flicked cigar ash on the floor.
She kept her eyes fixed on him. “Brains run in the family. I know it
all, Gamble.”
“I think you don’t know shit,” he calmly replied.
“How about the billions of dollars you made trading on changes in the
Fed Funds Rate? The very same billions you used to build Triton
Global.”
“Interesting. How did I do that?”
“You knew the answers before the tests were given out. You were
blackmailing Arthur Lieberman. The mighty businessman who couldn’t make
a dime without cheating.” She spat out the last words. Gamble’s eyes
glittered darkly at her. “Then Lieberman threatens to expose you and
his plane crashes.”
Gamble got up and advanced slowly toward Sidney; his hand an anger-laden
fist. “I made billions on my own. Then some jealous competitors paid
off a couple of my traders to secretly tank me. I couldn’t prove
anything, but they ended up with cushy jobs down the street and I lost
everything I had. You call that fair?” He stopped walking and took a
deep breath. “You’re right, though. I caught on to Lieberman’s little
secret life. Scraped enough cash together to set up my little mole in
luxury and bided my time. But it wasn’t that simple.” His lips curled
into a wicked smile. “I waited until the people who had screwed me took
their investment positions on interest rates and then I took the
opposite one and told Lieberman which way to swing it.
After it was over, I’m back on top and those guys couldn’t afford a cup
of spit. Nice and clean, and damn sweet.”
His face gleamed as he recalled his personal triumph. “People mess with
me, I pay them back. Only a lot worse. Like Lieberman.
Nice guy that I am, I paid the sonofabitch over a hundred million
dollars for doing his thing with the rates. How does he show his
gratitude? He tried to take me down. Was it my fault he got cancer?
He thought he could outsmart me, the big Ivy League legend.
Didn’t think I knew he was dying. I do business with somebody, I find
out everything about him. Everything!” Gamble’s face flushed for an
instant and then he broke into a sly grin. “Only thing I regret is not
having a picture of his face when that plane hit.”
“I didn’t think you were into genocide, Nathan. Men, women, babies.”
Gamble suddenly looked troubled and took a nervous puff on his cigar.
“You think I wanted to do it like that? My business is making money,
not killing people. If I could have come up with another way, I would
have. I had two problems: Lieberman and your husband.
They both knew the truth, so I had to get rid of them both.
The plane was the only way to tie them together: Kill Lieberman and
blame your husband. If I could have bought every ticket on that plane
except Lieberman’s, I would have.” He paused and looked at her. “If it
makes you feel any better, my charitable foundation has already donated
ten million dollars to the victims’ families.”
“Great, you score PR points off your own dirty work. You think money is
the answer to everything?”
Gamble exhaled smoke. “You’d be surprised how often it is. And the
fact is, I didn’t have to do anything for them. It’s like I told your
buddy Wharton: When I go after somebody who screwed me, I don’t care who
gets in the way. Too bad.”
Sidney’s face suddenly hardened. “Like Jason? Where is he?
Where is my husband, you sonofabitch?” She screamed the words in an
out-of-control fury and would have pounced on Gamble if his men hadn’t
held her back.
Gamble stepped directly in front of her. His fist slammed into her jaw.
“Shut up!”
Sidney swiftly recovered, ripped her arm free and slashed Gamble’s face
with her fingernails. Shocked, he stumbled back, clutching his torn
skin. “Damn you!” he yelled. Gamble pressed his handkerchief against
his face, his eyes blazing at her. Sidney stared back at him, her
entire body shaking with more anger than she had felt in her entire
life. Gamble finally motioned to Lucas. Lucas left the room for a