"Hi, my name is Alexa Clark. I'm interviewing with Leandros Kaplan today for your former position. I was hoping to find out more about him and what the position will really entail from you. May I take you to lunch?"
Laughter, light and throaty comes through. "Sounds marvelous, dear."
"Great.” I exhale in relief. “Where would you like to go? My boss has standing reservations at Porters I can make use of. It's also early enough I'm sure I can get us a table anywhere."
"My goodness, I haven't been to Porters in ages. I was going to suggest a diner around the corner, but if Porters is on offer, then I accept. I lunch early. Will eleven suit you?"
"Eleven will be great. I'll see you there." Hanging up, I feel better about how warm she seemed.
I call Porters to confirm the reservation for eleven. That settled I fire up my computer then begin the most important part, finding out everything I can about Leandros Kaplan.
Well over an hour later I come to the conclusion I’m completely in over my head. If it’s possible Leandros Kaplan, the new lion of Wall Street is even scarier than I thought he would be. While I knew of him and some of his story, my knowledge barely scratched the surface of who he is. The man is completely ruthless and cold-blooded, and the thing that made him most scary was he not only admitted to it, he was proud of it.
For a brief minute, I consider canceling. Th
is is nuts, completely nuts to think I can pull off lying to Leandros Kaplan. It’s crazy, what’s even crazier is my now growing fascination to know even more about him. I’m not sure, but I think it’s the same morbid fascination that leads people to swim with sharks.
Stop being so fanciful, I chide as I shut down my computer with a few strokes. It won’t hurt just to meet him, there is nothing that says I have to take the job. He might not even offer it to me. I pull out the engagement ring and wedding band that had been my mother’s. Slowly, I slide them on. They are tight, but not uncomfortable. It feels wrong to use them to lie. I try not to think about it as I grab my purse and leave.
***
When I get to Porters, I’m horrified to find out Victoria has been seated even though I’m almost ten minutes early. The hostess assures me Victoria wasn’t upset I wasn’t here yet, she wanted to put in an order for a chocolate soufflé for dessert. I breathe a sigh of relief, besides their reputation for the best steaks in the city a huge draw for Porters is their amazing chocolate soufflé.
Victoria smiles widely as I’m seated. With her long black hair heavy with grey in a bun, small, slightly round frame, and black silk shawl over her shoulders I’m reminded of a kindly Italian grandmother. Her bright brown eyes, sharp and knowing hint she’s nimble of mind, if not body.
“Hello, thank you for agreeing to meet with me. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day.”
“Oh, no, thank you for the invitation. It’s lovely getting out of the house. I’m not nearly as busy as I hoped I would be in my retirement. I’m happy to help Leandros in finding a suitable replacement for me. The poor dear, I feel awful it’s taken more than two years and seven different people to find you. Then again, I’m of the firm mind everything happens for a reason, maybe the reason is Leo needed to be reminded things of value don’t always come with a price tag. Tell me, my dear, what is it you were hoping to learn from me today?”
She doesn’t waste a minute, straight into it. “I—well, I’m not sure exactly. I had an idea and a list of questions but now...”
“My, my, someone has been web sleuthing and uncovered more than they wanted. Can of worms, my dear, all that nonsense on Leo. He’s much more than a few paragraphs someone tossed onto a page.”
I really want to believe that. “So, he’s not as...”
The waitress takes our orders, and I almost join Victoria’s order of hard liquor. I’m jealous of the dry martini she orders.
“Frightening, ferocious, beastly? He’s been called the new lion of Wall Street for a reason, my dear. He’s earned the moniker, it’s not just because it’s catchy. Leo has the instincts of a predator, he grew up with them, was taught them by that psychotic grandmother of his.”
My stomach clenches at Victoria’s casual confirmation of every fear I had of Leandros Kaplan.
“Then again with his father, there are stupid accusations of nature versus nurture. Leandros is ruthless and quite devastating to those who get in his way. Still, he’s far more honorable than many men on Wall Street and in big business. He doesn’t play by anyone’s rules but his own, but he does have rules. None of the companies he owns or invests in play fast and loose with people’s lives to make a dollar.
“Leo has never invested in pharma stocks and other companies that make money off the misery of others. That’s something very personal to him and the newest technology he funds is geared toward affordability for everyone. Comparing Leo to the bastard who fathered him by rape is simply another attempt to slight him.”
I swallow hard when she mentions Leo’s father.
She nods at me. “He did. Gerard Kaplan raped a sixteen-year-old girl, I would think it would be obvious considering he was fifty-seven, overweight and balding. The papers and, in public, Agatha downplayed it. In private, Agatha taunted Leo with it. Even knowing that she refused to honor her daughter’s wishes for Leo to have his grandfather’s last name. Agatha believed Gerard owed Leo his name and he was going to have it.
“Greeks and honor and pride and all of that. Fair warning, Leo might have grown up here in America and gone to the best schools, but he was raised Greek. As much as he tries to forget it fifteen years of indoctrination hold steady in him. He’ll go all brooding and withdrawn when he hits a rough patch.
“Perhaps if his half-brother David had lived Leo would have been able to have a happier childhood. Be warned, he doesn’t welcome questions about David. It’s sad because I think it would help Leo to remember him. It was David who funded Melena’s court battle with Gerard to have Gerard support Melena and the baby she carried, against his own father. It was David who kept the battle going after Melena died while delivering Leo. When David died in a car accident, Leo was only eleven, and the only person who really cared for him was gone. By then Agatha told him constantly money was the only reason she took care of him.”
“I couldn’t imagine growing up like that. Why the hell was she allowed to keep custody of him if she didn’t care about him?” I blush as I realize just how loud I am.
Victoria’s smile is bitter. “Simple, no one else wanted him. Leo’s a fighter though, has been since his birth six weeks premature. Yes, he had the trust fund for the first eighteen years of his life however he stopped taking money the day he turned eighteen. He got into Stanford on scholarship and survived off a meager payoff from Agatha’s life insurance. Everything he has he has fought hard for. I just wish he was willing to fight for more. Leo felt from a young age he never quite fit in, so he refused to fight for acceptance. Instead, he became a loner, embracing his outsider status.
“Leo feels more comfortable alone, it’s why he has so few friends and the stupid belief he won’t marry. Personally, I believe he’ll fall fast when he meets the right woman. She’ll have to have a soft heart, but a strong backbone to deal with his hard head.”