Page 99 of Delilah In Discretion

“I would never so much as wonder if Reynolds and I would be compatible, and it makes me sick to my stomach. If anything, I want to tear him to shreds,” she muttered as she exited the room.

Avery spoke as she was now out of range. “Mr. Reynolds sure has a hold on her.”

“You know what she said was completely a lie, right?” I replied, and he nodded.

“Oh, absolutely. But knowing Kimiko as both a boss and a friend, she only lets two people see her weaknesses, and that’s you and me. Mr. Reynolds wants to push boundaries that aren’t made for pushing,” he said, and I sighed.

“You think she may have a crush on him too?” I asked, and he chuckled.

“She’s my boss, Delilah. Even if I wanted to give you a full answer, she’d have my head.”

“Blink twice if you need help, Avery.” I spoke with concern and sarcasm lacing my voice, and he laughed as he left the room as well.

As they were gone, my mind drifted back to yesterday, and I smiled. I had a date on Friday with Archer—a real date. One that he asked me on formally—and for some reason, the smile on my face didn’t want to go away as I giddily kicked my feet as I internally sighed in content.

Omniscient

Stephan walked into Luca’s living room, and Luca sighed as he took a seat.

“How’s misery holding up with you?” Luca asked, to which Stephan simply shrugged his shoulders. Deciding not to pry much, Luca continued, disregarding his gesture.

“I need you to become a distraction for Archer.”

Stephan ran his hands down his face. “I hesitate to ask how or why.”

“He needs to hate you more. You obviously don’t care for your relationship with him or your father, so make it believable. Tell him to screw himself and act like your usual self,” Luca said nonchalantly, and Stephan shook his head.

“Archer wants my brotherly affection. He doesn’t hate me.”

“Then you need to give him a reason to.”

“My mother would castrate me, and my father would kill me for being cruel to his golden boy.”

“But... Archer would break,” Luca said as a matter of fact, and Stephan looked over to him as he continued, “He cares about your relationship. As much as he says he doesn’t, he does. Crush it. Make him suffer. His pain could go either way. He becomes more attached to Delilah, increasing their likelihood of getting caught, or he pushes himself away from her and causes problems for both her and Calvin.”

Stephan bit his lip as he looked away. He was not entirely opposed to the idea but still hesitant to put his younger brother through such things... even though in his mind, with all the work he’s done for his father being in vain, he’d argue he’s been through worse.

“I don’t know,” he said, and Luca sighed, not looking to beg the man as he knew he would eventually cave.

“The choice is yours, really. You either help me take down Archer, or you don’t... It’s simple. Have him hate you so the other plans will fall into place, or remain miserable and do nothing.It’s not like you’d be doing anything different than what you are now…”

Chapter thirty-four

Delilah

“D-do I look okay?” I asked Kimi as I flattened my black lace dress and looked into the mirror.

She didn’t say anything, and I glanced over at her. She smiled as she cursed in Japanese. I giggled at her as she wiped a fake tear.

“Archer is a lucky man,” she whispered, fixing my hair, which fell over my shoulders.

Grabbing my clutch, I heard a knock at the door, and Avery peeked into the room.

“Mr. Lockwood is waiting for you outside.”

Kimi looked at her watch and rolled her eyes. “It’s 6:57. He can give the girl three more minutes.”

I gave Kimi one last hug before leaving the room to go outside. Kimi’s parents weren’t home, and I took this as an opportunity to say I was “sleeping” over so I could go on my date. My mother saw through my bluff immediately, as she knew our sleepover schedule, but my father took the bait as if it were candy for a toddler.

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