Fall Into Me

..II..

The car rounded the corner. Minerva frowned. The restaurant they were to meet Fiona at was just ahead, but it was blocked by a crowd. A crowd, she realised, that held cameras and microphones.

"You have got to be joking," Minerva muttered. "Alcina, have you seen this?" She tapped Alcina on the thigh, drawing her attention up from her phone. Leaning over, she peered out of Minerva's window.

"Mother of Christ," Alcina said, staring wide eyed at the throng of people. They were waiting for something, or someone. Both women shared a baffled look as Alcina leaned back. "That is ridiculous." Blue eyes narrowed slightly at Minerva. "What have you done now?"

"Me? This isn't my fault," she replied indignantly, "what have you done?"

"The last time this amount of press came out to play was during you and Mona's debut event after your wedding. They're after you."

"For what?" Minerva stared at the clustering groups of people. The ones backed by the bigger news companies were at the very front, with the smaller indie companies straggling behind. "Maybe it's to do with you and Fiona. You know how the media gets when you two have a meeting."

"That is true, and now you're in the mixture. Though, I can't figure out why they're fascinated with Fiona. She's not an outward member of the BDSM community and much of her life is like yours. Kept tightly under wraps and locked down with extortionate security measures. I doubt even the media knows why they're fascinated by her."

Something was niggling in Minerva's gut, something slimy and uncomfortable, crawling and wiggling around. The feeling was familiar, a sense of dread and foreboding. Automatically, the answer came to her.

Elodie.

Minerva blinked the name away and dismissed it entirely. Elodie wouldn't be this stupid. Elodie wouldn't call every known media reporter in the area and overseas to come to this restaurant. Elodie didn't know Minerva was going to be at this restaurant, so it was an impossible answer. This wasn't because of Elodie.

It is.

Her gut twinged and Minerva lifted her head slightly, jaw tightening. The car meandered closer, trying its best to not look like it was carrying precious cargo. Alcina instructed the driver to get them as close to the entrance as he could, calling the security team to come and assist. The all black Range Rovers turned the corner behind them, approaching slowly, taking in the scene.

Nothing good had ever come from ignoring her gut instincts. The whole reason her cousin's bomb had nearly killed her was because she'd ignored her instincts screaming at her to get out, to not go down those stairs, to not go into that room. The feeling now was the same as it was then, telling her to turn the car around, get on the plane and go home. Being here was bad.

Though, what could possibly be bad about it, Minerva didn't know. So what if Elodie was there? The worst she could do was start an argument with her, which Minerva resolved not to rise to. Words could be said and twisted by the media, as they always were, and news of Elodie and Minerva being in the same place would travel far and wide, probably reaching Mona long before Minerva would be able to call her and explain anything. But there would be nothing to explain.

Minerva wouldn't allow there to be a need for explanations. Nothing was going to happen. Should Elodie approach her, Minerva would just walk away. She wouldn't give Elodie the satisfaction of a fight, nor the knowledge that she may have put a rift in Minerva's marriage. The key here was knowing what Elodie was like, and Minerva knew she'd try and start a war. But you can't have a war when the opposite side isn't interested in having one. You'd be doing nothing but damaging your image.