ou guys about when I asked for this meeting. He knows Alex Drakos.”
“He knows him?” asked a businessman from Myrtle Beach. “So what? How is that going to help us?”
“Are you saying he has dirt on Drakos?” the Jacksonville businessman asked.
“Dirt?” asked Paddy Jupe in his heavy New York accent. “What billionaire ain’t dirty? I’m not in the finding dirt racket.”
A couple businessmen rolled their eyes. He was their ace?
“Then what racket are you in?” asked the Jacksonville businessman, who, after Harold Rivven, had the deepest pockets of the men assembled.
“I do a thing to get a thing,” Paddy said. “I don’t prime the pump, I unsettle it. I make the ground weak and unstable. I build a case so that you boys can go in and make the case.”
“English would be helpful,” said the Jacksonville businessman.
“Your plan is to build a case against Alex Drakos himself?” asked the Myrtle Beach businessman.
“No.”
“No? Then against who?”
“I’ll build a case against the wife.”
“The wife?” asked the Apalachicola businessman. “His new bride?”
“His brand new bride, yes,” said Paddy. “That dame he just married? She’s got a treasure trove of shit in her background. She and that boy of hers, the one Alex is going to the courts trying to adopt as we speak, is where we start. And, if all goes well, where we finish too.”
But the businessmen were still doubtful. They had no idea what Paddy was even talking about. “I don’t get it,” said the businessman from Myrtle Beach. “How is going after the wife and kid going to help us?”
“I know you smart men read the papers,” said Paddy. “I know you heard that Drakos is on the President’s shortlist to be the newly minted ambassador to his home country of Greece.”
“We heard about it,” said Jacksonville. “But so what? We figured he doesn’t want it anyway.”
“And that’s where you’re dead wrong,” said Paddy. “He wants it with every fiber of his being. I know the guy. He wants it bad. He’ll do anything to go back to his struggling home country and, with the full authority of the United States government, turn that shithole around. That government’s corrupt as a motherfuck. They’re taking US aid money and pocketing it for themselves. It’s a train wreck that an arrogant asshole like Drakos figure only he can fix. And when I say he’ll do anything to fix it: that includes dumping that wife and her boy in a heartbeat if they get in the way of him sealing that deal. I should know. I was in business with him once and he dumped me like a hot potato too.”
They were all staring at Paddy. He had their attention now.
“It’s my job,” Paddy continued, “to keep that potato hot and, when he’s ready to dump it, to dump it on you.”
“How are you going to do all this?” asked Apalachicola.
“By building a case with things that appear so unrelated that Drakos will never see the pattern. But all the while we’ll be taking a little of the glow off of his new bride and son piece by ever-loving piece. It’ll get progressively worse. Until there’s no glow left on either one of them. Because they’ll be getting in the way of what Alex most wants.”
“The ambassadorship?” asked the Myrtle Beach businessman.
“Bingo,” said Paddy. “He wants it so bad he can already taste it. I’m telling you he wants it! And, then, when all of the bad press turns out not to be so good for his chances of getting what he most wants in this life, which is to help turn his home country around because he’s in danger of losing his spot on the shortlist of candidates, that’s when I’ll step in. Tell him the bleeding will stop; that the bad stuff will stop destroying his chances of getting what he most wants, if he turns over certain lands to the five of you. And Harold too, of course, who had the good sense to take me up on my offer to help. Alex Drakos will be glad to turn it over when I’m done with him. And he’ll turn it over dirt cheap too,” Paddy added.
“Why would you want to help us?” asked Jacksonville. “What’s in it for you?”
“Drakos ruined me,” Paddy said. “You people think you’re hot shit now? I was hot shit then. Had my own business and everything. But Drakos came along, said we should have a merger, and then he proceeded to buy me out of my own company. Now it’s Drakos Capital, that multinational conglomerate. I built that shit. That’s why I’m more than happy to help.”
Then Paddy added: “At a reasonable fee, of course,” he said.
Most of the men were smiling now. It was the most hopeful news they’d heard since they first started meeting on the matter.
But Jacksonville still had questions. “When you say it will get progressively worse for Mrs. Drakos and her son,” he asked, “break that down for me. That’s up to and including what?”
“Everything,” said Paddy.
“Including?”
“Everything,” Paddy said again. “What part of everything don’t you understand? This is Operation Kitchen Sink, in a matter of speaking. At the end of the day, we’ve got to rattle Alex Drakos when nothing rattles Alex Drakos. Except the love of his native land. That’s what Americans never understood about Drakos. They just saw him as the billionaire playboy and now the hotshot casino mogul. And he’s a killer. Don’t get me wrong. He can be a very nasty man. I should know. He was very nasty to me. But he’s also a very patriotic man. He’s Greek first. Americans don’t understand that about him. He loves his home country. He’ll do anything for his people back home in Greece. That ambassadorship will be his way to do it. Right now, he doesn’t want to play ball with you boys. We’ve got to dangle the possibility that he’ll never get that ambassadorship, and in ways that he can’t pin on any of you until the bleeding is so severe that he knows he has to stop it or the president will remove him from the list of candidates. He’ll play ball then.”
They all nodded. They liked the plan.
“Told you I had an ace up my sleeve,” Harold gloated.
But Jacksonville wanted more details. “When does it all begin?”
Paddy smiled. “It already has,” he said. “I’ve got people in place getting the ball rolling already. All I need is you boys onboard, and what you will generously compensate me for my hard work, because nobody I already got on payroll is working for free. This is a major league operation.”
They all looked at Jacksonville. After Harold, whom they knew was completely on board, he was second in command.
When he nodded, they all smiled.
Paddy smiled too. “Operation Kitchen Sink,” he said, “is in full swing now.”
After discussing logistics with the wealthy businessmen, and his generous “compensation package,” Paddy left Harold’s office and got into his waiting SUV. As his driver drove him away, he pulled out his cell phone and called his boss. With good news for a change.
“It’s a go,” he said into his phone. “Oh, yeah. We need’em, alright. We need’em because if I get exposed in any way, I can point Drakos to those businessmen. They’re the ones after him and his wife, not me. And he’s going to think it’s all about their desire to take his land, because that’s what those businessmen think it’s about too. And all six of them fell for it. That’s right. Lock, stock, and barrel,” Paddy added, and laughed.
Finally, he thought as he laughed, Drakos was going to get his.
And he wasn’t going to see it coming.
CHAPTER EIGHT
One week later and Taekwondo class had just concluded. Jordan Grant, Kari’s fifteen year old son, got in and out of the showers quickly, and then grabbed his small backpack and ran out of the building with the other kids who stayed around to shower and change into their streetwear too. His best friend, Matty Lincoln, was running beside him.
“Going to the party tomorrow night, J?” he asked him as they ran.
“I doubt it.”
“What do you mean you doubt it? You got invited to the cool kids’ party and you don’t wanna go?”
He wanted to go very badly, but his stepfather had already told him he couldn’t go. Mainly because Alex had checked into the background of the invitees and discovered that the kids throwing the party had too many disciplinary issues at school to be reliable. And also because they were seniors. Why would seniors want some kid barely fifteen at their party?
“I don’t understand you,” his friend said before Jordan could answer his question. “I would kill to get an invite like that! What’s wrong with you?”
“They don’t want me at their party,” Jordan said.
“Duh! You’re only fifteen, and a very young, little-for-your-age fifteen at that. But they want a Drakos at their party. That’s why they invited you. It’s a status thing. Everybody knows that.”
Jordan said nothing. He wasn’t even a Drakos yet. After marrying Jordan’s mother, Alex filed paperwork to adopt him, but it was going to take time to make its way through the court system. For now, he was still a Grant.
But like every conversation they had, Matty quickly moved on to another subject. “I wish my dad could afford to buy my mom a Rolls Royce like that one,” he said as the two friends made it up to Kari’s car. “It’s the prettiest car I’ve ever seen.”
Jordan smiled. He liked it too.
“Hey, Miss Kari,” Matty said with a quick wave as Jordan opened the passenger side door. Because she was so close in age to Jordan, only fifteen years apart, all of Jordan’s friends took to calling her Miss Kari rather than Miss Grant or, now, Mrs. Drakos. And they still called her that.
“How are you, Matt?” Kari asked. “Want a lift?”
“No, ma’am. My dad’s coming to pick me up. But thanks!”
Jordan got in, said goodbye to his friend, and Kari drove away.
“I’m glad you showered and changed like I told you to,” Kari said as Jordan finally stuffed his martial arts outfit into his backpack.
“Why’d I have to change anyway?” Jordan asked her. “It’s Saturday, Ma. I could be hanging out with my friends. But, instead, I have to change into, quote unquote, ‘appropriate attire.’ Where are we going?”
Alex Drakos: For My Lover Page 5
