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𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

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"What do you mean 'sweeten the deal'?" Cora yelled as she attempted to fight the oppressively loud music of the club. When Gerri had asked her and Roman to try striking a deal with an Azerbaijani billionaire, she'd been under the impression they'd be staying in the confines of the retreat. The pair were positioned high above on the upper level landing, looking down at Eduard Asgarov like they were plotting his assassination.

Roman pulled back from the railing, his eyes still fixed on the man below as he gestured with his pointer finger towards her chest. "You know. Get the girls out. Generate some sex appeal. Grab a couple bar napkins and really perk 'em up."

Cora slapped his hand away, scowling. "Did I miss the part where Gerri said that one of us needed to prostitute ourselves?"

"I felt like it definitely was implied."

"She used to babysit me, Roman."

"Shut up before you make me jealous."

She let out a huffed sigh, looking down at the neckline of her dress. She'd worn her most appropriate outfit after learning of the venue, a short black number with a neckline that dipped, with a red blazer layered on top to avoid any lingering gazes as she left the retreat. Self-conscious, she crossed her arms across her chest as Roman finally turned to face her, wearing an expectant look.

"Well?" He said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Well, I can ditch the blazer if it's that big of a deal." Cora caved, her shoulders collapsed in resignation. She began to shrug off the blazer, revealing the pale skin of her upper arms. "But there wasn't a coat room when we walked in, so you're just going to have to ca-"

"Hold that thought." Roman said, looking past her. He waved a hand, signalling to someone. "Oi! Greg!"

Cora bit her lip, feeling heat creep onto her cheeks. She'd been procrastinating when it came to replying to the text messages he'd sent her during the day, documenting the unsurprising fact that Kendall had sent him on a wild goose chase by insisting he headed to Waystar.

"Uh, hey Rome, what can I do for ya?" Cora waited until she felt his shadow fall over her before she slowly turned around to face him. "Oh wow, hello Cordelia, I didn't quite see you there. Wow, I love that dress that you're wearing, very chic an-and stylish."

Greg's eyes swept over her brazenly as he spoke. From the corner of her eye she could see Roman narrow his gaze, frowning at his cousin.

"Uh ok, you can start by reeling it in a bit. No one asked for your best Meryl Streep impression."

"Oh, yeah no I'm just complimenting the, uh, designer's work." Greg replied, pulling his attention away from her as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I know I might not seem like it, but I do have an appreciation for fashion as an artform."

"Uh huh, you and me both." Roman said with an air of dismissiveness. He thrust the blazer towards Greg. "Knock yourself out inspecting the craftsmanship on that, but don't let me find you shoving your face anywhere unbecoming."

"Gross, Roman." Cora shot him a look before addressing Greg. She couldn't quite meet his eye as she spoke, looking past him instead. "Thanks, appreciate it if you can keep it safe."

"Of course. Uh, what are you guys up to anyway? Something I could help with?"

"Big plans. Big top secret plans." Roman replied, already walking towards the stairs that led downstairs. "We'll catch up later, yeah?"

"Oh, yeah! I'll see you both around." Greg replied. Cora smiled tightly before she started after Roman. She fell in line with him as they descended, her hand trailing the cool metal of the bannister.

"I think someone has a crush."

"I think you're being delusional."

"Uh, uh, uh very stylish, very chic."

"Isn't he just like that?"

They stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Cora regarded him with a suspicious eye, trying to ascertain whether he'd bought her dismissal or not. She realised that her mouth had become dry, making her uncomfortably aware of the existence of her own tongue.

"I dunno, you tell me. You're pretty buddy-buddy with him, right?" Roman replied as he cast his eyes out on the ground floor. They both zeroed in on Eduard, who was sitting in one of the large couches in the centre of the room.

"Am I friendly with him? Yes. But you're related to him, so I'm not really sure why you're implying that I know him any better than you do."

"Not trying to imply anything, Cor, just an innocent line of inquiry." He smirked, reaching an arm towards her and snaking it around her waist. Her body grew suddenly rigid, the hairs on the back of her neck rising to attention. "United front."

"Uh huh." She could feel the glaze of shock creeping over her as he steered them towards their target. It was the closest they had been since she'd entered the picture again, and his proximity spurred memories that she'd left untouched for over a decade. She had felt numb when she'd admitted what she had to Greg, it had left her with the impression that maybe she was finally over it all, but as she felt his fingers wrap around her side, brushing her hip, recollection stirred.

Weed smoke, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the spark that ignited when their lips touched. As they passed a waiter holding a tray of cocktails, the bitter sting of alcohol mixed with raspberry hit her nose and she had to fight the urge to jerk away from him. Her pulse jumped uncomfortably beneath the skin of her neck.

Roman tapped the man on the shoulder, interrupting his rather animated conversation. Gerri hadn't said all that much about Asgarov, only that he was a key player from his home country and that ethics-wise he tended to play fast and loose, which was exactly what they needed with the article looming on the horizon. Eduard rose, wearing a look that could be described as vaguely perturbed as he greeted Roman over the low backing of the boxy sofa.

"Sorry to interrupt, man, Roman Roy." As he rose a hand to meet Eduard's, his arm dropped away from Cora. The billionaire turned from Roman to face Cora. He paused before extending an expectant hand, and when she obliged, he took her gently and laid a kiss against the backs of her knuckles.

"Oh, ok." Cora said, as she retracted her hand away from him. "Nice to meet you, too."

"I know you." Eduard mused, before turning back to Roman. "Both of you. I know both of you."

"Then introductions aren't in order." Roman said. "You mind if we steal you away for a second?"

Cora had imagined they'd scout out one of the upstairs booths but Roman seemed to have different plans. He beelined for the men's room and neither man seemed to pay much attention to her when she protested the choice of venue. Instead Roman busied himself with clearing out the two occupied stalls by waving money above them each as Eduard pulled a baggie of coke from the breast pocket of his suit.

Cora hugged her arms against her chest, standing at the opposite end of the benchtop sinks from Eduard. He was admittedly a handsome man; swarthy with a tightly trimmed beard and a head of short tight curls. There was an intimidating weight each time he shifted his attention towards her, as if he were assessing her for fault. It made her self-conscious in a way she hadn't felt in a while, and she found herself smoothing out the skirt of her dress and fiddling with her hair, barely resisting the urge to look in the mirror to check if her mascara had at all smudged.

There was a scraping sound behind her as Roman pushed the doorstopper in place with his toe, sealing the door shut. He hopped onto the edge of the counter, sitting between them both as Eduard tapped white powder onto the end of a key. His eyes flickered upwards, meeting Cora's.

"For you."

"Oh no, I'm fine." Cora replied with a wave. Vague amusement passed over Eduard's face before he raised the key to his nose, tilting his head and inhaling sharply. He sniffed, brushing the back of his hand against the bottom of his nose.

"I thought you were a party girl. I saw you ... Maybe two years ago. 4th of July. Someone said you had enough k to take down a horse."

Roman snorted. "Classy."

"Yeah, that was the old me. I'm new and improved now." Cora replied. "Actually that's why we wanted to talk to you. We ha-"

"So, this." He gestured to them both before passing the baggie and key to Roman. "Package deal?"

She frowned, unsure of how to answer. Roman didn't seem to miss a beat as he dusted the end of the key. Before he brought it any closer, he glanced over his shoulder at her. "I believe he's alluding to a threesome."

Cora gawked for a second, before laughing, shaking her head. "What? No. No package deal."

"So, just you?" Eduard asked.

"Just me ... Just me in terms of ... " She waved a hand in the air, allowing the man to fill in the blank.

"I thought you were both propositioning me."

"In the business sense." She almost couldn't believe what she was hearing. Looking for a lifeline, she attempted to catch Roman's gaze, but he ignored her completely as he handed the key back to Eduard. Instead he swung one leg up, propping his shoe against the counter and hugging his knee to his chest. "Sounds like this might not be a great fit though, so we might head off."

"We're just trying to find out what kind of terms we'd be looking at if we were to approach you for ... a favour." He said the words kindly, but the upward inflection at the end of his sentence made his meaning plain. Cora hugged her chest, trying her best to keep a measured appearance, despite the fact that she was developing the itch to drown Roman in one of the toilet stalls. Eduard's lips curled into a bemused smirk, shrugging his shoulders.

"Hmm ... Let me consider." He narrowed his eyes, thinking for a moment, before nodding his head towards Cora. "That one. And favourable coverage of my country."

"Pussy and propaganda?"

"Wow!" Cora exclaimed, laughing unnaturally. Both men shifted their gaze to her as she forced a grin onto her lips. "That's great, but I'm sadly not a sex worker, so I'm actually going to insert a counter offer and say no thank you!"

"I wouldn't pay attention to her." Roman said with a wave of his hand. "History of indecisiveness, major daddy issues. You know how it is."

"It was really nice meeting you." Cora said through her teeth, clenching her jaw as she nodded towards Eduard. "Sorry we couldn't help any further. Roman?"

He finally met her eye. She found herself disturbed at the blankness of his stare, the sheer neutrality of his features, as he gave his head a small shake. Without another word, she headed for the door, kicking the stopper aggressively several times to dislodge it. Yanking the door open, she pulled it closed behind her with a loud slam and almost barged right into Greg.

"Oh! Cora! What were you doi-"

"I can't right now." She muttered, pushing past him. She vaguely heard him call out after her in reply, but the pulse of the music obscured any clarity to his words. As she climbed the stairs, searching for the exit, she felt her skin begin to grow prickly. Threading through the throngs of people, jostled by the crowd, it felt as though the walls were closing in around her.

Finally she found her way out, gasping in the fresh cold air outside as though she had just broken the surface of water. Outside it had recently rained, the pavement below her shoes was still stained dark with moisture, and her breath entered the atmosphere in clouds. It occurred to her, standing in the night's air, that she had completely forgotten to grab her blazer off of Greg. She turned to face the entrance of the club, considering the idea of going back in to fetch it from him. Now that she was thinking about it, maybe she'd been too quick to brush him off. He was in attendance at the retreat now, maybe they could finish what they had started earlier in the day after all.

"Hey stranger."

Cora froze at the sound of the familiar voice. Gingerly she turned around to see Stewy.

He was standing to the side of the pavement, a cigarette smoking between his fingers. She briefly weighed the possibility of simply walking away from him. Being seen talking with one of Logan's enemies seemed to be an unwise decision. What was stopping her from making a run for it? No, that was stupid. She wasn't good enough to manage that in heels.

Resigned, she cautiously approached the man. Not much had changed about him save for the hint of crows feet at the edges of his eyes and the greyish tint to his dark hair. As she arrived in front of him, he reached an arm out to give her a half-hearted hug before pulling away.

"I knew I heard you were back palling around with them." Stewy said. "I thought your last experience would've kept you away."

"It wasn't like that." She began, unable to stop herself.

"No, I know." Stewy shrugged. "Kendall said as much at the time."

Cora felt her throat tighten. She'd always wondered if Kendall had ever elaborated on the whole ordeal with Stewy. He seemed to detect the tension on her face, chuckling under his breath.

"I'll assume he didn't extend the courtesy to you."

"No, you're right. He's been kind of an asshole since I sided with Roman about something. About Vaulter."

Stewy nodded. "Oh yeah, Kendall's baby. The kid he doesn't forget exists when it's convenient for him. That'd do it."

"And he was meant to not be addicted to cocaine when we met, but he pretty quickly reversed that decision." Cora added.

"Sounds like Kendall."

"And he keeps engaging me in these holier than thou diatribes about how I'm just as bad as he is and how he knows every move I'm going to make because we're alike and yeah that makes it pretty hard to unpack the whole," she stopped short to wave a hand in the air, trying to illustrate her point. Stewy chuckled. "The whole whatever the fuck you wanna call it."

"Yep. That's Ken."

"Yeah, it's getting tiring." Cora muttered. She paused, looking at Stewy's cigarette. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a packet and holding it out to her.

"Well, look. There's only so much I can really say. We're on two sides of a fucked coin right now, I can't really be fraternising with the enemy but I'll say this because, fuck it." Stewy passed her a lighter as he spoke. "I liked you, back in the day at least. I'd heard quite a bit and none of it had been good but you were entertaining and frankly that's a fucking lot."

"Thanks, I think."

"It's a compliment. Most of the yuppie rich kids mooching off of their trust funds or inheritances or whatever have you, they have no fuckin' personality. You liked to play coy but a couple drinks in and you came alive, so to speak." Cora wrapped her lips around the cigarette, feeling the acrid smoke filling her throat as she inhaled. "And yeah, I'll admit, I feel bad. I like Rava, you'd probably like Rava. She's a very likable person. Never really made sense with Ken, but we all make mistakes."

"Uh huh."

"I probably had an opportunity to stop it all too. I know what happened. I know there was no affair, you shut it down. It surprised me when he told me, I won't lie, because part of me thought you were humouring him to get back at Roman. But no, that said a lot. That you told him to back off."

Cora pressed her lips together. She let out a rueful chuckle, shrugging. "Well, small consolation but thanks. I think Logan's tabloids basically convinced the entirety of New York that I fucked him."

"Maybe. You got the short end of the stick." Stewy dropped his cigarette to the ground, stamping it out with the toe of his shoe. "But I'll ask this before I say anything. Did Kendall play it like he'd stumbled into the entire thing?"

She considered his question, opening her mouth to answer, then pausing. She wracked her memory of the night, thinking back to what he'd said. She was taken with how vividly she could recall the words they had exchanged, despite the fact she'd spent the following years denying herself the act of reliving it. For a brief moment it was as though she was there, back in her kitchen, looking at him in the half-light as he told her that he was leaving.

"He said ... " She paused, closing her eyes. "He asked if I thought that it was inappropriate, us hanging out. He asked me if I'd ever wondered, and then he told me that he'd ... "

It had frightened her to realise in that moment that she had wanted something without being fully conscious of it. The look in his eyes almost seemed to pull everything into focus for the first time since she'd run into him, and it had terrified her. She'd wanted him. Cora hadn't wanted anyone like that since she'd been a teenager, since she'd wanted Roman, but even that had felt like kid's gloves in comparison. Her crush on Roman had been through the hazy eyes of youth, unweighted by cynicism.

"Told you what?" Stewy pressed.

"Well, he just ... I guess he basically said he'd been thinking about it for a while."

"But he never said how long, did he?"

Cora shook her head. Stewy sighed.

"First night, the night we met, he knew you were going to be there. That's how long he'd been thinking about it, and he told me as much. The guy who owned the place mentioned you were promoting and he insisted on going."

Cora scoffed, shaking her head. "No, he didn't."

"Believe it, sister."

She was still shaking her head as she continued. "There's no way. That'd ... That's some Machiavellian shit. He was married. He hadn't seen me for a decade."

"Yeah, no shit. Him, Logan. Same fucking cloth." Stewy shrugged, smoothing a hand through his hair. "Just watch out for your neck, alright? Whatever you think you know, you probably don't, alright? I'm gonna head in, catchya around, champ."

With that he patted her on the shoulder and headed back in the direction of the bar. Cora stood, frozen in place, as the ash of her cigarette creeped upwards. It wasn't until she felt the bite of heat that she moved, discarding the butt on the ground and watching the embers slowly die on the concrete path below her feet.

________

She hadn't been arrived in her room for more than 5 minutes before she heard a knock at the door. Cora's first thought was to simply ignore it, she'd already taken off her heels and had been about two seconds away from stepping into the shower with her clothes still on to wash away the stress of the evening. She was beginning to reach her wit's end, and the mounting stress was not helped by the seemingly ample supply of drugs and alcohol gloatingly shoved in her face at all times.

Another knock. Who could it be? Was it Roman to announce that she'd sank the lifeline Gerri had had them attempt to field? Greg with her blazer? Was it Kendall to give her a speech about how she was the equivalent of a hobgoblin? She closed her eyes with a sigh before pushing off of the edge of the bed, unlatching the security lock of the door and turning the knob.

"Evening, dear." Logan said gruffly, giving her a curt nod. Cora made a small noise of surprise. The last person on her mind would have been him. She forced a smile onto her lips as she greeted him, though she was unable to hide her shock.

"Oh, hello. Uh, how can I help you?"

"You can start by letting me in." He replied gruffly.

"Oh yeah, of course." She muttered, stepping aside for him. He pushed past her, pausing at the threshold and glancing around, muttering something about the room being quaint. He moved to sit in one of the small armchairs near the bed and Cora softly closed the door. Carefully she crossed to the bed and seated herself on the corner of it, balancing right at the edge.

For what felt like an eternity, Logan regarded her unflinchingly. Cora shifted beneath his stare. She had began to use the nail of her pointer finger to push the cuticle of her thumbnail upwards, and was chewing the inside of her lip.

"You don't have a bottle of something, do you?" He barked. Cora opened her mouth before shaking her head, dark eyes growing sheepish as she started to apologise. Logan waved a hand at her, causing her to fall quiet. "Mm you know, when Frank told me about the ... The rehab and everything, I didn't quite believe him. Thought it was a bunch of bullshit. A little liquor never hurt anyone."

Cora didn't quite know what to say. Her mind was spinning as to why he had come to visit her, and the most obvious answer seemed to lie in the meeting earlier in the day. Had he come to demand how much she knew? To accost her for her source? She suddenly realised just how poorly matched she was against him. She hadn't even considered the possibility of a confrontation between them, especially given the fact that his children had always been there to provide a buffer.

Logan continued. "Especially not you. You don't think I noticed how much would go missing when you and Shiv were up to no good, do you? We always knew. It's just what children do. A little nip here and there, it's natural. We used to watch you kids a lot more than you realised."

"I'm sure we were a lot more obvious than we thought at the time." Cora managed weakly.

"Mm." He nodded heavily. "Used to take bets. Connor and Kendall started it. Frank, he's soft as you know. He always thought my Roman and you would end up together but ... I knew otherwise. The boy's never been right. I did think maybe you could have helped him along a little, straightened him out. Clearly you saw through him in the end though."

Despite the evening she had had with Roman, she felt defensive of him. She'd heard this sentiment before, multiple times, from multiple people over the years. Roman was weird, strange, not quite right. He was unlikable, annoying, a pest. She'd never seen it when she had been younger, though now she found herself wondering if she'd been wearing rosy glasses all along. Still, she didn't like hearing Logan speak about his son in such a disparaging way.

"I don't think I'd have made a very good partner anyway. With my mother and everything ... I obviously went through a dark period of time."

"Oh yes." Logan said, nodding. "Very sad about Reagan. Very sad indeed."

"Thank you."

"Yes, took Frank a while to get over it." He said, cutting her off. When he spoke again, his tone had become distinctly gravelly. "But that's not why I'm here. I'm here because you clearly know something about what the article is going to be about."

All she could manage was an awkward chuckle. "I don't ... You know I'd never say an-"

"The thing is, I can't get rid of you. Wouldn't be right, not with Frank the way he is. And Kendall, you have an effect on him. That's who I imagine said something." He sighed, shaking his head. "I thought publishing what I did would have put an end to it. I liked Rava, she kept him in line for the most part. Now? Pah, who the fuck knows. But clearly he's a dog with a bone, and the bone's back in the yard. You see the predicament on my hands."

He paused, scratching absently at his beard.

"Did you ever wonder why the media never got their hands on the senator story?"

Cora's reaction was visceral, gasping under her breath as she felt her skin break into a cold sweat. She felt faint, as though her blood sugar had suddenly plummeted, and she clutched her temple with an open hand, bile rushing up the back of her throat. She barely heard Logan continue to speak through the ringing in her ears, steadying herself against the side of the bed.

"It was a favour, for Frank, at great personal cost. But I'm starting to think I might actually get a fair shake here." He clicked his fingers and Cora straightened her back, sitting at attention like a trained animal. "Don't be so fucking dramatic. I'm not telling you to do anything yet. I'm letting you know what you can do here if you want to stick around, if you want a fucking leg up."

"And what would that be?" She breathed.

"I'm not too sure yet." He replied. "For now, I just need you on standby. I need you to know what's what. I know you've been stuffing around with the kids, but you answer to me now, yes? Unless you want everyone to know about the skeleton in your handbag."