"Yes, and fine, if Kevin gets hurt in the process. He rejected me. Me! He turned away from me as if I were no one, as if I were nothing. He deserves to suffer." Vanessa grabbed her glass and swallowed her champagne in two long gulps, then thrust the empty glass toward Luigi Amedeo.
He smiled, opened his antique bar, and refilled her glass. "So. Let us continue, then. What else did you gather over the weekend?"
"Kevin is involved in a new scheme, one which might cause him financial problems. Jeff is handling it for him, but it sounds risky." She told him of the Compact Disk Lab and Kevin's difficulties finding a convenient loan.
Luigi Amedeo paced, his fingers stroking his chin as he thought. "Interesting," he said. "You could introduce me as a potential investor, with an offer he can't possibly refuse. I could beat the bank's loan rate, and ask for less collateral."
"But…Kevin said he could go broke, if it failed. Would you be willing to take that risk?"
"I said 'potential investor,' my dear. In that way, I can establish a lot of preliminary contacts before I have to commit myself." He paused. "And at the moment, I happen to have a bit of 'loose' money to invest. I need to make some form of investment, and soon."
"I don't understand," Vanessa said, slightly lightheaded from her rapid consumption of alcohol.
"I prefer it that way, my friend," he said, his eyes sparkling with laughter. "My business is, shall we say, very special. But I need to meditate, to plan a strategy to contact our girl Tanya." He rose and inserted a compact disk into his player. The uplifting strains of the Nabucco's overture came from the speakers.
Vanessa leaned back and closed her eyes, letting herself drift with the music on the waves of wine.
What seemed no more than seconds later she felt a rough hand shake her shoulder. "Vanessa? Asleep, are you? Wake up, I need your help."
She sat up slowly, rubbing at her eyes, and looked at him.
"Call Kevin. Call him right now and tell him you have an investor for him. Tell him you have a friend who is interested in making an investment in his new project."
"But he's leaving to return to Europe-"
"I'll be there in two days. Call him, now, before he leaves. Right now, before he gets a chance to accept a loan from the bank."