Vance shook his head and chuckled. He said, “You sure know how to make a first impression, don’t you?”

Ivan kept his cool. He said, “It’s my first trip to New York. And I want to be invited back.”

Vance nodded. “I don’t think you’re gonna have too much of a problem with that.”

They boarded the eight-seat plane of plush leather luxury seats, wineglasses, individual ice buckets, headrests, foot and back massagers, cloth curtains, a full-sized bathroom, small tray tables, four flip-down TV screens, and a bloodred carpet symbolizing deep wealth.

“Nice plane,” Ivan commented, taking the second seat to his right.

“Glad you noticed,” Vance joked. He took the open seat next to Ivan’s. His two assistants sat in the two seats in front of and to the left from them.

Ivan got comfortable and asked him, “How long is the flight?” He had flown a few hours to Hawaii, Los Angeles, Dallas, and up to the San Francisco area in private jets with Seth and Roman. But New York was a much longer trip.

“We got a good five to six hours before we touch down,” Vance answered.

Once they got up in the air good and leveled the plane off, heading northeast for America’s business capital, Vance poured them each a glass of wine before he began to ask Ivan some of his big questions.

He reclined his chair back halfway for the long flight and asked his guest, “So, Ivan…what is your ultimate goal in business? Do you just wanna make enough big bucks to settle down with? Or do you have designs on trying to take over the world?”

Ivan grinned at the question. Vance was being slightly dramatic. Ivan answered, “I’m like thirty years old right now, so I can honestly expect to see a lot of different changes going on in my future. It’s only natural.”

Vance nodded with his drink in hand. He asked, “What do you see as your strengths and weaknesses at this point in your career?”

Ivan continued to grin. He really didn’t want to answer such a revealing question for the man, but he figured Vance had practically paid for his answer. They were on a five-to-six-hour flight to New York. So there was no way he could dodge it.

Ivan told him, “My strength…is definitely fast thinking. It takes me no time at all to come up with new ideas and figure out how to make them work. I’m also a good manager of talent. I find the best people for the job, I give them direction, and I step out of their way unless they need me for more guidance. And with me being a trained accountant and consultant with the Hutch and Mitchell firm, I’m always tight on the bottom line. It’s always about squeezing the most orange juice into the glass.”