Maelstrom

Chapter 49: Late-Night Business

After midnight, barely Monday morning

I couldn't say for sure what woke me up. The streetlights shining through the uncovered bedroom windows warmed the blank wall and ceiling and limned the rumpled sheets of the bed I lay in. Alone. The bedroom door was closed, but I could hear Ivan's low voice rumbling distantly on the other side. He had been quiet getting up, but if I hadn't been so tired – or sated – I knew I normally would have woken long before this.

I quickly pulled on the only pair of underwear I had, mentally thanking Past Me for washing them out in the bathroom sink yesterday afternoon. My lack of any real clothes reminded me that I should be heading home soon, but so far, neither Ivan nor I had shown any inclination of wanting to end our weekend. I would think about it tomorrow. Today, I amended, checking the time on the illuminated alarm clock on Ivan's side of the bed. Right now, I couldn't stop myself from wondering who he was talking to in the wee hours of the morning.

The University of Miami T-shirt found its way from the floor onto my body, and I sidled up to the closed door, opening it just a crack to better catch his words.

"... no podemos aumentar el tamaño de nuestros depósitos demasiado drásticamente, demasiado rápido, sobre lo que eran en esta época del año pasado (... can't increase the size of our deposits too dramatically, too quickly, over what they were this time last year)," he was explaining patiently. I was having a hard time making out the words. "Algo más de 10 por ciento de crecimiento año con año sin cambios evidentes o mejoras de capital pueden plantear demasiadas sospechas. (Anything more than 10 percent growth year-over-year without obvious changes, acquisitions, or capital improvements could raise too many suspicions.)"

He went quiet for a moment; he was clearly on the phone. I considered the usual choices – forward, neutral, or reverse. Reveal, conceal, or retreat. I knew myself well enough to dismiss going back to bed and pretending I'd never woken up as a real possibility. No matter how many times I reminded myself that discretion sometimes really was the better part of valor, backing away was simply not in my nature.

Which left me, really, with only two options: continuing to skulk behind the door and eavesdrop on Ivan's business, or walking out and flaunting my conscious state, possibly prompting him to either end his phone call early or send me back into the bedroom until he'd finished. Or send me home, I thought. My stomach clenched spasmodically at that thought, and I hurriedly opened the door before I changed my mind.

The living room was empty and dim like the bedroom. I focused on the open door at the far side of the apartment and tiptoed silently towards it. I could just make out what might be the back of Ivan's shoulder and a bit of his head, his phone pressed to his ear.

"Empezar a mover ese tipo de volumen en los próximos seis meses, necesitaríamos al menos uno más club, preferiblemente dos (To start moving that kind of volume in the next six months, we'd need at least one more club, preferably two)," he said. I reached the door and laid my hand lightly on the knob. Ivan was still naked, his back turned to me as he looked out the windows over the twinkling city. "No. Diversificar mis participaciones como que sería como agitar una bandera roja. Si desea empezar a utilizar tintorerías o salones de belleza o cualquier otro que no sea la de la industria de la hospitalidad, tendrá que configurar una empresa diferente, y no estaré al frente de la. (No. Diversifying my holdings like that would be like waving a red flag. If you want to start using dry cleaners or beauty salons or anything other than the hospitality industry, you'll need to set up a different company, and I won't be running it.)"

I decided against clearing my throat and tapped a knuckle quietly on the door instead. Ivan spun around, impressively quick, and held up his index finger with a frown. "No, debe ser clubes. Restaurantes y hoteles trabajar más fuertemente con el crédito. Tu padre sabe todo esto. ¿No ha ... (No, it should be clubs. Restaurants and hotels deal more heavily with credit. Your father knows all this. Hasn't he ...)"