Page 28 of Under His Skin

“And what does this have to do with anti-bondservant sentiments?”

She looked confused for a moment before nodding assuredly. “Right. So this Argos woman—I did ask to recuse myself first, I’m not an idiot, but they refused on the grounds of me being better than that incompetent buffoon Müller—ends up getting sentenced to two years bondservitude.” Anna stopped to laugh. “You should have seen her face. I think you would have loved it. Could have added it to your jerk-off material.”

“You do remember that I’m gay?” This was uncharacteristically stupid for Anna, even when drunk. Tracht picked up the brandy bottle and read the label; it was a brand he’d never heard of before, but when he saw the alcohol content, he was very glad he hadn’t agreed to a glass.

“Yes, of course I remember. You keep bringing Alex. And Dimitri!” Anna made a swooning sound. “I love Dimitri. I don’t know why you had to break up with him. He’s perfect. He’s mentoring Markus with his art project. Did I show you Markus’s latest painting? It’s stunning. Even Dimitri said so.”

It seemed unlikely that Tracht was going to get the full story about the Argos woman out of Anna now that she’d moved on to gushing about her family, and frankly, he was too tired to deal with her. He refilled her glass one more time and then got up. “I’m heading to bed. I’ll send Vasilis to get you, since I doubt you’ll manage to make it to bed yourself.”

“No need! He’s mad at me. I’m going to sleep here anyway.” She fumbled with the side of the armchair until she found the button that made it recline. It went all the way flat, forming what looked like a superbly uncomfortable bed. The compartment underneath housed a blanket that Anna fished out. From the look of things, she was very familiar with setting up here.

She could have used one of the guest rooms instead, but apparently decided to play up the pity party. She really wanted everybody to know that she was suffering.

Tracht waved at her, said good night, and then went to look for Alex.

He found him in the living room, where the lights had been dimmed but the screen was still on, playing a movie on mute. He spotted Vasilis sitting in his armchair, tablet in hand. Tracht wandered over and sat down on the couch next to a sleeping Alex, close enough for their thighs to touch. Despite all the movement, Alex slept on.

“Am I right in thinking Anna is plastered?” Vasilis asked quietly, probably so as not to wake Alex.

Tracht couldn’t quite see his expression, but there was something off about his voice. Cautiously, he answered, “Yes. I think she was intending to finish off the entire bottle.”

That got a disgusted noise from Vasilis. “I’m sure she’ll regret that in the morning.” But then he lowered his tablet and looked straight at Tracht. “I’ve been looking at Alex’s bank account.”

Tracht kept his expression as neutral as he could. “And?”

“And I know for a fact that there should be a lot more in there than I’m currently seeing. Alex seemed so blasé about the account that I decided to take a look. Between the gifts Anna and I deposited, and the interest from the investment fund I set up in his name, it’s far below what I’d expect.” Vasilis paused there, and it was clear he expected Tracht to react.

Tracht shrugged. “It’s as you say.”

“It’s not going to look good when this gets uncovered. And it will get uncovered. I’m completely certain that the prosecutors have Argos’s support in this endeavor, not to mention everybody else on station who would like to take me and Anna down. This looks like theft, possibly even tax evasion. Or maybe somebody could make a case for money laundering. There is no way the prosecution isn’t going to make use of this.” Vasilis sighed and broke eye contact. “Why’d you do it?”

“I wasn’t stealing. I have all the money set aside in a separate account.” Tracht verified that Alex was still sleeping—easy enough to check, since Alex had never been able to fake the strange whistle his broken nose sometimes made during sleep—and continued, “He doesn’t need to know about it.”

“It’s the difference between needing to find employment immediately and having a few years’ worth of cushion.”

That was the point. Tracht thought he’d displayed great self-control not emptying the account entirely, but Alex knew there was supposed to be money in it so that would have been too obvious.

When Tracht didn’t respond, Vasilis said, “There’s no way to spin this in a positive manner. Either you’re stealing, or you’re—” He cut himself off.

Tracht laughed briefly at the sheer absurdity of Vasilis tiptoeing around his words. “Either I’m stealing, or I’m controlling, right? Is that what you were going to say?”

Their eyes met again, and it had been a long time since Vasilis had looked at Tracht with disapproval like that.

“No. Controlling isn’t the word I would have chosen.” Vasilis rubbed his brow. “I don’t think the jury will accept ‘I can’t bear the thought of him ever leaving me’ as a valid defense. This is textbook, Johannes.”

“He wouldn’t leave me,” Tracht said sharply. A moment later Alex grumbled in his sleep, and Tracht realized he’d been digging his fingers into Alex’s thigh. He quickly let go. “He’s… loyal.”

“If you’re so sure of that, then why bother controlling his finances?”

“I don’t need to explain myself to you.” The mellow mood from earlier was gone, and Tracht hated the sudden wave of fear. Fear that he’d be exposed. Fear that he’d lose his standing. And yes, fear that Alex would leave.

And here Vasilis was, judging him, just like Franziska. No wonder he was mad at Anna, if he had actual, real scruples.

“I’m sorry. Or rather: I don’t want to start an argument right now. I need all of this to blow over, and I’m getting tired of having to wrangle the two of you.” Vasilis steepled his fingers and leaned back in his chair. “Go with Alex to the debtleasing center tomorrow. Close off the damn contract, because the more you delay it, the worse it’s going to be for everybody.”

Alex’s fantasies of running away to another solar system were starting to look more and more palatable. Tracht dug his fingers into Alex’s thigh on purpose now, waiting until he felt Alex’s muscles tense and the strange whistling sound let up. Alex grumbled and opened his eyes blearily.

“Huh? Tracht?” Alex yawned loudly. “Are you done fighting with Anna?”

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