Nele Neuhaus - Swimming with Sharks

“Alex,” Sergio finally said, “have you met our esteemed mayor, Nick Kostidis?”

Kostidis turned his gaze toward her. His eyes, both cool and burning, hypnotized her.

“No, I haven’t.” She returned his gaze with a smile. “My name is Alex Sontheim. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Sergio raised his eyebrows mockingly as she spoke. Kostidis’s face showed skeptical interest as he extended his hand and held hers for a moment.

“The pleasure is all mine,” he said politely, leaning closer to her. “It’s always nice to see a new face among the all too familiar crowd.”

Sergio interrupted before she could respond.

“I hear that you managed to bring the Zuckerman case up to the investigation committee,” he said casually.

“Oh, yes!” Kostidis smiled, letting go of Alex’s hand. “It took a lot of effort to convince them, but I think that it’ll be worth it.”

“I highly doubt it, but I wish you the best of luck,” Sergio replied, also smiling. Alex looked back and forth between them in confusion. Pure hatred was boiling beneath their politeness.

The ferocity and fearlessness in Kostidis’s eyes contradicted his friendly tone of voice.

“Thank you,” he said, “but in my experience luck won’t save you when you dive into a pool of sharks. In any case, I wish you a pleasant evening. Enjoy yourself. Miss Sontheim, it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Alex simply nodded. Kostidis patted Paul McIntyre on his shoulder and moved on.

“Asshole,” Sergio growled once the mayor was out of earshot. He pulled Alex’s chair closer so she could sit down. She wasn’t quite sure whether or not she liked Nick Kostidis, but he was an extraordinary man in any case. This is what she told Sergio after they sat down at the table again. Sergio looked at her with a mysterious expression in his eyes.

“Nicholas Kostidis is the plague,” he said in a cold voice. Alex looked at him in astonishment. “He is a power-hungry, ruthless fanatic who is obsessed with the idea of turning this city into a children’s playground.”

“But safety and a lower crime rate are good things.” Alex, who’d heard about the mayor’s no-tolerance policy for combating crime, objected innocently. Sergio gave her a piercing look for a moment and then laughed.

“They certainly are.”

“Kostidis is a demagogue and an agitator,” Vincent Levy noted after ensuring that no one else was listening to him. “He’s dangerous because he doesn’t accept anything but his own truth. He is so popular with ordinary people because his truth is so simplistic.”

He lowered his voice.

“He has turned this city into a police state and—”

“Kostidis can do whatever he wants,” Sergio interrupted him, casually waving at a waiter, who immediately refilled their glasses. “Even with his tailored suit and silk tie he’s nothing but a pathetic little Greek from Bed-Stuy, with a bark that’s louder than his bite.”

Both men laughed disdainfully.

“What investigation committee was he talking about?” Alex inquired.

“It’s Kostidis’s new obsession,” Sergio said dismissively. “He’s been after me for years. He keeps trying to intimidate my employees, hoping that someone will reveal a dark secret in my past and serve it to him on a silver platter. His hatred of anyone who has an Italian name is pathological. Maybe he was beaten up by an Italian bully as a child.”

He laughed carelessly and raised his glass.

“Here’s to our mayor and his incredible ambition, which will someday do him in.”

Alex saw the cold sparkle in Sergio’s eyes, but she preferred to keep silent. There was no reason for her to side with Kostidis.

A half hour later, she excused herself. She smiled as the motion of the crowd ushered her through to the foyer; she had almost forgotten about her encounter with the mayor. It was a great pleasure for her to belong among these privileged people who don’t think twice about spending more money on a dinner than an average worker earned in half a year. She wandered around the long corridors of the Plaza for a while before she realized she was lost. She found herself in front of the entrance to the kitchen, turned around, and almost collided with two men who were moving quickly toward a door with a sign that read Personnel Only. To her surprise, Alex spotted Nick Kostidis. It seemed that the mayor was trying to leave the hotel through the back door.

“Oh!” Kostidis smiled once he recognized her. “Did you plan on inspecting the kitchen, Miss Sontheim?”

He remembered her name! The other man’s cell phone started ringing, so he walked a little further away to take the call.

“No, I… I’m just a little lost,” she replied. Kostidis was only slightly taller than Alex. She couldn’t stop staring at his dark eyes. He had unusually long and thick eyelashes for a man.

“You’re not from New York, right?” he asked.

“No, I’m from Germany. But I’ve lived here for twelve years.”

“Germany!” Kostidis gave her a friendly smile. “The land of poets and thinkers! What brought you here of all places?”

“My career,” Alex responded.

“Do you work here?” He raised his eyebrows.

“What did you think?” She gave him a mocking look. “I’m not a rich heiress. I was with Morgan Stanley for six years, and now I work at LMI.”

“Aha. Banking. The big money.” Kostidis laughed, but his eyes remained serious and inquiring.

“I like my job.” Alex suddenly felt the need to justify herself. “I like this city, too. New York is so alive.”

“Yes, indeed it is.” Kostidis nodded. “My parents came from Greece, but I was born and raised here and never had the desire to live anywhere else. I spent some time in Washington DC for professional reasons, but I felt like I was in exile there. For me, there’s just New York. I love this city despite all of its shortcomings. And I put all my energy into making New York a more beautiful and livable place.”

Alex stared at Nick Kostidis. She was amazed at his sincere excitement and passion. He gestured with his hands when speaking, and his lively mannerisms captivated audiences. She remembered again that Levy had called him a demagogue and thought about Sergio’s contemptuous words. Now that she had met Kostidis in person, she was no longer surprised at how he had won the mayoral elections with such an overwhelming majority. He had an almost magical magnetism and the rare talent of making a person feel like the most important human being in the world. The people of New York loved and worshipped him because his words were followed by actions. He had done more for public safety and improving the quality of life than his predecessors had accomplished in ten years.

“Nick?”

The young man with the thin blond hair and the smug look on his face had finished his phone call and was coming toward them. He eyed Alex with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion.

“Are you coming, Nick? We have to go.”

“I’m coming,” Kostidis said, without averting his penetrating stare from Alex. “I’ll catch up with you, Ray.”

“Okay.” The man obeyed reluctantly.

“My babysitter.” Kostidis smiled regretfully. “One appointment chases the next, and Mr. Howard makes sure that I show up everywhere on time and stay long enough. I don’t envy him.”

He extended his hand to Alex.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Sontheim.”

“Yes, I… I think so too,” she stuttered and sensed to her chagrin that her cheeks were turning red like a schoolgirl’s.

“Allow me to give you some advice, even though we hardly know each other.” Kostidis leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice. “Be careful with your choice of friends. Though it may be exciting, swimming with sharks is dangerous. Unless you are a shark yourself, which I don’t believe.”