Enemy Mine

Chapter 37

The afternoon turned into dinner with the Valentinos, part two, with everyone noshing on Thanksgiving leftovers while Vincent filled them in on the hidden vault.

"All that nudging finally paid off," Charleton said, toasting Vincent with his brandy glass. "How long did it take the foundation to get approval?"

"Seventy-six years. The city council just ran out of excuses," Vincent offered from across the table. He looked relieved no one had taken issue with the three day delay in receiving the information.

"You were right about the vault, Papa," Griffin said. "All those Sunday sermons we sat through paid off too."

Charleton grinned. "Don't forget about the excellent gelato afterward."

"Who will tell Sergio and Louis?" Lucy asked as she scooted the last cookie onto her plate.

"I'll go," Vincent offered.

"I'll go with you," said Charleton. "I can appeal to their sense of duty, while you recite any protocol that's relative."

"I recommend we keep the information within the New York domi," Vincent said. "At least until this business with the artifact is handled."

The group at large glanced at one another and voices chimed in. "Agreed."

When only three remained in the apartment, me and the two whippets, I called Sylvie from the comfort of the couch. Her spirits had improved significantly since yesterday, despite the fact she had to work on a proposal for Mr. Harper instead of bask in a holiday hangover. Still, being the only body in the office besides another grunt worker, Sylvie didn't hold back the details, regaling me with stories of Colin's amazing penis. Apparently, the sex he and Deidra were supposed to have turned into her slapping him in the face followed by him kicking her out his apartment.

"I can't believe that didn't trickle down to me," I said as I surrendered to both dogs, letting them dig their nails into my stomach. "Come to think of it, Colin wasn't his usual cut-up self during our family meeting. Maybe he caught hell from Marco for dumping his niece on her ass. That makes two Valentinos, now."

I couldn't contain my grin as I imagined Deidra storming into Wren's apartment to report Colin's heinous crime.

"What do you mean, two Valentinos? Don't tell me Vincent hooked up with her too."

"Okay, I won't tell you, but I will tell you she wants him back. And her plan to use Colin to make Vincent jealous has backfired on her."

"Geez. Your life reads more like a Twilight book every day, and I can barely keep up with your gollum schedules. Colin came over at three AM last night. Us human girls need our beauty sleep."

"You didn't have to work until noon today, and I would say Colin's visit was worth being tired for."

"Of course, it was, but I'm dreading the time he shows up and tells me we're through. We both know this can't last forever."

"Don't put a time frame on it, Sylvie. Remember the days when we lived by those standards?"

"We were younger and more ballsy back then. We'll both be thirty in less than five years. It's time to get serious."

"Who says we're not still ballsy? I had sex with Vincent on the balcony this morning with Lord knows how many eyes watching us from their window perches."

Sylvie laughed. "Get it girl. I'll be checking my Facebook feed for pictures of your white ass flashing the city of Manhattan."

"I hope nobody recognized my white ass. If I'm lucky, only Christoph saw us."