“What the hell have you done with Eric?” she said.
“Who?”
“My boss. You said that I could only come if I wrote something nice about your family? You understand one, I’d find my way in here if I really wanted to. And two, that’s not how I work. I report the truth, and I sure as hell don’t work in trade. If you want us to write a good, flattering story about you all, I need to learn the truth. So knock it off.”
I laughed. I actually fucking laughed.
But Delilah did not, and as I realized she was serious, I shifted too. I kept my smile. But Delilah needed to know how I operated.
“That makes you a good journalist,” I said, “but something you should know, Delilah. My family runs this town. We control it. I control the media narrative. You might be able to publish one column that undermines us, and it wouldn’t be fun for us. But we have access to larger resources. We can play a larger game.”
And then, just for good measure—both because I wanted to smell her perfume and to send a message—I leaned forward just by her ear.
“And with me? If you push me? Iwillcontrol you, Delilah.”
CHAPTER 2
Delilah
Being a journalist had put me in many stressful situations.
Adrian Vale probably thought that he was controlling me in that moment, even if only indirectly. I had no doubt that other women had succumbed to his charm, especially those who had come for one weekend or only wanted one thing.
And truth be told, I understood why. He was a very handsome man, with a well-groomed beard, hard brown eyes, a square jawline, and impeccable dress. He had diamond cufflinks that others said gave him the nickname “King of Diamonds,” and while I didn’t care for the nickname—we had no kings in this city—they weren’t ostentatious or ugly.
But being a journalist had made me very good as well at understanding “two things can be true at once.”
Adrian Vale was a very handsome and charming man… who was also trying to control media coverage of him and his family, and anyone who sought that much power over the press automatically deserved more scrutiny than otherwise.
Adrian Vale was trying to fuck me, and I was happy to string him along… for the entire purpose of getting more information out of him without giving up my personal agency. Adrian was, admittedly, the kind of man I was attracted to—fearlesslyconfident, sure in who he was, and willing to do whatever it took to get his way. But it went without saying that personal relationships with figures of interest were a massive no-no; that had never been a problem for me before, and I wasn’t about to start now.
Even though, wow, he really did look good, smell good, and act in an incredibly persuasive manner.
And finally, Adrian was very willing to help me write good puff pieces about his family and destructive pieces about the Morril family… which I was willing to do, albeit not for the reasons he wanted. My game was a game for truth, not for power; if those two happened to overlap as they were now, then both sides could organically win.
“That’s cute,” I said, taking a step back. “But the only person who controls me is myself. If you wish to control what you say to me, then I respect and understand that. If you wish to control your access to me, I respect and understand that. But to control me? Please. Save your breath.”
Adrian smiled. God, OK, yes, he had a fucking great smile. I wouldnotbreak, and I certainly would not break in public. But that smile was somehow incredibly seductive without being sleazy, sexual without being sketchy. I don’t know how he did it—maybe he was just a product of his good circumstances—but, fuck, it took some willpower to resist.
“You are very good at your job, Delilah,” he said. “Unlike your boss, who speaks as if he inhaled helium and is as attractive as a wet blanket.”
“My boss does his job well,” I said, though I was well aware I hadn’t denied anything Adrian had said. “And my job, as tasked by him, was to come here to get firsthand quotes on the family running this auction tonight, both to cover the event and as part of a broader picture.”
Adrian put his hands up in mock deference, as if pretending to apologize for pushing things too hard. Of course he wasn’t really apologetic; even caught red-handed, men of power rarely were.
“But of course, that’s a reasonable request,” he said. “Perhaps, then, it might be better if we make an arrangement rather than wrestle for control.”
“Indeed, I think it might,” I said, fully aware that “an arrangement” was just a thinly veiled wrestle for control.
Truthfully, I could have just gone straight to Sarah, called her an anonymous source, and gotten everything I could have possibly needed. It was odd, really, having one of my closest friends be engaged to one of the Vales. I knew that in her case, it was the special circumstance of having dated before, making her one of the few people not intimidated by their wealth and power, but still.
Picturing me with Adrian was… weird. Appealing in some twisted, strange way, but overall still so weird that I could not wrap my head around it. I think I would rather have moved jobs to Los Angeles or even someplace like Reno or Seattle than wind up dating or engaged to one of my subjects of interest.
“Here is what I propose,” he said. “I will give you full access to me at any point and arrange access to my brothers as I can. You understand that, as you say, I can control how I make myself available, but I cannot control them.”
“Nor would I want you to,” I said. I almost wished I hadn’t given Adrian’s raising of his eyebrows, but too late.
“And in return,” he said, “I want you to find the thing that brings down the Morril family. I don’t care if it’s that one of them goes to AA meetings, if it’s that one of them snorts cocaine on weekends, or that one of them got suspended from middle school for fighting. They’re inconsequential, but they’rea growing inconsequential thorn. I’d rather not fight dirty. I’d rather justplaydirty.”
