Sex and the Billionaire Crime Boss - Season 2

Ch. 18: Unexpected Visitors

Max is all business on the plane ride back to Miami.

Gabe leaves us alone, apparently sensing there is something going on.

It just seems so strange that only two days ago I was sitting in the same seat, heading for New York City, and wondering if I would be able to stick to my resolve to keep things strictly business between Max and me.

Well, I guess we answered that question.

And now it's Max who has made the decision that our personal relationship is over.

Part of me wishes we could just make a clean break. But another part of me is glad that even though we are no longer going to be lovers, I'll still be interacting with him on some level, at least until the contracts and other documents for the art gallery deal are completed.

"So tell me exactly how this works," I say to Max.

He looks over at me. "How what works?"

Us, I want to say. Us spending time together but not being together anymore.

But I don't say that. Instead I say, "Gino and Joey D's interest in owning an art gallery. I get that money laundering must be part of it, but you could use any business for that. What is it about an art gallery that makes them so interested?"

He hesitates, like he's not sure he wants to fill me in, then apparently decides it makes sense for me to understand exactly what I'm getting into.

"As I assume you've figured out, buying and selling art does provide an excellent opportunity to invest the proceeds of illegal activities in art purchased privately overseas, then legitimize it by selling the art through a reputable gallery, sometimes privately and sometimes at auction. But there are many more opportunities an art gallery affords as a shield for other transactions."

"Like what?" I'm not only concerned about protecting myself from being pulled deeper into illegal activities. I'm also genuinely interested in how all this works.

"Well," Max says, leaning back in his seat and taking a sip from the glass of bourbon he's been swirling absently in his hand, "a piece of art could be 'on loan' to a gallery as security for payment in a business deal. It can be bartered or used as actual currency. The art world often works on a cash basis, and it's not unusual for the actual price paid to be confidential. The value is subjective, and often outrageous. Discounted pricing comes into play, as well as charitable donations that mask other more clandestine transactions.

"It's common for art collectors to make purchases through intermediaries, or using a corporate entity established for the purpose, while the identity of the real party in interest is kept confidential. No one questions that."

He gestures with his free hand as he explains, and I try not to be distracted by thoughts of that same hand stroking my body Saturday night. I wish I were sitting across a table from him again like this morning, instead of side by side in the luxury seats of his private jet, close enough that I can smell his cologne and sense the heat coming from his body.

"Frankly," Max continues, "the possibilities are as limitless as the creativity of those involved."

I nod, forcing my thoughts back to art deals and away from sex. What he's describing makes sense, although it's something I never would have thought of. "So it makes it relatively easy to hide the actual financial transaction and even the parties involved."

"Not just relatively easy," Max confirms, "ridiculously easy."

"It's a conduit for all kinds of . . . arrangements."