In Bed with the Enemy

What a clever man Oleg Karnofsky was, Heidi thought, as she admired the view of Notre-Dame de la Garde from her Marseilles apartment.  True, there were a few rough moments in the beginning when she threatened him and he threatened her.  As they were out to sea, she realized he most likely had the upper hand, vis a vis throwing her overboard.  On the other hand, she wasn’t a woman deterred by threats.  All he had to do was put the money she was owed in her bank account and she would say nothing more about his location or any of the friends he had on board, who were probably just as much outside the law as he was.

Finally, he made a small concession.  “Perhaps we can discuss this over lunch.”

“Fine.  And then, when we come to a satisfactory conclusion of the matter, my money in my bank account, you can set me down at the nearest port so I can catch up with my cruise.  Nothing more need to be said about the matter.”

“You’re on a cruise?”  He was a bit alarmed at that information.

Thinking quickly, she added, “Yes, and I’m sure my cabin mate will be missing me when dinner rolls around.”

Did he really need to know that she had no cabin mate and that absolutely no one would be missing her?  She thought not.

“With the operations you’re involved in, I’m assuming all around the world, my measly pot of gold is a mere drop in your very deep and probably slimy bucket.  It means nothing to you, while it means the world to me.  I’m a widow, left with nothing.  I won’t even mention all the others who were swindled by your Allgate Reality fiasco.”

“You invested?”

“My husband.”

“And I’m to pay for his greed?  No one who looked at the prospectus could have believe it could guarantee those returns.”

“They believed in the man who was selling them,” Heidi pointed out.

Shrugging, Oleg said, “Did they do due diligence on his character?”

“He was a member of the country club!” she exclaimed hotly.

Oleg laughed heartily.  “Oh well, then.  That’s all that needs to be said.”  Leaning forward, he added, “The man was already a thief when my company latched on to him.  He was just stealing from his own portfolio to pay for his gambling habit. I just taught him how to steal from others.  Who was your husband anyway?”

Sitting up straighter, Heidi said, “Dr. Franklin.  Cardiologist.”

The nod Oleg gave was knowing.  “So you’re the dominatrix.”

“What!”

“Do you think my people don’t keep in touch with what’s going on in sunny Scarsdale?”  He looked her over in a most insulting manner.  “Tell me a bit about yourself, Ms. S and M.”

Heidi pushed herself back from the table before she realized she had nowhere to go.  The yacht was big, but they were in the middle of the Med.  While she was dining a deux, Oleg’s other friends were occupied elsewhere with nubile creatures in what could be called bikinis if one were stretching it, and Heidi wished they would.

“I told you who I am.  I’m a widow in need of the money I was left by my husband.”

“Of six months.”

Boy, he was way too well informed.  Or maybe he feasted on the salacious details of someone else’s life?

“For a woman my age, making money isn’t easy,” she was loathed to admit.

He waved that off.  “I know, I know.  Widows and orphans.  My mother was a widow.  Now I’m an orphan and must look out for myself.”

“Then you know how hard it can be.”

He just smiled.  Wickedly.  “Heidi,” he contemplated.  “What kind of name is Heidi anyway?”

“It’s a name I chose for myself.”

“Because of your love for the Swiss Alps?”  He laughed at his own joke.

“Because I no longer wanted to be called Milena,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Ah ha, eastern European, then.”

“American, thank you very much.”

“But your parents?”

“Yes, immigrants.  From Poland,” she added.  “So?”

“So.  Problem solved.  Get yourself a Polish passport in your birth name, and you have all of the European Union to exploit.”  He studied her carefully.  “In fact, I think I can even help you out.”

Deal with the devil?  At this point, she’d take it.

Unfortunately, the process wasn’t as easy as Oleg suggested.  Paperwork and bureaucracy, but she had to return to the States anyway to clear up the mystery of her disappearance.  Yes, she had disappeared—onto Oleg’s yacht, so much more comfortable than the lousy seven day “free” cruise.  He gave her spending money to buy clothes and a bathing suit, two piece, but flattering, not with butt and tits hanging out for all to ogle and molest.  They talked, she and Oleg.  He was comfortable to be with.  At lunch.  She ate alone at dinner because, frankly, things got a bit raucous at night.  Two glorious weeks of sailing, and then—

Her return to Scarsdale was perhaps too newsworthy?  In certain quarters.  But her purpose in returning was to sell her condo, which was quickly snapped up, and for which she earned her last commission, then to get out of Dodge.

With money in her pocket again, although not as much money as she hoped to make with Oleg, she visited her family in Erie because she needed documentation from her parents, birth certificates, residency cards, anything that had previously connected them to Poland.  When she told them she was aiming for Polish citizenship so she could work in the EU, they became all misty eyed and talked about returning to their homeland, not only to see the relatives, but also maybe to retire there.  So much cheaper than Erie, Pennsylvania.

And then Heidi was off, back to Europe with all the paperwork.  After contacting Oleg, he told her to see a certain man in Warsaw, and she found that her citizenship application was being expedited.

Now here she was in her Marseilles apartment, with nothing to do but enjoy life.  And receive the occasional packages from Amsterdam and Antwerp.  Not drugs. She explicitly told Oleg no drugs.  But—diamonds?  She never looked.  She was told not to; and, as sweet and helpful as Oleg was being, she wasn’t taking any chances in case he had a very volatile and deadly personality.  He was a criminal after all, while she—   Hmm.