Daisy popped her head around the door. “I’m off now.”
“Yes, thank you. I’ll see you after the weekend,” I said, smiling at her.
With the office quiet, I read the summary again. It was an offer that would be extremely hard to refuse, however, I needed to know the catch; there had to be one. The offer was simply too good.
* * *
Stanton had instructed me on the dress code for that evening. Unbeknownst, I hoped, to him, I was a member of a very exclusive ‘club’ in London. I knew exactly what to wear. The thought of sex led me straight back to Gabriella.
She was going to plague me, I was sure. I laughed as I showered and couldn’t help but think what she would look like naked as I pleasured myself. I hadn’t had a lover for a few months, and I hadn’t had a long-term partner for a few years. I shuddered as I came and also at the thought of being straddled by the Lady Elizabeth, someone my mother thought a good match. The girl dissolved every time I was close to her, and the one time I had taken her on a date, a brief kiss to her cheek had almost caused her to orgasm. She was too needy. As much as I wanted a woman to succumb to me, I needed a fight first.
Driving out to Hertfordshire was both relaxing and anxiety ridden. As a car fanatic, I loved being behind the wheel of my Bentley Continental. Just the smell of the bespoke interior and the calf leather clad seats eased the tension in my body. But the thought of whose company I was to spend the evening with caused my stomach to knot.
All I needed was to see Stanton in one compromising position or situation and I could use that to dissolve our business arrangement. It was one I had partly inherited. When the Lloyds scandal was brought to the public domain, I had no idea of my father’s involvement. I had only cared that I had seen some very shady dealings and cover-ups that the investors should have known about. Money was being taken even after the company had started to crumble. Having lost the bulk of his fortune, my father had been persuaded by a small group of investors—of which Stanton was the instigator—to borrow money from them. It was at a ridiculous interest rate and even years after his death, the estate was still beholden to them. Stanton liked to remind me of that fact, and it was the only reason I kept him as a client. Initially, I wanted to make money for him, forfeit my commission in lieu of the debt. Stanton and his cronies just made it harder and harder. If it were just me, I’d have taken the bull by horns and ousted them, but I came to learn there were a few old ‘names’ that had also lost everything they had under their control. So, I kept him close until I could find something of substance to have him crawl under a rock for many years to come.
Without realising, I came upon a driveway with a pair of large iron gates that I recognised. There was an intercom on a stand at window height and I pressed the call button.
“Lord Dochoveny, guest of Lord Stanton,” I said when it was answered.
“Please drive to the main house, a valet will wait for you.”
The gates opened without a sound and I followed the drive that cut through the most perfectly mown lawn. The gardens were magnificent and reminded me of my childhood. I shook my head in surprise. I’d visited the house that appeared before me many times as a child.
I left my car in the care of a valet and walked up the stone steps towards the large, ornate wooden door.
It was opened and I heard a squeal.
“Oh, my God, darling, whatever are you doing here?” Veronica said. She wore a black suit; her blonde hair was pulled tight and high in a ponytail. She wore ruby red lipstick and a red bra showed through the suit jacket as she moved.
“I’m meant to be visiting a sex club at the request of a vile man—”
“Stanton?” my cousin enquired.
“Yes, I’m assuming you know him. And you really need to tell me what is going on. This is all rather embarrassing, Von.” I reverted to the nickname I’d called her as a child. Veronica had been a tomboy and always up for any challenge, it seemed fitting to shorten her name to a more masculine one.
She grabbed my arm and pulled me towards another door. “Come quick before he knows you’ve arrived. I’ll have someone get him drunk, or something,” she said.
We stood in her office and she closed the door behind us.
“Oh, Alex, it’s so lovely to see you. Why has it been so long?” She strode over to me, and placed her palms on my arms.
“I don’t know. Life, shitty life, I guess.”
Both our fathers had lost money when Lloyds collapsed. Her family had, thankfully, retained the family home and had managed to keep a hold of it. I had lost mine.
“Sit, I think I have some explaining to do,” she said, waving her hand towards a chair. “Whisky?”
“I think I ought to,” I replied, and then laughed.
Veronica poured us both a large glass, added some ice and for a moment we just sat in silence staring at each other. It had been at my father’s funeral that we’d last seen each other and I cursed both the length of time we had been apartandmy apathy for keeping in contact with family. It was, at the time, both painful and embarrassing. One simply doesn’t just lose all their belongings overnight and smile the following day.
She took a deep breath. “So, I needed some money to stopthe oldsfrom selling the house, and, well you know me, my darling, I do love an adventure and sex, of course. So, I thought, what to do with this monstrosity?” She took a sip of her whisky and stared at the ceiling. Plaster was peeling and some of the original coving was missing.
“You set up a sex club?” I frowned and tried hard not to laugh.
She smirked. “I did, but a high-end, exclusive one. Nothing cheap or nasty here, I promise.”
“You’re a pimp, Von.” My voice rose in amusement.
