Connections, Money and Secrets [Almaz]

[Daniil]

Daniil savored the corrected drink upon its delivery. He only glanced at the woman who laid it at his side and offered her a minimal tip in compensation, sending a clear signal of his displeasure. In the meantime, he glanced at a display ticking down the time to the main fight, and out of boredom, retrieved his wallet to scroll mindlessly across the internet. Until, finally, Helena joined him. She was his client, or perhaps she was his employer, he never quite accepted the duality of such labels. Either way, she paid him for services he provided, and Daniil made sure that Almaz remained legal once ownership changed hands. He also made sure that it remained that way. It was Daniil’s maneuvering that kept the money in her slender hands and out of courtroom settlements.

“Finally,” was all he said when she entered. He laid the wallet aside, but not out of reach, as though he might pluck it back if his boredom was not assuaged soon. “You promised something special tonight,” he exhaled like he would believe it when he saw it. She settled into a place near him, and they spent the next few minutes in slightly intolerable stages of chatting and drinking. For instance, her dogs were the subject of some of his attention, perhaps more so than the woman herself. He never reached to touch one, though.

He made no wager. Daniil wasn’t that stupid to waste his own money, and he watched the fight open with all the air of one with no skin in the game. Yet he watched from on high, positioned within the owner’s box as someone of importance, as bodies were flung and blows were landed.

When the cage opened partway through, he outright sat on the edge of his seat, expression wide with surprise. He stared, face flat, lips drawn, eyes burning unblinking while the gorilla ripped apart the combatants one by one.

And as of by magic, its head was plucked from its body like a grape. Blood sprayed jets of red, and a slim smile parted his lips at the gory scene.