Page 27 of Billionaire Corruption

“How long have you and Gill been together?” I asked.

“Two years,” she said.

“You guys seem happy together,” I said.

Again, the shrug of the shoulders. “He doesn’t beat me, takes me nice places.”

What was not to like about that, she seemed to imply.

Our sushi arrived and she deftly speared some nigiri and put it carefully in her mouth so as not to smudge her lipstick.

After a while, she said. “But some of his friends, maybe, not so good guys.”

“What do you mean?”

She carefully looked around her, to see if anyone could hear her.

“I was at a party with Paul, with Gill. Other people too. Some time ago, I don’t remember when. But there were men, big guys with guns, not executives, if you know what I mean.”

She laughed and it was not a pretty laugh. Not exactly ladylike.

I felt myself growing cold. She was talking about criminals, clearly.

“They were talking to Paul. Arguing.” Irina shrugged, “I didn’t hear, but it was something.”

“What party was this?”

She had to think hard. “I can’t remember, but we were on yacht, Cayman Islands. Stillman was there. And Bella, even though she got so fat. Disgusting!”

I didn’t know who Stillman was or the poor woman who had gotten fat, but I felt I couldn’t show my ignorance without revealing how little I knew Paul.

I asked her for as many details as I could about the party.

By the time I left, I knew less than I had started out with.

I knew that Irina thought Paul was a good man, but also that he was close to people who were not good at all. And her idea of what constituted a good man was clearly quite different to what I had in mind. In my mind, a picture was emerging of Paul McKinney as a businessman who would do anything and play by any rules to keep his company doing well and him comfortably in charge.

This did not entirely constitute a good man in my opinion.

I was pretty miserable by the time I reached my office.

I went into the bathroom, splashed water on my face.

Another woman came in to wash her hands. I recognized Alana, the COO.

Our eyes met and she smiled at me.

“You’re one of the accountants, right?”

“Yeah, Grace Bishop, nice to meet you.”

“You were with Paul the other day?” she said. “Looks like you know each other?”

I must have seemed embarrassed because she quickly apologized,

“Sorry, that sounded nosy!”

“No, it’s fine, we were once stuck in an elevator together.”

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