Page 15 of Terminal Voyage
"He looks taken.”
"That's his wife, Sophia." Then she muttered aside. "He's loaded," she said with emphasis. "I'm talking global shipping magnate. Stupid money.”
"What exactly does Declan do?" I asked.
"He can explain it better than I can.”
She dragged me across the deck to meet Luciano and his wife. Vanessa made introductions, and we exchanged pleasantries.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Luciano said in a slight Italian accent, staring into me with lustful dark eyes.
Sophia seemed used to his flirtations.
"What brings you aboard?"
I shrugged. "Just a little fun in the sun.”
"Excellent! How long will you be with us?”
"I don't know. I haven't made up my mind yet.”
"Declan is such a gracious host,” Luciano said. “I'm sure you will have a wonderful time.”
"How do you know Declan?”
"We have a mutual interest.”
"What interest is that?"
"Making obscene amounts of money," he said with a chuckle.
I laughed. "Well, please share the secret.”
Luciano took a deep breath and thought about it for a moment. "The secret to making money is to control something scarce that other people need. Food, energy, currency, goods. I control access. Every product that is imported into this country got here somehow.”
"And you’re that somehow. Sounds like a good position to be in."
"I'm a large percentage of that somehow and want to grow even larger." He smiled.
"How does Declan come into the picture?"
"Declan brings certain synergies to the table. I don't want to bore you with the details of it all."
"I'm sorry, I'm just inquisitive by nature. Here we are, supposed to be having fun, and I'm asking about work."
Luciano smiled. "Making money never really feels like work to me. I’d love to talk to you more about it sometime.”
He was totally flirting.
"I'd love to chat more with you and your wife sometime. You two make such a cute couple."
He put his arm around her.
She looked disgusted.
"I'm a very lucky man," Luciano said, then kissed her cheek.
“Oh, no. I’m the lucky one,” Sophia said.
