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I hold up the letter Arsen sent me

“Do you knohat’s in this?” I ask

Gerard looks at the letter and then he looks at ive an explanation of his behavior”

“Let me read it to you,” I say and I pull open the letter Gerard takes my arm and takes me over to a sofa so I can sit down

I clear in “Dear Ashley,” I start and look over at hi

“The last few days without you have been fucking terrible,” I read I s his head with a little bit of a smile too He has a sense of humor it seems and all of a sudden I can see what someone like Yasuished looking man

“I gotta be honest I went out to Pasha today hoping a nightclub with the boys would getis the saone I knoas fucked up ofHenry and not tell you it wasand I see Gerard raise his eyebrow That’s what I thought I keep going “The Russianas Dad’s been dead, because it’s one of the only profitable outfits in the region, but I kno these guys treat their eer I could never let you work for the else but Simulated Pleasures and I I held onto it because you were there But as I kept talking to you, I sort of realize nohy Dad did what he did and why it was so successful He was lonely And by providing the things that he did, he helped other people out there in the world ere lonely find at least a little bit of temporary happiness A small pleasure Not a replacement, that’s for sure But maybe a small escape Maybe a chance to not have to think about real life Because babe, real life without you is so fucking boring, and it took talking to you on a pay-per-minute line forto do with oing to sell Sin the paperwork So you never have to worry aboutlove you”

I fold the letter away and look at Gerard He looks at me

“It seems that Arsen has realized what drove his father at last,” Gerard says “And it seems he has you to thank for it”

I nod and suess I knew But I never consciously acknowledged the fact But there’s more to this mystery

“Arsenthe only profitable operation in the region?” I ask Gerard

The elder lawyer nods “That’s correct,” he says to me

“What are they basing that on?” I ask

“Well, it’s all very complicated, but usually they base any sort of company profitability on the prior quarter That’s why cos…” He tries to continue but he’s just confir

“Where is he, Gerard?” I ask I have urgency in my voice