Gerald agrees to finance the expedition.

The hall had a cool breeze about it now that Lara’s sweat covered body was out of the burning sunlight, the two women that escorted her prior to the fight were awaiting her return as they offered to escort her to the shower.

Lara gladly took up on that offer , she was given a clean towel and bottle of expensive shampoo with compliments from st James and a request to join him in his office once she is done. The water was just the right warmth splashing against her skin and washing down the sweat, Lara once again started to feel that sensation of freshness and cleanliness.

Her clothes were hanging in her locker accompanied with a note from Gerald explaining that he had them dry cleaned for her and that he hopes all is to her liking. The clothes had a fresh odour of lavender about them as Lara picked them up, while all that was satisfactory at the very least she noticed however that the lingerie set she wore underneath was not among them.

Lara was almost certain that it was Gerald’s doing in a way or another but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of mentioning it to him. Instead she just took her clothes and put on her blouse, buttoning it up slowly over her big bare breasts but leaving just enough open for a nice view at her cleavage.

After she had slipped back into her clothes it was time to meet with Gerald, her heart was racing and she was a bit anxious as to what Gerald’s answer would be. Their relationship so far had been less than stellar so she didn’t know what exactly to expect from the man.
There was also the fact that he now had advantage over her as she had behaved quite un-lady-like in the colloseum. It wasn’t that she was afraid of him but he had a certain intimidating aura about him and she wouldn’t put past him to use the blowjob thing for his benefit.

Once at his office she knocked gently and the door opened to her surprise, it was Gerald standing before her with open arms and in high spirits offering her a seat as he escorted her inside.

‘’Well done Lara a masterful performance and an interesting use of cunning I must say!’’ Gerald congratulated Lara the moment she sat down.

She knew right away what he meant by interesting use of cunning but instead chose to play dumb and completely ignore it. Besides she had more important matters to address and before she thought it through the words escaped her lips.

‘’Do I wear a jester’s hat mr James?’’ A curious yet somewhat offended Lara asked.

‘’No, I do not believe you do ms Croft. Why do you ask?’’ He replied in a calm voice.

‘’ Because I get a feeling I’m somewhat of a joke to you.’’ A furious Lara answered.

‘’ I believe I do not follow’’ St. James answered with a more serious look on his face.

‘’ What was wrong with you, sending that monstrosity against me armed to the teeth? I could’ve been killed.’’ Lara explained

‘’But you didn’t and I had every bit of confidence in your success ms. Croft. Besides if I wanted you dead, we wouldn’t be talking now. You are more valuable to me alive than dead, I have no reason to see you harmed much less dead so perish that thought at once.’’ A very serious Gerald answered in a somewhat threatening tone.

‘’You have cost me quite a fortune so far and I have not seen your efforts bare any fruits of their labour so here I am empty handed and you dare make wild accusations.’’ Gerald added.

Lara swallowed hard and remained silent, not because she was afraid but because she felt like she had overstepped her boundaries. She knew deep down inside that he was telling the truth, while there was the possibility of backing out the adventurer in her wanted that relic at any cost. By now the look on Lara’s face seemed to had calmed Gerald as he once again spoke in his calm voice.

‘’I am a man of my word Lara and as per our agreement I will write you a blank check, you can fill in the required sum that should cover all the expenses. I trust you will use it wisely and I look forward to seeing the staff next time we meet.’’ Gerald explained as he handed the signed check to Lara.

‘’ Thank you mr st James, I promise not to disappoint this time’’ Lara replied with a humble yet pained smile.

Gerald nodded at Lara and personally offered to escort her to the front door, they pretty much kept quiet along the entire way until Gerald wished Lara good luck before she entered her car and finally drove off home.

Zip welcomed Lara when she entered the door to her mansion, Alistair who was doing some work on his laptop and could not be bothered to be distracted replied with a simple ‘’Hey.’’.

‘’So how did the negotiations go Lara?’’ A curious Zip asked.

‘’Could’ve been better.’’Lara said holding her side and lowering herself onto the couch as everything started to hurt all over. She tried her best to hide it from the boys but she had a feeling it was painfully obvious.

‘’He gave you a hard time didn’t he!?’’ Zip said in return.

Perhaps it was a bad choice of words or wrong timing but Lara’s cheeks turned red and a sense of shame came over her as she was once again reminded of her fight in the colloseum.

‘’Let’s just drop it Zip, I’ve got what I wanted and that’s what matters’’ A pained Lara said jokingly.

‘’Ooh that bad, I knew those rich people are full of themselves’’ Zip replied to Lara’s somewhat dodgy answer.

‘’Hey, watch it!’’ Lara answered with a gentle laugh.

‘’ Sorry, I sometimes forget who I’m working for’’ Zip said likewise with a laugh.

The remainder of the day Lara spent cashing in the check and making preparations for her trip. The plane would leave early in the morning so she went to bed early to be able to get up on time.