Office Visitor Sparks Confrontation

Marc’s patience might have been an aggravation to the Detectives, who were texting him for updates on a daily basis, but he was very aware that he was dealing with a delicate situation.

Work, at least, was as it always was. It was still the quiet period for the year, and he often thought of February and March as the lull before the storm that was young, hungry Finance folks waking up like bears at the end of winter and wanting to gorge themselves on the fresh berries on the trees, salmon in the streams and wayward reckless campers and tourists. Soon enough he would be putting in extra hours to keep ahead of his hungry staff as they hunted down the work and brought it in for him to close.

Four days since the encounter he’d planned between Sinead and Felicity, and a week since he’d sat down with the Detectives at the coffee shop, was stretching things in terms of the Victor situation though. Marc was starting to consider options beyond his current thoughts and plans. Unfortunately, those options boiled down to him taking a risk and making his involvement in the eventual case more obvious or tapping into Astrid as a resource again.

Except Astrid had made it clear she wasn’t interested, so getting her interested would require what would likely be a very humbling and uncomfortable experience.

The risk sounded a lot better than handing Astrid the reins during a private encounter, even if it did mean reputational damage.

Thankfully, Marc was saved from those considerations by Jillian coming to his office door. The gorgeous woman was stone-faced and only knocked perfunctorily before striding in since his door was open.

“Marc, I’d really appreciate some warning before that man comes in,” she said.

That one threw Marc off a little. “I’m sorry, Jillian. Who is here?”

“Victor,” she said, her voice dripping with distaste.

“Ah,” Marc said, then frowned. “Ah. I wasn’t expecting him, Jillian, or I would have. My apologies.”

“I would be more than happy to let him know you are occupied and he should email you to request a meeting,” Jillian said, a cool smirk on her lips.

“No, no,” Marc sighed. “I’ll come fetch him away from your desk and handle this now.” He stood, expecting her to head towards the door, but she didn’t, and he slowly buttoned his jacket. “Something else?”

“Why is he here, Marc?” his secretary asked. “Unscheduled, off the books. He’s definitely not your friend just stopping in for a chat. Does he have anything to do with the Detective who’s barged in here?”

Marc paid Jillian well to be good at her job, so it was entirely unsurprising that she was piecing together the strange occurrences of the past two months.

It was still a little frustrating, but unsurprising.

“Je te le dirais si je pouvais,” Marc sighed. “But it’s best if I don’t. For the both of us.”

Jillian narrowed her eyes, looking Marc up and down quickly as she made an obvious assessment of her boss. “Is it?” She challenged him. “Marc, if you’re in some sort of trouble, you do know you could trust me to do what’s best for you, right?”

Marc grunted softly and took a breath, looking his secretary in the eye and purposefully not giving her the same assessing look. Jillian knew she was a beautiful woman, and she dressed to be chic and stylish and sometimes even distracting, knowing a very small part of her role in the office was to provide just a touch of classy eye candy. And she was very good at walking that line. Today, she was wearing a sleek black pantsuit made out of a shimmery material, the cut of it accenting her slim body while also emphasizing her bust under the white shirt and thin black tie. She wasn’t showing anything, and yet the eye would inevitably be drawn to her charms.

And Marc was religious about not undressing her in his mind’s eye because he knew she was a lesbian in a committed relationship, and she appreciated a softer touch when someone was admiring her.

“I do, Jillian,” he finally said. “If I haven’t made it clear before now - if something happened here and I was leaving the firm, I wouldn’t expect you to follow me, but I would make certain that wherever I landed next would have an option for me to bring you over if you wanted. You’re the most valuable member of this team, and I trust you to know everything.”

“Except this,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“If you truly want to know, I’ll tell you,” Marc said sincerely. “I’m being truthful when I tell you, it is better if you don’t know this thing.”

“You’ll tell me anything I want to know?”

“I will,” Marc nodded. It could be helpful to have Jillian in-the-know when it came to the dealings with the Detective - or at least the Victor-related elements. She could help with managing any future necessary mid-day outings if the Detectives required his presence for something.

“Are you going to ask Felicity to marry you?”

Of all the possible questions Marc had been ready to answer, he hadn’t expected that. “Pardon?”

Jillian tilted her head and raised an eyebrow at him. “You heard me,” she said. “You’ve been seeing Felicity for, what, four years now?”

“Over three,” Marc said.

“Nearly four,” Jillian said. “And she’s brilliant, funny, beautiful, and loves you. So what are you doing? Are you going to ask her to marry you, or are you just stringing her along?”

Marc cleared his throat and turned, pacing toward the large window that looked out over Adelaide West and the Toronto financial district. It was another snowy, quiet day, but the city streets were packed anyway - only an actual storm could slow down traffic through a city like Toronto. He shook his head and turned back to Jillian, leaning against the windowsill. “Felicity and I have a clear understanding of our relationship,” he told her.

“When was the last time you discussed that understanding?” Jillian asked. She must have seen something in his face. “Years?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” Marc sighed.

“Years, then,” Jillian nodded.

“Where is this coming from?” Marc asked. “I thought you wanted to know about Victor?”

“You say I don’t, so I trust you that I don’t,” Jillian said, sitting down on the edge of his desk. “But I do want to know about this. Because, besides me, Felicity is the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”

That brought a little smirk to Marc’s lips as he chuckled and shook his head. “Would it help if I promised to have a conversation with Felicity about this first?”

Jillian pursed her lips slightly, eyes narrowing again. “It would,” she said. Then she sighed. “Honestly, Marc, if you don’t lock that shit down, I might consider opening my relationship up for a third. Felicity is that amazing. She’s going to get tired of waiting at some point.”

“I’ll talk to her,” Marc promised Jillian. He didn’t mention what he would talk to Felicity about - he would need to figure that out. How did you tell your regular escort that she was doing such a good job that people were expecting you to propose?

“Good enough,” Jillian said. “For now.”

“Any other deeply personal topics you’d like to ask me about before I get Victor out of the waiting area?”

“I’d ask what your bonus was last year, but I already know,” she smirked. “Now, please do come get that greaseball away from my desk for whatever clandestine bullshit you have going on.”

Marc followed Jillian out of his office and down towards the elevators and her desk, and he couldn’t help a quick glance down. Her ass was just as nice in those slacks and heels as ever.

Victor was sitting in the waiting area of the floor lobby, perched on the edge of one of the comfortable seats and looking down at his phone as he typed furiously with both thumbs. Marc cleared his throat as he approached, heading straight for him while Jillian moved back around her desk. When Victor looked up, Marc got the sense that the man was tired - perhaps more than a regular night out might make him. What have you been up to, Victor? He thought.

“Marc,” Victor said, standing up and offering his hand.

“Victor,” Marc nodded, accepting the handshake and adding a second hand to his end to project a warmth he wasn’t feeling. “I’m surprised to see you. Please, come back to my office.”

“No, no,” Victor said. “I just need a minute. Is there-” he glanced at Jillian, then down the corridor towards where Marc’s team were diligently working. “Maybe just in the stairwell?”

Marc frowned but nodded and gestured Victor towards the stairs around the side of the bank of elevators. The bare, utilitarian concrete of the inner stairwell was cold and the crash of the door shutting echoed up and down the boxy tunnel.

“What can I do for you, Victor?” Marc asked. “You don’t look so good.”

“Just a late night,” Victor waved off his concern. “Look, Marc, I apologised once, but- What happened at the Poker night shouldn’t have happened. Again, I’m sorry that my other guests brought someone who caused you trouble like that.”

“It’s in the past, Victor,” Marc said. “I assure you, no permanent harm was done - to either party - and I hold no ill will towards you for the actions of a guest of a guest.”

“OK,” he sighed, relieved. “That’s good to hear. In that case, I do have an issue. Sort of in line with what we discussed before. Would you be able to meet tonight and go over some details?”

Marc raised an eyebrow, considering his options. “Are we speaking purely financial details, or more… direct?”

“Maybe a bit of both,” Victor grimaced.

“Where would you like to meet?”

Victor sighed and ran a hand through his greasy hair. “The warehouse where we had the Poker night would probably be best,” he said. “Eight o’clock? If we get done early, I’ll take you out for a drink.”

“Eight works for me,” Marc nodded, making a mental note that he would need to reschedule with Felicity. “Are you sure I can’t do anything for you now? A refreshment? A coffee? You look worn out, my friend.”

“I’m two espressos in already,” Victor shook his head. “If I have any more coffee right now, I’ll start vibrating. Just come see me tonight, yeah?”

“Of course,” Marc said, offering his hand to the man and shaking again before leading him back out of the stairwell and to the elevators. “Have a good afternoon, Victor,” Marc said as he thumbed the call button.

“Uh, yeah,” Victor said as the elevator opened within moments. “You too. See you tonight.”

The elevators closed behind the man, and Marc sighed softly before turning to meet Jillian’s gaze.

“You know I can hear everything through that door,” she said.

“I know,” Marc nodded with a little smile. “And I trust you.”

“Should I be ready to call the police if you don’t check in by a certain time tonight? Send them to a certain location to check for your corpse?”

“No, my dear,” Marc said. “I don’t expect there to be any trouble like that. Not tonight.”

“Mhmm,” Jillian hummed, her eyes making it clear she did not agree with him.

“I’ll be fine,” Marc assured her. “And I’ll bring- what do they say in those police shows? I’ll bring back up.”

<U>Translations</U>
“Je te le dirais si je pouvais,” = “I would tell you if I could,”

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