"Ah, the owner." – Gustav said. – Why do so many people dislike him?" "Well he used to be one of his own. You know, when there was hardly any money, and everyone tried to support each other. They still do now. And he is. He just got lucky once in his life. It was an accident. He just got married. Lucky for money, I mean. He had a lot of money. Bought this club and started acting like he was better than them. And everyone remembers who he is, where he's from, what kind of man he is, what he's worth. They are used to communicating with him on equal terms, so they don't come here now. In general, it's a fairly standard story.

–

So he's switched.

–

Yeah. I guess so. Or maybe he's just been like that all the time and now he's just showing himself more clearly… Has money changed you?

–

Not at all. It's stupid for me. Changing for money.

–

Why is that?

–

Because, bitch, you deserve what I'm going to do to you. – Gustav thought angrily and said. – Because it all starts with the fact that a man wants money to achieve some of his goals, and in this case money is just a means for him. Even when a person, who does not have money yet, wants to get it, he really wants something else. He wants material wealth. And this is very remote from money. Even in this case money is only a means. But when they get this means, many people get lost. They forget about what they want, forget about the goal and start thinking about money. Just money.

–

Yeah. I wish there were more of them. – Oksana nodded.

–

Not to lose them. Actually, to not lose them… People don't want to go back in time afterwards. So they try to get more money. As if that will take them away from the time when they were short of money.

–

And why do you say that money is very remotely related to material wealth? I don't get it.

–

The whole point of the word exuberance… It's different for everyone. Less and more is equally bad. You need a two-room apartment – live in it, you need a onestory house – there you go. Cars, houses – it's like the size of clothes. Don't go on a ship with 20 oars alone – you won't be able to cope, better take a small boat. That's wealth. And when a man is in real prosperity, he thinks clearly, he knows what he needs. He's just in his place. And few people know how to manage extra money.

–

How is that redundant?!

–

You're confused by that word in relation to money, right?

–

Yes, you are.

–

It confuses a lot of people. For the reason that most people don't know how to spend it.

–

I disagree. People just want more than they can buy. That's all.

–

Yeah. "Want" is a very interesting word… It's a very capricious word. You see how many people are walking around with iPhones? With a $30,000 salary? What do they need it for? It's just a toy. Or what they drive. 2 or 3 million, 2 or 3 million cars on credit. It's the same toy, only bigger. And they are not able to think how much they overpay for a loan or repair of an expensive car… They just wanted to buy "it". I liked the model… People always buy what they have enough to buy, and then try to justify themselves to themselves and others that they did the right thing.

–

You talk like you see right through people. What if they didn't? What if they really wanted to buy it?

–

Of course they did. That's the difference. The difference between "want" and "need." You notice it when you see it in large quantities. Then it's grotesque. I was once at an air show in France. I was paid to consult on military equipment, deals with it and, most importantly, to make sure that these deals were profitable. I had to help an Arab sheikh buy multi-purpose helicopters. He didn't hire me. In Saudi Arabia, despite the seemingly monolithic nature of the government and the system, they have their own groups inside. It's not that they're rivals, but they have different economic interests. They are of the same kind, but, conventionally, in different places, as if they were pockets. One of these groups was working with Lockheed Martin and was paying me to talk him into buying their helicopters specifically. You see, he was given the job of just picking the best ones, he didn't know anything about them. And I convinced him that Lockheed Martin was the best. And he agreed with that. But he wanted, he wanted to buy another one.

–

So he didn't buy the one you recommended?

–

He didn't buy helicopters at all. He liked the NURS, Russian-made unguided rocket systems. Just impressed. And he signed a large shipment for them. He only bought 10 LM helicopters instead of the 70 he needed.

–

Yeah. That's weird.

–

Yes, it is. But what's weirder is that a lot of purchases are stupidly made that way. Because they just like it. And the bigger the deal, the more they try to prove that it was necessary… Hence the distance between money and wealth. It confuses the mind. – Gustav, of course, didn't say the most important thing. That it was he who advised to perform the installation from Riyadh only nominally, to show everyone who is the master in the house. Upon arrival home, the prince was in disgrace, and his influence was taken by someone who was under the cap of the Irishman for more than a year. Thus Gustav got himself a share of the transportation and logistics market in another Arab country.

At that moment Pablo walked past them once more in the opposite direction and stood at the opposite wall. There was no doubt that he was looking at Oksana, and his beastly feeling, his desire to possess someone at that moment, was coming out, coloring his eyes with the acrid glittering color of those who feel like hunters. In Oksana's case, Gustav felt a vivid emotion – a drunken inertia to give herself to someone, someone who would take her now, and take her aggressively, so that there was no thought of resisting.

"Let's go dancing, Goose," said the girl.

Gustav didn't even look at her; as if he wasn't really interested, as if she should have suggested something else: "Dance, Oksan. I'll sit for a while. I'll rest a bit." It was noisy as a nightclub should be; everything was rattling, and the whole atmosphere called for nothing but shutting off your brain. Everything was so loud and foggy.

Oksana got up from the couch and headed to the dance floor. Her movements and her manner of being in the crowd to the constantly changing rhythm of the music showed that such an environment was not only familiar to her, but also very pleasant. She could dance in such a way that I wanted to hug, cuddle and feel her movements on me.

After half a minute, Pablo moved toward her, and with his arm around her back, he kissed her lips. As if he wanted to suck her emotions and the euphoria that made her jump on the dance floor. Then he just pulled his hand away and moved away, toward the bar.

The girl's reaction turned out to be nothing – from afar it was visible that she smiled, wiped saliva from her lips with the back of her hand and continued dancing.

"Ready beauty. We're good to go." – Gustav decided and, having put a large bill of money into the wine menu, walked leisurely to the exit. There was no doubt about the result of all the following actions – no matter what it all came to this night, the former model's mood in the morning would be disgusting, and, most importantly, she would blame herself for everything in the world: that feeling when you want to apologize and fix everything, but there is so much to do that you can't get your hands up to start with something, because whatever you do, you'll get all over it.

***

A minute later, Gustav was already behind the wheel. When you find yourself not only in silence but also in your own car after such noise, a sense of peace comes along with a tremendous sense of self, as if you had changed out of someone else's clothes and into your own.