"Good morning Ms. Buttercup." Kristie's annoyed voice woke me up as she drew the curtains back from the windows and let the sunlight flood the room. "Mr. Duval is out on some business, but wishes you join him for lunch." I sat up in the bed and noticed a rather long package on the foot of the bed that I almost kicked off when I stretched my legs. "A gift." Kristie informed me. "Be ready by eleven and a car will take you to the restaurant." She instructed me, being careful not to make eye contact with me. Before I even had time to object, she fled from the room.
I got up and stretched a little, took a shower and shaved my legs, then found myself staring at the package on the bed with curiosity and hesitation. I plucked off the large and unnecessary bow, untied the ribbon, and lifted the lid of the box to find a lovely little sun dress with matching shoes and clutch purse. I debated whether or not to really go, but Bastian had a negative way of dealing with rejection. I slipped on the dress and styled my hair and makeup for the occasion. If I was going to keep Bastian quite about me being alive and get him to help me, I needed to stay on his good side whether I wanted to go to lunch with him or not.
The car took me to a little café spot I had honestly never heard of before but had a good line of people waiting to get in. The driver opened the door for me, and a man from inside the café rushed to me and bowed graciously to me before taking my head to lead me inside. He took me to a private room in the back of the café, where Bastian was waiting for me with a bottle of Romanée-Conti- my favorite wine.
"You look lovely." He greeted me as he stood from his seat to embrace me softly. I returned his hug but was quick to break the hold. "I trust Kristie was kind to you?"
"Do you honestly expect her to be?" I joked as I took my seat. Bastian poured the wine and handed me my glass which I let rest in my grasp for a moment as I looked at him with a questioning gaze. "There's a reason you wanted me here, isn't there?"
"Well." He sighed before taking a single sip of his wine. "I must admit Valentina, I'm intrigued."
"Is that so?" I asked just before taking a sip from my glass.
"What could possibly have made the greatest killer on earth decide to stop killing? There must be one hell of a story behind that, and I'm just dying to hear it."
And so my great mental debate began; to trust Bastian with the full truth of the situation, or not. The professional in me argued against it. It was too risky to give the entire details, especially to Bastian. I knew I could trust him, but in actuality I didn't. It was more or less a feeling that I could, despite all signs telling me I couldn't. After all, Bastian Duval did make a fortune off of selling out his customer's to the Volkov family. But he did keep our relationship a secret for so long, and we had been so close. If I couldn't trust Bastian, who could I trust? Murphy…I thought briefly. Murphy and Conner. But it was foolish of me to think that, to think about them. They were gone; I was out of their lives. That chapter had ended, and this one had begun. But then I thought, my chapter with Bastian was long over. My time with him was ago and after the way it all ended, could I still trust him? All these thoughts rushed through my mind and bombarded me at once.
Bastian sat his glass on the table and leaned forward a bit; giving me a look I hadn't seen in years from his eyes. "I know it must be a heavy secret for you carry Valentina, but you don't have to do it alone." It was the same look he gave me when we first confessed our love for each other. We knew we would be in danger if anyone found out, but we didn't care about the risk. All we cared about was the truth, the truth we could no longer keep from one another.
"Have you ever heard of the McManus brothers?" And then I told him everything. The entire story from the time I got my assignment to the moment that jet took off from Ireland. I told him how I couldn't kill Murphy, but shot my brother in his head. I told him that Conner kissed me, and how betrayed Murphy seemed when I told him. I told him I didn't want to leave Ireland, but had to in order to protect the twins. I told him there was nothing more in this entire world I wanted than to go back to them, but that opportunity was gone. And now I was here, asking him for a new life.
Bastian took it all in silence, nodding every so often and taking sips from his wine while I finished up the full extent of the story. When I was done, he simply reached across the table and took my hand, looked me in the eyes and said, "I could never imagine going through that Val. I can't begin to understand how hard this must all be for you. But I'm glad you came to Paris, I'm glad I got to see you, even if it's just for a little while."
We ordered our food, drank our wine, and spent the rest of our time together sharing stories of what we had been up to in the last year we hadn't seen each other. Once we were done, Bastian paid our check and walked me out just as the car that brought me pulled back up to the curb. "Head back to the penthouse, make yourself at home, I'll be back around eight, I have a rather important meeting to get to. I'll send a chef to prepare us something for dinner. I'll see you then." He kissed my cheek and opened the car door for me. I slid in and waved goodbye to Bastian as the car began to pull off.
I spent the rest of the afternoon reading in the living room. At around six Kristie escorted in the chef that began to prepare dinner. Kristie set up a dining table outside on the balcony and gave me another gift wrapped box sent by Bastian. This time it was a black gown fit for the opera house. I dressed in the gown and some matching heels and wore a red lipstick. The table outside was set beautifully, and Kristie left before I could compliment the table. I sat in the living room and at about eight Bastian came home, dressed in a fine grey suit.
"You know," He began as I stood to greet him, "I could get used to coming home to this, you in a gown waiting for me. It could make a man forget his past heartbreaks with ease." We went out to the table, decorated in lit candles, and the chef served us our meal and poured us our wine before Bastian dismissed him. Bastian lifted his wine glass and smiled to me before saying, "To relocation."
"Relocation." I repeated before we both took swigs of our wine. "So, how was your meeting?" I asked Bastian as I began to cut into the roasted quail on my plate.
"Oh, spectacular. An old associate of mine, we haven't seen each other in some time now." He had a certain smirk about him that when I caught of glimpse of it suddenly made me feel…a bit uneasy.
"What was the occasion?" I asked, trying to seemed interested in his day as I further ate my meal.
"Oh," He began simply as he took a few bites from his plate, "Mostly just trying to earn his good graces over again. Men like him are difficult to deal with once they feel you've betrayed them."
"Sounds like most men to me." I commented simply.
"Men like me." He bluntly retorted, his face changing in a way that made me feel awkward. "Do you remember the day we told your father about our engagement? I was so scared of what he'd say and how you'd react, but you kept promising me that no matter what we'd make it through it. That we'd get married no matter what he said." My body felt cold as Bastian continued, but not just from an odd feeling, actual chills. "And then what did you do to me Valentina? You left me, because you're father didn't approve." Bastian leaned back in his seat a bit, sighing softly. "You hurt me Val, and then you expected me to just help you run away? Did you honestly think you could just waltz in here like nothing ever happened? Like you didn't betray me?" I felt dizzy now, and my throat was dry, I wanted to say something but my head was starting to pound. "You see, unlike you Valentina, I know how to win back someone's trust. Like your father for example. After he found out about us, he didn't trust me anymore, wanted to completely rip apart my business and feed me to the wolves. Even though he didn't, he never treated me the same after that, but now I have this funny feeling everything is going to be fine between Mr. Volkov and I."
I heard the front door of the penthouse opened, and I turned to see Kristie walk through accompanied by a small group of towering and intimidating men, followed by my father. "Well done Mr. Duval." My father's voice made me want to gag, and that's when I noticed how knotted my stomach was. I wanted to run, but when I tried to stand I fell straight onto the ground.
Bastian walked over to me, kneeling down and brushing my bangs from over my forehead. "You might not be fond of revenge, but let me assure you Valentina, I most certainly am."