Rule number five of journalism: never get caught.
Embarrassment was a horrible feeling to experience, and Victoria was growling at herself as she shifted in the silky crimson fabric. The dress the Consular General had provided for her was classy and comfortable, but she couldn’t get past the fact that she had been so sloppy. Not just once, but twice within the same week she had been exposed as an undercover reporter, and both men wanted something from her. I can’t believe how easily I’m letting myself get manipulated these days. Get it together, Victoria!
Her eyes were glued to the window of the black Escalade she was being driven in. In the reflection she could see Consular General Alonso Vega leaning back in his seat with a pained expression.
“So what’s killing you?” she asked curiously.
He released a wheezing laugh. “Stage IV lung cancer,” he croaked.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Vega.” Her words were filled with sympathy. It was a horrible way to die, and she wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
He shrugged. “Your sympathy is kind, senorita, but we have business.”
“Business that requires a thousand dollar dress?” she asked incredulously. “What do you want, Vega?”
“A cure,” he said simply. “Something my benefactor has been unwilling to provide, and I’m at the end of my rope.”
“How can I possibly help with that?” she asked with a raised brow, turning her head to face him.
“You’re in league with Senor Cage,” he said pointedly. “And I know what he wants.”
Victoria did her best to hide the surprise on her face, but her eyes still opened without her permission. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she lied quickly.
Alonso released a deep, gasping laugh that turned into a cough. “Don’t play coy with me, Senorita Chase,” he said dangerously. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small manila envelope.
She extended her arm to receive it when he handed it to her, and quickly opened up the flap. Pictures of her in front of Cage Tower nearly being arrested spilled out, along with a few of the two of them kissing in the elevator. Her cheeks flushed and she looked up to glare knives at Alonso.
“Alright,” she said calmly. “We can play ball.”
“Excellent,” he said with a smile. “Then you can let Senor Cage know that I can help him find his ex-wife. So long as he helps me with my health.”
Victoria looked at the sick man for a long moment. What he was asking wasn’t really that unreasonable, but it seemed too easy. “Why doesn’t your benefactor help?”
Alonso wrinkled his nose and set his jaw in anger. “Brantford Cunningham is a racist pig. That is why,” he said, nearly spitting his name. “He wants to use my country for his petty games, but only as long as people like me are useful. Ask him for something in return and it’s a waitlist.”
She looked at him sympathetically. The methods of these men left causalities by the dozens wherever she looked, and if she wasn’t careful, she could be one of them. “So you want Malcolm to what? Use his resources to speed along the process for your treatment? Can’t you get your government to do that?”
He shook his head. “No, it’s not… how should I say this? Approved by any government. The treatment is in development by only two companies in the whole world, do you understand senorita?”
“Cage Pharmaceuticals, run by Malcolm Cage and Sanctuary Health, owned by Brantford Cunningham, right?” She had read that Brant had purchased several of Malcolm’s competitors in a childish attempt to put him out of business. “Great.”
Alonso began to cough violently. For several moments, his coughing fit wouldn’t subside. Finally, he reached for a bag sitting in front of him and coughed several more times before spitting something out. Bloody mucus clung to his lips as he pulled away and he reached for a handkerchief to wipe it away. “As you can see,” he said with unexpected grace for his condition, “I don’t have a lot of time.”
“Listen, Vega,” she said softly. “If you want Malcolm’s help, I’m not the girl to talk to. You need to talk to him directly.”
“You think it’s that simple? Your naivete is adorable.” He had a dubious expression on his face as he shook his head. “I’m afraid that getting the attention of these men is often more challenging than securing a private audience with the President. If you want to talk to them, you go through the First Lady.”
Victoria blushed slightly at the implication and shook her head violently in protest. “I’m as much under Malcolm’s control as you are under
Brantford’s. It’s hardly a relationship built on mutual respect and trust.”
“If you’ve been assigned to look for his ex-wife, it means he trusts you. I know she was last seen in my country and that Senor Cage is looking for her. That’s why you were going to try and break into my home, no?” He clearly already knew the answer to his own question.
“I can try and talk to him, but I can’t make any promises. I know Malcolm, Vega. He isn’t going to help unless you have something solid for me to offer him in exchange.”
“She’s no longer in my country. She was only sighted there to make Senor Cage run around in circles,” he said seriously. “Without my help, I doubt that you can find her true location.”
“Telling us where she isn’t is a good place to start, but you have to do better than that,” she said with determination. She felt bad for dragging this out, but she wanted to be done with this game and get back to her life. The deeper she got into this story, however, the more she began to realize that was impossible.
“You’re smart and careful. I like that,” he croaked out as he began to cough once more. The attack was shorter lived but it left his eyes watery and bloodshot. “I can tell Malcolm where she is, but he needs to promise me treatment at once.”
“Take that up with him. No one can speak for Malcolm Cage,” she said sadly. If it were up to her, she’d make sure that this man got the help he needed, but she wasn’t so sure about Malcolm.
“Why do you think I put you in a nice dress?” he asked with a gasping laugh. “We’re going to his club.”
Victoria’s eyes widened in fear. She wasn’t sure that she could handle seeing Malcolm right now; especially not under such conditions. She had been avoiding him all week for good reason, but she did not think that she would have the strength to resist his advances once she was swept away in the scintillating atmosphere of Club Luxe. At least I’m bringing him a good lead… I hope, she mentally consoled herself. “For both our sakes, let’s hope he’s not too busy,” she said dryly.
“Indeed, senorita,” he said with gravity in his voice.
He was clearly a man that was desperate and putting it all on the line. Victoria just hoped that this would save both of their lives. She pulled her phone from her purse to check the time: 9:25 PM. “Well, we better show up within the next thirty-five minutes.”
Music was invading the eardrums of all the patrons of Club
Luxe this evening. There was a wild feeling in the air,
wilder than anyone could remember. For a week they had all been craving this night, eager to see the king and his potential queen again.
Malcolm had different things on his mind. The search for his daughter had stirred up old memories of a time before Club Luxe. He leaned back in the comfortable leather seat in his private room and imagined he was lounging in the back of his old beat-up 1986 Ford Mustang. It was the first car he had ever purchased on his own, mostly in order to impress his exwife, Elizabeth. She did not have a starring role in his fantasy however, for his only thoughts were of his daughter Claire.
He remembered holding her in his lap as they cuddled up, watching a movie at the local drive-in theater. The memories brought a smile to his face as his daughter’s gap-toothed grin danced across his mind.
“Daddy! He punched the bad guy right through the wall! How did he do that?!”
He fondly recalled her overly enthusiastic response to the fight scenes in one of his favorite pugilistic kung fu movies. It wasn’t too long after that night that she had been stolen away from him. He set his jaw in fury, his teeth grinding against one another audibly. He stood abruptly from his chair and seethed over his memories. Malcolm paced back and forth in his room, checking the time almost constantly. “She should be here by now,” he muttered.
It was fifteen minutes until ten in the evening, and the doors were to be closed soon. He furrowed his brows as he peeled his eyes away from the clock. The more he thought about the time, the greater his anxiety became. He needed a distraction from his past, and from his present. He just wanted to get lost in something for a few hours.
He needed to get lost in Victoria.
A knock on his private room pulled him away from his thoughts. He walked briskly toward the sound and reached out to turn the knob. “Yes,” he asked in a voice that betrayed his anxiousness.
“Sir, you told me to give you an update on when Miss Chase arrives. I have good news. She just made it through the door,” the security guard said with a pleased tone. “But she is with someone.”
“Is it her red-haired friend?” he asked curiously.
“No, that one arrived on her own an hour ago. Dominic invited her,” he explained.
“Speak, now. Tell me who she is with,” Malcolm ordered quickly.
The guard paled slightly. “A middle-aged Hispanic man. He doesn’t look too well, actually,” the guard said.
“Bring them both here,” Malcolm said, his curiosity increasing. Who could she have come with and why? Was she trying to upset him by bringing a date? Or did it have something to do with finding his daughter?
These questions and many more flooded his thoughts.
“Right away, sir.” The guard hurried away to retrieve Victoria and the man she was with.
Malcolm began to pace back and forth once again, the excitement of seeing Victoria completely distracting him from his previous anxiety. He wouldn’t be kept waiting long. Just a few moments later, the security guard returned with Victoria and a man that Malcolm quickly recognized as Consular General Vega, from the Chilean Consulate.
Her appearance took his breath away; she wore a long, deep burgundy dress that was low-cut around her bust and clung tightly to her hips. It accented every natural curve of her body and brought out her full lips. As he stared at the luscious pout, he couldn’t help picturing those lips wrapping around his throbbing cock. It made his body stir with lust, and he forced himself to push the image aside and focus on business.
Victoria blushed under the intensity of his gaze, but she immediately launched a witty retort his way. “Cat got your tongue, Malcolm?” she asked with a bit of smugness. When she spoke, he could see that her makeup was concealing dark circles under her eyes. Despite her stunning exterior, Malcolm could see that she was actually quite exhausted.
“A curious cat, yes. I was almost worried that you wouldn’t make it tonight,” he said as his lips pulled into a smile. He glanced over to Alonso and extended his hand in greeting. “And it’s good to see you as well, Consular General. Your arrival to my humble club is most unexpected.”
The man smiled and wheezed out a pitiful sounding chuckle. “What can I say, senor? My affiliation with your enemy makes meetings difficult.”
Malcolm nodded and crossed his arms. “It makes your presence in my club a little awkward. Care to explain why you’re here?”
“Obviously I brought him here because he has information for you, dolt,” Victoria said as she placed a hand on her hip.
Malcolm glanced sharply at her. “Enlighten me then, my treasure, or are you going to be waspish instead?”
“Both,” she said with a sly grin on her face. “I have to give you a hard time, champ. It’s been a week and I missed how your eyes scowl whenever I pick on you.”