Peter finally glanced up athim to see if he was getting a reaction. He knew he was able to gethis hands on information that he didn’t think possible. He wantedto make sure the man knew it too. Instead, the younger man met hiseyes with unequaled confidence. Although he should have beenannoyed that his show of power wasn’t working, he actually foundhimself impressed. He needed a man like this. A man that had nofear.
Ryan purposely kept hisexpression unreadable as a result of five years of training and tenyears of service. He sat in the chair as if it was the mostcomfortable one he’d ever been in his entire life. His posture wascompletely relaxed.
With his experience, he’dbe comfortable in Beirut in the middle of a missile attack.Something he’d actually been through a few times.
He held the older man’ssteady gaze, then lifted his brows ever so slightly.
There was a barelydiscernable smile as Peter scanned down his body for a moment, thenresumed his scrutiny of the paperwork.
Ryan almost mimicked it—thesmile. Peter was impressed. Not with just the file, but hisphysique. Yes, he had on an expensive suit, but his form wasunmistakable under it.
Ryan’s poise was alsoimpeccable—expression-wise and physically. His elbows were on thearmrests with his fingers interlocking. He was eased back in thechair with his head slightly cocked to the side and his long legswere stretched out in front of him crossed at the ankles. It waspurposeful, the open posturing. It was confident and relaxed.Nothing in his body language indicated that he was impatient andwanted to get on with it, or that he was the least bit intimidated.He was trained to display extreme tolerance. Also, not much scaredhim anymore. Even the icy blue coolness of the older man’s eyes,that could send shivers up a normal man’s spine, did nothing tohim.
Peter shifted in his seatand flipped a few more pages and Ryan already knew he didn’t likehim, but he needed the job. It wasn’t the money, for he had plentyof it. There were other reasons. As for Peter Nickolov, the manreviewing his file, he would be professional around him, and unlesshe was psychic, wouldn’t know his true feelings.
He took advantage of thesilence to further study him while he turned another page. This wasinformation that he was somehow able to obtain from a normallyunobtainable source hence the exhibition of reviewing it in frontof him. Yet, Ryan didn’t act surprised, because he expected it. Infact, he was instrumental in making sure he could get his hands onit. However, he only released it in certain circles and didn’t makeit easy. It just gave him an indication of how much influence Peterhad. Something he had to find out. Ryan didn’t likesurprises.
Peter was in hismid-sixties, a hard man who didn’t like mistakes and those who knewhim, knew better than to cross him. He was vicious, a murderer, andyes, Ryan was doing his best to get a job with him. He was doingthat by keeping his mouth shut, looking patient andcomposed.
Peter definitely liked ashow. He wore an expensive William Fioravanti dove grey suit, lightblue shirt and grey tie. Ryan preferred Kiton, or Oxxford, which iswhat he was wearing today. It was a dark grey pinstriped suit witha white shirt and black tie. While he liked Fioravanti also, owninga few himself, but he found the tailor made Oxxfords morecomfortable. The Fioravanti was more expensive. Peter liked to lookgood.
If that didn’t do it forthe older man, the amount of platinum and gold he wore would have.He could probably direct traffic with it. Peter’s watch was aplatinum diamond encrusted Rolex, which he knew cost upwards ofaround seventy-five thousand. His thick fingers also seemed to bepartial to heavy gold rings. This man certainly liked to make alasting impression with his wealth.
Ryan knew all about him.He was a Miami council member, well respected in political fields.He was also one of the largest drug dealers on the east coast. Thatwas one of hisbusinesses. He was also into child labor andprostitution.
He originated from EasternEurope, but no one was quite sure where. It was estimated that itmight possibly Chechnya. He came over at the tender age of fourteenas a refugee, got his American citizenship and married the daughterof a prominent lawyer. They had two daughters six years apartthough he knew for a fact the man wanted a son most preferably totake over the family business. Unfortunately his wife died beforeshe gave him one. Some say it was a heart attack, but he knewbetter. It was a heroin overdose. The only thing he didn’t knowabout was if it was intentional or accidental. Rumor had it thatPeter had caught his wife cheating. Sitting there looking at himwhile he flipped through page after page, made him realize that itwas probably true. His demeanor breathed psychopath with a twist ofnarcissism. It was hard to love a heartless man and it was obviousthat he’d had a hard life until he immigrated. There were reportsthat he was already familiar with killing people before he came tothe States. Ryan didn’t doubt it. His eyes were cold, soulless.Unfortunately, he’d seen plenty of people that held that same look.It wasn’t common at all, but in his line of work, it was. Thesewere people that left a lot of death in their wake. People hedidn’t mind killing.
Did that make him anybetter than Peter? Probably not.
Yet, therewas adifference.
He did have a soul.
He was capable
