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, itwouldbe fair to say that you area littleattracted 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, withthe 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’snot 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.