CHAPTER ONE
1658 Words
“DINNER WITH THE DEVIL”
KAIYA'S POV
Dinner with the devil doesn't start with screams.
It starts with crystal wineglasses, smooth jazz, and a billionaire who smiles too slowly.
The wine being served was older than I was.
The man pouring it? Was much more dangerous than any I'd ever written about.
Caius Virelli didn't look at me when he filled my glass. He didn't have to. His attention came in waves– deliberate, suffocating, and impossible to escape.
“Still prefer red?” He asked, his voice calm and cultured like this was just another Tuesday.
I took the glass, but didn't drink. “I prefer the truth.”
He smirked. “Do you?”
I didn't answer. The truth was– I didn't know anymore.
________________________
Twelve hours earlier, I was still sitting cross-legged in my apartment with the CNN news humming in the background about what could be said to be my most dangerous exposé yet.
A knock at my door came just after dusk that same day sharp, deliberate. I didn’t recognize the man who handed me the envelope, but the logo on the corner gave me chills. Virelli Holdings. Inside: an invitation I never saw coming… one that could change everything.
He didn't send it through an email or text. No, he had it hand-delivered by a messenger.
The envelope was black and thick, the seal embossed, and my name spelled in silver foil like I’d won a damn Grammy award.
Inside was a dinner invitation surprisingly, no mention of lawsuits, demands, or damage control.
Just a tie. A location. And a handwritten one line sentence at the bottom saying:
“Let's discuss your version of the truth. –C.V.”
Sage, my best friend and the only person I trusted to tell me when I was being stupid, had immediately thought it was hot.
“He wants to talk over dinner.” I said in disbelief more to myself than to Sage who was beside me.
“Talk as in….. sue you? Kill you? Sleep with you?!!!” She asked dramatically with her eyes wide open.
“Sage!!!! What the hell?” I said trying to hold back the fits of laughter that hit me after she asked all that.
“He's inviting you to dinner after you torched one of his subsidiaries? I'm sorry baby girl, but that's some enemies-to-lovers type sh*t,” she said, sipping wine and texting three people all at the same time.
Only I wasn't amused.
“You think this is him flirting?” I found myself asking stupidly before mentally slapping myself.
“I think it's him playing you,” she said, shrugging. “But also? Maybe. That man doesn't do anything without an angle. After all, you poked the Virelli empire. He's just figuring out if he wants to bury you or buy you.”
Gosh how many tongues does she have?
She continued. “Jokes aside Kaiya, he's dangerous. He doesn't just threaten people. He ends them. Quietly. Legally. Elegantly. And oh boy you just accused one of his subsidiaries of international fraud.”
“I didn't accuse. I in fact proved.” I said trying to sound firm and righteous. But my voice didn't ring of conviction– it cracked. Just a little.
She didn't push, just smiled mildly. “Then you already know that he's not inviting you to dinner to clear the air.”
I should've ignored it, the invitation I mean. But instead, I'd put on a black dress, applied a bright red lipstick, and came to a rooftop penthouse suite where the air smelled like power and old money.
And now here I was….. sitting across from Caius Virelli, Milan's most feared billionaire and the subject of my most dangerous exposé yet.
___________________________
I could feel his eyes on me intensely, as I set down the glass. He was studying me and I couldn't tell if he found me entertaining, infuriating, or disposable.
“Let me guess,” I said folding my arms. “This is the part where you threaten to sue me.”
“I considered it,” he said smoothly. “But lawsuits are noisy. Inelegant.”
“So instead, you called me to dinner.”
“I called you to clarify.”
I let out a breathless laugh. “Clarify?”
Was he joking or something?
“You've built quite the reputation for yourself, Ms. Everhart,” he said. “Digging, accusing, exposing. Some might say…. crusading.” He said it like he was listing out the crimes I was found guilty of.
“And some might say laundering millions through a fake eco-initiative is criminal.” I fired back at him before I could stop myself.
I looked up at him. I noticed there was a shift in his countenance, one that was barely noticeable. But I caught it.
“Allegedly,” he corrected. “And inaccurately.”
“Prove me wrong then.”
“Oh I intend to.” He said leaning back in his chair.
__________________________
Dinner arrived in silence– steak for him, grilled fish for me. The food looked quite appetizing and exquisite so I couldn't help but dig in. My beef was with Caius Virelli, not the innocent food.
While Caius on the other hand, cut into his steak with surgical calm, as of we were discussing the weather.
“This isn't just about the article,” he said, finally. “It's about control.”,
“Yours?”
“No.” He said with his eyes locked onto mine. “Yours.” He said simply.
I stiffened.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“You control the narrative. The public loves a crusader with a good blow-dry and moral compass. But eventually, even the hero gets used.”
“By who?” I asked, wondering why he was telling me all this.
“By whoever writes the next chapter,” he replied with so much ease while I tensed up.
There was something chilling about the way he said it like I was already being written into someone else's script.”
“You want to rewrite me?” I asked unsure of his intention.
“I want to understand you,” he replied.
He just lied through his teeth and I knew it.
“No, you don't,” I said. “You want to contain me.”
His eyes narrowed, just slightly. “Is that what you think?”
“I think everything you do is strategic. Including this dinner.”
He paused before replying “You're not wrong.”
I was taken aback, I didn't expect him to admit it with such ease. But he's Caius Virelli after all.
_________________________
We moved to the lounge after dessert. His penthouse was pristine with white marble, black leather, not a single object was out of place. Except me.
“You have files on me, I'm sure,” I said.
“Background checks, surveillance. How thorough was your research?” I asked provocatively.
He stepped closer to me. “I don't need files.”
“Then what do you need?” I asked standing my ground.
“You.”
The three lettered word hung there, heavy. I didn't flinch. But my pulse definitely did.
“I'm not for sale,” I said firmly.
“I'm not offering money, Kaiya.”
I stared at him for a moment there was something about the way he said my name.
“Then what are you offering?” I asked raising my eyebrows at him.
He took a slow breath before spoke. “Protection. Power. Access.”
“That sounds a lot like a bribe.”
“That sounds like survival,” he said plainly.
Gosh this man is so blunt. I sighed lightly.
Turning, I walked towards the glass wall that overlooked the Manhattan and outlined it's beauty. Lights bled into each other like blurred jewels. And somewhere down this seemingly perfect city my truths lived. My past. My mistakes. My fears.
“What if I say no?” I asked, quietly.
“You won't,” he replied all-knowingly.
“Arrogant,” I snapped.
“Experienced,” he said curtly.
I faced him. “You're used to getting whatever you want.”
“Likewise you,” he said. “That's why this is going to be fun,” he said smirking mischievously.
Caius Virelli wasn't like the other billionaires I'd gone after. He didn't threaten. He invited me. And I couldn't decide if that made him brilliant or dangerous.
Maybe he was both.
I was so immersed in my thoughts that I didn't notice he'd stood up from his seat and was headed for the door.
My thoughts were interrupted by his voice.
“Next time, wear red,” he said without looking back. It suits you when you're dangerous”.
And after that he left.
Later, as I walked out of the tower with the night still thick around me, I didn't know what had just happened, it still felt unreal to me.
Probably because half of me was expecting a warning if not a threat of cease-and-desist. Or worst case scenario a lawsuit.
Caius was different from the other billionaires I'd written off. But what I was unsure of was whether this was a positive or a very dangerous difference. I guess I'll find out just in time.
In the end what I got was a proposal from him.
And a war I didn't remember agreeing to.
But the truth?
Part of me wanted to play the game anyway. I guess I'm a real life psycho then. The thought made me laugh to myself.
The moment the elevator door slid shut, my phone buzzed in my purse.
I took it out. There was a message from an unknown number:
“Careful, Kaiya. You're not the only one watching him.”
My blood ran cold.
Game on.
- Writer
