21:40 / 9:40 P.M. SGT
Alicia closed the door to her room and locked it.
“What happened?”
“I’m such an idiot!” Nicole cried. “I totally saw it coming. His little cue to his buddy. The ‘Oh, have you seen the big building?’ as he led you away. I knew it, and I still let it happen.” She dropped backward onto the bed. “I tried to get away, but he was holding on. And then he kissed me! The pig kissed me right on the lips. Ugh. He tasted like whisky and breath mints.”
“That sounds like a country song.”
Nicole popped her head up and saw her friend giving her a sympathetic smile. She laughed. “Yeah, I guess it does. Oh, Alicia, I’m so sorry. I’ve totally screwed this up.”
Alicia laid back on the bed next to her. “How did you screw anything up?”
“I pushed the jerk into a bunch of chairs, and he went down hard. Probably gave him a concussion.”
“I caught the last part of the show as he was on his way down. It looked pretty funny to me.”
Nicole laughed again. “I guess it was in an I can’t believe what I just did sort of way. One minute he’s Oh, I can give you the world, and the next his boat shoes are flying into the pool. But there’s no way he’s buying any of your paintings now. Two sales down the drain. That’s real money.”
Nicole’s disappointment was much deeper, though. Saad Salim was on the bad guys list. He provided funding to terrorist organizations and was involved in the acquisition and distribution of weapons. His was one boat Nir had really wanted to load up with explosives in case there came a time they were needed.
“You’re right. You should have just slept with him. That would have guaranteed the sale.”
Nicole sat up. “What?”
Alicia followed suit. “That’s what you just said. Because you rejected his advances, I lost a sale. The implication is that I would rather have had you sleep with him so I could off-load some paintings.”
“I don’t see the connection,” Nicole said, although it was becoming clearer to her as she thought about it.
“You know, I think this technically makes me your pimp. Good to know I have career options in case this whole artist thing doesn’t work out.”
Nicole laughed and swatted Alicia on the arm. “Stop it. You’ve made your point.”
“I’m just happy you’re okay. And I’m sorry our plan to sell my art has put you in a situation like this.”
“I knew what I was getting into. Besides, you had to deal with Arash. Notice we never got a last name? There’s something creepy about that guy. I just haven’t figured out what it is yet.” She flopped back onto the bed. “Mind if I sleep in here tonight?”
“Be my guest.” Alicia lowered her voice. “By the way, after traveling all the way to Singapore, there’s no way I’m leaving here empty-handed. I’m stealing all the full-size soaps and shampoos from the en suite.”
“Do it! And I’m totally packing that robe. Did you feel how soft it is?”
“I didn’t even see it.”
The two women talked for a while, and then Alicia collected Nicole’s bag from her room.
THE NEXT MORNING
The bed had been big enough for them both to have plenty of space, so Nicole woke the next morning surprised at how fitfully she’d slept.
She and Alicia debated going to breakfast. There was no telling what kind of mood Salim would be in. Would he be angry? Repentant? Out for vengeance? Finally, they decided if he wanted to harm them, he would have done it during the night.
Still, before they left Alicia’s room, Nicole went into the bathroom and removed a Gerber Terracraft tactical knife with a four-inch fixed blade from the false bottom in her makeup kit. She’d balked at packing it, but Nir had insisted she have it along for these sales calls on strangers’ boats. He’d been right. She strapped it to her upper calf under her orchid-pink linen Cabo pants.
Once their bags were packed, a steward stationed not far from Alicia’s room told them breakfast was on the top deck. As soon as the elevator opened, Nicole heard Saad’s voice.
“Ladies, welcome to another beautiful day in the South China Sea.” The two men stood next to a table filled with fruit and pastries and what appeared to be a mimosa at each place setting. “Please, come sit down.”
Arash and Saad had each taken position behind a pulled-out chair. Nicole sat in the one in front of Arash. Then once both women were in place, Saad said, “Before I sit, may I first say how sorry and embarrassed I am at my behavior last night. I wish I could blame it on the alcohol, but I was wholly in my right mind. I’ve just been dealing with some family and business pressures, and I let them cloud my judgment. I am without excuse, and I beg your forgiveness.”
Nicole said nothing, but Alicia answered. “You were a real jerk last night, and where I come from, people have been shot for less than what you did.”
Saad smiled. “Yes, the Wild West of America.”
“I’m not talking America. I’m talking Texas. In my state, we tend to give people second chances, but my mom used to tell me Sorry is as sorry does. So I look forward to seeing if your apology is genuine.”
“I hope I may be able to prove the veracity of my words to you.”
Arash had already taken a seat on the other side of the table, and Saad joined him.
“Please, tell me more about your Texas,” Arash said. “And then your art.”
Nicole knew those two topics would set Alicia off chattering, so she just listened to her talk while she ate. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Saad taking quick glances in her direction. Thirty minutes into the meal, Nicole was relieved to hear the copter returning to the helipad. As it drew near, two of the stewards ran over with a large, clear acrylic sheet the size of a wall.
“I love to see it land,” Saad said while peeling a pre-cut banana segment. “This allows me to watch it without the rotor wash scattering fruit and croissants across the upper deck.”
Nicole kept her eyes on the two young men, wondering what life journey had led them to a mega yacht holding an oversized windbreak for a billionaire.
Once the helicopter had set down, she said, “Well, I guess our ride is here.”
But Saad held out his hands. “Wait. We still haven’t talked business.”
Alicia spoke up. “We just thought—”
“I was a fool for what I did last night. But I would be an idiot if I let you leave here today without purchasing your artwork.”
Alicia glanced at Nicole, who nodded.
“Okay. What do you have in mind?”
“I want the Marilyn biting the Oakleys. And I would like the Latin fruit bowl.”
Alicia looked excited. “We have those prints in inventory. Oakley Marilyn is $500,000, and Fruit Bowl is $350,000.”
As the sales had mounted, Nir had urged Alicia and Nicole to gradually increase the prices to see what the market would bear. This was the highest Alicia had ever gone.
Saad smiled. “I’m afraid you don’t understand. I don’t want prints. I want your originals. How would it look if I showed off your work to someone in my salon, then had to admit they were just reprints. Saad Salim does not do reprints.”
Alicia looked stunned. “The originals are not for sale.”
“Oh, come on. Everything is for sale. Tell me how much you want.”
Nicole jumped in. “You heard her. They’re not for sale. Just because you’re rich doesn’t mean you can buy anything you want.”
Saad looked at Nicole and said, “Two million dollars for the pair.”
“They’re not for sale,” Nicole growled.
“Five million.”
“You can stuff your five million in your little mini-submarine,” Alicia said.
“Seven million.”
Nicole couldn’t imagine what point this man was trying to make with this whole staring-at-her-while-bidding-with-Alicia thing. Was he trying to buy the paintings—or her?
“They’re not for sale,” she said.
“Ten million dollars.”
“Sold!”
Nicole whipped her head toward Alicia, only to see her standing and reaching across the table to seal the deal with a handshake.
“What?” cried Nicole.
As Alicia and Saad shook hands, the artist said, “But you pay for the shipping.”
Saad, who was now looking at Alicia, said, “It’s only fair. Send the necessary papers to my assistant, and we’ll work out the details.”
“You bet. It was a pleasure doing business with you. Now, if you don’t mind, I think me and my girl are gonna get ourselves off your little speedboat here.” Spotting one of the stewards, she said, “Hey, Jeeves, wanna get our bags?” She then proceeded to spread out one of the cloth napkins and load it up with pastries. She folded it over and slipped it into the beach bag she’d set next to her chair.
“Thanks for the snacks,” she told Saad.
Nicole was still dumbfounded. She stood and followed her friend toward the helicopter. Behind her, the two men said their farewells, but she didn’t bother to acknowledge them.
Once their bags arrived and they were strapped into the helicopter, she turned to her friend. “What just happened there?”
Alicia beamed. “I just sold three thousand dollars’ worth of paint and cement for ten million—to that idiot!”
Nicole wasn’t sure if she should be excited or angry. “What about artist integrity? What about his being a sleazeball?”
Alicia took hold of Nicole’s face with both her hands and turned her head so they were looking directly into each other’s eyes. “Nicole, it’s ten million dollars! Heck, I’ll just paint another one. I’ll have Marilyn biting a pair of Dolce & Gabbanas this time. And the fruit bowl? Who knows? All I know is my life just changed forever.”
Nicole was laughing by now. She wrapped her arms around her friend, and they hugged.
“Congratulations, honey. I’m so happy for you.”
“And I’m so happy for you. Remember the finder’s fees? Ten percent for you and ten percent for that hunk-a-stud you have.” Once sales had taken off, Nir had renegotiated with Alicia so that Nicole would receive her own ten percent rather than sharing the fee with him. Nicole’s worry that her friend would now resent having to part with two million dollars was relieved when Alicia sighed and said, “Somehow, I guess I’ll just have to find a way to manage with eight million. What’s a girl to do?”
“And don’t forget the money from all your other sales. Pretty soon you’ll be able to buy your own mega yacht.”
When they landed at Singapore Changi Airport, a limousine picked them up at the hangar to take them to their terminal. Once there—after a quick stop in the women’s restroom, where Nicole unstrapped the Gerber knife, wiped it clean of fingerprints, and left it in a trash can—they were ushered through the VIP security doors. They said their goodbyes, and Alicia boarded her 21-hour ANA flight to Houston via Tokyo—but not before upgrading from business class to first. An hour later, Nicole boarded a flight to Frankfurt.
After landing in Germany 13 hours later, she changed the destination for her final leg from Milan to Tel Aviv. And by early afternoon the day after she left Singapore, Nir was hugging her by baggage claim at Ben Gurion International Airport.