Chapter Forty-Three
Forty-Three
While Mary typed his name into the search box on her cellphone’s browser, Quaddra assumed a more relaxed position, but his full attention was on her.
As she hit the ‘go’ button on her browser, he saw her eyes widening at the screen, followed by her lips being tightly pressed together before she rolled them into her mouth for an instant.
He was sure that she was starting to understand.
Mary read the title link of the topmost entry on the returned results’ page…
Young billionaire entrepreneur, Quaddra Buckner, acquires two new businesses, including a second film production company in Los Angeles.
Her eyes moved to the second topmost result… then the third… then the fourth, which would redirect her to a Wikipedia page. Every time Quaddra’s name was mentioned, it was accompanied by the word ‘billionaire’.
‘Back at the Legion,’ Quaddra explained, finally collecting back his credit cards and his driver’s license, ‘when I told you that there are a lot of con artists out there, Mary, I wasn’t referring only to the sort of con artists that come to me with a business pitch.’
Mary kept on scrolling down on the results page.
‘Searching for someone’s name on the wide web,’ Quaddra continued, ‘right after meeting them for the first time, has become common practice nowadays. Everybody does it, including me. I’ve even seen people do it in the bathroom, just minutes after meeting someone at a bar, a club, a restaurant, or anywhere really. ’
Mary’s gaze finally returned to Quaddra. She’d seen it happen too… plenty of times actually.
‘Which is completely understandable,’ Quaddra said. ‘You can find a lot about someone online and by doing so, save yourself a world of hassle.’
Mary wasn’t about to argue with that logic.
‘With such an odd name like “Quaddra”, you don’t even need to know my last name to come across dozens of online articles about me.’
Mary finally stopped scrolling. ‘So, you thought that if I knew who you really were, I’d maybe try to scam you?
’ She sounded more hurt than offended, but her tone wasn’t aggressive.
‘You approached me, remember?’ She paused and thought better of her words.
‘Actually no,’ her eyebrows lifted at him.
‘You chased me – you didn’t have my number or my address, so you tracked down Betsy, turning up at her place of work so that you could drop off that painting, together with an invitation for tonight. ’
‘I know,’ Quaddra agreed. ‘But still…’
‘Still?’ The hurt lingered in Mary’s tone.
Quaddra pulled a face at her. ‘C’mon, Mary. I know that I barely know you, but I can tell that you’re an intelligent woman. I’m sure that you can easily imagine the kind of extra attention that the word “billionaire” would generate… even on those who aren’t con artists.’
He’s got a point there, the voice inside Mary’s head commented.
Quaddra’s eyes moved to his empty wine glass and Mary could tell that right then he really wished he had ordered another bottle.
‘The truth?’ he asked.
Mary’s head tilted slightly to one side. ‘Nah, the truth is so overrated. Can I please have the bullshit instead? That always works out much better, don’t you think?’
Quaddra lifted both hands in a surrender gesture.
Mary allowed her body posture to relax a little, finally leaning back against the chair’s backrest.
Quaddra took a second to organize his thoughts.
‘OK,’ he began. ‘I think it’s pretty clear that I’m attracted to you.
I wouldn’t have gone through everything you just described – tracking Betsy down…
dropping off a gift… inviting you out tonight…
plus… chasing after you when you stormed out of the Legion in the way you did… if I wasn’t interested in you.’
‘Yeah… I know that.’ Mary sounded confident, but not arrogant.
‘And would it be a fair assumption to say that the reason why you have accepted the invite to come out with me tonight is maybe because you’re a little attracted to me too?’
Mary didn’t break eye contact. ‘Well, you invited me to the opening night of a very prestigious exhibition. According to Betsy – the hottest ticket in town tonight. It’s hard to say no to something like that.’
‘An exhibition you didn’t even know was happening,’ Quaddra countered. ‘In a place you didn’t even know existed. Is that really why you accepted coming out with me tonight?’
Busted.
Mary tried hard to hold back the smile that bubbled up to her lips. She did a great job, but not a perfect one.
Quaddra smiled back. ‘So, it would be fair to say that you are a little attracted to me too… or at least were before all this crazy misunderstanding.’
‘That would be a fair assumption, yes,’ Mary finally caved in, her tone calm.
‘Alright.’ Quaddra’s smile reached his eyes. ‘So now let me ask you to please be as truthful as you can, OK?’ He didn’t wait for a confirmation. ‘When Betsy handed you the painting, with the little note I wrote you, if I had added a last name to the name Thomas, would you have googled the name?’
Mary blinked at Quaddra before her eyes bounced down to her cellphone for a split second.
‘Be truthful,’ he urged her. ‘At least to check that I wasn’t some sort of serial killer or something.’
‘Yes,’ she admitted. ‘I’d probably have googled it.’
‘OK,’ Quaddra nodded. ‘So, I’m not going to throw you into a moral dilemma here, but please allow me to suggest a variation of that scenario.’
Mary could already guess what Quaddra was about to suggest, but she played along anyway. ‘Go on.’
‘Let’s say that the woman who I was attracted to… the one who I had invited out tonight, had absolutely no interest in me whatsoever. Now let’s say that on the little note that I left her, just like the one that I left you, I had used my real name, instead of a fake one.’
‘And she googled it,’ Mary said, guessing where that boat was heading. ‘And she discovered that you’re a billionaire.’
Quaddra nodded. ‘What do you think are the odds, despite her having no interest in me at all, of her declining the invitation?’
‘That’s a horrible assumption,’ Mary came back. ‘Despite what you might think, Thom…’ She paused and cringed before correcting herself. ‘… Quaddra, the whole world isn’t really out to get you just because you’re rich. Not everyone is a con artist, you know?’
Mary thought about telling him that she was also a millionaire… that she had more money than she knew what to do with… but that didn’t make her doubt everyone she met… or think that everyone was a con artist.
No. The voice inside her head commented. You doubt everyone for a completely different reason.
Quaddra chuckled. ‘I don’t think that the world is out to get me, Mary, and I know that not everyone is a con artist, but that’s not the only reason why people would go to great lengths to befriend me, or get close to me.
A person in my position has a lot of friends…
everywhere. A person in my position has the ability to open the kind of doors that most people can’t even get close to. ’
Mary shifted on her chair.
‘With a simple phone call,’ Quaddra explained, ‘I can arrange for job interviews or meetings with the CEOs of pretty much any company you like. With a single email I can speed up documents and paperwork being processed by any branch of our judicial or administrative system. With a text message I can get you a film audition with Hollywood’s top producers and film makers.
’ He paused to take in Mary’s reaction. ‘You’re right – not everybody is a con artist, Mary, but everybody needs a favor here or there, and a man in my position can facilitate most favors. ’
‘So, you’re like the genie in a bottle.’
‘In a weird way,’ Quaddra said back. ‘To many people, I am exactly that.’
‘Money is power, right?’
Quaddra nodded. ‘A silly saying, but in an ultra-capitalistic society like America, a very true one. Another very sad truth in our society is that no matter what you look like, money – especially big money – has the power to make you devastatingly attractive in most people’s eyes.’
Mary wanted to say that Quaddra didn’t need any money to make him attractive, but she decided that that was a comment for another night.
Quaddra leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table.
‘I really wanted you to come out with me tonight, Mary, but I wanted you to do that because you were interested in me, not because of who I am, or what kind of favor I could grant you.’ He immediately lifted a hand to pause Mary before she could refute.
‘That’s not me judging you before getting to know you, Mary.
That’s just me taking one step at a time.
I really didn’t want my position in life being a factor in you accepting my invitation.
I just really wanted you to like me for being me. ’
The sincerity in Quaddra’s tone didn’t go unnoticed.
‘I’m not a liar, Mary, and I didn’t do what I did with the intention of disrespecting you in any way. I really hope you can understand that.’
They sat in silence for several long seconds, just staring at each other. Mary tried to imagine how many people, especially women, had tried getting closer to Quaddra just because of his fortune, or how influential he could be. She didn’t even get close to the real number.
Quaddra was the first to break the silence.
‘I guess that the fact you’re still sitting here after all I’ve said, means that you’re not so angry with me anymore and that you, at least in part, understand why I did what I did.’
‘I do,’ Mary nodded. ‘And I’m also not a liar, so I’ll admit that if I were in your position, I would’ve probably done the same.’
Quaddra’s smile was truthful… thankful… happy.
‘By the way,’ he said. ‘I didn’t really mean what I said earlier.’
Mary looked back at him with concern. ‘Which part?’
‘The part about me telling you who I really am, if you tell me who you really are.’ He shook his head.
‘You don’t have to. I’m usually a very good judge of character and like I mentioned before, you don’t come across like a hardened criminal, so I’m pretty confident that you’re not running away from the law. ’
He watched as Mary took a deep breath, but stayed silent.
‘Whoever you’re hiding from,’ Quaddra continued, ‘that’s your business and I’m sure that there’s a very good reason for it.
If one day you want to tell me about it, I’ll be all ears, but I’d like you to only do so if and when you’re good and ready to let me know.
Trust is earned and it takes time. I know that very well.
I’m not a hypocrite, Mary. I’m well aware that a universal truth about all of us is that we all have a past, and in that past, there will undoubtedly be moments that we aren’t exactly proud of…
moments that we’d rather forget… moments that terrified us down to our core…
and moments that we’d certainly erase from our lives if we ever could.
For some, those undesirable moments are much more than just moments in a timeline – they make up that person’s entire past…
a past full of pain and scars that they are trying hard to leave behind and start anew… all they need is a chance.’
Mary also wasn’t a hypocrite. She knew that sooner or later that day would come – the day that she would have to tell someone about her past life. She just didn’t think that it would be this soon. She took another deep breath and began with the words – ‘my ex-husband’.