Page 76 of Scarred Ruin

She took the card, nodding only once. “I’ll do that. I assure you I’ll take good care of your daughter and Shadow.”

“See that you do. I don’t want to feel the need for another conversation.”

* * *

Hassan Al-Farsi and Omar Ibranhim had been clients for years, long before I’d taken over as Pakhan. They also had a legitimate business selling diamonds to high-end clients throughout the world while also shipping illegal arms to Saudi Arabia.

Their products often adorned our cargo ships, and they paid extremely well for the special care taken. Not once had there been a single issue, although there had been a near catastrophic situation a couple of months before. A transient boat had been allowed to get too close.

My men had handled it, but since then, I’d been privy to tensions between our other parties rising.

However, they’d never been prone to listening to false narratives, which was why their sudden hesitation had annoyed the fuck out of me.

I was the last to arrive, done so with purpose in mind. In addition to the office at the warehouse, which normally was used by the dock manager, the company had an office suite on the top floor of one of the downtown high-rises.

With Roman serving as vice president, we had a staff of well over a hundred people who needed little supervision. They’d been with the company for years, completely loyal and always watching for developing issues.

Which was how Roman had gotten wind of Hassan’s recent verbal attacks on the logistics coordinator. Something I wouldn’t tolerate.

While the two men had mostly assimilated to Western life, they never liked for anyone to forget they both came from royal backgrounds.

As if I gave a shit.

I didn’t apologize for being late as there was no need. I simply walked into the conference room, moving to the head of the table and the window behind it. I also wasn’t interested in sitting.

Roman was already amused, Sergei and Kristoff remaining stoic as trained. The clients had no bodyguards, at least not that they were willing to bring the meeting. However, I could tell by their reactions they knew I was pissed.

“Lyubaya delovaya vozmozhnost’ podrazumevayet nalichiye doveriya. Yesli zhe eto doveriye okazyvayetsya podorvannym iz-za togo, chto kto-to poddalsya slukham, to yedinstvennyy put’ vykhoda okazyvayetsya useyannym minami.”

Roman was thoroughly amused, finding it difficult to keep a straight face.

“As always, Maxsim, you choose to place your clients at a disadvantage at the worst possible time,” Hassan offered while drumming his fingers on the table.

“Forgive me, Hassan. I’ll be happy to translate as it was something my father used to say to every client after the first business transaction. I’m surprised you’ve forgotten. With every business opportunity, there is implied trust. When that trust is broken based on partaking in hearsay, the only road of exit is one filled with landmines.”

Omar cleared his throat. “It’s not that we believe what we’ve heard, but that we have grown concerned that because you’ve been compromised, you will not… What is the American saying? Oh, yes. Have your eye on the ball. But we are willing to stay the course absolutely. Just at a discount. And if the voyage goes without any issues, then we will be happy to reconsider the original terms.”

Sergei knew the cue and walked closer, handing me a sealed envelope from a colleague of mine. I fingered it for a full minute while the two men glanced at each other.

Within my company’s reputation, I had one as being a bit of a dark horse. You never knew what to expect with me.

I took a few seconds to respond, smiling as I did. “You don’t need to worry about whether I have my eye on the ball, Omar. But you do need to worry about the quality of diamonds you’re so eager to ship back home.” I placed the envelope in front of Hassan.

“What is this?” he hissed.

“I had suspicions about the authenticity of your cargo. As you might imagine, I was worried that if there were any issues with your shipment of diamonds, our firm would be laid to blame. What you see there is a report from the top certified gemologist in the country.”

“What are you getting at?” Omar hissed.

“Gentlemen, your diamonds are worth one third of what you paid, barely considered appropriate for jewelry of any kind. Now, I’m not certain who sold you the garbage, but since my reputation is at stake, I will not be providing transportation for your numerous crates. In fact, they’ve been offloaded and await someone from your organization to retrieve them.”

I had to admit I did so enjoy being the bearer of bad news.

Hassan ripped open the envelope, already fuming. Whatever he said in his native language was likely an indication of how he’d handle the switch.

With a deadly outcome.

“Now, given we have been working together for a long time, I’m happy to provide you with forty-eight hours to have the crates removed without charging you a warehousing fee. However, I am a businessman so any longer and it will be necessary.”