VALENTINE.Gathering Intel

“Did I just read this correctly?” I ask doubtfully at my trusted secretary, Clint, while frowning at the documents he handed to me this morning.

“Yes, Mr. Alfa…” Clint stops at my glare and clears his throat before correcting himself. “I mean, Valentine. The team of PI’s I hired has reached a dead end. But I told them that they can expect double the bill once they solve this case.”

“She died of illness?” Once again, my frown deepens at the exhaustive files in my hands. “Is this source reliable? How can we know that there’s no foul play?”

“Her medical records in the hospital where she was confined are attached in the folder, sir.” Clint adjusts his eyeglasses on his nose bridge. “Ross had already double-checked the hospital and confirmed that Isabelle died from ovarian complication after her pregnancy.”

“And have they checked the neighborhood where the mother and son lived in the past?”

“Yes. Ross and his team spent days asking around about the life Isabelle and her son lived. Isabelle worked as a cashier in a convenience store not long after giving birth. She managed to live on until her son was five before she died.”

I flip the file to the next page and scan the words written on the paper. A religious orphanage took custody of Isabelle’s son. A year after he was adopted by the Patrick family and was christened as Leandro by his adopted parents. Leandro Patrick stayed with them for eight years before his adoption was nullified.

Apparently, the couple finally conceived their own child. As their child grows and being conservative Christians, they thought it wouldn’t be good to continue keeping the boy around their daughter that has no blood relation with them especially when the boy was allegedly showing personality disorder after their daughter was born.

Therefore, Leandro was sent to a boy’s town but then was transferred to a foster family, the Denver, living with them for only two years. There were other four listed foster families who have taken care of Leandro after that although only for a short while.

He started living by himself at eighteen, doing odd jobs mostly labor works. A year after being independent, he left. Since then he became a jumper, changing addresses and jobs. When he turned twenty-five, his trail suddenly and miraculously vanished but not before he was caught towing a young girl with her.

Some less impressive information is briefly written on the paper about the places they probably could have gone and the things they did, including robbery and shoplifting, but it was still vague if it was truly him or just someone who looked like Leandro Patrick.

In the end, the investigation still left a big question as to where they are now, including the girl, and what has become of them. More importantly, what has happened to Leandro?

“Tell Ross to continue working. Let’s not stop until we find Isabelle’s son. In the meantime, tell Marco to prepare the car for my next appointment.”

“Oh, the car is actually ready, Val,” Clint says.

“Then, let’s go,” I say and stand up.

Clint quickly takes my coat from the tree and hands it to me before leading the way out to consecutively open doors and private lifts for me. He waits until I get into the car before getting into the passenger’s seat himself. Afterward, Marco drives smoothly to my next appointment of the day, a meeting with Sean Burn.

I can’t say I am not excited. Of course, I am but I am anxious as well. Even though I have been supporting him in the shadows, it is our first time ever engaging in a business deal in a slightly formal manner, although I am yet to know what deal he has to offer me.

Being part of elite society, there should be many advantageous things offered to me. But for my position, it is a lot more burdensome instead. Among the things I abhor are humoring clients by sitting in long hours watching plays or parading models. Today, I would be attending the latter.

As we enter the hall, a lot of people are already present, mostly from the higher echelon escorted by either model themselves or of the shining stars and starlets. The sparkling jewelry is just as nauseating as the glinting eyes of these greedy people. I adjust my tie, loosening it up while wishing to go home already.

“Sir, this way please.” Clint gestures toward the VIP seats on the right side.

I nod at him and take a seat while he maintains standing behind my chair. Soon after, I am joined by other people on the table. People I don’t know nor care about. I just nod at their over-enthusiastic greetings but refuse to engage in unnecessary dialog and barely react to their dejected sighs.

The show soon starts but my eyes are still searching for the man I am supposed to meet today. I received an invitation from Sean a week ago for a runway, thinking we will be coming together. But he told me to just head over and meet at the venue. I expected he would be fawning on me but never once Sean did that in the past.

When I can’t catch sight of him in the crowded room, I finally give up and focus, for the meantime, on the parading models upfront. The first batches of models are women wearing winter clothes designed by a newbie in the industry. Honestly, they all look the same to me, handsome women that walk stiffly without expression.

Amongst all the women, however, one of them has me whipping my head for a second look, my brows twitching conspicuously. She somehow stands out. I could tell by the way the rest of the audience stare at her, too. Sure, they are tall but she must be the tallest and broodingly gorgeous.

I say broodingly because she seems to be pissed rather than looking blank just like all the rest of the models. It is so obvious that she doesn’t want to be there. What the hell is she even doing in the runway if she is going to show her nasty attitude? And what does Sean want by inviting me here when my company has its own clothing brand?

After a long excruciating wait, the event finally comes to an end. Sean then pops up to my side all giddy and hopeful while pulling behind him none other than the woman that was just pouting in the ramp earlier. Whoa! She really is so beautiful up close although she is currently glaring as though shooting daggers at me.

“Mr. Alfa!” Sean grins, reaching for a handshake but quickly retrieves his hand. “I’m so glad you could make it.”

“It’s my pleasure to be here, Sean,” I answer as businesslike as I could and surreptitiously shove my hands in my pockets. “Although I don’t actually get why you wanted my presence tonight.”

“Oh, right. Before anything else, I’d like you to meet one of my talents, Monique.” Sean pulls the tall woman closer and almost forces her hand to me. “Hey, say hi to Mr. Valentine Alfa.”

“Hi.” She says dutifully although the intense look in her eyes tells me differently. “It’s Dominic.” She firmly corrects, surprising me with her deep voice and the familiar glare she throws at Sean.

“Hello,” I answer, nodding my head at him. “Dominic, you say?” I ask, frowning. “That’s a unique name for a woman.” And a unique low voice as well, I wanted to add.

“I’m a man.” Dominic supplies indignantly.

“Oh.” That explains it.

I discreetly take a quick scan of his overall appearance. It is early winter so we all wear layers of clothes. This Dominic is currently wrapped in a gender-neutral white long coat and a muffler around his neck. He still has his makeup on but the long, blonde wig he used was already taken off and was now replaced by a beanie hat.

The glittery stickers on his left cheekbone are so eye-catching. It makes it difficult to take my gaze away from him especially when it perfectly accentuates his tanned skin. For a man, he sure is beautiful.

“You probably have seen him a few times with me before,” Sean says, pulling my gaze from Dominic. “The designer earlier was in a pinch because one of her models got injured before coming over that’s why Monique took over the spot. That’s why I couldn’t meet you earlier because we were so busy at the backstage.”

“Oh, now I understand. Thank you for clearing that up.” I say and unconsciously glance at Dominic again. “So—”

“I asked you to come because I actually have a proposal to make. Would you like to hear it over dinner?”

“Sure.”

“I’m heading out first.” Dominic suddenly butts in, still looking pissed and obviously desperate to escape.

“Monique, behave yourself.” Sean softly says although I can sense an underlying terseness in his tone and the other man visibly stiffens but obeys nevertheless. “You know this meeting with Mr. Alfa is for you.”

“We should probably get that dinner fast so that we can get this done once and for all. I’m sure Dominic must be tired right now.” I look behind me and signal Clint to lead the way towards the parking lot. “Do you have your ride?”

“Yes, I brought my car.” Sean answers and points the key fob to his car. “Follow us since I’ve already booked a reservation in a restaurant.”

“Alright.”

Before getting into my car, I watch the two as they head into their own ride. Sean is holding Dominic by the hand but the latter shakes it off, showing his aversion to PDA. Sean said he always brings this man with him. If memory serves right, then Dominic must be the rumored lover, the same man that he brought in my engagement party.

A small groan escapes my throat at the memory of that night. No. That was a mistake. Up until now, I am still denying the fact that I got hard and eja¢ulated at the memory of a pair of deep green eyes staring so intently at me. But Dominic has brown eyes tonight and his jaw is smooth and clean of beard. He couldn’t be the same man, could he?

The restaurant is just a ten-minute drive and traffic is blessedly light. The three of us gather in a private lounge and ordered dinner. As soon as the waiter places all of our orders, Sean quickly gets to his practiced spiel about his intentions.

“You see, Mr. Alfa, Dominic here is no longer new to the industry.” Sean pushes a portfolio toward me which I’m sure contains Dominic’s details. “I’m getting him gigs as much as I can but you know that it’s hard to survive in this kind of work without sponsor and such. So, I was hoping that you could maybe support him somehow.”

I look at Dominic, catching him staring openly at me without blinking. I am taken aback by his rudeness but I somehow don’t feel surprised at all. Not anymore, I guess because I have always been aware of this familiar intense gaze. Although I already have an inkling feeling, I still want to make sure.

“I’m just curious, Dominic, are you wearing contacts?”

“Yes.” He answers rather quickly, the corner of his lips twitching into a sneer but it was faint I could be mistaken.

“Oh, then what color are they?”

“Like the weeds.” He answers and right there and then I feel the hairs on my nape stand on end.

“I see.” I swallow and finally pull my gaze from him before looking at Sean once more. “Can you give me a few days to sleep on it? I also need to check on a few things,” I wave the portfolio to stress my meaning. “So that I know what support I could give for Dominic.”

“O-of course.” Sean stutters rather surprisingly as though he doesn’t expect me to decline him for the first time.

I am not actually refusing to help him. After all, this is not the first time he has asked support for his talents. Although this time has me feeling rather uncomfortable toward the talent himself. Or maybe it is just my guilt nagging at me for having impure thoughts with the man who is probably dating Sean.

“Wait, Mr. Alfa—”

Sean suddenly grabs my wrist, intending to stop me from leaving. I jump back to avoid the contact, wheezing at the brush of our skin. Panic attack quickly turns my vision dark, consuming my consciousness. Luckily, Clint is just waiting by the corner and quickly comes to my aid.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Burn, but you should know better than to touch Valentine.” Clint takes the portfolio from my trembling hand before offering me a water bottle he always carries around. “Water, Val. Do you want to take your pill?”

“No, I’ll be fine. Thank you.” I take a sip from the water and return it to him with a grateful nod.

“Y-yes of course, I’m sorry. I was just trying to say that um…” Sean stutters, obviously shocked at my reaction that I can’t help getting irritated. “I was saying, you could ask for anything in return. You know… I mean, of course, only to things within my capacity then I’m willing to bargain.”

“Oh…” I breathe out a deep sigh, trying to control my anxiety and the crazy beating of my pulse.

I could be mistaken but offers that sounds as ambiguous as this mostly refers to $ex. I glance at Dominic, wanting to see his reaction. But he only has a vacuous expression on his face despite the entire ruckus and not looking at me for the first time. Rather, he is staring down the floor, completely indifferent.

“I’ll call you.” I finally answer and Sean’s shoulders visibly drop. “I’ll take care of the tab. Good night to both of you.”

“Yes, good night and thank you.” Sean smiles widely but it didn’t reach his eyes.

I look at Dominic one last time before turning away and leave the building with Clint hot on my tail. Taking in the scene, anyone can tell that they really aren’t dating. Or, at least, they are not a loving couple at all. So then what? Could it be just a one-sided love?

I don’t know whether to be relieved or to get pissed. That Dominic is one arrogant bastard. What is not to like about Sean? He is kind and good looking. Not to mention a hardworking businessman while Dominic is what? Is he just taking advantage of Sean? If so, then should I support his career? I don’t think so!

***This work has been signed with NovelToon, and piracy such as reprinting without permission is strictly prohibited.***

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***