Hello everyone, it's Blackdiamond Princess here! Yes, I know. My previous account has been deleted from this site and with it all of my stories, so I'm going to play it safe with this new account. All lemons featured in this story will be cut out from this site, but posted on the other sites thatare hosting this story. For the links to them and my other works, please check my bio. Unfinished stories that previously got published will continue to get updated but unfortunately not on this site.
Ps:Thank you once again, TheCiz, for beta-reading this chapter!
ONE: Fusion
The moon was shining just right, no clouds, no stars. No restrictions, no obligations...
It was the perfect night.
Two leather clad figures jumped off the main roof of the Zanarkadian Museum of Spiran History. The only sound heard as they landed on the second roof was that of two pair of high heels tapping on stone. One of them stood up right and looked around her, checking for potential trouble. The other crunched next to the window of the roof.
"We have ten minutes to get in. Emerald, you receive me?"
Tapping on her ear receptor, she looked at her partner, waiting for instructions.
"Roger, Amber. You guys got 30 seconds before the guard comes to check up. The sphere is right underneath the window… but it's going to be a tricky one." Emerald answered from an apartment a block away from the museum. "But those infrared lenses Ruby gave you should be enough."
"Roger." Amber whispered, nodding towards her partner. "Let's go."
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Making his last round of the night, a museum guard paid extra attention to the alarm system surrounding their newest acquisition: The Sphere of Betia. It was laid on a pedestal and in the first place protected by a metal box foreseen of small glass windows on each of the six surfaces so people could look at it. The metal cube was an alarm system on its own. A magnetic system was relied to it so that any metallic object, like say a glass perforator, in a six meter range made the alarm go off.
Before the thief got to the actual box, he still had the invisible alarm system to pass. This was a complicated maze of infrared laser beams. After the beams, if they were to fail, was the temperature controller. The room was kept at a constant temperature of 36 °C any change with a range above the 2°C would cause the immediate closure of all exit routes: the window in the ceiling, the five entrances and the four windows around the object. A steal blind would cover every one of them.
Smiling to himself at the very thought of someone being stupid enough to try and steal the sphere, the guard turned himself around and finished his round, whistling merrily to himself.
Just above him, outside the ceiling window, were two mismatched eyes closely watching him.
"Be sure to be in and out in less than 2 minutes, so the temperature sensor doesn't go off, Sapphire." Emerald said in her ear. "I will guide you all the way."
"Go bring the beauty in, sis." Amber whispered, winking.
"This is going to be fun." Sapphire whispered, smiling back. "I love the challenge. I'm ready, Emerald."
Amber opened the small window and watched as her sister prepared herself to make a 10 meter fall. "Make sure everything is in place."
"Don't worry." Sapphire said back with a grin, "You know how much I love this!"
"I know, that's why we can't risk you neglecting anything. Azure will pay us good money for this one; I don't want to take any risks."
Sapphire just checked her equipment again while sighing. She knew her sister was right though, even if it wasn't really for the money that they did it. At least she personally didn't. It was just for the kick of it.
"Emerald, I'm going in." She said with one hand on her ear receptor and winking towards Amber.
"Good luck." She mouthed.
"Let's see if my four years of ballet will prove me to be of any good for this one." Sapphire grinned, jumping inside.
"And then he came to me and asked me, with his teeth as yellow as ripe corn; 'Hey baby, see something you like?' Guess what he did next? He smiled at me in his, I suppose, most seductive way… I'm telling you, I'm never going to that club again!"
The small group of girls on the terrace in front of a café in Zanarkand laughed heartily. They were all there; the sisters DeLucci, Yuna and Lenne, their cousin; Rikku Taddeo and their friend; Paine Fucci.
"To me all men are the same. They're only after one thing and after that you might as well take a dog if you want attention." Lenne said, taking a sip of her coffee and crossing her legs underneath the table. "You simply can't trust them. I told you not to go to that club, Yu, but did you listen?"
Rikku smiled, "But surely there must be some good guys left in this city good enough for us?" She said, raising her shoulders innocently.
Yuna was pouting, "You're only saying that because you already found your future husband!"
"But did you really think you'd find yours in that club?" Paine smirked, taking a sip of her espresso. "Shows how desperate you really are."
The brunette groaned, "It does, doesn't it?"
"Let's face it sis, you desperately need to get laid." Lenne chuckled, throwing her long brown hair back and reaching beside her seat for her purse. "Love is so overrated."
Yuna just looked at her older sister and felt bad for her; it was no wonder that she was sounding so bitter. She just broke up with her fiancée… caught him cheating with one of her secretaries at work. "Don't give up on love, Lennie…"
Lenne shook her head and waved her away with an irritated look on her face as she searched through her purse for her portable. "Your oh so precious 'love' has caused me enough of problems and I seriously doubt that I ever want to rely on it again." She took out the device and dialled the number of her office. "DeLucci here, I'll be there in 45 minutes. If Fabian arrives, tell him to wait for me in the lobby." She hung up and finished her coffee. "It was nice having lunch with you, girls." She stood up and bent over to hug her friends. "I need to get back to work; I got a big deal to seal."
"With Fabian? As in Seymour Fabian?" Rikku said, raising a sceptic eyebrow.
"I thought you hated that guy." Paine said, cocking her head to the side.
"Wait… your ex-husband, Seymour?" Yuna asked, sipping from her iced tea.
Lenne sighed and took her car keys out of her purse before swinging it around her shoulder, "As much as I hate the guy, I need to get on good terms with him because he will soon be my associate. Our companies are about to fuse with each other."
"What!" Yuna said, raising her eyebrows in pure astonishment, "But DeLucci Inc. is an Auction/Antiques Company. Fabian is a jeweller! I don't see why you would want to work with him."
"Hum," Paine said, squinting, "Diamonds are a woman's best friend."
Lenne said nothing but just smiled. "I really need to go. Ask Lorenzo to look at those ancient runes that came in this morning, Yu. I don't know when, but I'll be at the Lounge tonight, so don't wait up for me girls. Ciao."
After they had watched her black Land Rover disappear into the traffic, Rikku turned her head to her right side to look at Paine with a questioning expression. "What did you mean with 'Diamonds are a woman's best friend'?"
Paine just lay back in her chair, "It just all doesn't feel right, that's all. I have a bad feeling about it."
Yuna shook her head, "Okay, they don't like each other, but that's no reason to get all suspicious, Paine. And I think that Lenne wouldn't have got accepted to fuse if she had had her doubts about it. I mean, she wouldn't deliberately lead the company into danger now would she? She knows what she's doing. And besides, just because she doesn't like him, doesn't give us a reason to not like him too." She could feel the icy glares of her friends piercing through her, "I mean, he is not that bad-looking…" she said then, smiling shyly and looking into her glass of tea.
Rikku raised an eyebrow, "I will just pretend to not have heard that… seriously, Yu." She whispered and rolled her eyes.
Paine just shook her head and said nothing.
"Fabian has an internationally renowned company and he has enough money to buy half of the globe! I really wonder why he wanted to fuse with DeLucci Inc. It's not like he needs it. And Lenne wouldn't have got accepted if there hadn't been something there for the company, I mean, the fusion will give DeLucci good publicity." The blonde pondered, trying to figure out the motives for Lenne's decision concerning the company.
"It's the Companies who are fusing, NOT Lenne and Seymour -again- right? It's important to separate business from private life." Yuna wisely said, pointing with one finger in the air.
"Maybe…" Paine whispered, deep in thought, "I just hope she knows how to deal with Fabian. He is no good, I can tell."
"Yeah, the tabloids don't really praise him…" Rikku said nodding, "But his business is really good. They earn a little bit over the 250 million each year and he seems be the…"
"Argh… enough already, are we going to grow old bones here or are we still going shopping?" Yuna said standing up. The two other girls soon followed her lead. "I'm telling you," she then whispered in a low tone, "Amber knows exactly what she is doing. Just wait until Azure finds out."
The three girls nodded and took their belongings to exit the café.
"Mister Fabian, I apologize for being late. I hope it wasn't a long wait?"
Lenne walked up to the tall, blue haired man with the stunning grey eyes and held out her hand. He smiled and shook it briefly.
"Not at all, Miss DeLucci. I arrived merrily 2 minutes before you. Shall we seal the contract? I have an agenda full of rendezvous for this afternoon, so if you don't mind." He smiled again at her and she felt the urge knock his teeth out. If it wasn't for all the benefits her company would receive with the fusion… That sick bastard.
"Of course." She said, nodding and smiling, "Let's go into my office." She led the way to the grand wooden doors at the end of the lobby and could feel his eyes undressing her from the back. She shivered internally and took a deep breath as she opened her doors.
"I see you have a splendid view of Zanarkand City from up here. But as my partner you will see more of scenery like this… I'm really looking forward to working with you... in a professional way."
He was standing in front of the large windows surrounding the round office, admiring the view from the 45th floor with his hands in his pockets.
"We are all looking forward to working with your company as well." Lenne said, taking the documents from the upper drawer of her desk. "You are a renowned businessman, Mister Fabian, and we are a nationally well-known company. I hope that our joining will mean the start of a long-term, professional co-operation."
She displayed the documents on her desk and took a pen out of the pen-holder and laid it beside the papers to sign.
He chuckled and took his hands out of his pockets and walked over to her desk. "There is no need to give me that much praise, Miss DeLucci. You are one of the most talented businesswomen in your category." He stopped in front of her, close enough for her to see three diamonds in his left ear. "But I'm sure that a beautiful woman as you has a large range of expertise…"
Lenne averted her gaze and walked around him, "Let's get this over with and keep it PROFESSIONAL, shall we?" she said, taking seat in her leather chair.
A small smirk formed itself on his lips, but it went unnoticed by the brunette. "Where do I sign?"
"Here, here… and here." She pointed at the spots foreseen for this and watched him swiftly sign in a rather curly handwriting. He then looked up at her when he finished and seemed to enjoy the fact that she had been staring at him. Lenne gulped and took the pen he was offering her.
"There. Now it's your turn."
She quickly signed the forms and placed them back into the drawer. "That's handled. I think that tomorrow we will go make it official?"
"Yes, at my office with the people of the assurance, registrars and others…" He whispered, still standing in front of her.
Lenne nodded and wished that he would just stop staring at her. It's for the company… for the company… "Good. Then I will see you tomorrow. Still at 8 o'clock?"
"Precisely." He said, smiling that sly smile again. Seymour then rested both of his hands on her desk so he could lean in a little. "Miss DeLucci.?"
"Yes?" Lenne said, crossing her legs in her chair and leaning back, "Was there something else you wanted to discuss with me, Mister Fabian?"
He waved a hand and shook his head, "Please, Seymour. Call me Seymour, Lenne. We are business partners now, no need to be so formal."
The way he just said that made her feel filthy, but she just clenched her teeth and smiled, "Alright, Seymour, I shall return the favour then. Was there something?"
"Yes. I was thinking to go celebrate this fusion with a dinner." He said nonchalantly, "Tonight."
"Oh, well…" She was taken off guard, but quickly took her agenda to check her appointments for the rest of the day hoping to find an important meeting she could go to. "I have a staff meeting at 5 o'clock and I don't know when it will end." She said apologetically, putting the small black book away.
"I shall wait for you at 7.30 in "La Godiva". Don't be late, so we can talk about the future of our joined companies." He said, smiling again. His eyes had a mocking glow in them and she could feel a searing anger taking hold of her.
Without another word he turned around and left her office.
She pushed herself away from her desk with anger and stood up, putting a hand on her forehead to calm herself.
"That's so typically him… unnerving me when he knows that I have no choice… If I didn't need him that much for the survival of my company… God, how I hate him."
To be continued...
-Diamant Noir-