Don't Touch

-14-

Syd, Emiliano, and Luca arrived at the warehouse near the docks to meet with the UK contact, Oliver, for the exchange. He was a tall, arrogant man with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. He stood at the center of the warehouse with two other men on each side of him and large containers behind them.

"Ah, so you're Simone Davidson," Oliver said with his heavy accent. "How did your family manage to hide you all these years?" He smiled as he reached his hand out to Simone.

"Oliver, I presume." She said casually, giving him her hand.

He brought her hand to his thin lips and gave her knuckles a peck. "Pleasure to meet you." Oliver then gestured to the men on each side of him. "This is Eli," he tilted his head left. "And this is James," he tilted his head right. "I see you've come with the Rossi brothers... We're already acquainted."

"Great. Then we can get straight to business. Is this the payment behind you?" Syd looked over at the large containers behind him.

"More serious than your brother, I see. I can't even get a bit of banter out of you?"

"Unfortunately, my brother received all the charisma," Syd smiled. "But let me know next time you're out here and I'll be sure to treat you to some drinks at one of our clubs."

"Oh, I doubt that, love," Oliver said walking up to her, too close for comfort. "You've got a bit of charm yourself." He held her gaze and ran the back of his hand down her face.

Syd maintained her unbothered Simone demeanor. "Emiliano, Luca, check that the full payment is there," she said, not breaking eye contact with Oliver.

An entertained smile came to Oliver's face and he turned to James and Eli. "Oh, seems Ms. Davidson thinks we're here to take a piss," he laughed.

Davidson. I am Simone Davidson, Syd thought to herself to maintain her composure despite being so nervous she wanted to throw up. She eyed the containers that Emiliano and Luca were looking into. She walked over to one of the open containers and kicked it.

"Hm." She pondered aloud before turning to count the other containers. "Emiliano, can you kick that container?"

Emiliano followed her instructions and when she heard the slight echo, she turned her attention to the Brits. "Seems that you did come here to take a piss," she remarked, raising a brow. "You wanna tell me where the rest of our fucking money might be?"

The Rossi brothers exchanged confused looks.

"You wanna repeat that, love?" Oliver leaned in with his ear facing Syd.

"I said..." Syd walked over to one of the containers and kicked it harder than she did before so that the echo was loud and clear. "You wanna tell me where the rest of our fucking money might be?!" She stated, sharpening her gaze at Oliver. "You owe us $2.3 billion. Based on the size of these containers and the fact that they aren't fully packed, I'd say you're short."

"Wow!" He began to laugh before applauding. "Didn't expect you to pick that one up. You passed our test."

"Fuck your test. Now, where's the rest of our money?" Syd snapped.

Oliver raised his hands up defensively, keeping a smile on his face. "Feisty one, you are, love... James, Eli, why don't you get the rest of the payment we prepared for the Davidsons."

And with that, the two of them went outside the warehouse and soon returned with four additional containers, which Syd checked to confirm were fully packed before sending a message to the team in London.

Emiliano watched in near awe at the way Syd handled the situation. Neither he nor Luca caught on that the containers weren't fully packed. Based on the way they were filled, it was impossible to tell by looking. "Does that woman live to turn me on?" He gawked.

Luca gave an approving nod as he also watched Syd. "She's not as naive as I thought."

"No hard feelings, right?" Oliver smiled as he put his arm over Syd. "Besides, seems too much to carry for the three of you anyway, we were just easing the load," he teased.

Syd pushed Oliver's arm off of her and turned to face him. "We've got that covered," she smirked just as a line of trailer trucks could be seen through the windows lining up at the warehouse.

"Nice work, new girl," Eli, who had an American accent, spoke for the first time.

Weren't they all supposed to be from the UK? Syd thought to herself.

"Just because you've never met me, it doesn't mean I'm new to this shit," Syd responded as she crossed her arms. "Fuck with me again and I'll show you who's really been in this game the longest."

"Was that a threat?"

"Davidsons don't make threats," she retorted, giving Eli an intense glare.

"Okay okay, we've had our fun," Oliver interrupted. "Seems business has concluded here. I do hope that offer for drinks is still on the table, Ms. Davidson." He gave Syd a friendly smile.

Syd's face soften so she could fake a warm look. "Of course. See you next time."

The three of them left and as soon as they drove off, Syd exhaled in relief as if she was holding her breath the whole time. As she thought back to all that happened over the course of just 15 minutes, she started to feel empowered, proud that she held herself and noticed something that Rossi brothers didn't even realized. It was also her first time speaking like that to anyone, let alone people so powerful. She was starting like the attitude she could carry as Simone Davidson - it was an uninterrupted confidence she never thought possible.

"Damn, you really are the daughter of Tina Davidson," Emiliano said approvingly. "I didn't know you had that in you."

Syd cleared her throat and straightened up. "Damn straight. That's my mama."

The three of them stayed there until the final truck was loaded, speaking to and keeping watching on the guys who came to pick up the containers.

"I'll let Frank know we're ready." Syd started texting him.

"Ah, so lady Davidson has completed her first deal without big brother," a deep, gruff voice echoed through the warehouse.

Syd looked up to its source, her mouth agape.

Dmitry Ivanov.

+++

Welp, bout time to meet Dmitry. 🤷🏾‍♀️