"What the-?" A deep, perturbed voice came our way. "Can I help you with something?"
Josette made an "eep" noise as she turned to face the door.
I was already facing the door and thus I saw Dax Lahn walk through it and stop.
I had forgotten how large he was.
Oh b.a.l.l.s!
We were going to be arrested before we"d even managed to open his laptop and now Noc was going to have to retrieve us from jail.
He"d said he"d spank me if this was to occur and I might not be averse to a spanking from Noc on certain occasions, but I suspected the one he"d wish to deliver after liberating us from a cell would not be the kind I would like.
"Again," this came as a growl as the large man took a threatening step toward us and stopped, "can I help you with something?"
This was what I did and did well.
So this was what I needed to do.
"You can indeed," I declared, lifting my chin. "You can explain to us why you"re so late for our appointment, Mr. Lahn."
His head tipped slightly to the side and that was threatening too.
In Korwahk, the sight of Lahn doing this might cause someone to relieve themselves immediately and maybe run for their lives.
The repeated "eep" Josette made gave me the understanding this same reaction could come on this world too.
"Sorry?" he asked.
I stepped forward. "Franka Drakkar. We were to meet at ten. It is not ten. It is," I looked at my watch irritably, "twenty pa.s.sed ten."
"I"m sorry, Ms. Drakkar," Lahn stated, glancing at Josette then back to me, "I didn"t have a ten o"clock appointment today."
"You certainly did and it was with me," I retorted.
"I"m afraid I didn"t," he returned.
"I"m afraid you did," I rejoined.
He took in our positions in the room and again caught my eyes.
"Is there a reason why you"re standing so close to my desk, Ms. Drakkar?"
"Since we weren"t even greeted, we"ve hardly been invited to sit," I snapped in full affront.
He seemed to examine the top of his desk before again returning his attention to me.
"If you weren"t greeted, how did you make it to my office?"
"I do know who you are, since I made an appointment with you," I declared. "I also know you"re the founding partner of this firm. When we were not seen to upon entry, where else would we go and look for you but the biggest office? I can"t imagine you"d give it to an underling," I noted with disdain and finished, "And I see I was correct."
"All right then, you"re Franka Drakkar, may I ask who this is?" He tipped his head to Josette.
"Josette Aubuchon, my a.s.sistant," I told him.
"And maybe you"ll explain to me what our appointment was to discuss," he pressed.
I sighed with impatience but answered, "My donation to First Mother House."
That took him aback even if I could only barely see the slight jerk of his chin.
"First Mother House?" he queried.
"Yes, as I explained over the telephone, I"ll be donating one million dollars to it and you were going to a.s.sist me with this as their legal counsel."
I was hoping that was a dramatic enough amount to take his attention from finding us in his office, and I was hoping I was using words I"d heard while observing him correctly.
"One million dollars?" he asked low and disbelieving, answering my question about the amount of my donation.
"Yes," I confirmed.
"First, Ms. Drakkar," he stated, moving a step further into the room but doing so, I noted with some alarm, still blocking the door. "My a.s.sistant would not make a meeting during this day or time because this day and time is always blocked. Second..."
He took another step and I felt the fear start wafting from Josette.
I wished I could put a hand to her or give her a glance to calm her but I needed to remain in my play, for if I did not, I was afraid the results would be disastrous.
Lahn continued speaking.
"I would remember any possible meeting with a woman who intended to give one million dollars to First Mother House. And last, your donation does not require legal counsel."
Drat.
I needed time and sought it.
"If the fullness of our meeting was communicated to you, you would know this was not true."
"The fullness of our meeting wasn"t communicated to me so perhaps you"ll explain how I can a.s.sist you in giving a donation to a charity when you can simply write a check and put it in the mail?"
How could he a.s.sist me, indeed?
How could he a.s.sist me?
How?
Blast!
"The donation needs to be anonymous," Josette piped in.
Excellent!
I fought the urge to give her an embrace.
"This, too, can be done without legal counsel," Dax Lahn stated.
b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l.
"Do we have attorney-client confidentiality?" Josette asked, sounding authoritative.
I looked to her and saw her staring right in Dax Lahn"s eyes.
Ah, my Josette. Such the clever girl.
And a brave one.
"You aren"t a client," Dax Lahn pointed out.
"Yes, of course we"re not," I snapped, jumping on Josette"s track. "Because we have not yet had our meeting."
"I must admit I"m getting impatient," he shared, appearing just that and it was unfortunately quite frightening, even for me and I"d been caught in a variety of delicate situations I"d had to talk my way out of. "And I have things to do. So now you"ve got one minute to explain to me why you"re in my office. If that explanation doesn"t satisfy me, I"ll be phoning the police."
I glared at him.
He held my glare.
Then he said, "Fifty seconds."
G.o.ds.
There was nothing for it.
I raised my hands to the b.u.t.tons of my blouse and started to undo them.
"Frannie," Josette hissed.
Dax Lahn lifted a hand, his face now carved in stone.
"Do not make another move," he ground out.
I turned my back to him, lifted my blouse and dipped it over my shoulder, feeling it fall down my shoulder blade and partially down my back.
I raised my other hand and swept my hair to the side.
The air in the room went still as I heard Lahn"s shocked, "Jesus Christ."
I pulled my blouse back up my shoulder instantly, redid the four b.u.t.tons I"d undone and turned smartly to him.
"I am from somewhere else," I proclaimed. "This somewhere else is far away. In order to leave that place, I had to do terrible things. The man who did this to me..." I drew in breath through my nose and straightened my shoulders. "I have a good deal of money. It"s not strictly legal money, but it"s mine. I earned it. I have quite enough to care for me and Josette, who looks after me in a variety of ways and has done for some time, and I have more. Much more. I wish for it to do good. However, I need to use great caution when I use that money so certain people cannot locate me and certain governmental departments don"t..."
I trailed off, drew in another breath and shook my head in disgust, looking to Josette.
"Come," I demanded. "It"s clear we"ve made an error in our selection of worthy organizations."
Both Josette and I began to stomp past him, for my part demonstrating openly the height of the insult I felt had been delivered, when I saw his arm come out and heard his, "Ms. Drakkar...Franka, wait."
I halted and turned my head to the side and up (and this up was up, Noc was tall, Dax Lahn was a veritable giant).
"My apologies," he murmured. "Something must have been missed."
"I fear it was, however-"
He gestured to the rather smart leather chairs in front of his desk. "If you"ll take a seat."
I lifted my chin further for a different reason. "I"d rather not."
"Perhaps we can start again," he suggested.
I turned fully to him, feeling Josette close to my back.
"I fear this would not be wise on my part. We do not have this client confidentiality as we"re not clients of yours, but I do hope with the part you play with First Mother House you"ll understand there are women with certain needs and I am one of them so you"ll do me the respect of behaving accordingly."
"Of course, you have my word, but-"
I interrupted him, my thoughts on Noc"s future employment and what he might do in it.
Therefore, I said, "We shall not start again for it"s without doubt you"ll be setting someone on investigating the veracity of my statements and when you do, you"ll find that I exist. Josette exists. And yet, if your investigator probes deeply enough, you will find we do not. I think you understand my meaning with this. Thus you"re likely to feel that the reliability of my statements isn"t exactly reliable. However, one does what one has to do and Josette and I did just that. I shall not share who I was in a previous life or where I lived it. And I"ll not invite further verbal misuse, or other, at your hands should we speak again and you doubt my story."
He moved closer to us, not that close, but it was closer.
When he did, I felt Josette nearly tuck herself in my back.
Dax Lahn didn"t miss her movements, undoubtedly read them both correctly and incorrectly, but he"d already stopped, getting close so he could drop his voice very low.
"You are not the first in your position, Franka, to feel the need to falsify her ident.i.ty."
"I"m sure that"s true," I retorted. "And I"m equally certain this is a dire state of affairs for I"m also certain that I"m far from the last. Thus me wishing to give a substantial donation to someone who"s doing something about it."
"If there"s someone, outside Josette, who can corroborate what you say, just one person, then-"
b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l, was I going to do what I needed to do?
Love was on the line.
I had no choice.
"Noctorno Hawthorne," I declared.
His head twitched at hearing Noc"s name, which gave credence to Noc saying it was most unusual here.