“Just that you love money.”
“And you don’t?”
Ivan shrugged. “It’s important, but not as important as some things.”
“Wealthy people always say shit like that.” Jake glanced at the seat behind Ivan. “Maybe I should take a couple of bags of coke and sell it. Surely Langdon won’t miss it… it’ll cover my payment from him.”
Ivan stared at him. “You’re not serious? No wonder they kicked you off the police force.”
Jake smirked. “I’m joking, okay.”
Ivan stood up. “I’d better check you haven’t tampered with this. I need to make sure I get Samira’s–”
“Ivan, would you relax… I haven’t taken anything out.”
Ivan rested his hands on the suitcase and fiddled with the zipper. He wanted to trust his new brother, but he hardly knew him. Perhaps this three hour flight was the perfect time to find out more.
Ivan let go of the suitcase and sat back down. “So… you ever been married? I know you don’t like kids much.”
“Never been married. Not too sure what I’ll do a
fter this… To be honest, I feel a little lost. You ever feel like that?”
“Only for the last eighteen months.”
“But then you got Samira back?”
“Uh-huh.”
They listened to the whirring engines for a moment. Ivan gazed out the window and watched the thick grey clouds whipping by.
“Samira’s a great girl,” Jake said. “You’re a lucky guy. I was actually thinking of hooking up with her myself back on the ranch.”
Ivan glared at him. “You need to stop talking right now.”
“I didn’t know she was your girlfriend at that point, did I?”
“No, you thought she was your employer’s wife.”
“That’s different. I knew it wasn’t true love between them.”
“What would you know about true love? You who’s so money-driven?”
“Hey, when you’ve got nothing but a truckload of debt, money becomes pretty high on the priority list, okay.”
Ivan twisted to face him. “Jake, I told you, we can help you with your debts. But there’s definitely one thing I can’t help you with.”
“What’s that?”
“I can’t stop you being an asshole – only you can manage that. And exactly when you choose to do it is totally down to you.”
****
The rain was still pouring hard as they landed bumpily down in Texas. Ivan hoped this wasn’t the tail-end of a hurricane… surely there would’ve been warnings? They took a taxi back to the ranch and rushed to the front door, trying to keep dry. There was a huge black limo parked in the driveway that Ivan had never noticed before.
“Looks like he’s got company,” Jake said, as they huddled under the porch with the suitcase of cocaine. “And it doesn’t look like it’s the girl scouts.”
Ivan eyed up the limo, then took out the front door key that Samira had given him. “I guess at least we’ll have the element of surprise,” he said as he slid the key into the lock.