Still in the early stages of helping JackMiller run the agency, Luna sat in the conference room discussing ways to attract high-end clients. As competitive as the real estate industry was, there was a lot of agents working without a proper license, which made it easy to pick out which realtors to approach. However, it wasn’t enough to stand out. Luna had been observing the real estate market for a while and noticed a few trends. Customers valued long term relationships with whichever real estate business they decided to choose, and not only that but they were willing to pay top dollar as long as the property was highly reviewed and unique. Luna favoured the idea of building genuine bonds with potential buyers, which is how she came to succeed on offering a deal to a top business executive from Detroit. Mr Chernyshevsky was drawn to Luna’s captivating words and he felt that she was being honest with him. Luna knew the game and she wanted to play hardcore. Her words still lingered in the air when Mr Chern left.

“Sir my main concern isn’t money. Here at Scott Brown Industries, our aim is to provide you with the best services and effective advice. Thank you for closing this deal with us. We look forward to working with you more.”

With Mr Chern’s body halfway out the main office door, he looked back at Luna and gave a slight nod of approval. Things were looking on the up and up and Luna was satisfied with how things went. Few days later she received a letter signed by Mr Chern. It was invitation to one of his mansions to discuss further details about the property he wanted to buy. Luna wasn’t going to shut down the invitation of course because he was a valued client now and she wanted a good review from him to attract even more elite customers.

She showed up looking smart and formal, her grey blazer over her white business shirt tucked in her matching grey pencil skirt. She took down her hair from the top knot and it came down in effortlessly gorgeous waves. Mr Chern greeted her at the entrance, taking her hand and kissing the back of it. “Glad you could make it. Please, come inside.” Luckily, Luna always made sure to background checks on all potential buyers so she knew what to expect coming over. Who else would have top notch security and bulletproof cars casually parked in the driveway? The mafia, that’s who.

Luna walked in holding her clipboard close to her chest, briefcase in the other and observed her surroundings. A spiral staircase was the first thing that stood out upon entering, but then was guided to a private meeting room on her left. Mr Chern waited for her to take a seat before closing the door and taking a seat in his own chair behind the expensive maple desk. In the distance behind him, a guy was cleaning the pool looking unamused. She focused her eyes back on Mr Chern and flashed a smile. “Shall we get started, sir?”

JackMiller woke up early and grumpy today after a good half-hour of telephone ringing served as an unwanted alarm clock. When he picked up the phone, he was his greeted by his secretary profuse apologizing. After a litany of I'm sorry's, she reminded him that he might want to at least be in the office's vicinity during his right hand lady's attempt at building rapport with some Russian oligarch based in Detroit. Why a Russian would set up base in the Motor City of all places is beyond him as Detroit isn't exactly the first place that comes to mind when you mention the terms "tax haven" or "off-shore banking." In fact, Detroit would conjure up images of the opposite, but Jack's not the type to look a gift horse in the mouth so he might as well wring as much value as he can from this schmuck before he started looking into him.

He arrived in the building just as the meeting was about to start. He'd rather leave to Luna to her own devices and intervene only when it was necessary so he quickly made his way into his office. On his desk was a dossier containing a surface-level background check his secretary ran on the man. This Mr. Cher-cherni-cherny, Chernikevs-, or however that surname's supposed to be pronounced seemed to be a legitimate businessman on the surface with no blemishes on his record. It was a good sign that he was at least the bare minimum of careful when it came to hiding his tracks. Hopefully, everything went according to plan today. As much as it would be a waste to wake up earlier than usual if it was the case, he would appreciate it if he didn't have to step in to salvage a business meeting gone wrong.

As everything checked out so far and his presence wasn't needed for the time being, he took out a piece from his cigar box and lit it up. Trying to say Mr. Cherns' surname out loud reminded him that Luna herself had a great-grandmother with a mouthful of a Slavic family name which started with a K. "Maybe he should ask her later if she still had that surname on her birth certificate after that many generations?" JackMiller thought to himself as he took a hit of the premium cigar on his hand.

Luna arrived back at the office, the smell of cigar flooding the room. She made a disgusted face and neatly placed her briefcase on his desk. She hated the tobacco smell, and putting up with it while working for Jack was one of the things that just came with her job as his right hand woman. Luna accepted it, but still liked to nag Jack about how smoking can kill you. “Smoking can kill you, Jack,” she repeated to him again. Then she started talking about the deal with Mr Chern and it started a rather interesting conversation.

“He offered to sell me a brick for half price if we lower the selling price of the rental property. I mean, who does he think I am? Some crack addict? Well, I didn’t say that to his face, but I just told him that if he wants to play that game he’s going to have to give up more than a brick.”

She continued rambling on and only halfway through the conversation did she feel the need to ask Jack about the limits on dealing with different currencies. Coke and cash was pretty standard way to settle things nowadays. She figured that if they did decide to continue dealing in coke that it could be re-distributed to other people at a higher price. Plus, Jack surely not would use up his own supply. If he wanted to kill time, he’d read a book. Or so she thought. Maybe somewhere deep inside his soul he craved for something more exhilarating than words on a page.

She leaned back in her chair, and suddenly decided to fix random things in his office. It was her little way of showing appreciation, plus she had a pet peeve about things being misplaced. Luna was interrupted shortly though, something about her birth certificate. “I don’t even know where it is anymore. Probably in an old carboard box stuffed in the attic. You’re talking about Korkunova right? Well it probably is on there. God, I miss her.”

Checking the time on her wrist watch, Luna felt the sides of her face relax and she looked up smiling. “I’m starving. Lets?”