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scorpioncobrababe84 · 6 days

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People Will Say We're in Love

TW- none

Summary- The first news story about Valerie and Terry is released, and Valerie must cope with heightened scrutiny from her family, friends, and strangers. She also learns that Terry will be hosting a cocktail party to welcome the investment group and that she needs to be there.

This part introduces one of the details in this story that I was most excited to write about 👀 (see picture below for reference)

Sunday morning. Valerie rolled out of bed, donned a quick, casual dress and sunglasses, and ventured out for a newspaper.

Before she could even make the short walk back to her apartment, she couldn’t resist flipping through and skimming the pages. She didn’t have to look too closely- as expected, the day’s Society and Entertainment section of First Look’s newspaper was a splashy collage of color photographs from the café and blocks of accompanying copy. A shot of Valerie and Terry’s kiss took the main spot but were supplemented by photos of him pressing his lips to her hand and her swiping him across the nose with tea foam.

The headline: “Silver gets steamy over coffee with mystery woman.” The article: filled with questions and theories as to Silver’s unusual display of softness and the mystery woman’s identity.

In any other circumstances, it would be amusing to see herself in the newspaper. Valerie was pleased that, at the very least, she and Terry did photograph as a lovely couple, but she couldn’t help the prickle of dread that overshadowed this satisfaction, wondering what it might mean for her if Amanda Shotwell were to turn her keen journalistic attentions toward investigating her.

But this concern quickly became remote when Valerie arrived to work on Monday. She felt eyes boring into her everywhere she turned, accompanied by whispers.

“She’s not the type he usually goes for.”

“So that’s how she made it to the top floor so fast...”

Many coworkers, some she barely even knew, took it upon themselves to come up to her desk and pepper her with questions about the length and depth of her and Mr. Silver’s relationship and their unsolicited opinions about dipping one's pen into the company ink. A number of women that Valerie had hardly or never spoken to before gave her dirty looks and/or made snide comments to her in passing down the hallways. Blonde and model-built ex-paramours of Terry Silver who found it unbearable that they proved insignificant in comparison to the plain, comparatively classless creature before them.

Her friends tried their best to be supportive, but even those who thought the news was great were slightly confused due to how clear Valerie had made it in the past that she wasn’t fond of him. A couple of them just wanted to know how he was in bed, which was arguably worse than the insults of his exes. A deep red swept across Valerie’s cheeks and she recoiled at the mental image, as well as the idea that the people around her were picturing it.

“No- oh God, no!” she exclaimed instinctually, before realizing that her reaction didn’t fit the narrative. “I mean…” She tried to roll it back. “You know I don’t kiss and tell. I like to keep it classy. You’ll just have to use your imagination.” Her friend smirked. “Or don’t!”

Valerie nearly ran away, clutching the pile of binders and folders she was carrying to her chest and adjusting her glasses sliding down the sweaty bridge of her nose.

Proceedings at Dynatox had taken on a frenetic pace, as the top members of Kimura Investment Group were less than two weeks away from arrival. Final touches needed to be put on the business plan and the proposal, and hundreds of other pages of miscellaneous paperwork had to be put in order. Plus, Valerie and her fellow PR members had been working overtime trying to manage and tamp down negative news stories about the company.

And aside from the workload aspect of the upcoming arrival, the activity of the bustling employees nearly quivered with the anxious anticipation of it all, knowing how beneficial for the company it would be if they were successful- as well as how serious the consequences would be if it all fell through. Not only would Mr. Silver likely become frightful to be around for the foreseeable future, but he would certainly take out his anger on any and every one of the people he perceived as contributing to the failure. Any small mistake wouldn’t do. Basically, Valerie had much higher priorities that needed to be dealt with and she wished she could focus on, rather than having to spend time worrying about people questioning her judgment and imagining her sex life.

Then, the next morning, before Valerie could even get used to the atmosphere at work, these worries were compounded when she was awoken by a barrage of messages and phone calls that beat her alarm to the punch in terms of how early they came. Calls from various family members and friends back home that ran the gamut of emotions but could ultimately be boiled down to “what the hell is going on?”

Her sister was thrilled and unashamedly jealous; praising what she believed to be Valerie’s dedication to getting ahead: “Well, look at you living my dream. We all wish we could snag a sugar daddy like that- good for you!” Valerie’s jaw dropped. Her cousin was just morbidly curious, wanting every little detail so that he could brag to and joke with his friends. Her mother, as Valerie feared, was nearly turning herself inside out with concern- “Just how long have you been going out with him, dear? Why didn’t you tell any of us about it? What are his intentions? Your father wants to know.”

Valerie bit back a harsh laugh at her parents speaking about Silver as if he were one of the local high school athletes who was known for getting all the girls in the back of his car; like he wasn’t the CEO of a Fortune 500 company and she hadn’t also proven herself highly capable over her time in California and they were both children.

And of course, his true intentions were far more complex and rather concerning than anyone knew or needed to know.

“How did you even hear about this so fast?” Valerie inquired, ignoring her mother’s million questions for her own, realizing how suspiciously quickly the news had traveled from one end of the country to the other.

“This reporter called us asking about you and what we knew about the relationship,” her mother replied before quickly devolving into hysteria once more. “Which, of course, was nothing. Were you ever planning on telling us?”

“A reporter called you? Mom, what reporter?” Valerie’s heart began to pound, pumping blood that had gone cold with dread as she white-knuckled the phone.

“She was a very nice lady. She works for one of the big publications over there…”

“What was her name? Do you remember?”

“I think it was Miranda, maybe, or Amanda.”

Valerie dropped into the living area armchair, feeling dizzy. “Mom, what did you tell her?”

“She just wanted some basic information about us and how we felt about you two going out- oh, and to send some old pictures of you. Of course, since we had no idea any of this was going on, there wasn’t much to say. We probably sounded like idiots not knowing anything that’s going on with our own daughter…”

Valerie sought a way to end the call after that, slamming the receiver down after her mother hanged up and collapsing fully into the armchair with her head in her hands, letting out a piercing groan. Amanda already seemed disconcertingly close to uncovering some sort of unaccounted-for detail that would reveal her and Terry’s ruse, nullifying their deal and wasting all the time and energy Valerie had put into it, as well as publicly embarrassing her. Let alone what the unpredictable Silver might do to her.

Well, at her mother’s own insistence, her family didn’t really know anything of importance to give Amanda as ammunition. Valerie worked to slow her breathing once she realized she’d started to hyper-ventilate. Everything was probably fine. Sighing into her hands, she had to cut her doomed thought spiral short if she was to be on time for another gloriously invasive day of work.

Within a couple of hours at Dynatox, when Valerie was knee-deep in media release drafts and phone calls trying to tame the continuing, tense situation with the Midwest protesters, she received a call from Terry summoning her to his office.

“Ter- Mr. Silver,” she corrected herself in the interest of maintaining some façade of professionalism, glancing nervously at her coworkers, who thankfully seemed to either not notice or not care. “Can’t it wait? Now’s not a good time…”

Managing the predicament and keeping it from escalating was all the more important with Kimura’s impending arrival. And it served as a decent distraction from her host of other rapidly developing problems.

“I wasn’t asking,” he replied flatly. “I know you have a lot on your plate; I wouldn’t interrupt you if it wasn’t important.” His tone softened as he tried to pacify her.

Valerie glared in the direction of his door and rolled her eyes before sighing “I’ll be right there.”

“Thank you,” he replied, in a manner that implied she was the one being difficult.

After taking a few moments to note where she was at in each of her tasks for when she returned, Valerie made her way to his office, feeling eyes on her every step of the way. The second she shut the door behind her, she began her mentally rehearsed statement:

“Terry, if we don’t want those environmentalists in the Midwest to become a PR disaster, I really need to get back to-”

“Don’t worry about that. I just-” Terry attempted to interject and was swiftly steamrolled. Suddenly, everything that was going wrong began flooding out and Valerie couldn’t stop it.

“-Oh, and apparently over the weekend Amanda has been calling all of my relatives trying to get dirt on me! My family has been asking me a million questions and they told the press God knows what and tomorrow First Look is probably going to have a section about my high school photos from when I had braces-”

“-Valerie!” Terry strode around his desk to grab her by the shoulders. “Get ahold of yourself. It’s all being taken care of. I gave that assignment and almost everything else to Peter and his team; now all you have to worry about is Kimura and us.”

Of course, while Terry wanted to ensure that Valerie had enough time and energy to give a good girlfriend performance and focus on what had become the organization’s most important task- wooing the investors- this scheduling adjustment would also play perfectly into his larger covert op. If Valerie’s schedule was freed up to allow her more time with him, he would be able to draw her all the closer and get her more attached, more quickly.

Valerie’s face turned faintly pink, and she was obviously about to protest before the feeling of that weight being lifted off of her fully registered.

“Um... T-thank you,” she stammered, eyebrows furrowed as she was caught off-guard by his seeming generosity. “But won’t people think you’re playing favorites if you push a bunch of my work onto other people?”

“Who gives a fuck? They work for me. And after all, as far as they’re concerned, you are my favorite.” He shrugged, and Valerie wished for even an atom of his unruffled confidence. “And I wouldn’t worry about your family because they can’t tell what they don’t know, right?”

When Valerie didn’t immediately respond, his eyes narrowed. “Right?”

“I haven’t said anything to them. I wouldn’t even know what to say or where to begin,” she shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Terry was content with her answer, reminding himself that he also was keeping tabs of his own on her family and everything they were saying to the press in case he needed to step in. His entire plan wasn’t going to fall apart just because some senile or fame-seeking relative couldn’t keep their big mouth shut. He had the situation covered from all angles.

“As for Ms. Shotwell, try to take it as the sick sort of compliment it is. She knows you’ll get people reading. People are buying what we’re selling. Just keep playing it cool and remember that, at the end of the day, her livelihood relies on us. We’re the ones in control here. Now, will you please sit down?”

Valerie descended gingerly into the chair across from him at his desk, temporarily placated.

“I did say that I had something important to discuss with you. As you know, Kimura’s people arrive in less than two weeks, and we want to show ‘em that we’re the people to be in business with, but also nothing too crazy. Upscale, but minimalist. Remind them of home; really schmooze them. Show them a good time but that we’ll use their money wisely."

Valerie nodded and he continued. “I imagine you’ve heard that we’re planning a little cocktail party and dinner for the weekend they get here?”

“Yes,” she replied, thinking to herself that the gathering would be anything but ‘little,’ or ‘nothing too crazy,’ as it was to be about 40 people plus service aboard a yacht with a grand view of the coast.

“You’ll be there to help charm them as the CEO’s gorgeous and refined beloved.”

Gorgeous. Valerie shifted her jaw thoughtfully.

“Of course, we’ll need to downplay the fact that you’re with the company, let alone on the top floor- gotta appeal to their values. And we don’t want to show too much affection, but I don’t imagine you’ll mind that,” he joked. “Devoted but stable; practical. And don’t wear anything too sexy or over-the-top.” This last rule was as much for Terry as it was for the sake of appealing to Kimura. The idea of anyone but him looking at or thinking of Valerie in a desirous way made his blood pressure spike.

“Should I be writing this down?” Valerie asked sarcastically, crossing her arms and legs.

“I can write a checklist if you don’t think you can handle it…” She scowled at him. “You just make it so easy to tease you,” he explained, feigning innocence. “But that’s all for now. I’d like us to meet for lunch next Wednesday to nail down any final details.”

“Works for me.”

“See you around the office,” he said playfully as she got up to leave, and she bade him farewell with a wince and a faux-enthusiastic wave of her fingers. He responded with a wave and a smile in full force that she would have loved to smack off.

The rest of the week quickly came and went, and before Valerie knew it, she was standing in front of her mirror again, pondering another high-end outfit while she waited for Milos to buzz the apartment door.

The tea-length, strappy black dress, accompanied by a matching headband and the confidence she’d started to build after the successful café outing, helped Valerie to feel sophisticated and assured for what otherwise was the “couple’s” first truly high-stakes event.

A lot hinged on the Kimura businessmen’s impressions of Dynatox, particularly their impressions of its CEO. And even though she didn’t love feeling like a mere accessory to Terry and his carefully crafted image, as police sirens blared nearby, her eventual reward and the possibility of being able to move out of her tiny, slightly sketchy apartment helped. Plus, a free drink or two was never a turn-off.

The now-familiar sound of the door buzzer brought Valerie back to attention. “I’ll be right down,” she called over the speaker, surprised when Terry’s voice sounded on the line instead of Milos’.

“Hold on, I’m coming up.”

Valerie glanced at the wall clock, wondering what possibly couldn’t be discussed in the car, but shrugged it off, unchaining the door. It was his party, if he wanted to be fashionably late to meet a clientele that typically valued being on time. Nothing in she and Terry’s agreement said the deal with Kimura had to be successful.

The echo of Terry’s heavy footsteps could be heard coming down the hall and she turned to face the doorway. He had already begun speaking as soon as he crossed the threshold, before even looking to see if she was there.

“This won’t take long…” Once his gaze locked in on her outfit, he froze, seeming momentarily lost for words, which was a first in Valerie’s experience. Of course, it didn’t last longer than about a second. All the same, her confidence faltered under his ever-critical eye.

“Well, don’t you look…”

“-Save it, Terry! I don’t need this right now…” Valerie snapped, bracing for another thinly veiled insult or backhanded compliment. He shot her a wilting look.

“…I was going to say that you look nice.”

“Oh.” Valerie glanced down at the floor and shuffled her feet, guilt twinging in her stomach. The range of emotions that this man could exhibit himself and elicit in her within a matter of minutes could make her head spin.

“I’m going to have to send Joan a very extravagant Christmas gift.”

“You look nice too,” she chirped, taking note of his double-breasted blazer, loafers, and crisp dress shirt. Although she immediately regretted her awkward response, not quite sure how to respond to a sincere compliment from him, he visibly preened at her praise, smoothing a hand over his slicked-back hair.

“So, what do you need before we go?” She clasped her hands together expectantly.

“Ah, yes. Well, every outfit needs a finishing touch, right?” Terry rummaged inside his blazer pockets, removing a pair of small, flat red boxes.

Valerie gasped upon reading the word “Cartier” that was embossed on the center of each lid in elegantly rounded gold lettering. He opened one of the boxes and held it up at her eye level.

“Matching Cartier love bracelets. People will eat it up,” he grinned, studying her reaction. “Well, go on, take it. This one’s yours.” She wordlessly, slowly reached into the box to handle the bracelet with delicate fingers, observing the way the gold band glinted in the setting sun that sliced into the room.

“How does it go on?” she spoke finally, puzzled when she could find no clasp or latch. Terry removed a small velvet pouch from the box, revealing a tiny gold screwdriver within. “It screws on and off. It’s meant to be worn all the time.”

Valerie wrinkled her nose, her wonder quickly turning to disgust. “Why don’t you just handcuff us together?” she said dryly.

“Tempting. I like the way you think.”

“I just don’t like feeling like an object; like you’re marking your territory or something.”

“I was thinking more ‘touching gesture of commitment and devotion,’ but I can work with that, too,” he shrugged, biting back a laugh when she was clearly unamused by him returning the sarcasm.

They sat next to each other at the kitchen counter, starting the putting-on process with Valerie’s already unboxed bracelet.

“Alright, give me your hand,” Terry requested gently, pulling Valerie’s arm toward him and to the counter’s surface. He noted that her wrist was so thin his grip could more than reach around it, and once he got her bracelet unscrewed and slipped it on, how accurately he’d guessed the size.

“It’s a perfect fit,” he breathed, chuckling faintly as she watched him. He swore he almost saw a flicker of recognition in her eyes, like she’d discovered his obsessive game and true, cruel intentions, but it swiftly vanished as she tried to get used to the feeling of the cool metal bobbing against her skin.

“My turn,” he sighed, shifting in his chair as he extended his wrist and the tool to Valerie. Always wary of other people touching him, his attention was completely honed in on her work. Her hands shook as she attempted to twist the tiny screws in the band around his thick, surprisingly soft and warm wrist.

Valerie interrupted her handiwork with a glare up at him, snapping “Stop staring at me! You’re making me nervous!” But it only made him laugh. And to her annoyance, she was unable to stop herself from laughing too. Eventually, though not without some impatient remarks from Terry, she was able to secure the bracelet around his wrist.

“Now we’re ready to go,” he said, toying with her hand in his, allowing the both of them to studying the sight of their matching accessories before he abruptly rose from his chair, pocketing the screwdriver and heading for the door, leaving Valerie scrambling for her purse.

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