A/N: Inspo for Alex's apartment. God, I wish I was super rich. 

"I'll explain it to you later," Alex muttered, running about the penthouse, trying to make sure everything looked okay including himself. He turned to her, looking her up and down. "Put some clothes on, we're about to have a guest."

Stephanie frowned. "What the hell, Alex? All I have are my clothes from last night."

Alex went into the closet and threw her a large t-shirt he used to sleep in. "Here, take this."

She rolled her eyes but put the t-shirt on. "I don't get what the big deal is. Don't you want to show me off?"

Alex stopped, confused at her statement. "So you being half naked in front of somebody who I'm about to do business with is showing you off? Sorry, but I don't roll like that. I don't know who you've dated in the past but that's not my style."

"But Alex―" Stephanie whined but was cut off by the loud opening of the elevators doors, signaling that Virginie had arrived.

Alex smoothed his hair down once again before going to meet her.

In front of him stood Virginie, looking sexy as usual. "Hello, Mr. Stroud," she greeted, all business. "How are you this afternoon?"

"Uh, I'm doing rather well, thank you," Alex blushed. He stepped aside so that she could enter. He quickly swallowed the rest of the bagel he had been chewing. "Can I take your jacket?"

She smiled at him as she shrugged off her trench coat, revealing a jaw dropping yet simple dress that hugged her body in all the right places. Alex quickly ducked away to put her coat somewhere and to hide his awe.

Virginie's eyes flashed to Stephanie who stood in the kitchen, fuming at the sight of the beautiful woman. Virginie's eyes twinkled with curiosity. "Hello there, I don't believe we've met," she smiled, extending her hand. "I'm Virginie, Virginie Methót."

Stephanie plastered on a fake smile. "Hi," she replied, not shaking her hand. "I'm Stephanie Woods."

Virginie dropped her hand, her smile wiped clean from her face, as Alex reentered the room.

"What is your relationship with Mr. Stroud?" Virginie inquired as Alex began to sweat.

"I'm his―"

"Friend," Alex mumbled.

"Girlfriend." Stephanie gushed at the same time before realizing what Alex said.

Stephanie eyed Alex, her eyes full of confusion. Virginie bit her lip, trying not to laugh. Alex laughed as if attempting to ease the tension between him and Stephanie but it didn't work. She looked even more upset.

"Okay!" Virginie shouted, tired of the argument between the eyes the two seemed to be having. "I'm going to sit in the room over there and you two can hash out whatever it is that's going on." She exited the entryway, heading towards the direction of the living room.

"I thought we had agreed we were dating," Stephanie seethed.

"I know, babe," Alex murmured, trying to soothe her. "I just forgot. A lot happened yesterday and I'm just trying to process it."

"You had no problem saying it yesterday to the entire world! Why are you denying it to that ugly black bitch?"

Alex flinched. He knew that Stephanie was problematic but he didn't realize how bad it was. His mother was the same complexion as Virginie and it took everything in him not to lash out at her. But he had to say something. "What do you mean by 'ugly black bitch'?"

Stephanie stomped her foot. "Why is that what you're focusing on? They are way more pressing issues at the mo―"

"No," Alex pressed. "What were you trying to say? Is dark skin ugly to you?"

Stephanie realized her mistake and backtracked. "No, no, no, no. That's not what I meant. I wasn't talking about you. You're fine. Your skin is beautiful to me. Hers looks like dirt. I'm not racist or anything, I promise. I mean, I'm dating you, aren't I?"

"That doesn't mean anything if you don't respect my heritage," Alex replied.

Virginie walked back in the room to see to the two still deep in their argument. "Sorry to interrupt, but I need to show Mr. Stroud something of the utmost importance."

Alex said nothing as he followed Virginie. Stephanie didn't deserve any of his attention right now.

He wondered what she had found that was so important. His eyes widened as he saw five little cameras on the floor of his living room.

"I think your entire house has been bugged," Virginie murmured, almost to herself, her eyes still scanning the room. "That's how they knew where you were yesterday."

Alex's jaw dropped. How did she find all those in two minutes? Who is this woman? "How did you find those so quickly?"

Virginie rolled her eyes as if it was completely obvious. "You haven't noticed all the bugs around your house that are seemingly frozen?"

Alex scratched the back of his head. "Most of the time when I'm here, it's dark. I get home pretty late."

Virginie paused for a second, looking like her mind was racing through all kinds of possibilities. "May I see your briefcase?"

"Uh, sure." Alex grabbed his briefcase from its sitting place in the living room by the fireplace and placed it in Virginie's hands.

Virginie opened it without asking for the passcode. She took everything out from the briefcase and spied a pen clipped onto the outer pocket. Upon further inspection of it, she threw it on the ground and smashed it.

"What the―" But then Alex heard the buzzing and feedback of a microphone as Virginie grinned.

"I'll have to go all around the house but it seems like they bugged you good. Before we continue, I would like to go over a couple of ground rules and explain to you how this works. Is there anywhere more private that we can go?"

"Yeah, we can go upstairs to my office."

Virginie nodded. "That sounds perfect."

He gestured her to follow him as they walked up the glass stairs. He opened up the door to an immense office. The walls were lined with bookcases filled with books and there was a plush red chair for lounging. There was also a vast desk that had three monitors on it and a clear keyboard. There were small piles of papers and files everywhere but overall, it was pretty clean, considering his line of work. The light for the webcam was flashing so Virginie turned it off and stuffed it in between the couch cushions just in case.

"Okay, so what do you have to say?" Alex asked.

"You can't tell your little girlfriend what's going on. She could be a woman hired by Les Joueurs to spy on you. They could also have her bugged so don't say anything essential about your life around her. Make up lies if you need to. You must keep her at an arm's length." She smirked. "It seems that you have broken that rule already, though."

Alex's face flushed. "From now on, I'll try to keep her at a reasonable distance." But Les Joueurs? Why not kill me themselves? Why would they involve all of these other people?

"Good. If she wants a reason as to why I'm going to be with you so much, the story is that I am shadowing you as part of an internship program. I am interested in being a criminal lawyer and I want to get knowledge from the best in the business."

Alex grinned. She called me the best in the business, maybe there is hope after all.

"Don't let it go to your head. It's a cover story. It's a lie by definition, asshole."

He continued grinning. Every lie had a hint of truth in it and he knew the part about him being the best in the business wasn't a part of the story.

Virginie rolled her eyes. "Anyway, if your safety is in danger, I might need to move in here. But I don't see that becoming necessary as of yet."

Alex's heart began to beat faster at the thought of having access to her 24/7. Maybe I could even catch a glimpse of her naked...

"Don't get any ideas." She snorted, reading his mind. "Go jack off in your girlfriend or something. As I was saying, I will be with you for most of the day. I will be there with you at work and any events that I see as a danger zone. I'll give you a button that will signal me if you're in danger and I will be there within two minutes, no matter where you are. You will never be in danger now. I will keep you safe."

"I am grateful for your help. But do tell me, how much are your services?" Alex asked. Money wasn't much of an object to him. He still had plenty of money from his old "job", not to mention his lawyer's salary.

"You have to call the Agency about that. I don't make the prices, money just gets put in my account. The Agency also takes a part of my fee for servicing me with information and technology and representing me so you'll have to talk it over with them. Ask your brother to help you. He's the one that wanted you to be protected so bad."

Alex couldn't help but chuckle. Ethan would not have a problem shelling out money to protect his little brother. He didn't want him to but he knew once he found out about the price, he would insist on helping. "I will do that, thank you." He opened the door for her. "Shall we?"

But to his surprise, she closed it back. "I do have one more question before we go, though."

"Oh?"

"What exactly is your relationship with that woman downstairs? I couldn't help but overhear your conversation when I was looking through your living room and it seems that you two aren't quite on the same page. I have my own ideas but I would like to hear it from your perspective."

Alex shifted uncomfortably. He didn't want to tell her the full story because then she would know about her effect on him. The way he felt around her made him feel constantly drawn to her intoxicating essence and it scared him a little bit. He knew she probably already figured it out but he would try to beat around the bush regardless. "Her brother, Ruben is a friend of mine. We were playing poker one night and he was telling me how his sister thought I was 'super hot' and she had been wanting to take me out on a date for some time. Now, I knew his sister wasn't somebody that I would be particularly interested because of her personality. He knew that we would be an awful pair but he just wanted to see it happen once for his own sick pleasure. So we bet over a game of poker that if he won, I would have to take his sister out on a date. Unfortunately, as you can guess, I lost the game and I had to call Stephanie to tell her that I would take her to the Riddle of Hope Dinner. I didn't say that we were going to date or anything; I just said that we would see how it went. What I didn't know is after that call, she told everyone and anyone that we were together. So once we got to the gala, there were reporters swarming us and asking about our relationship. She confirmed it. I wanted to say no, of course, but I did not want to embarrass myself. I asked her after the frenzy what it was all about and she said that she wanted a fake relationship. She said that it would mutually beneficial because she would get a smart and intelligent boy to bring home and I would get a beautiful girlfriend who's 'abilities' I could use." Virginie rolled her eyes at his use of the word and Alex coughed before continuing. "The concept of dating this woman, real or fake, got me so upset that I drank a lot of champagne, one thing led to another and I wake this morning with her in her underwear in my bed. Now she thinks that I actually want to date her."

Virginie smirked, her voice dropping low. "I do hope that our little exchange didn't have anything to do with your transgressions last night. I would hate to know that I put you in such a compromising position."

"What? No! Of course not! That didn't even do anything to me, you were just being annoying. I even forgot that happened."

"Now you're lying." Virginie passed him, her fingers brushing against his chest as she left.

Damn it! How did she know! Fuck!

She made her voice loud so that Stephanie could hear. "I'm glad we straightened out our arrangement, Mr. Stroud. I look forward to working with you and your firm. I have heard such great things."

Alex was still standing in the doorway, stunned at what just happened.

"What time do you want me to meet you, Mr. Stroud?" Virginie asked, eyeing him with irritated eyes.

"Meet me at the Drip at 7:45 Monday morning," he stammered. "We will go to my office together." He cleared his throat and continued without faltering. "I expect you to be there on time. It would be rude and unprofessional of you to be late on your first day."