Chapter 34

Ivan sighed, interrupting them before another argument began.

Christian and the other looked at each other for a moment, as if challenging each other. I sensed a strange tension between the two, like an old pending grudge. That is to say, my father and my uncle are at odds over I don’t know what about fishing (my father is a fan of big game hunting, and my uncle is a fan of fishing for large species), and since their fight they look at each other in a special way, spiteful, every time they bring up the topic of their sports. Richie and Nika’s brother looked at each other in a similar way; you didn’t have to be a genius to realize that they had some rivalry that didn’t leave them alone.

Richie, with his shaved black hair, bright blue eyes (very light), arms thick as logs, and Crocodile Dundee hat decorated with varmint teeth, was the archetype of an Australian rancher, so I didn’t have to ask him what his “public persona” did. I figured he worked with animals, cattle or s