Oliver
Leyla was waiting for me at my house with the news.
The council had made their demand: they wanted their biggest, most spectacular event yet.
As the hype continued to build around our latest race, more and more previously reluctant investors were now clamoring for a piece of our pie. The specifics were staggering:
Twenty of the best racers they could possibly recruit.
Six races held over a single, frenetic weekend.
And the purse? The bets? Unimaginable.
I called Asin, but he didn't pick up. So, I left a quick message, jumped into my car, and stepped on it, ensuring I made it in time for dinner.
Our days of peddling for respect are now officially over. Once Asin triumphantly runs over those entrenched monkeys, we stand to gain a legitimate seat on the council. To achieve that at our age would be utterly unprecedented. We couldn't even legally drink in some countries, yet we are maneuvering for power on a global scale.
I felt my palms sweating. This undertaking was monumental, but if we falter...
Stop entertaining such toxic nonsense!
We have been working on the inside for more than a year, and after some early, costly blunders, we perfected their old, utterly useless systems.
We modernized everything, and thanks to some cheap, viral gimmicks, we made the GOD races the most popular entertainment option in the world. We commanded more views than any major league sports and were credited with reviving the entire illegal racing scene, not just nationally, but worldwide.
I was let inside the estate gates and made my way toward the house.
We will not fail. We cannot fail.
Ayshe was the only Konore present when I arrived and greeted everyone. But just as I finished, the new couple descended the staircase, hand-in-hand.
"Oliver? I thought you were tied up with business."
I was momentarily confused, realizing he hadn't checked my urgent message yet. "I finished my work early, and Mother is having a business dinner with clients. Hello, Marie."
"Oliver."
She smiled differently—a new, thoughtful kind of smile. Had something transpired between them already?
"Alright, let's proceed then."
Asin took his wife's arm, and we sat down, sharing some tea.
"Hello, Oliver."
"Ayshe. Good evening." I gave a brief nod.
It appeared she was speaking to me again, at least nominally.
"Oliver dear, tell me, haven't you given any thought to marriage yourself yet?"
I nearly choked on my tea. "Auntie Seline, please. My mother just gave me a momentary reprieve from that topic."
She smiled knowingly to herself but seemed to drop the subject for now, turning to her oldest son. "Yary, elaborate on the successful deal you concluded today."
Zerile looked proudly at her husband.
"Nothing exceptional, truly. They decided to invest because they recognized our family name and its established worth," he said with a shy, modest smile.
"Do not undersell your efforts, brother. I would bet anything that the principal reason they invested is because you personally convinced them," Asin interjected.
"Thank you, Asin." Yary tapped his chest in appreciation.
They continued discussing their upcoming business ventures. Soon, Uncle Erwing arrived, and we all took our seats at the dinner table.
"Look at us, gathering together. It is becoming increasingly rare that we can share such an evening. Asin, you have risen to the challenge, my boy. You have made me proud."
Asin looked genuinely happy. I knew how much his family's approval meant to him, even if he would never openly admit it.
Uncle Erwing then looked kindly at Marie. "Now, let us once again welcome our new daughter at this table and ensure she understands: She is truly among her family."
He raised his glass, and we all followed suit. "To the happy couple!"
"""To the happy couple!"""
After dinner, we retreated outside and sat by the pool as I recounted everything I had learned today.
"...How are you absorbing this?" I asked after concluding my report.
He didn't answer immediately, nor did he move for a silent moment. Then, he cleared his throat.
"G... Khmm... Good. This is precisely our chance."
He smiled—a dangerous, anticipatory smile.
I knew that would be his immediate reaction.
"The council wants it executed as soon as possible. Given the speed at which things have accelerated, we might see this go ahead this weekend."
"Hmm. What about us? Is four days sufficient to prepare?" he asked.
I leaned forward and gripped his shoulder firmly. "You delegate all of that to me, understood? I will manage the logistics. You have the significantly harder task: three races per night. It is exceptionally risky, given that we will not have time to split up after the first. In fact, I'm not entirely certain yet how the format will work, or if they are planning something entirely new."
"It won't matter," he stated flatly.
"Huh?" I looked up, surprised by his certainty.
"Whatever new variable they introduce, it simply won't matter. Once we win this, Old Ivan can truly rest and fully retire. And those who have looked at us like unwanted, petty kids at the table will be forced to acknowledge our power."
"The kids can be more than just petty drug dealers to some creep calling himself Mr. Unknown," I added, finishing his thought.
"Exactly," he laughed. "And it helps the 9th District, too. They can all use this influx. With that amount of money..."
...And they think Yary and his cronies made genuine profits today. When looking at the overall picture, we generated far more money, considering the amount of legitimate work required was but a fraction.
But that was neither here nor there.
"No more 'next time'."
The time for the definitive move is now.
Ayshe
Marie was behaving strangely—even more so than usual.
She was leaning perilously over the balcony railing, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation by the pool. I was sitting next to her, attempting to inject some common sense by repeatedly poking her side.
"Stop it, please. I can't concentrate," she whispered furiously.
I risked a peek. They were both sitting quietly, looking up at the moon. It gave me a distinct déjà vu, except this time she was the one dragging me along.
Whatever the conversation was, it seemed to be making both of them extremely happy. They spent a few minutes on their phones, then stared out at the ocean horizon.
When they remained unmoving five minutes later, I had to gently pull my sister back inside the room.
"Marie, I know you've been a little loopy lately, but what precisely are we doing?"
She started pacing back and forth across the room.
"Marie!"
"...I think... I think!" She suddenly stopped so close to me that I recoiled in the couch. "That Asin and Oliver might be... this is utterly insane."
She turned around at the last second, infuriating me.
"Marie, that is enough of..."
"GOD. I think they are part of that organization... if not outright, they run the operation." She smiled like a genuine lunatic.
Get out of here.
"Pfft... Hahaha..." I couldn't believe we were actually having this conversation. "I'm sorry, don't be mad."
I was enjoying a grand old laugh until I saw how utterly serious she remained.
"A-alright. Okay. So what... how did you... just how did you reach such an absurd conclusion?"
She sat next to me. "I wasn't deliberately snooping..."
Oh, boy.
"...His phone was right there!" She pointed at the couch we were sitting on. "I was just about to check the time before dinner, but I saw his notification bar. He received a text from Oliver."
I grabbed her hand. "Marie, what exactly was in that message that provoked this insanity?"
"'...we have another race soon...'"
"What?"
She sighed, exasperated. "That's precisely what the snippet of the message I read on his screen said."
I needed a solid minute to process this. By the time I "awoke," she was already watching old GOD race compilations online. She had settled on the "masked driver" video compilation.
"You don't actually think..."
"Ayshe, his first words to me were about sports cars!" She looked up, her eyes wide with conviction. "From a guy who supposedly has a 'fear' of driving. Or what about the fact that he swam into the ocean less than an hour before the drift race in Konore?"
She waited for my rebuttal, but I had none. It was a massive number of coincidences, I admitted.
But it was still far too ridiculous to believe.
"Sister, listen." I took her phone away. Otherwise, she wouldn't hear me. "This is, to say the least, unbelievable. But let's assume for a moment you are right. What is our course of action now?"
She took a few seconds, genuinely thinking before she answered. "...Well, nothing, really. But I want the truth."
Her argument was paper-thin, especially considering their fraudulent marriage contract, but it wasn't the time to press that point.
"Okay. What we clearly require is more information. But how do we acquire it?"
She didn't have any immediate ideas.
"My contract is the problem. I can't ask where he goes or what he is doing, but he has to give me a few hours' notice, since I'm obligated to provide him with an alibi," she explained.
That made sense.
"What about following him when he leaves?" I asked.
She shook her head instantly. "There are easily a hundred of those 'crows' out there every day. Do you think he wouldn't receive a call from one of them the instant I stepped off the property?"
By "crows," she meant the security guards.
"What about... wait. Why do you assume he would get a call? I mean, as far as secret identities go, they need to remain strictly secret."
"Ayshe, I am not in the right state of mind for you to talk to me in riddles," she warned.
Little idiot. I sighed and explained my rationale.
"No one—not one single person other than Oliver—knows anything about his... assorted nighttime activities. Meaning no one would call him."
"So we can follow him?" she asked, her voice alight with possibility.
"Yes," I answered.
"We can't drive..."
"Oh."
Yes, that was a significant problem. But my mind wasn't exactly at its most resourceful state either.
How much of this insanity was actually true? I wished I had been there when she read that message. While it didn't sound like much, it was something concrete. Hearing it like this just felt... unbelievable.
We both jumped when the room door swung open abruptly. Asin came in with Oliver in tow.
"Hey."
Marie unconsciously took a step forward.
"Hmm."
They stared at each other for a silent moment until Oliver nudged him.
"Right. We were thinking about stepping out for a little while and wondered if you two would like to do something as well?"
"Where? What?" I asked automatically.
Oliver answered. "We were given these tickets weeks ago to this theatre thing... Le Puginol." He handed me four tickets.
It sounded fancy. It starred a bunch of high-profile actors and was inside the capital's biggest opera house.
Marie and I exchanged a happy smile. We used to have a lot of fun back in the day, dressing up and going out to watch a play.
"We're in. Should we change?" Marie asked, striking a subtle pose to show off her figure to her husband.
Oh, sister. But it clearly worked.
"No... u-unless you want to. But you look fine, I mean..." Oliver bumped him again. "You... you look good."
Oliver and I exchanged a small, amused smile at Asin's stammering delivery, but Marie clearly enjoyed it.
At some point, Marie started staring pointedly at my dress. Her husband and Oliver followed her gaze. I suppose yellow and flowers don't exactly scream "night at the opera."
"I will change. Marie, come with me," I got up.
"Yeah. Khmm. Yes, let's go."
"...Have fun," Asin smiled from ear to ear.
On our way out of my room—I had changed into a elegant little black number—we ran into Yary and his wife, also dressed quite elegantly.
"You both look beautiful. Where are the two of you off to, sister Zerile?" Marie asked.
Zerile spun around, showing off her dress, which fitted her perfectly.
Yary answered. "Asin wanted his big brother to feel appreciated." He smiled proudly.
"Oh, you guys are coming as well?" I asked.
"Yes. Le Puginol. Yes, he said you two would have the tickets. Are you ready to go?"
"Shouldn't we wait for your brother and Oliver?" I asked, confused.
"Why? He said we'd be going with you two. They're out on the waters tonight with Oli and some of their friends from the Polo Club."
Marie and I exchanged a knowing, horrified look.
They had tricked us with clever wording, allowing us to insinuate things on our own! Did they ever explicitly say they were coming? No. No, they absolutely did not.
Also, "Polo Club"? I would bet anything they didn't even know the rules of the game.
We reluctantly followed my sister's in-laws outside.
"We need to be much more on the ball if we hope to catch them off guard," Marie pressed through her teeth. She was fuming, just as I was.
"I know. This level of deception is unacceptable."
Asin
"That was cruel," Oliver grumbled.
"It was hilarious," I countered Oliver immediately.
What? We had to celebrate somehow with the kids, and it certainly wasn't going to be at some stuffy opera house.
"I should have suspected the moment you asked me to secure four tickets. But choosing a show that lasts five hours... brother..." Oliver smiled, shaking his head.
"We needed sufficient time, too," I defended my decision.
We were far out on the endless waters, having picked up some of the available crew members. We had been having a jolly good time.
"Well, Yary's 'success' at the firm certainly helped us out quite a bit," I laughed at the irony.
"Who would have been the other two, if not them?" Oliver asked.
"...The maids," I shrugged casually.
We laughed, then started howling at the moon, and soon, the crew all joined in. In fact, some others from different boats thought it was a brilliant idea as well. Pretty soon, the ocean was echoing with a chorus of man-wolves.
We had just opened the second bottle of bourbon—a taste we had both acquired recently, which was probably not a good sign. But tonight was different.
We were standing at the precipice of great things.
"Sir... Boss?"
Leyla walked up to the top deck where we were sitting. "The captain's crew informed us that they ran out of food."
"Can we have something delivered?" I asked Oliver.
"I don't believe they offer delivery out here on the water... I'll fix it. I'll fix it perfectly, don't you worry," he said, getting up a little wobbly and heading downstairs.
I nodded toward Leyla, signaling her to follow him and offer assistance.
Soon, I heard his yelling from downstairs and the collective apologies from the crew members. Some things never change.
I got up and looked at the starry sky.
I wondered if she would be truly angry when she found out. I wondered if she would confront me when she returned.
What a night. What a life!
Three more days, and we blow this town up. And hopefully, we come away unscathed, with the power we deserve.
Let me enjoy this night in peace... my dear, unsuspecting wife.