Nele Neuhaus - Swimming with Sharks

Zack was an accomplished actor, but leagues below Sergio. Alex noticed a slight flicker of fright in his eyes, and the corners of his mouth twitched in brief panic.

“You take yourself very seriously,” he said.

“No, I take my responsibility seriously.” She straightened up again. “Because I have a responsibility to the financial markets. And your reaction confirmed my suspicion.”

“You’re an arrogant bitch!” Zack suddenly resorting to unprofessional insults made Alex grin.

“And you’re a sore loser,” she countered, grabbing her briefcase. “I’m going to celebrate with my team a little bit. They deserve it. Have a nice evening, Mr. St. John!”

Her entire department was already at Luna Luna, a cozy bar on Broad Street mostly frequented by brokers and bankers. They greeted Alex with applause and enthusiastic whistling when she entered. She asked for everyone’s attention and then reported about the events at the meeting and the board’s reactions.

“All right, people.” Alex raised her hand, and it became quiet again. “Enough of this, let’s move on to the fun part of the evening. You’ve all done a great job, and I’m incredibly proud of you. As a token of appreciation for all the nights and weekends that you worked around the clock, all drinks on me tonight! Celebrate your achievement! You earned it!”

After another surge of applause, the first round arrived. The mood was cheerful and boisterous, the alcohol flowed freely, and the inhuman hundred-hour work weeks were behind them. Christmas and New Year’s were just around the corner, which meant even the financial district would be quieter for a few weeks. After a few drinks, Alex found a moment to speak with Mark.

“How did it go?” Mark inquired.

“Zack went berserk. He could hardly control himself.”

“Bingo.” Mark nodded seriously. “So you were right.”

“Well,” Alex said and let out a sigh, “but I still don’t know how far up his little side dealings go. Does Levy know of them?”

“He knew about Shanahan,” said Mark quietly, “and I’m sure that he knows about this.”

Alex frowned. She was in this thing up to her ears. No one would believe that she was stupid enough not to know what Zack did with her information. If the regulating authorities caught wind of this, she would face a harsh fine in addition to possibly losing her work permit.

“Damn it,” she said, her good mood swept away. “I was a pretentious idiot. I had it coming.”

“Why is that?” Mark looked at her, surprised.

“Oliver tried to tell me about it months ago.” Alex shrugged her shoulders. “But I refused to listen to him. He was right about everything.”

“I didn’t believe him either at first,” Mark replied.

“Do you still see Oliver every now and then?” Alex asked. The alcohol had lowered her inhibitions, and she suddenly wanted to know whether Mark was aware of what had happened between her and Oliver, and what he thought about it.

“Not for a while.” Mark threw a brief glance at her. “He left the city in May for a few months because…”

He stopped.

“Because of—what? Keep going, Mark!”

“I don’t know. It… it’s none of my business.”

“What did he tell you?”

Mark struggled with himself for a moment, and then he looked at Alex. “He was attacked in May and beaten pretty badly. His apartment was ransacked while he was in the hospital.”

“What?” Alex’s blood froze in her veins. “When was this exactly?”

“I don’t know if I should talk about it,” Mark replied evasively, biting his lip. “It’s really none of—”

“Mark!” Alex insisted. “Tell me what happened! Please!”

“Oliver told me that you showed up at his apartment one night and revealed to him that you’d had an affair with Sergio Vitali,” he said, visibly embarrassed, “and that the two of you had a disagreement. The next evening, three masked men were waiting for him in the hallway and roughed him up pretty badly. One of the men told him to stop sticking his nose into matters that are none of his business and to keep his hands off of you.”

“My God,” Alex whispered in deep horror. Sergio knew about Oliver and her, but he had never spoken a word about it! The thought that Sergio had her monitored was so outrageous and frightening that she didn’t dare to believe it. She tried to remember the day after the fight with Oliver. Yes! Sergio had taken her out for dinner at Le Cirque and showed her the penthouse apartment afterward. While she dined and laughed with him, Oliver had been brutally beaten. Her shock mixed with a feeling of cold fear. She knew all too well what Sergio was capable of. Did he still have someone trailing her? Was he tracking her every move? Involuntarily, she glanced around the packed pub, looking for a stranger among the happy faces of her team members.

“How… how’s Oliver doing now?” she whispered.

“I think he’s okay again,” Mark answered, “but he was in the hospital for almost three weeks.”

Alex’s entire body shook. Her triumph over the sealed deal was forgotten. On top of her fear, she had deep feelings of guilt toward Oliver.

“Here,” Mark said as he pushed another drink toward her, “drink something.”

She raised her head and looked at Mark desperately.

“I’ll never be able to make up for this,” she said quietly. “I had no idea! Oliver will hate me for it because he thinks that—”

“No, he doesn’t hate you,” Mark said to her quickly. “Quite the contrary. But he’s very worried about you.”

Alex didn’t believe that. She had put Oliver in jeopardy! Probably every man she spoke to was in danger if Sergio thought he was a threat to him. It was simply terrible, and she couldn’t do anything about it. Right at that moment, Zack entered the pub with another man. He looked around and grinned when he caught sight of Alex. Then he pushed his way through the crowd in her direction.

“He’s the last thing that I need right now,” she muttered. “Don’t even think about leaving me alone, Mark.”

“I’ll stay right at your side.”

“Hello, gorgeous.” Zack squeezed himself next to Alex at the bar. She could smell that he’d already had plenty to drink. His usual pristine appearance was disturbed, his tie hung lopsided, and the top buttons of his shirt were open.

“Zack, what are you doing here?” Alex pretended to be surprised.

“Ray,” Zack said, turning to his companion, “what are we drinking? Vodka on the rocks?”

The man with the thin blond hair grinned and nodded. His face seemed vaguely familiar, but Alex couldn’t place him.

“Bartender,” Zack said, snapping his fingers, “two double vodkas on the rocks, not too much ice!”

Alex’s only wish at that moment was to hole up somewhere. Zack observed her with a blurred gaze through bloodshot eyes. He took his glass and raised it in the air.

“Here’s to our great, brilliant M&A chief,” Zack said, his pronunciation garbled but loud enough for people to hear every single word, “who descended from a bed on Park Avenue to party with the common people. Very generous of her!”

“Are you crazy, Zack? What is this?”

“I admire you, Alex Sontheim, I admire you!” Zack put his arm around her shoulders as if he had permission to do so and whispered, “So, where’s your rich lover now, hmm? Or do you have permission to be out alone tonight?”

“You’re drunk.” She tried to break free from him, but Zack had a firm grip on her.

“That was pretty clever of you, Alex; I give you that,” he continued. “You got in bed with the right guy, hats off! Did you also make a play for Vince? He’s eating from the palm of your hand, the bastard. Just like the entire rest of this stupid outfit, they’d all love to f—”