She didn’t ask any questions, either because she was in shock or she didn’t want further information.
I drank my wine as I watched her process all this information with a preternatural calmness.
“How are you compensated?”
“I claim a percentage of the taxes and tariffs.”
“How do you do this all by yourself?”
“I don’t.” I had men on my payroll everywhere, had snitches in the midst of the organizations I policed, had my own headquarters and my own men to do my bidding, and also had the police force if I needed it. “There’s a president of the Senate, there’s a president of France, and there’s a president of the French Emperors—which is me.”
If her husband weren’t a criminal, she probably wouldn’t have believed any of that and would have bolted out of there as fast as possible. And maybe
