Enemy of my Enemy

𝕿𝖜𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖞

Bianca pulled herself off the ground, trying to look as dignified as possible but failing miserably. She watched as he walked to the windows in his office and pulled out a bottle of bourbon from the cupboard beneath it. He took a swig straight from the bottle and sighed.

Drama queen, Bianca thought.

"Who is that girl?" Bianca asked. "The one whose stable state of mind you're obsessing over?"

Grayson didn't answer for the longest time. When he did, he completely ignored Bianca's question and said, "What's our plan for when The Six arrive?"

She rolled her eyes. She could've ignored him, too, but he looked too depressed for that.

"Simple. We show them how much potential you have, and get them on our side."

"Simple?"

"Simpler than going through the trouble of trying to figure out Lorenzo's weakness."

"We need a proper plan."

She pondered this for a while. "You could present them with intel on Lorenzo. Something they definitely won't have heard of."

"Such as?"

"I'll tell you, but you should know that you only get to deal this card once. As soon as word gets out to Lorenzo that you have information you shouldn't have, he'll shake his whole operation up. He'll assume you've tortured all the details of the pack out of me, and he'll change everything to regain the upper hand. Are you sure you want to risk this on a bribe for the Six?"

When he didn't reply, she hesitantly moved toward him and took the bourbon bottle out of his hand. She took a small sip and burst out coughing. She hadn't experienced a lot of humiliating moments in her life, but Grayson Briare had just happened to be there for all the ones she had experienced.

"What is wrong with you?" he muttered, taking her by the shoulders and helping her into an upright position. His eyes lingered on the scar on her face, then moved to stare at the newly formed bruises on her neck.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," she said.

"I had to. It was a necessary move. You know that."

"I do."

"So, no hard feelings?"

She glared at him. "Who's the girl, Briare?"

"That's none of your business."

"It is my business if she's going to be sticking around. What are The Six going to think of you keeping a human in the house?"

"Don't use that word."

"What word? Human?"

"'Keep'. She's not some pet, Blackburn."

Bianca narrowed her eyes. "Since when did you go back to calling me Blackburn?"

"You're the one who told me not to call you Bianca because I'm not your friend, remember?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think you were going to listen to me," she muttered. Then she frowned. "Briare?"

"What?"

"Briare," she glanced at his hands, which hadn't yet left her shoulders. "Get your hands off of me."

He lifted them off hastily, then tried his best to look anywhere but at Bianca.

"She must mean something to you," Bianca said.

He glanced up at her with curious eyes. "Why do you think..."