Dangerous Liasons: INVITATION TO A PARTY

by tarskeewee08

"Adam, I have it and I'll need you to come to Llanview now." Evangeline said twirling in her chair looking at the morning sky outside her expansive window.

"All in good time Evangeline, Have you come across the proposal from the Tellico?"

"I've checked their Project Management docket and there's no proposal. Are you sure it's been submitted?"

"Calm down Evangeline, just be ready to review all the documents and approve the contract. Everything will be fine" he said smiling in the phone.

Evangeline steadied her breath, she was so close so close to having her revenge and that cop could ruin everything. Where the hell was Drake anyway? He should have come after her by now.

'Evangeline…."
"Yes I'm here"
"Don't call me again. You have your instructions. When the proposal is submitted you know what do."
Evangeline's face darkened "Look, dammit I gave you 10 million dollars to ensure this would go through properly. You better come through with your end of the deal."

Adam chuckled "Have you seen Asa?"
'No…"
"You excited about that meeting?"
"Hardly"
"Well this is now bigger than you and your money. Just do as you're told and we both get what we want" he said hanging up.

Evangeline turned her chair around and slammed the phone on the receiver. Looking up she saw a pretty blonde standing in her office wearing a soft salmon colored sundress.

Evangeline smiled "Hello"

"Hi, you must be Evangeline" she said walking toward her desk with her hand extended. Evangeline pushed back in the chair and rose extending her hand "Yes I am and you are?"

"My name is Jessica Buchanan, I heard that you are now apart of our team. Sorry I missed your introduction at the board meeting the other day"

Evangeline walked around the desk in charcoal gray suit and 3 inch manolo blanik shoes. Expressing extreme delight she dismissed the apology "No need to apologize I was confident I'd meet you all in time. I've already met your father and your sister."

Jessica nodded taking in the striking appeal of the woman in front of her. "Well I came by to invite you to Asa's for our company appreciation party, Executives only of course. It would be a great opportunity for you to meet us all."

Evangeline's eyes sparkled. "I would love to meet Asa."

The Station

Antonio opened John's door and saw him sitting in his chair pounding away at the computer. Walking in John didn't even look up to acknowledge his presence.

"Hey,"
"What's up?"
"Got a lead on the Cecoli case?"

John remained glued to his computer screen typing away. Antonio frowned he seemed different somehow. More desperate.

"Hey man did you hear me?"
John looked up "What? What do you need?"
"I asked about the Cecoli case"
"Oh, well there have been some changes. Evangeline Williamson is the one that Drake Cecoli thinks stole his money?"

"Evangeline? Who's that?"
"The woman from the other day. The one with the sports car we saw at the bar with RJ"
"Oh….yeah, I thought someone said she was an attorney"
"I think she's more than that"
"You do?"

John pushed away from his chair and looked at Antonio seriously "Take a seat, let me update you"

Antonio nodded and sat down. He was more than curious about the turn of events.

"Evangeline got hired at Strauss & Klein 5 years ago. Prior to that she was working for Smith and Barney."

Antonio frowned not understanding what the big revelation in that was. John smiled at him. "Smith and Barney is an investment firm and out of college she practiced corporate law. Then one day walked in and quit with no notice. Moved into an office uptown and started a career with the most brutal defense attorney firm in Manhattan, Strauss & Klein"

"Wait didn't Strauss and Klein defended that brutal serial killer Steve Haver and got him off"

John nodded "And guess who the counsel was that represented him."
"Ms. Williamson?" Antonio said frowning. John shook his head confirming it.
"I don't understand, that woman doesn't look like…."
"Like someone that would represent the scum of the earth? Well take a look at the list of her cases in the last two years. She won each one of them" he said handing Antonio the printout

Antonio scanned the list and became increasingly alarmed. All of them high profile cases and all of them ruthless con, murdering, dangerous men. He couldn't imagine how one woman could deal with these type of people let alone represent and free them.

"Wow…this is scary dude."
John smiled "She's something else"
"Well that would explain why and how she hooked up with Chaz and Drake"

"Not really…Chaz was busted twice by the feds and she never defended him. Then there was incident where he attacked and beat a colleague of hers pretty brutally. I don't think she was attracted to Chaz because of some kindred spirit type shit. I think she hooked up with him to gain his trust. To get her hands on that money."

"So she has the money. Millions of dollars, and she knows that two ruthless men will be hunting her for it. Why did she come here?"

John ran his hands through his hair. "I can't figure that out. She mentioned knowing of my history with Drake. I'm pretty sure she led them here because she knew that I would try to protect her"

"Make sense" Antonio said nodding
"See actually it doesn't. Before I thought of her as a scared lady who was running trying to find a way out. But after last night…"
"Wait last night?"
"We had dinner"
"You did what?"
"It was just dinner…"
"What happened?"
"We sparred a little and then it ended abruptly. She claimed that she gave the money away and could care less of Drake and his threat….and trust me bro she wasn't faking it. She really could care less"

"So..."
"Well I came here and dug up more info on her. Nothing out of the norm just the stuff I told you and I was pretty sure I knew her motivation…then I saw her"

"You saw here here?" Antonio said pointing toward the floor shocked
"No I saw her on the expressway zipping toward the Towers. Dude it was after 1 am and she was on a mission"
"Why the towers"
"Get this she has a penthouse office and is working for the Buchanan's….doing guess what….that's right corporate law"

Antonio shook his head "I don't understand, she has 10 million dollars she gives it away. Comes to Llanview with murders on her trail. Gets an office and job with the most visible family in town to practice corporate law? That's her plan?"

John picked up the pen and twirled it between his fingers. He'd been trying to make sense of this and he was missing something. There was a part of the puzzle hidden. None of this made sense. It had been a week since Chaz was murdered and no sign of Drake, now the prime suspect for orchestrating this nightmare was now a cat burglar? He tossed his pen onto the top of the desk.

"I need to get closer to her. Every time I try she tries to seduce me."
Antonio burst into laughter…"Get over yourself."
John smiled "I'm serious man…she's good at it too. I can barely think straight when I'm near her."
"Why would she want to bed you if she knew you were on to her?"
"It's a game, she just doesn't know that I'm up for the challenge."
Antonio laughed "Well I don't see where she's broken the law. I say kudos to a thief for stealing from a thief."

John rolled his eyes "It's more than that….dammit I am determined to figure out what."
Antonio nodded "I may have a solution for you."
"What's that? The Buchanan Company shin dig they throw at Asa's."
"What about it?"
"She'll be there…you should come."
John thought about it. He didn't want to be anywhere near Natalie. "Let me think on it."

Nora sat her desk staring at her case file. She was looking forward to prosecuting this monster who abused a 3 year old child. She would use every method available to her to ensure that he rots in jail for eternity.

John opened the door slowly and peeped in. He saw Nora concentrating and thought better of disturbing her. She looked up at him staring above the rim of her glasses and smiled. "Well come in."

"Hey if you're busy I can come back its not important."

Nora sat up and pulled her reading glasses off throwing them up onto her desk "Of course not come in John."

John walked in and closed the door. Taking a seat he rubbed his hands together thinking of how to get information out of her without making her overly suspicious. "So you and Evangeline are friends?"

Nora smiled at him "You got a crush?"
John blinked surprised "What? No…"
"Then what was that at Capricorn? Your need to talk to her? By the way that comment you made about her money was rude."

John rubbed his jaw nervously "Yes it was and I apologized for it. As for Capricorn I discovered that our murder victim that we pulled from Lantana River was actually her ex-boyfriend."

Nora's file faded she looked at him alarm "Say what?"
"Yes, apparently your friend has been dating some kind of gangster for the past couple of years"
"That can't be right.."
"She admitted it Nora."
"Gangster?'
"Nora, can you tell me more about her? What brought her to Llanview? Did she mention being in trouble? Anything?"

Nora sat back in her chair and looked at John suspiciously "What are you fishing for detective? Do you think that she had something to do with this mans murder?"

John detecting her suspicions quickly denied it "No, I think she's in danger and I want to help her."

"Let me talk to her John, I will find out what's going on."

John sighed another dead end. Either Nora didn't know or would do anything to protect her friend. Either way she was of no use to him. His only option was to deal with Evangeline directly. He needed to get close to her. Then it occurred to him. The perfect way to do it. "Thanks Nora!" he said rising.

Nora watched him walk out and reached for the phone. What the hell kind of trouble are you in Evangeline? She wondered as she dialed her office.

Natalie saw John coming down the hall and dropped her eyes. Since he told her that she was smothering him she's avoided him. If he didn't have access to her he would see how much he needed her. To her surprise he headed directly to her. Looking up she smiled weakly at him. "Hi"
"Hey…how are you?"
Natalie couldn't be more pleased at the way he greeted her. She blushed, "Lonely" she said hoping he got the hint. The last year of their marriage he refused to make love to her. She desperately missed his love making…he was the most appetizing man she'd ever had.

"Well, I was thinking….Antonio said he had to accompany Jess to Asa's company gig…maybe you shouldn't be stuck going alone. Maybe I should take you."

Natalie's face lit up "Are you serious?"
"Sure, when is it?"
"Tomorrow night"
"Do I have to wear a monkey suit?"
"Yes, baby its formal"

John flinched at her talking sweet talk to him. He really couldn't stomach the idea of a night with the Buchanan's with her clinging to him. He'd rather drive nails through his eyeballs. But he had to do this. He had to get next to Evangeline and that intimate setting would be perfect. If she has some nefarious intentions toward the Buchanan family then he was sure he needed to be there to observe her in her element.

"Okay…it's a date" he said turning and walking away.
"John.."
Stopping he looked back at her. Her green eyes sparkling with her tears. Her fat face flushed "Thank you"

He nodded and walked into his office. "Now where do I rent a monkey suit" he mumbled walking to the phone.

Buchanan Towers

"This is Evangeline"
"Hey sweetie, its Nora"
"Nora….hey how are you?"
"Worried" Nora said leaning back in her chair looking across her office at the blinds that lined her windows.
"About a case?"
"About you."

Evangeline stopped placing papers in a file on her desk and frowned "What?"
"John McBain came into my office today."

Evangeline rolled her eyes. She was really getting pissed at the meddling he was doing. Why wasn't he hunting Drake? What the hell was he so damn focused on her for?
"And?"

"He said that some gangster boyfriend of yours was murdered?"
"Ex-boyfriend"
"Okay, ex-boyfriend…are you in some kind of trouble?"
"His murder was just as much a surprise to me as it is to you. I left him months ago. I don't know why he came to town or who hurt him."

"Evangeline, come on….you can trust me. I know of your clients and the circles you run in are you in trouble?"

Evangeline's temper rose "That's insulting! I have no ties to gangsters or the mafia. I did a job that's all!" she hissed

Nora heard the anger in mentee's voice and felt like a heel "I am so sorry…I didn't mean..."

"Nora I'm really busy, let's do lunch soon and we can talk." She said, before Nora could respond she hung up.

Nora looked at the phone confused by the way she ended the call and hurt that she did.

Evangeline glared at the phone. John was becoming a problem and she needed to devote some energy into neutralizing him as a threat. If Drake killed Chaz then he should have struck at her by now. That cop should be in some alley now involved in a shoot out not hounding her!

Grabbing the phone she called RJ.
"RJ speaking"
"Hello RJ" she said switching her tone to a softer one
"Evangeline?"
"Wow….you know my voice?"
"Yeah babe, here it in my dreams.." he said chuckling. He had a major jones for her and wouldn't mind picking up where Chaz left off.

"Any leads on my ex?"
"As a matter of fact heard yesterday he was sleeping with the fishes until the LPD scooped him out of the bay"
"Really? And when were you going to share this info with me?"
"I was going to get around to it, if you'd taken me up on my offer and come to my club you would have had this information by now."

Evangeline rolled her eyes. "I got another week on my tab with you and I need some additional work."
RJ frowned "Another week my ass….you paid me for protection against Cecoli and that threat's been resolved. I took care of that for you. So if you want my services you need to come through with another 10 g's."

Evangeline's eyes darkened and she sat up in her chair "Listen to me dread…Don't fuck with me! You didn't kill Chaz, Drake did…..and you will honor our bargain and tell me where the hell he is!" she hissed

The information she spat into the phone took the wind from his sails. He didn't kill Chaz but he had no idea Drake was out and in his town. "Shit."

"Exactly and if you don't keep it solid with me that's what you will find yourself rotting in…Shit!" she said slamming the phone down.

Where the hell was Drake? She pulled the drawer open next to her and saw her revolver she kept near her. Drake was a dangerous sociopath and baiting him was extremely risky. When Adam told her that he'd get him released early so she could get things going she was afraid. But desperate times call for desperate measures. She'd waited 7 years to get her revenge and paid all kinds of prices along the way. Now it was time to settle this and she was in it too deep to turn back now.

She' read up on McBain's obsession with Drake and when she found that he was in Llanview married to a Buchanan it couldn't be more perfect. It was as if forces larger than her were guiding her toward her destiny.

Adam was pleased with her ingenuity and kept rewarding her. They needed cash cold cash to launch Tellico as a fake investor and buy a portion of Buchanan industries. 10 million wasn't enough to grasp the entire brass ring but it put her in the position to plant the root of dissention and bring the entire empire to it's knees. Bring Asa Buchanan to his knees.

She smiled and closed the draw. Sitting on her desk was the invitation to Asa's for his shindig. She will finally see him face to face. Her hands tightened on the invitation balling it into a little ball. She couldn't wait.