Fair Trade

Sei had initially refused to go, but she changed her mind when she saw Kirill’s murderous eyes. Yuri proudly dragged her into Lily’s room and made her borrow some of her clothes and shoes.

Before leaving the room, Sei whispered to Lily, who wanted to follow her.

“Camille Petrov is currently at this hotel right now.”

Lily waved her hand with a dejected face when she heard it. She whispered back, “Please come back alive.”

The place she visited with Yuri was the Infinity Pool on the 19th floor where a party was being held. Camille Petrov was swimming leisurely and enjoying the party there.

He had a completely different image from Yuri. Camille, who had a stronger sense of that of an intelligent businessman, smiled brightly and waved his hand when he saw Sei.

“Hello, are you the girl who will be the new addition to our family?”

Oh my God…

Sei smiled awkwardly and pinched Yuri’s hand. Then he kissed her cheek and whispered, “I did warn you twice. There’s no turning back.”

I didn’t know that no turning back meant this!

“What are you going to do, Sei? Now… It’s going to get more and more difficult for you.”

By this time, Sei had almost become desperate. She thought she could get rid of him, but he just took her reluctance as consent.

I would go crazy at this rate…

Camille was exactly what she had thought. Though his tone was friendly, the menace in his voice could not be mistaken.

Camille covered himself in a towel and called someone to bring champagne over. The sound of music died down at his words and the voices of people being loud quieted in an instant.

“I heard that you did a good job at David’s party.”

“It was only some cheap tricks that I learned long ago.”

“Thanks to you, things have gone a little wrong, but I’m happy to know exactly who’s after me. Well, I guess it turned out for the better.”

Camille grinned, lifting his champagne glass, and leaned back on the sunbed with his bare chest. He was a man who gave a strong feeling of a languid predator. He seemed to have no qualms about getting blood on his hands.

Meanwhile, Yuri kept his eyes fixed only on Sei’s face as if he had no interest in Camille. He even wanted to cover her face if he could.

“I’m sure there are rats here too. They must be agitated that I didn’t end up in jail.”

He looked around sharply right then. People who appeared to be Camille’s men also looked around with sharp looks on their faces.

“The Thing?”

When asked by Camille, Yuri, who placed a champagne glass in Sei’s hand, replied, “Soon.”

“I heard his name is Gavin Smith.”

“Let’s talk about work later.”

Yuri, who said so, got up as he held her hand. Camille shrugged his shoulders as if to tell him he couldn’t care less. He turned around and said while looking at Yuri and Sei, “When I stabbed a knife in his leg, I should have taken it back then. If you can’t find it, try to get rid of it completely. Knowing too much is dangerous, Yuri.”

Yuri looked back at Camille, smiled, and walked toward the other side.

“Let’s have a meal together soon, my pretty girl. To set a date for the ceremony.”

Her heart sank and she followed Yuri with a frown.

Standing at the edge of the pool, quite far away from Camille, Sei stared at him with an unfamiliar air. She then leaned against the railing while still looking at him.

“Keep going. That thing from before… Why would my dad refuse parole?”

“… Camille once stabbed Guilio Parenti in the leg with a knife. It was Camille’s revenge when he found out that Pablo was with him.”

<Italian Man / Patent Leather Black Derby Shoes / Size 43.5–44 / Was Lame in a Leg>

When she remembered the characteristics she had written down, she took a sip of champagne because her mouth was dry.

“He stabbed him with a knife?”

“He tried to not be bothered by it, but it wasn’t easy. I heard Guilio was lame for a few months but then got completely cured.”

Guilio was already in her list of suspects and yet she was confused by the fact that he did not limp. She felt like her chaotic thoughts were getting more and more entangled by the minute.

“What Pablo stole was not just a gun. If you open its barrel, you’ll find a microchip in it. It’s the only key that can connect to my hard drive. Pablo wanted to hand it over to Guilio Parenti to start a power struggle with us. No, it wouldn’t have just ended up in a fight between him and us. If the data contained in it is circulated, all the closely connected criminal cartels around Europe will be destroyed. Then after a period of turmoil, a new cartel will be born. There might be a war. But someone stole the database during this confusion.”

Sei got goosebumps and held her breath with her arms wrapped around her. Things that had been floating around with suspicion started to gain shape and began to unfold like a minefield.

“My dad… he’s just a small thief. He couldn’t have known all that.”

“I know, that’s why I have to protect you. If Jang Young-guk comes out, everyone connected to him will become a target.”

He came a step closer to her after having said that. The man wrapped his arms around her waist, put down his champagne glass, and pressed his lips against her cold sweaty forehead.

“I really like you. The first time I saw you was on the cruise, but the first time I fell for you was when you put a piece of hamburger in my mouth. At first I tried to kill you. I didn’t like how a dark-haired Asian held my life in her hands and had shaken me to the core.”

The sweltering winds of Las Vegas lulled her whole body. Grabbing her by the waist, he lowered his head and whispered sweetly, “But it’s changed now. So let me take care of you.”