Show Mr. Aston who's boss.

I got up from the table and went to the buffet to get more caviar. I knew Opal would follow me. She tried not to look at me, but she stayed very close.

“Did you like my gifts?”

I leaned across the buffet table to get some a bit of lobster claw omelet, rubbing against Opal's freckled arm. “I did like them. I might send you back to that store to get more stuff later. But only if you prove you're up to it.”

She inhaled expectantly, then picked up a banana and pretended to consider taking it. “What do I have to do?”

“Your pussy is mine, but see how many guys you can suck or tug before I get back from skeet shooting. Or women, I don't care, just get some people off. Bonus points if their spouses are watching. If you rack up an impressive number of people, I'll consider having a little more fun with you.”

She bit her bottom lip and nodded.

I stepped away from the buffet table and went back to finish breakfast. Once I was done I went to the front desk and reserved the skeet range. I tipped the clerk extra to make sure we'd have the best spot.

+5 BS. 12 Remaining.

+10 BS. 22 Remaining.

+5 BS. 27 Remaining.

An hour later I was out on the range with Mr. Astor. I had planned to duck out of horseback riding with Nicole if she hadn't canceled. I would have made up some excuse about my injury acting up to cover the fact that I'd never been on a horse in my life. This was much better. Shooting was another of those skills that I had actually practiced in order to impress people. However, I didn't want Mr. Astor to know that quite yet.

“Have you ever shot before, boy?” he asked while checking the sights of his gun.

“No sir, I've never touched a gun before today.” I waited a moment, and there was no BS cost. Good, I was glad to know a simple, believable lie didn't cost me anything.

Mr. Astor raised the shotgun into position and yelled, “Pull!” Three clay pigeons shot through the air. He hit the first pigeon, missed the second one, then got the third.

The large man walked over and slapped me on the back so hard I almost dropped the score card and the pencil. He said, “See? It's not too hard. It's a gentleman's sport.”

“Yes sir, I can see that,” I replied.

+10 BS. 37 Remaining.

Good job, Opal. Just keep it up so I can get this over with and get away from this asshole.

Mr. Astor showed me how to use the gun, and I played along. I asked lots of gun maintenance questions just to make myself look more inept. He didn't know the answers to half of them, but instead of saying so, he just made up some bullshit answers. Then I took my turn, purposely missing all three shots. He got a good laugh out of that.

We moved to the next position and Mr. Astor raised up the gun. “You know, I expect you to take good care of my little girl. Pull!” The clay disks flew out and he took his shots. He was annoyed that he only got one out of three pigeons.

“Yes sir, I plan to take good care of her.”

He turned to me, casually pointing the gun towards the ground, not quite as far from my legs as I would have liked. “She's an exceptionally sweet girl. Naïve at times. I'm sure you'd never do anything to hurt her.”

+5 BS. 42 Remaining.

“I fully understand. I'd never do anything to hurt her.” I could feel a little tug from the app, as if it was waiting for me to elaborate. However, I stayed quiet. After a minute of not providing any bullshit to back up my lie, the feeling faded away without charging me any BS.

We worked our way through the next several stations as Mr. Astor danced around his general message, that he expected certain things from me, and I'd better deliver. He got one or two pigeons every time and I always missed. I started to get worried that Opal wasn't going to come through in time.

When we got to the seventh station, the last one, Mr. Astor took aim and said, “Just so you know, my lawyer flew in on the same flight as the dress maker. He's waiting for us back at the hotel. We're going to go see him as soon as we finish shooting. It's time to sign that prenuptial agreement. No more stalling, you're going to show your respect for me and my family by signing those papers.”

Oh fuck, this guy was pompous. I was just about to crack.

+15 BS. 57 Remaining.

Finally. It was time.

I walked up to Mr. Astor and said, “Shut the fuck up, you piece of shit. I'm not signing any prenup.”

The rage in his eyes was magical. It's never good to actually tell a mark that you've screwed them over, but I've done it from time to time just because I love seeing their expressions when they find out how badly they're fucked.

“What did you say to me, boy?!”

“From now on you'd better treat me with respect and act like the little piece of shit on the bottom of my shoe that you are. If you don't, I'll enact **** on you like you can't imagine.”

The rage multiplied, but there was something else now. Doubt.

I laughed. “Are you wondering if I'd really do it? Do you remember how you looked into my past and it didn't add up? Well, can you be sure that I am who I say I am? Maybe I'm an assassin whose past is fake because he was busy killing high profile targets around the world. Maybe my credentials are real, but nobody remembers me because a mob enforcer has to keep a very low profile. You don't actually know, do you? I could just be a nobody or I could also be the kind of monster who will snap your spine, cut out your tongue, and kill every woman you've ever slept with while you're lying in a hospice bed. I mean, seriously, their deaths wouldn't be much of a loss. Nicole doesn't actually need bride's maids to get married, right?”

I yelled, “Pull!” The clay pigeons flew out. I turned around and shot them all, one two three, without missing.

Mr. Astor took a step back. His eyes went blank.

-50 BS. 7 Remaining.

All the confidence disappeared. The big man suddenly looked very small.

“I... I... Are you really...?”

“I'm not saying that I'm anything!” I said with a smile. Then I pulled the scorecard out of my pocket and tossed it on the ground. I looked down at it, then back up at my future father-in-law. “Pick it up.”

He looked at the ground, then back at me. He quickly bent over and reached for the card. I stepped on his hand with my full body weight.

“Ahh!”

“We're not going to talk about prenups anymore, are we?”

“No! No prenup!”

“You're not going to say shit about this conversation to Nicole or anyone else, are you?”

“No!”

I ground his fingers under my heel. “No, what?”

“No sir!”

I let him up. Once he was standing I slapped the shaking man on the back as hard as I could. “We're going to get along great, Reuben!”

He didn't speak or make eye contact with me the whole way back to the hotel.