Lucrezia

[0_0_7]

Bond had been following Allen for days since he'd found out the man had loose lips. He wasn't sure if he'd actually given up specific details about John Grey, damning the man to be burned and disavowed or if what he had said had lead someone else to the right avenue. Bond needed to know, though. So he had doggedly followed the man, bent on knowing all he could.

Which was why he had followed him today to the hotel, watching him as he clearly went to meet the tart he'd been seeing. Bond honestly had little to say about who the man fucked, though if he would cheat on someone as kind as Lucrezia he was clearly an asshole.

What Bond did not expect as he entered the cafe across the street to wait for the man was Lucrezia herself. Bond saw an opportunity and he took it, asking the host to be seated near her. As the man lead him to the empty table Bond smiled at her.

"Lucrezia, what a surprise," he said. "May I join you? I do hate to dine alone."

Comments

[borgiafatale]

Lucrezia hated being reduced to this. Tailing her husband to confirm what she suspected, that he was cheating on her. She hadn't actually seen anything, but he'd come to this hotel at the same time three days in a row.

This was why it was three in the afternoon and she was on her third glass of wine as she waited for him to emerge. She was timing it. Knowing Allan, she doubted he would be in there very long.

"Oh," she said, looking up at James Bond, a bit surprised. Though there was no reason he would know why she was really there. If anything, he'd just think she was an alcoholic, drinking like this in the middle of the afternoon. "No, go right ahead." She watched him as he sat down; the man knew how to wear a suit.

[0_0_7]

"You look radiant," he said warmly, sitting across from her. "What brings you out today? More philanthropy?"

[borgiafatale]

"Mmmm... yes, I an single-handedly supporting the vineyard industry of London," Lucrezia said with a little laugh.

[0_0_7]

"English wine? How progressive of you," Bond said. "What are we drinking to this afternoon?"

[borgiafatale]

"It's a Denbies Pinot Gris," Lucrezia said, tipping her glass to him, even as she waved the waiter over. "You'll have a glass with me, won't you?"

[0_0_7]

"I would be delighted," Bond said. "And is there a reason for this? Pinot at three pm...there's usually a reason behind an early indulgence."

[borgiafatale]

Fuck it, thought Lucrezia.

"My husband," she said, "is across the street in that hotel." She pointed. "And this is what I have been reduced to. I thought if I was going to verify my suspicions I should be drinking while doing it."

[0_0_7]

Bond was a phenomenal poker player and his face gave away nothing of his knowledge of Allen being there., or his surprise that she knew.

"I'm teribly sorry," he said simply. "He's a fool to do that to someone like you."

[borgiafatale]

"Mmmm," Lucrezia hummed. "And yet it's always the woman who looks like the fool in the end, isn't it?" She sighed. "My first divorce was splashed all over the tabloids, you know. I don't really want another."

[0_0_7]

Bond knew this would need to be handled delicately, but he couldn't resist the temptation to learn what Lucrezia knew.

"Has he been at it long?" he asked. "What I mean is, have you suspected long?"

[borgiafatale]

Lucrezia shrugged, looking a bit uncomfortable now. It really was ridiculous, how she was the one to be made the fool. "Serious suspicion, a few months perhaps. Though it could have been far longer. He's paid more attention to his work than to me for a long time."

[0_0_7]

"What a fool," Bond said with no small amount of derision. "Remind me again, what does he do for a living?" he asked then, as if he didn't already know.

[borgiafatale]

"Oh, he's a barrister," Lucrezia said, sounding distracted. "I imagine he'll go into politics eventually, like his father. But for right now he's just a workaholic. Though apparently not working so much as I thought he was."

[0_0_7]

There was nothing more distressing than political aspirations. People were utterly stupid when they were trying to get into the game.

"Tell me more," he prompted as the waiter brought them new wine. "Has he always been a workaholic?"

[borgiafatale]

"More or less," Lucrezia said, and took another drink from her wine glass. "Though when we were first married he made more time for me anyway." It had been romantic, actually. He had been romantic.

[0_0_7]

"But now he has aspirations," Bond said. He paused for a moment. He knew the answer to his question but what he really wanted to know was if Lucrezia knew.

"Do you know who he's with up there?"