Monday, March 14, 2022 Ixus Capital, Midtown, Manhattan, New York, United States

Tommy Xu regarded the girl in front of him. She smelled familiar.

Well, he didn’t worry about it too much. Her background check had revealed who she was related to, and that mattered. He looked at her resume and had a moment of realization, this girl was from the same PhD program that Eesha Jindal-Witten was from. His “supposed” ally, the little princess. Although he supposed she would prove a useful asset, maybe, she was fascinating.

This girl, on the other hand, Charlotte, seemed guileless. It had been the smell of vicuña that had caught him. She smelled like that same vicuña, but also of alcohol and MDMA. Another lost little rich child with smarts and connections, but lacking the nous that he valued in his true servants.

His firm went through them like chaff. Good for analysts but hardly partner material.

The connection with Eesha worried him. She had made promises that he still dreamed about: flying in the open sky uncloaked; Ruling openly - the balance of power between them left to be decided later. Not that Xu worries about that, he would rule. The Celestial Dragons were gone. It could be anyone’s world.

Dragons might have ruled the old world, but humanity’s mastery of gunpowder had made a mockery of their power. And now they had so much worse. They were destroying this world with their fecund cupidity.

Xu preferred not to think of their previous subjugation under Ekerri as a matter of policy.

“I interviewed one of your classmates, an Eesha Jindal-Witten. Strange that you come here so soon thereafter, Miss Harris.”

The girl in front of him smiled and laughed. “Oh don’t call me Miss Harris, Charlie is fine. Ella? She told me! That is what gave me the idea! She said she decided not to leave grad school, but it was so boring! And if you interviewed her, why not me!” The girl showed her teeth in a large white smile and then leaned forward and pushed her arms together. She was artless, thought Xu. Such a disappointment after the other girl.

Still, she seemed good enough. He raised his eyebrows, she had done quite well on the skills test. And Xu wasn’t too worried if this was some ploy by the little princess. He wanted a connection to the father. That man would make an excellent vassal.

Greed can make the wisest dragon discount the obvious.

Xu was arrogant and had not been challenged enough, Charlie judged. There had been no point in trying to hide her connection to Ella, but she didn’t think he would overlook it so easily. What was he expecting when he had brought Ella up? For Charlie to say, “You mean my best friend that I am spying on you for?”

And even though he probably knew, her brazen behavior was a challenge, it was the old he-knew, she-knew, he-knew game. Boring.

He was greedy, she could see it. He knew who her father was and wanted that leverage. That connection. Another easy manipulation.

It was almost disappointing, but Charlie knew he might wake up and get a clue, and that would be when things became dangerous.

Anyway she was in. She flashed a bit more cleavage at him despite his obvious lack of interest. Air-headed and slutty was a game she could play all day.

Afterward she walked east and straight into the Four Seasons hotel bar. It was some douchey business types, lots of Park Avenue types.

One guy, spiked hair and and off-the-rack designer suit with poor tailoring came over to make a move.

“I’m not nearly drunk enough for that,” she said. Knowing that could be read as an invitation or cruel rejection.

Well, he was at least optimistic. He ordered her a drink immediately, shots? What was he, a college freshmen?

Fortunately she had bribed the bartender first thing and the guy spent $60 for her to do three shots of water. The bartender was good, he didn’t even give a hint.

Hmm. This guy was very persistent.

She called over his four friends with the promise of her meeting some other female friends soon. And then made the guy buy rounds of shots. They soon lost track and by an hour later, two of them had disappeared to the bathroom to throw up most likely, and one of the others had disappeared with some random woman.

She staggered as she stood up, “well, honey. Let’s get out of here…” she slurred. And they head for the door and exited.

She was careful not to look at the neatly put together East Asian woman sipping a cup at the other end of the bar. The one that had followed her from Xu’s office She must have oversold the dumb act because this was almost insulting.

When his car came to pick them up, she let the guy get in first, and then, with an oops, said she needed to get her purse. Whereupon she went around the corner to the car she had called and went home.