One of the longest chapters so far! And one of my favorites because we are finally getting more DE scenes together!
This chapter will start right where the other left off.
Hope you guys enjoy! Thanks to everyone who reached out or reviewed!
Elena had reached a few conclusions by the time she took a seat in the padded maroon armchair that was catty cornered from a large desk.
One, she hated whiskey.
Two, she hated Damon Salvatore.
And three, drinking the whiskey she hated had only increased her attraction to the man she hated, which in turn, was making her hate herself.
Honestly. Way to lose perspective!
She and her sister were literally in a life and death situation tonight, completely at the whims of some criminal's mood swings, and all she could focus on was the tendon in his forearm that flexed every time he rose his own glass to his lips.
Had he rolled up those sleeves of his on purpose, hoping it would turn her brain to mush?
If so, he'd been successful.
She hated him and the perfect bone structure of his cheeks and that sexy accented voice, and the hungry way those blue eyes watched her.
God, maybe Katherine had been right, and she had just gone too long without a "night out" as her twin liked to call it.
When was the last time she had taken interest in a man?
She couldn't even remember.
It wasn't that she minded spending time with a guy, assuming he wasn't a raging douchebag, but more and more lately it just didn't seem worth the hassle when her energy could be better spent looking after her family.
But this man, for whatever reason, got all of her attention.
And then some.
Her eyes followed him across the room as he finished making another drink, before he took a seat in the chair across from her.
One of his legs crossed over the other, perfectly at ease.
There was no denying that he was the one running the direction of this conversation.
"How good are you?" He started, honing that stare in on her face, watching her every expression, "Exactly how much did you manage to find out about me?"
Elena sat her now empty glass down on the small table between them and took her time resettling into the chair.
"If I tell you," she asked, "Will you have me killed for knowing too much?"
"On the contrary, Elena, I am giving you a chance to live."
She hated the way her name rolled off of his tongue with that inflection on the "L"...and hated more that she could imagine the way it would sound whispered in her ear, during a much more compromising situation.
"I don't know much," she heard herself say, and wished that he had offered her water instead of whiskey.
Her mouth was feeling rather dry.
"Come now, don't be modest," Damon took a drink from his own glass of inhibition eraser, "Most people like to talk about their skills."
"Well, I don't."
"Smart, given your career," he tilted his glass in her direction, "Sorry that my involvement has left you without work."
She narrowed her eyes at the reminder, "Somehow I doubt you feel much remorse for anything."
"You have me all figured out then, do you?" He took another sip, drinking slowly so that her gaze was drawn to the movement of his throat as he swallowed.
He had a mark there, from where she had bitten him during their scuffle earlier.
Elena shifted uneasily in her chair, "I've figured out enough."
"By all means, cara mia," his free hand gave a wave, "Enlighten me."
The tone of his voice was so seductive, it had to be intentional, Elena decided, and she was disgusted by the fact that her body was responding to the sound in a wholly inappropriate way.
Damon was watching her like a predator who had cornered it's prey, or a gambler who knew he had the winning hand.
And that, along with so many other reasons, was why she should not be feeling like this...all hot and bothered.
It went against every instinct of self preservation, that she could clearly use a good dose of at the moment, to be anything close to turned on.
This man could kill her, right now.
Put a bullet in her brain.
Overpower her and smash her head against the marble table between them.
Pin her down again and snap her bones...just because he felt like it.
She had no doubt he had done things like that before, and probably had a whole team ready to make her body disappear.
By all rights, she should be scared out of her mind.
Instead, her eyes were locked on his mouth, mesmerized by the way his lips glistened when his tongue ran over them.
The only reprieve she had in the shame spiral her stomach was forcing on her, was the fact that he seemed just as unable to look away from her.
If anything, his eyes were even more focused, studying her every movement, stroking over her features like featherweight fingertips.
Or maybe he was just waiting on her to answer his question.
Damn.
What was the question?
"Perhaps I made your drink too stout?" Damon suggested with an amused smile, and the taunt brought Elena back to their conversation.
She didn't want him to think her vulnerable in any way.
"I can handle one drink," she argued, shoving all of her primal urges down so that she could focus, "I'm just not sure how to answer your question without putting myself in jeopardy."
Damon's cheek twitched, the smallest of movements, as if he were fighting annoyance, "I have found that honesty is usually the best policy, when dealing with someone who despises being lied to."
He shifted forward, "If you wish to leave here, tonight, you will tell me what you have learned about me."
Elena swallowed as she considered how ridiculous that request was.
A man like Damon Salvatore would already be aware of any information a hired investigator might find.
Was he testing her, then?
And if he was, then perhaps honesty was the best policy...at least, somewhat.
She did wish to see her family again, after all.
"The dossier was mostly empty," Elena said, "A name, an address, and a blurry picture. I saw the vans on your property that day I was scouting and was able to look up your club from the decal. From there, I was only able to guess at what you do, but the picture sort of painted itself."
His brow lifted, silently urging her to elaborate.
"I know that your father was involved with the Italian Mafia before he died. I know you've taken over his business. My guess is that you use your club as an outlet for the drug selling. I also think you're pimping girls out to the more V.I.P patrons. I saw them coming and going the night I was there."
"And?" he prodded.
Now it was Elena's brows lifting, "You mean there's more?"
"You tell me."
She shook her head, "That's it. That's all I know."
He observed her a moment longer, gaging her response to judge for himself that she was telling the truth.
After a long, agonizing moment, he put his hand into his front pocket.
She stiffened, but he only removed a cell phone; and tapped the screen a few times before placing it against his ear.
"Alaric," he spoke into the receiver, "I want you to go ahead and let that woman leave. Give her money for a cab and tell her that her sister, Elena, will be returning home, unharmed, in just a while."
It was hard not to feel relief at his words, but Elena refused to completely drop her guard just yet.
Saying he was going to let her go, and actually letting her leave were two different things.
But at least Katherine would be safe.
She would pick up Nadia from the elderly neighbor that occasionally babysat for them, and they could disappear in the matter of moments if they so needed.
She hoped they wouldn't.
"Oh, really?" Damon continued to speak to the person on the other end of the line, his expression changing as whoever it was gave him an update that he apparently didn't like.
"When was this?" he demanded, standing from his chair.
Elena was surprised that he actually turned his back to her, though no doubt he would still be able to react fast enough to put a bullet in her, if she attempted a dash for the door.
"I see...and why was I not informed sooner?" a long pause followed, then Damon's voice spiked with sudden anger, making her jump.
"Figlio di puttana!" he all but growled into the cell, and Elena didn't need to speak the language to understand that the conversation had taken a nosedive, "And you did not think this was something I would like to know?! I do not give a damn what Stefan said! The Whitmore's are my business! I have told you-"
He pulled the phone away from his ear and the muscles of those broad shoulders bunched together as he took a breath.
Then another.
After the third, he returned to the call, only slightly calmer.
"Si, sono incazzato," he huffed, almost to himself, then louder, answered the question he had apparently been presented, "Do nothing. Any of you. I will call you when I make a decision."
With that, he hung up and reached for the bottle of whiskey, bypassing the glass this time and took a swig straight from the bottle.
Elena sat frozen, not wanting to remind him of her presence while his body was still stiff with anger.
It took a moment, and two more swallows, but Damon finally seemed to remember that she was still in the room with him, and his eyes moved over to her.
"Stand up," he instructed, and some survival part of her brain had her complying without question.
Damon's gaze roamed over her body, and not in the heated way he had gaged her before.
His assessment felt penetrative, as if he were seeing through not just through her clothes, but through her skin, and Elena fought the urge to cover herself with her arms.
He took another drink and sat the bottle on his desk, before taking a step closer to her.
She didn't back away from his advance, not even when he was close enough that she could practically smell the whiskey on his breath.
"You've done more for Julian than spy, no?" he asked her unexpectedly, "You have broken into secured places and stolen for him as well?"
"I've done what I've been paid to do," she answered, not wanting to reveal too much, and for some reason this answer made Damon's muscles relax.
"And how much did he pay you to do those things?"
Elena couldn't read the intent behind his question, and that worried her, "Enough to make the job worth while."
Damon stepped impossibly closer, enough that she did feel compelled to move away...only to feel the wall come against her back.
He took advantage of the new position and pressed his palms against the wall on either sides of her body, effectively trapping her with his arms.
She took a slow breath and held that probing stare.
"So, you are saying," Damon smiled slowly, "I could buy you from him?"
Elena frowned at his choice of words, "No, because that would imply that Julian owns me."
"You have worked for others, then?"
"Sometimes," she still wasn't sure where he was going with this, "But if you think I'm going to give you any information on them-"
"Would you work for me?" he interrupted her, and Elena paused with her mouth still open, "W-what?"
One of Damon's hands moved from the wall and touched her hair, twisting the length of the strand between his fingers and sliding down it until he reached the end, "I like it much more like this...your hair. It is straighter than the last time we were together. It suits you."
Elena pushed his hand away from her, not wanting to be distracted, "What do you mean, would I work for you?"
Damon pulled away, letting her breath.
"I am far from the only one with a...what did you call it? A list of iniquities?" he walked to his desk and bent to a drawer, "And Julian Maxfield is only one of the players in the game. There are two others that hold significant purpose."
He found whatever it was he was looking for, and straightened, "Do you know who this man is?"
It was a photograph.
She took it and ran her eyes over the man in it.
Young, blonde, and completely unfamiliar.
"No," she gave it back, "Should I?"
Damon shook his head, "You would only know him if Julian was in business with him, and it is lucky for Mr. Maxfield that he is not. This man is dead."
"Dead?" Elena blinked and Damon shrugged, "Or will be, soon enough."
She shivered when the meaning behind his words unraveled, "Why?"
"You need not worry about that," Damon brushed it off, as if murdering another person was of no more concern to him than picking up the dry cleaning, "What I need from you, is a...withdrawal of sorts...of something that needs to be returned to me."
"You want to hire me for an extraction?" the disbelief was clear, even to her own ears and Damon chuckled, "That is what you do, no?"
Elena shook her head, "Not if it's going to help you kill someone!"
"Not even if he deserves it?" he challenged, and Elena set her jaw, "That's not for us to decide."
"You need not decide anything," Damon pointed out, and sighed, "I do not ask of you any more than to retrieve something that belongs to me. Not from this man. From someone I have recently discovered is working for both he and I."
"Who?"
Damon's chin lifted, "If you accept, I shall tell you. All that is important is that they have something of mine and want to give it to this man."
He tossed the picture onto the top of his desk, "I do not wish for him to have it. You will take it back before the exchange is made. And I will pay you double what Julian promised you."
Again, Elena felt her mouth fall open, "But...you don't even know what Julian was paying me."
"Triple," Damon amended, "And we skip the questions."
Those brown eyes could not possibly grow any wider.
Damon smirked as his little intruder practically ran the dollar amount through her head, calculating the pay out.
He did not care...any amount would be worth it.
The Augustine Corporation, a research facility that ran more parallel to the law than under it, used sales from the products he supplied to fund the experimentations that they would prefer the state not look into.
Damon's father had been their wholesaler for years, and after a few meetings with the board president, it was agreed that the partnership would continue, despite Giuseppe's passing.
Over the past few months, he had made every delivery in impressive time and had even expanded his offerings to free samples of rarer products.
They had seemed well satisfied.
However, according to Alaric, Augustine had expressed a wandering eye toward the competition.
Stefan monitored all things that might present a threat to his business, and this leak of information had been discovered just after his cousin had returned to the club.
And Damon would be damned if the Whitmores got anywhere near his product...namely the free samples, which they would no doubt attempt to replicate with smaller doses laced with filler that was going to make people sick.
He could already imagine the number of O.D's that would spawn from this outcome, and no doubt bring the heat of the police down on them all.
But luckily, he had this quiet, sneaky little burglar that was smart enough to work her way through an advanced security system.
He had caught her, sure, but according to her, Julian had known next to nothing, and she had been forced to work blind.
That would not be the case with their arrangement.
Assuming she agreed.
"Well?"
Elena shook her head slightly, though it was more in disbelief than in answer to his question.
"You are honestly willing to pay me thirty-thousand...just to steal something?" she clarified.
Damon frowned, "Julian was only paying you ten grand for extractions?"
She shrugged and he pitied her.
Julian was nothing more than a cheap stronzo, taking advantage of her ignorance to save money.
Not that he needed to; the man wore suits that cost twice as much.
"Fifty thousand," Damon offered, and what do you know, those eyes could get wider.
"Fifty?" she forced the word out, "Are you insane?"
"Cash."
He smiled at the way her eyes suddenly narrowed into slits, "What's the catch?"
"The catch?"
"I'm not naive," she told him, pointing a finger at his face, "If something sounds too good to be true, it is. So what's the catch?"
He did not want to waste time with any sugar coating.
She would either do the job or she would decide it was too much for her to handle.
Best to find out now.
"The item being retrieved is a container filled with five ounces of illegal substance, individually bagged. If you are caught, you will most likely be killed. If you are busted by the police, you will undoubtedly be arrested, and then probably killed by an inside source. That is the catch."
Elena stared at him for a solid five seconds, not moving, even to breathe.
Then she marched over and reached around his body, to the bottle he had sat on his desk.
She put it to her lips and took a long drink, not seeming to mind that she was still pressed against him.
After swallowing with a wince, she nodded, "Okay."
"Okay?"
The bottle was pushed into his hand and she wiped her mouth, "I'll do it."
He sat the whiskey down; started to grin.
"But on one condition," her eyes were hard, all business, despite how close they were.
"I am listening."
"You can't tell anyone about Katherine, or Julian's necklace," she said, "I can get the jewelry back into his safe without much issue...but keeping the twin thing a secret is crucial for our lives. It's how we work. I don't want that ruined."
They were still so close, her side touching his, her desperate gaze pleading.
Damon stared back, and felt that twinge in his chest once more for this woman.
For no good reason, he remembered how alone they truly were here, and how soft her now straight hair had felt between his fingertips.
He could imagine the stuff splayed across his pillows...his chest...his thighs…
"Do this for me, and I will say nothing," he promised her, while trying to get his body under control; to remind himself that this was nothing more than a transaction.
A fact that grew much more difficult as his intruder sighed in relief and her weight sunk against him.
"Thank you," she breathed, her head falling forward, nearly touching his chest.
Damon could not help himself.
He snuck an arm around her and stepped subtly forward.
Elena froze as their bodies made contact, but when he only stroked her back, she relaxed, and hesitantly leaned into him.
It was so much better than when they were dancing, more intimate, though she captured his attention all the same.
His free hand found her shoulder, her neck, her jaw...he was cupping her face, his thumb brushing the soft skin of her cheek, just under the bruise caused by their fight.
His eyes dropped to those perfect lips, and he nearly groaned when her tongue ran across them.
It was tempting to lean down...just one taste…
"That drink may have been stout," Elena murmured, "But it's not enough to convince me that this is part of the deal."
Cold air splashed against him like water as she pulled away, but the sudden sobering had nothing to do with alcohol.
"I would not have to make a deal for that," he said, unashamed, "If I really wanted you, I could have you."
She scoffed, "That's pretty arrogant, don't you think?"
"I prefer confident."
Because the heat flowing between them was far from one sided, and the way her eyes raked over him now was only further proof of his point.
He could push her, and she would cave.
Perhaps not right away, because she was stubborn, but the attraction was undeniable.
She wanted him, too.
"So do I," her smile was sarcastic, "As in, I'm confident that that's not gonna happen. This is business. It should stay about business, so..."
She extended her hand, clearly wanting him to shake on this new arrangement.
Damon took her palm, shook once, but did not let go until she met his stare.
"Remember what I said before," he closed his fingers around hers, "I always get what I want, cara mia. One way or another."
Elena's audible inhale shot through his body, and he smirked, releasing her hand.
"I look forward to our new partnership."
It was a wonder she made it home.
Seriously.
As Elena pulled into the driveway and saw her house in front of her, she tried to remember the drive that brought her there, and couldn't.
Her mind had been too plagued with thoughts about what had gone down earlier.
She had a job.
A dangerous job, albeit, but which of her contracts hadn't been dangerous lately?
Damon had exchanged numbers with her and said he would message her a time and place for them to meet up, at which time he would give her the details of her target.
She would have preferred to get the info before leaving, but he had insisted on postponing.
Maybe it was for the best...given the fact that she could cut the air between them with a literal knife, maybe taking some time to cool off was a smart choice.
God, Damon's expression when he had pinned her between himself and the wall...the way he stroked her hair...and had he really held her?
Worse, had she let him?
In all honesty, the whiplash of their conversation had made the entire thing take on a dreamlike state, and she was tempted to pinch herself just to make sure this was actually real.
In fact...
She squeezed the skin of her forearm and felt an immediate sting shoot all the way up to her elbow.
Yep. This was real.
She shook her head and got out of the car, grabbing her gearbag in the process.
Thankfully, she had put her shoes back on before leaving, and Damon had even been kind enough to return the heels she had lost when she had fled from him outside his club.
As if the night couldn't get any more bizarre.
Katherine was inside, at the table, still in her club clothes, when Elena stepped through the door.
The moment she saw her, Kat jumped up from her seat and threw her arms around her, "Elena, thank god!"
She dropped the gear bag, kicked the door shut, and returned the hug, "I'm okay. I promise."
Katherine pulled back, her eyes doing a full swoop of her body, as if to be sure, "I am so sorry! I have no idea how he figured it out! Then they took my phone and I couldn't call you, but-"
"Kat, it's okay," Elena assured her, stepping further into the house, "It all worked out."
Katherine sank back down into the chair she had been occupying and used her foot to pull out the adjacent one, "Sit. Tell me everything."
"You first," Elena insisted, but took the seat anyway, "Damon said they were keeping you in his office?"
Kat nodded, "Yeah, they did. I'm not sure what happened, to be honest. I did as we planned, and made sure Damon would notice me and he did. We talked for a moment and even danced a little...but somehow he knew I wasn't you. He took me upstairs under the guise of discussing Julian, but then he demanded to know who I was and…"
She shook her head, "I don't know what happened. Then he got a call. I think one of the outside cameras caught a piece of your face before you disengaged it. Damon put it together and he left...and I'm guessing he found you."
"The men who kept you in the office," Elena pressed, wanting all the details before she got into her side of things, "They didn't hurt you?"
"Surprisingly, no," Kat leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table, "There were just two of them, and they were armed, but they just kinda stood there. Mostly they ignored me. One of them took a few calls, they talked to each other a bit...I was offered water, after a while. Then they let me go. Even paid the cabbie to take me anywhere I wanted."
So far, everything in her story lined up with the way Elena had heard it go down.
That was reassuring, considering she was about to work a job for the man who had outed them tonight.
"Good," she said with relief, "That's...good."
Katherine reached over and took her hand, "Enough about that, though. What happened at the estate? Did Damon find you? Did he hurt you? If he did, I'll kill him. I don't know how, but I will!"
Elena chuckled, "Spoken like a true big sister."
"Hey, those twelve minutes count," she pointed out, then shrugged it off, "Quit stalling and spill!"
Elena sighed, "I...I don't even know where to begin. I thought I did everything right. But Damon has security on top of security and those binocs can only do so much."
Katherine made a face of agreement.
"I went in through the chimney, like we talked about, and that part worked fine..."
Elena continued on, telling her about Damon showing up, the fight they had and the standoff with the guns.
To Katherine's credit, she didn't interrupt much, as Elena explained that she and Damon talked, what she had revealed and what she hadn't.
However, when she mentioned the fact that he had offered a drink, Katherine couldn't contain her comment.
"Wait!" she held up a hand, "He wanted you to go to his office. For drinks? And you went?"
"It's not exactly like I could say no," Elena pointed out, "He still had you locked up in his office."
"Oh...right."
"Anyway," she continued, "In the office, he just wanted to know how much information I had on him. I was worried he'd kill me if I gave him the honest answer, but...for some reason, it started to feel like the opposite would be true. He wanted honesty, and I wanted to live. So I told him what I had guessed."
"Oh, Elena-"
"No," she cut Kat off, "It was okay. Whatever I said must have been the right thing, because he called and told them to let you go after."
Katherine shook her head, "All of this is crazy."
"That's actually not the craziest part," Elena admitted, "The guy he called to release you told him something that really made him mad. Something with his business. I don't have all the details, but...whatever went down made him offer me a job."
She was met with stunned silence, and laughed.
"I know, right?"
Kat frowned, "What do you mean, he offered you a job?"
"He wants me to make an extraction. Steal some product back from one of his competitors or something. I'm supposed to meet up with him later this week for more details."
That frowned deeped and was paired with furrowing brows, "Product? I'm not stupid. I know what that means...Elena, no...we do not need to get involved in this. Whatever it is, we-"
"Kat, he offered to pay me fifty thousand, in cash, if I do this."
The expression that broke across Katherine's face would have been comical, if the situation wasn't so unbelievable.
Elena imagined that her own face had looked the same when Damon had first made her the offer.
"Fifty thousand?" Kat finally asked, "As in Five-zero K?"
Elena nodded, "More than enough to pay for Nadia's treatments, maybe even get her to a specialist."
Katherine's hand covered her mouth, and her eyes clouded, as if she were lost in thought.
"Fifty thousand," she muttered under her breath.
Elena let her ponder for a moment, then reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze, "Kat...I can do this. We need to do this. Damon even offered to keep our twin scheme a secret if I agreed to the job. It's just an extraction, and we are in the safe zone for months to come."
"Assuming nothing goes wrong," Katherine pointed out, "And Damon doesn't stab you in the back, or this competition of his doesn't kill you, or...literally there are a million ways this could go bad."
"And a million ways it could be the break we've been looking for," Elena urged, "Look, I know it's a gamble, okay. But all of our jobs are a gamble. All of our jobs are dangerous. And as strange as this is going to sound...I think I trust Damon."
Her mind flashed back to that little encounter in the office; his eyes glazed with hunger, his lips leaning in toward her own.
"At least, with this job."
Katherine clearly didn't share the sentiment, "I don't know, Elena. He's...smart. Maybe smarter than we are. This one might be above our paygrade."
Elena held her gaze, "Fifty-thousand. Cash. You can't tell me to walk away from that. Not when it could make a difference for Nadia's future. Hell, it could make sure she has a future!"
Katherine flinched and leaned back into her seat.
"I understand that, but..." her eyes were fearful when they met Elena's.
She took a deep breath.
Elena offered her a gentle smile, "Kat, I can do this."
"You thought the same thing about this job, investigating Damon. And look how that turned out."
She shook her head, "That was different. Julian was vague from the start, and had nothing to give me. Yes, I probably could have vetted Damon's security a little better, but I hadn't expected him to be so...prepared. I won't make that mistake again, and Damon has more information on this target than Julian had on him...it'll be fine."
She was surprised when she realized she actually believed that.
Even as she said the words, Elena felt a certainty fill her chest.
She could get the job done.
"I want to do this," she finished, "For Nadia, for us."
Katherine studied her for a long moment, reading her expression with worried eyes.
Finally, she gave a little nod.
"If you're sure. But you keep me up to speed with every step. We use Katalena, and no prior engagement of the target this time. We can't chance being recognized again."
Elena nodded, "Agreed. We play it careful and smart...but I really do think it's going to work.."
"I hope so," Kat sighed, then stood up and wrapped her arms around Elena's shoulders.
She accepted the hug as Kat then announced that she was going to go check on Nadia.
Elena figured she probably just needed a moment to herself to think, and let her go without comment.
She could use a minute to process as well.
God...what a night.
And this was only the beginning.
Ya know what to do :)
