Page 15 of The Deception: Hercules Valentine and I
Not a Match
Hercules Valentine
Fourteen Hours Ago
Idon’t know why I’m looking at the menu. I know what’s on it. I’ve been to celebrity chef Jay Miles’s steakhouse enough times to recite the damn thing. It’s one of my favorite spots in the city. I’m waiting for Lilith Cope to arrive. She’s late.
Tonight will be our third date in six days. I try not to think about the first two, but I can't help it. I wouldn't say they were exciting. On our first date, I took her to dinner downtown. She did most of the talking, and I listened. It was as though she wanted me to know everything about her, down to how many kids she wants to have one day. She said she came from a small family, which was why she wanted a large one of her own. I can respect that. She said a lot more on our first date, but hell if I remember any of it. My mind was elsewhere, trying to figure out how to repair the damage between me and Orion.
I didn’t give Lilith a fair chance on our first date, which was why I asked her out again. She accepted with enthusiasm. Before we arrived to pick her up, James threw out some places I should take her to, depending on how she was dressed. One place was the Circus in Brooklyn for dinner, dancing, and pool.
“That’s if she’s showing skin. Lots of opportunities, you know?” He winked. Heels with jeans meant hot dogs with Benny. “Because she’ll want you to take off those jeans and get to it.” When Lilith walked out of her building, she had on a pantsuit. “Uptown. This one prefers the cash first, second and always.”
I laughed before he got out to open the door for her, doubting any of his assessments were true. James is one of those guys who needs the world to make sense before he can feel safe. For that reason, he comforts himself by making a lot of generalizations.
Anyway, on that date, I took her to the St. Regis. She talked a lot about her ex-boyfriend, who cheated on her with a neighbor. After the breakup, she had to go through a period of recovery. She said she never felt so rejected and unattractive in her life. I thought that was interesting and told her so.
“What do you mean byinteresting?” she asked.
“Did I offend you?” I asked, worried.
She chuckled. “No, not at all. Itwasinteresting. But I wonder why you thought it was interesting.” However, she didn’t give me space to answer because she spent a large chunk of time talking about her experience at the hospital.
“Am I boring you?” she eventually asked.
I blinked hard. I was tired. I’d spent the entire day working with Mason on setting up a phantom server that was accessible to only him and me. We also tried to track who was hacking into computers associated with me but kept hitting a dead end. I’d been trying to figure out who would want to mess with my calendar. Orion was the only person I could think of. Mason mentioned the Groves and reminded me how we’d had to fire two of their spies in the past.
“But we’ve been infiltrating each other’s companies for years,” I said.
“Maybe this time, they got closer than usual. None of this started happening until Lilith Cope arrived. Maybe she’s not who she says she is.”
When our dinner arrived, along with a bottle of wine, I pummeled her with questions about where she’d gone to school and why she chose finance. She gave me another long story about how her father mismanaged all of his money and their family had to live in a Winnebago until they were back on their feet a year and a half later. It was through that experience she realized how important money management was. She was only eleven years old when she’d started reading tons of books on the subject.
Then she went into what she’d learned about VTI’s financial ledgers. “Can I be straight with you?” she asked.
I nodded tightly, knowing that whatever she had to say wasn’t going to warm my heart. “Definitely.”
“If we keep going the way we are, VTI won’t last another year. Cuts in spending need to be made, from personnel to all the employee perks. The six coffee bars alone are costing us three hundred thousand dollars a month.” She emphatically raised her finger. “And those are just the coffee bars.”
We spent the rest of dinner with her detailing where we wasted the most money and what could be done about it. She said the only reason we were still alive was because my trust paid VTI enough to keep its head barely above water.
“My trust? You mean the family trust.”
She shook her head adamantly. “No. It’s yours. It’s in your name.”
She went on tell me how much my trust paid the company as I tried to wrap my mind around what she’d revealed. I’d meant to talk to my mother about the trust, but I never got around to it. She also explained how the trust was set up under an exemption clause that allowed new money to be added to it without taxation or penalty.
“I was shocked to see that sort of account. I’ve only heard about them. In 2066, they’re basically nonexistent.”
After dinner, since we’d spent the majority of our date talking shop, I asked her out again.
“Okay, why not?” she said with a shrug.
That was on Monday night. That was before Lark Davenport.Shit.Lark’s scent. It drives me crazy. Her sultry eyes are why I remembered her from the Golden Grand Luxe Hotel.I know I’ve been close to her before, but where and when?
Suddenly, Lilith plops down in the chair across from me. She’s wearing the same pantsuit she had on at the office. And the chill from outside, mixed with her anxious energy, is emanating from her as she takes off her coat.
“So sorry I’m late. I had a doozy of an ending to my day.”
