slow disco

“How about I just offer you one of the guys,” Edgar countered. “Robbie belongs to Alex and Griffin’s the perfect archetype of the devoted widower, but Trent is always an option. Doesn’t every woman want to be the wife of the stoic soldier type? I’m sure there are romances written about it.” With anyone else, Edgar would have changed the conversation, but the boys were as fond of Verity as he was, and he saw no harm in indulging her. “Or you could just marry Dylan and become a sister wife. I’m sure that would send your father straight to the grave.” 

Alex offered her sister a nod. “She doesn’t have to worry about that. I don’t want his money.” Sighing softly at the shift to her mom she ran a hand through her hair anxiously. “I honestly don’t know how she’d react and that’s what scares me, that’s why I plan on doing everything I can to keep this from coming out. I just want you to know its not because of you. I love that you are my sister.” She smiled softly to Verity and nodded hoping she was right. “How about you? How are you doing?” 

“Well, thank you. If my current job doesn’t work out then maybe I can go out and be a Disney princess or something.” She had always secretly dreamed of being like Ariel from The Little Mermaid, but it was something that she hadn’t even thought of in years - never had it felt more ridiculous to wish for such a life when she was working the case that she had been in California. “Mmm, you’re too kind. I do think that I absolutely have to get it though. Makes me smile too much not to.”

“Debatable.” At this point, Edgar was arguing for the sake of arguing. He was thankful for Verity. She kept his office running by doing the tedious tasks that he most hated. More than that, she’d been a constant in his life since childhood, and as his sister’s sister, she was practically family. “You could just emancipate yourself and change your family name. Take it from me, it makes for a much more interesting existence.” 

Verity shrugged. “If we really want to make a splash we could elope, I take your last name, and then we adopt a child together,” she replied, tapping her perfectly manicured nails on the desk top. “Besides, dear father would truly have a fit then and I’d really get a good excuse to change my name. Not sure how mom would react. Probably at least be a little happy that I caused some notable drama for her to revel in and actually finally found someone even if it is a debatable sham.”

Elise had to agree. She’d never really outgrown her childhood sweet tooth; she’d simply become old enough to pair it with alcohol. “You can’t really go wrong with boozy sweets,” she said. If she’d been more talented in the kitchen, Elise would’ve opened up some sort of bakery shop that featured boozy sweets. “Oh, he’s been a dream,” Elise answered. She was sure she was starry eyed, but it was difficult not to be whenever she spoke about her men. “They’ve both been wonderful. I’m tempted to fake another injury if it means they’ll treat me like a princess for another week or so. A girl could get spoiled like this.” 

Verity couldn’t even begin to imagine, but she could always live vicariously through Elise, who moved through this world with a grace that Verity was often in awe of. “I should probably lay off the sweets, or at least that’s what my mother says,” Verity said, making a big show of dramatically rolling her eyes. “Oooh, do tell more. I want all the little details. You know how I love your stories about them.”

Alexandria swallowed slightly at her question. She knew Verity was likely to be upset she hadn’t said anything, like Edgar had. It wasn’t that she hadn’t trusted either of them to understand or to help, she just wanted to handle it on her own. It was her mistake. However it seemed it escalated beyond what she could handle. “Yes..quite a while now. It wasn’t long after I sold one of my programs.” She nods in agreement. “My sentiments exactly. I don’t mind people knowing that I’m your sister or any of that but the darker sides of Edgar and I’s childhood are not what I want public nor anything that could cause either of our mothers to spiral. We’re going to figure it out though. Edgar and a few of the crew are on it.” She nods reaching to squeeze her hand. “Of course I will. I promise I will keep you apprised of what is going on going forward. I’m sorry about all this Ver, I really am” 

Verity chewed on her lip. “Mom is more the vindictive type than the spiraling type. She’ll be more worried that you’ll want an inheritance or something equally stupid. Drama for the sake of drama.” Her mother would latch on to anything. She was spoiled and petulant, and her father indulged her far too much. “But your mom...I’d be more worried about what might happen to her.” She knew enough about Alex and Edgar’s father to be more than a little scared for them. Having grown up with them gave her more knowledge about Xavier Fortier than she even wanted in life. “Don’t be sorry. You’re not the one doing anything wrong here. You don’t have anything to be sorry for in the least. It’s going to be okay,” she said with a nod. Verity still had a naive optimistic streak that she couldn’t quite snuff out. 

Alex smiled softly at Verity’s positivity. She hoped so but the way things were looking she had a feeling that hope was fleeting. Turning to face her she sighed softly. “A while back, I made a mistake. It was around when I found out Xavier wasn’t my father and that your father is and I don’t know, I opened up to a friend I had on the internet, i think the anonymity made it feel easier. Unfortunately I was hacked and they got ahold of my chat sessions. It wasn’t long after that I received the first demand. Basically pay up or I’ll release this all to the press. The things I’d opened up about. I knew it could really do some damage, not just to Xavier and my mother and your father, you even, but also their businesses and employees. It would have a ripple effect and I refused to let my mistake hurt all of you. So I paid, and then a couple years later there was another demand, and then another. Recently I got another one, within a month of the last one, this one tapped to my door in my apartment. It was easier to handle when I thought it was some random person but knowing they are in New York, in my apartment complex possibly in my apartment. It’s a lot to take and i’m not giving in anymore. Edgar knows now as well and a few others at Sun Wukong. That’s why Robbie’s back on my tail. We’re trying to figure out who it is and take him down, but I just want you to know that things could go sideways, that information could get out” 

@newamericanastarters​

Shopping made her feel better. It had been a while since she had bought herself anything, and after everything that had happened on New Year’s Eve she felt that she deserved a new blouse at the very least. Coming out of the dressing room with the blouse on, she looked at herself in the mirror, turning from one side to the next to try and determine whether she liked it or not. It was different than what she normally wore - but she didn’t know if she hated it. 

“What do you think?” She asked, making eye contact through the mirror, tipping her head to the side. “Can I pull this off or does it look like I’m trying too hard?” She twirled to face them, placing her hands on her hips and striking a ridiculous pose. 

“I think that it’s practically marvelous,” Verity replied with a genuine smile. “The little spin was quite adorable too.” Happiness and confidence looked good on people, she thought. Verity herself was seldom truly happy but when she was and she managed to catch her reflection in a window or some other mundane reflective surface she noticed that she looked radiant and alive. “It suits you.”

Elise had needed this, a girls day out where she didn’t have to think about work or injury. Her ankle was healing nicely. In fact, she’d probably be good as new in a few days time. Not that you’d know that by watching the way Bash fussed over her. “I was just eyeing that,” Elise said, the words only a half fib. “Though I’m not opposed to something cotton candy flavored.” 

“The only way you can make cotton candy better is pairing it with liquor,” she mused. Verity was overly fond of sweet things as well as tart. She liked extremes in most facets of her life it seemed. “Besides we have to properly celebrate the successful near healing of that ankle. I take that the husband has been treating you well due to that.” Part of Verity was a bit jealous over the fact Elise had someone to fawn over her. It wasn’t malicious, more like an ache. It was its own kind of sadness where the envy is simply because you want something similar in your own life.

“Now, why would I do that,” Edgar asked, glancing at his assistant over the edge of the water bottle he’d just brought to this lips. Had he not been intimately acquainted with Verity and her spontaneous outbursts, he would’ve choked. “Honestly, does your father still give a shit about anything you do?”

“Because you love me and I’m one of the few people that can stand you indefinitely,” she replied airily. He was one of her favorite people, but of course she always teased and let on like he wasn’t. The banter kept it all interesting. “Probably not, but if I did something bad enough he’d have to notice because then it would reflect poorly on the family.”

Alex’s head lifted from the computer on the coffee table to see the cupcake and she smiled softly. “My favorite, thank you Ver. Honestly you’re right I really could use a pick me up. It’s been a rough month.” She offered her a soft smile and gestured to her to sit, granted she knew she could always make herself comfortable in Alex’s apartment. She was glad she was here. She knew she needed to fill her in on what was going on. If affected her too, part of why Alex had been careful to handle it but if things were escalating now she knew Verity needed to know. “Actually I’m happy you came by there is something i need to talk to you about. Something that’s been going on.” 

Verity dimpled at her sister as she slid her work flats off. She always looked forward to their time together. “Next month will be better,” she said. Maybe she could speak the positivity into existence. Words had power, and Verity in the end was very good with words and speaking. Maybe she held a bit of dominion over them and their magic. “What’s wrong?” she bit at her lip, running her teeth across the thin flesh. Alex and Verity both were the kind to push things down, so this was automatically worrying to her. 

Verity decided to take Elise out for a bit of a treat. There was nothing like some girl time and cocktails, plus it would get her out of the house. She was sure that Alex, who was off somewhere sparring no doubt, would be all too happy that she was putting herself out there. “That pink lemonade martini is fabulous,” she said pointing to the drink on the menu. 

Verity plopped a box with a gourmet cupcake from the bakery in front of Alex. “Surprise,” she said with a smile. “Just thought my favorite sister could use a bit of a pick me up on this day.” She tried her best to make Alex know how much she appreciated her. 

“You should really take me on a vacation,” Verity said during a lull of silence at the office. She sat at her desk, filing her nails during the relative calm moment. There were times when she actually relished the mundane treat that was office downtime. “I saw Ariadne at the bar a week or two ago and she said that you needed to take me away on some grand romantic getaway. I told her that it would hardly be romantic, but at least that’s what we can tell daddy dearest to push his buttons.” She not so secretly lived to rile her father in such ways. 

Damien raised an eyebrow to the woman amused. “That’s a weird thing to assume. That someone is staring at you because you’re a wealthy hermit and not because you look gorgeous in that dress. Also I have no idea who Miss Havisham is” He smirked and motioned to her phone. “You realize there’s a party going on outside of your phone right?” 

Verity tilted her head. “So you think that I look gorgeous?” she asked. She was only human after all, and she loved being told that she was pretty or beautiful or any other comparable word. She tilted her phone toward him so that he could see that she had the Kindle app pulled up on her phone. “I do, but there’s also a party going on in here too.”

“Sorry, we just look so similar.” She said with a small laugh, looking over the other girl’s outfit. They had seemed to follow the same train of thought, green dresses hugging both of their bodies, and Aurelia had gone as far as wearing a dark brown bob wig for her outfit. “Very nice reference, by the way. It was one of my favorite reads.”

Verity looked Aurelia up and down with an approving nod. “Good taste is difficult to fine. Lucky that you and I both have it.” She offered the woman a rare genuine grin. “Thank you. I always love a chance to get a little Dickensian.”

“I don’t know what in the goddamn hell any of that means, I’ll be honest.” It could be some obscure reference that he didn’t understand from pop culture, or it could be some reference from school that he hadn’t paid any attention to. If it wasn’t about history, he had never really been interested. “Wealthy hermit, though, that’s impressive. You’re like Batman but without the utility belt.”

“Batman but prettier and Asian,” she responded, looking up at him with a raised brow. “Can’t say that I save the city though, but then again I do trail after Edgar Yang and keep him in line, so perhaps I have saved some of the city.” She smirked wryly. Wrangling Edgar was the best job she’d ever had, and she was damn good at it. After all she’d been doing it since she was a child.