Caught in His Gilded World

‘I head back into the mountains when I can. I also have shares in alternative energy source companies, and I’m moving away from petroleum.’

‘What’s it like, running the world?’

‘Is that what I do?’

‘All that money—do you ever count it? Or do you stop thinking about it at a certain point? I mean, I live from month to month, and my budget is always blown by week two.’

Khaled frowned. She was nervous—was that why she was talking so much nonsense?

He wasn’t accustomed to sexual nervousness in a woman. The women in his life were bold, mostly self-serving, conscious of the desirability which they put such a value on.

Gigi’s actions upstairs began to make a bit of sense to him.

‘You need a good accountant, dushka.’

‘I don’t earn enough to warrant one. Not all of us own oil fields.’

‘Money isn’t always the answer, Gigi. I’ve got a project in the Caucasus Mountains facing local objection and I think a good deal of it is connected to my billions in the bank.’

‘Why’s that?’

He laid down the knife and leaned forward on his hands. ‘I’m the local boy made good—it doesn’t go down well there.’

‘I just assumed you were from Moscow.’

‘The first time I saw Moscow I was fresh out of the army and I’d washed up with a duffle bag and some ambition. Until then all I’d known was the mountains.’

Gigi settled her elbows on the bench, her chin in her hands, and fixed her beautiful blue eyes on him.

‘Were you born there?’

‘I was. My father was a career soldier stationed in Chechnya.’

He began piling the sandwich filling high, slapping thick crusty bread on top. His housekeeper was an angel.

‘Isn’t that a dangerous place?’

‘My father took a bullet from a sniper when I was four,’ he confirmed, eyeing her when she sat back, clearly perturbed. ‘After that my mother struggled. She was forced back to her family in the mountains further west and remarried a sheep farmer. We never had any money—we just had sheep.’

‘I’m sorry about your dad,’ she said. ‘It must have been awful for you and your mum.’

‘Difficult for my mother. She was in her early twenties, had little education, and not much chance of supporting me on her own.’

‘But she remarried?’

‘He had land, a home—respect in the village. He rose to be head man. She believed it was better than what she’d had.’

‘She had you,’ said Gigi.

‘She had a corner in her parents’ home, where she was the disgraced daughter who’d married a Russian soldier.’

‘Disgraced? Why?’

‘She was pregnant before she married him—and where I come from, Gigi, Russian soldiers aren’t exactly welcomed with open arms. There’s a long history of guerrilla warfare in the mountains between Russia and the peoples of the Caucasus. Nobody was happy with their marriage.’

‘Were your parents happy?’

Khaled suddenly became aware that he’d just told Gigi more about himself than he’d ever revealed—to anyone.

He didn’t talk about this. Ever. He didn’t need reminding of that part of his life. Why was it at the forefront of his mind now? Probably because at the moment the building of that road down south was swinging over him like an axe.

‘How did we get on to this topic?’

His tone was one that had made grown men fall silent in his presence. He hadn’t meant to use it on her, but he couldn’t stem the tide of anger when it came to his parents.

Gigi blinked. ‘I just wanted to find out a little about you.’

Yeah—her and a lot of busy journalists.

Then he remembered that photograph of her mother and her own sentiments regarding her father. He wasn’t a reliable man. He guessed Gigi knew enough about broken families for him to give her a little of what she wanted to hear.

‘My parents loved one another very much.’

Gigi raised an eyebrow. ‘You don’t seem over the moon about it.’

‘“Love” is a word that’s used to cover a lot of ground,’ he replied. ‘I’m not a big fan.’

‘I don’t think we have too much say in who we love.’

He pulled a chilled jug of cold chay from the fridge.

‘Love didn’t save my father from a stray bullet, and it didn’t feed and clothe my mother, or shield her from criticism when she was forced to come home. In fact love only made it a lot harder for her.’