It would affect the King of Diamonds and the entire Vale family.
CHAPTER 20
Delilah
The day that changed everything started with a simple text.
“Evening coffee at my penthouse inRuby?Only way to ensure complete privacy.”
My first reaction was to laugh, then to dismiss, and then to reconsider. Had Adrian learned nothing from our conversation? In what way was inviting me tohispenthouse anything like showing me he wanted more than sex? Granted, I was so emotionally frayed from everything the past couple of days, I might have been reading too much into it. When I got this exhausted, a journalistic instinct for curiosity could transform into paranoia. In this particular case, it was paranoia that Leo, though a giant asshole, might have been right.
Maybe Adrian’s sincerity was all a ploy. Maybe all he really craved was the power to get his way. Maybe he wanted nothing more than to control and dominate everyone and everything, to compress them into his toys.
And yet…
“Only way to ensure complete privacy.”
I had no idea if Adrian knew that the Morrils had spotted us, but it didn’t seem unreasonable. A man like him would have his own eyes and ears on their eyes and ears, and admittedly viceversa. As long as we didn’t do anything in broad daylight up on the railing, we would indeed have complete privacy. The Morrils might notice me going to theRubycasino, but they wouldn’t know anything more. They could take some very educated conjectures, but it would still be just that—conjecture.
Past that, though, there was something… yielding in those words. Maybe this was the flip side of the paranoia coin, naïve hope. Maybe I was reading something that was surrendering to what he wanted to what I wanted. No alcohol, no eyes in public, just us.
Whatever the motives were, whatever the justifications were, and there were plenty of both, I felt an unbearable urge to go. I had to have answers to this whole saga, and I had to know if the King of Diamonds never changed, just got smarter in who he was… or if there was a distinction between the King of Diamonds and who Adrian Vale was at his core.
“I’ll be there at seven o’clock.”
I sent that message with no other comment, but I promised myself I would not enter in a state of curiosity but defensiveness. I promised myself that if it became readily obvious Adrian was playing games of control yet again, I would walk away. And I promised myself that if I never spoke to Adrian Vale on the record again—in fact, if I never spoke to anyone in the Vale family on the record again—I would still have a great career exposing the lies and corruption of the powerful.
It would be up to me, however, to hold myself to those promises and not succumb to temptation.
The elevator doors opened to the penthouse, and the first thing I noticed was how Adrian had positioned himself.
Sitting at the far end of a table for two.
Not standing. Not with his arms folded, a smirk on his face, or anything to suggest that he was in charge. He didn’t have his feet propped up on the table or a cocky smile for my presence. He looked happy to see me, but in a more grounded way, not in a certain way.
He was still dressed well, but he wasn’t dressed like a man on a mission. He had on black pants and a light blue button-down shirt, but no suit, no tie, and—I especially took notice of this—no diamond cufflinks. The signature item of the King of Diamonds was kept in storage.
Maybe I really would get to see the real Adrian Value tonight.
“You came,” he said. His voice was even, but I swore that in “came,” there was a hint of a hitch, of surprise in his voice.
“You were right,” I said as I walked over to the table, “this is the only private place we could meet.”
I pulled the chair back, only now noticing the cups on the table. I glanced over. Coffee, yes.
I still didn’t trust it wasn’t, say, an Irish coffee versus a regular coffee. But all signs pointed to Adrian being sincere in what he had professed he would do. It was a good start.
Good to what end?
“I know that last time, we were a bit public,” he said. “I know that last time, doing that risked your career, your reputation, maybe even your integrity.”
My eyes widened, a reaction I quickly got under control but one I knew he’d noticed. There was nothing rising in his voice, nothing to indicate this was the start of some grand speech. There was only raw honesty, stripping away the King of Diamonds voice and charisma in favor of the simple, bold truth that was Adrian Vale.
He was no longer playing a role, but being himself.
“You said you wanted me to show you that I was sincere,” he said. “But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I’d spent my entire life showing off. Showing my wealth. Showing my clothing and my diamonds. Showing my power. And while I understood what you said, it took me some time to explore what you meant. It also took me some time to realize what was truly needed to give you what you were looking for. Which is why I’m here to make a statement.”
A what?
