*
The couple arrived at the Royal Opera House in style, dropped off at the main entrance by Pat’s driver. It was one of the privileges of being rich, and rich he was. Things had gone quickly over the past twelve or fourteen years, he had made the right choices, met the right people, been in the right place at the right times and taken risks that had paid off. There had as always been difficult moments, but chance had it he made the right decisions, unlike certain others he knew.
Pat Kennedy was a wealthy man thanks to the annual stock options he had received, which exceeded his salaries and bonuses combined since he had joined the bank. Pat had exercised his rights at propitious moments and had made considerable profits, especially following the creation of INI, investing his gains in a prime property portfolio and diversified investments in blue chip companies on both sides of the Atlantic at the right moment, as London prime property saw spectacular returns, with the US stock market doubling in the space of just eighteen months. He was riding high and it seemed nothing that could stop him from becoming even richer.
The bank’s transformation into an international commercial and investment institution placed it amongst the worlds top one hundred banks in terms of the combined assets of the holding controlled by Michael Fitzwilliams and Sergei Tarasov.
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