know, I’m not normal. Let’s blame it on the jet-lag.
For a second everyone is quiet and we all sip on our drinks in the lavishly luxurious penthouse.
We’ve been invited to stay here in the new casino resort that Blaine’s mom’s fiancé opened in Monte Carlo. Apparently the wedding will take place here and it’s rumored that the crown prince might be in attendance.
Kaden still rented a room at a different hotel and he gave us all key cards to it. That’s to be considered a safe room and a meeting point if the shit hits the fan. The guys swiped the penthouse for bugs as soon as we got here and they’ll do it daily. They think that at this moment Van Der Beck should have no reason to suspect that we’re here for anything other than the wedding but after the way Pierce was tracking me through my watch, we must assume that we’re being watched while in enemy territory.
Kaden clears his voice and begins to explain that the guy the FBI suspect of being involved in a huge money laundering scheme with Van Der Beck is a Russian billionaire called Evgeny Kronin.
“On the outside, he’s a legit businessman who seems to have made his fortune with steel. He builds ships, from super oil tankers to cruise liners to luxury yachts. However, the FBI suspects that this is just a front to a much more lucrative and very illegal nuclear weapons trafficking ring. He uses the casino to launder the money from his nuclear weapons deals.”
I have to be honest; I don’t understand what this has to do with Royce and Blaine’s father and I tell Kaden as much. “Ok, sure. This guy seems like a real asshole but I’m missing the connection with Royce and Blaine, and the robberies.”
Royce intervenes and explains the situation. “Van Der Beck used the money he embezzled from our father’s company to build this whole resort but he buried his tracks real well. We were planning to frame him by planting part of the cash in his private quarters and then using some of it to gamble in the casino. We would’ve been real sloppy with it too. Most of that money is marked, that’s how Kaden got assigned to UCLA under cover when a small amount of that cash was found circulating on campus.”
That’s even more confusing. “Who spent that money?”
Blaine blushes and explains that when their father was arrested at first, the feds froze every single asset the family owned. “My mother had money before marrying Royce’s dad, from her two previous rich husbands. But after she left him when he was arrested, we weren’t exactly on speaking terms. Well, we were totally fucking broke and we had to pay rent, tuition, everything. I made the huge mistake of getting a money order from one of the credit unions on campus. Using money from our first heist. The rest is history.”
River chuckles. “And then you three gave me so much stick for keeping the cash in my room. Well done, dipshit, for getting the feds on your trail from the get go.”
Blaine clenches his fists, ready to show River how much he doesn’t appreciate his taunts but Kaden puts an end to their squabble.
“Guys, focus for fuck’s sake. Going back to Van Der Beck and his involvement in all this: at first we thought that this was just a totally legit activity, since we had no idea that he was responsible for the embezzlement. We thought we had our guy when we arrested Mr. Barrington. We were simply watching Van Der Beck closely because Monte Carlo is a tax haven and we suspected tax evasion. But the numbers don’t add up. The influx of money in the casino is totally disproportionate to the volume of business, so we started watching the high rollers and we started to suspect that Kronin is paying Van Der Beck to recycle the money he got with his illicit trade. However, the money is still too much, so we think that Van Der Beck is very much part of the operation and if we need to put everyone away, we need proof of what kind involvement he has in this whole thing.”
Holy shit. This guy sounds like one of those mega villains in the James Bond movies. And he’s marrying Blaine’s mom? I don’t fucking blame Blaine for needing a drink, I would too. I do need one too.
“So, what do we do?” I ask, unsure