Chapter Text
I listened to his show, of course. How often is it that someone creates a public work featuring The Breach? I had hoped this man, this Nic, and his ramshackle sensationalist company could be gently persuaded to drop the matter, but once Avery told me there was no chance of this, I grew intrigued.
After all, Avery is a very bright and accomplished woman and it is rare to meet somebody defying her. And for that somebody to record her? Unprecedented. My Avery was too well-versed. I had to meet this Silver. Having only one's soothing tone to go by is definitely not enough information for enacting damage control. So far he was proving to be as elusive and resourceful as the mystery we are both trying to solve.
There is no possibility he is having no backup - he has escaped our attempts to capture him at least once, after all. So who is actually behind Nicodemus Silver? What connection does he have with the Van Sants?
No, I had to meet him. Right that very moment. Catch him unawares, test his security protocol.
And there it was, an unkempt mop of fiery hair, an entirely too bright t-shirt, genuinely terrible jeans. He looked exactly as I imagined. I watched my bodyguard go to him and ask him to come over. His eyes lifted from the telephone and then I understood. I understood everything. Why people answered his questions, why they helped him, why they went through great lengths to protect him. It wasn't the tinge of violet in those huge dark eyes, or how they shone out of his perfectly symmetrical face. It wasn't those long eyelashes making a ring of fire around those violet gems.
It was.... There was something about him. Something beyond the words he said, beyond the hypnotic eyes, or the plump lips, or the fiery tangle of a hair. Oh, he was more than all of those combined. I cannot even say it was the voice - although I must admit it was even more calming in reality. It was his innocence the vast majority of people lose at a young age. He wasn't afraid I may kill him. Or that my bodyguard might. Or that I could have him killed. He hadn't a moment's hesitation before getting up into my car and asking me questions.
I will be honest with you, I was the one caught unawares. How could he be so... Him. His kind eyes and the way he did not even realise when our knees brushed, or when his fingers started absentmindedly stroking his recorder.
On a whim I invited him out for lunch. I don't know why, to this day. It would have been more secure to discuss these matters in my car and mind my day. Of course, the joke was on me. I doubt he even understood my flirting. Or that he had accepted a date. Nic's whole heart was given to Tanis.
Upon leaving, I made one more move. His playing with a strand of his hair had me captivated. Before thinking I had him pinned to the closest wall, his big eyes staring into mine. He wasn't afraid. He wasn't aroused. He was just surprised. So I whispered one last warning into his ear before leaving.
"You are playing with fire, Nic."
"And it is not as soft as the one I am playing with," I added silently to myself.
