"Everything."
"Have you set it up?" Mr. Stone voice was a flat monotone.
"It's just a neat little split and swap. You know how it's done."
Mr. Stone nodded and sat down behind his desk. He dropped the contracts beside him. Mr. Black stepped out of arm's reach.
"You don't have to do this!" I couldn't let this happen. He was going to give it all up for me?
"Trust me," Mr. Stone said. He drew out the pause. "I do."
"Blah blah, get it done," Mr. Black sneered.
Mr. Stone tapped his keyboard and then his phone buzzed. Mr. Black checked it before handing it over to him. He tapped the phone and then let out a sigh before standing up and walking over to me.
"Just wait a moment please," Mr. Black said, holding up his hand. His phone buzzed and he began tapping away.
This is what it took to destroy a company? To strip it all away from Mr. Stone and give it to Mr. Black?
"We're done. You can go. But remember ... I have the little pyromaniac's evidence just in case you think of doing anything stupid."
"Oh, don't look so concerned," he said to me. "The rich hardly ever go to jail. He'll pay some fines, bankrupt some businesses but at night he'll still be sleeping in that ridiculous mansion of his with your mouth wrapped around his tiny dick."
"Fuck you."
"I know you want to but I don't fuck whores."
Mr. Stone turned around, fury in his face.
"You're a fool. I was willing to help you but you're not going to talk to Delilah like that."
"Oh, that true love thing again is it Jackson? You know she wanted to fuck me, just like all your other girlfriends. This is getting boring though. Get out of my office."
"Maybe you should check all those investors you had lined up. Did you complete your due diligence I wonder? That was never your style. Too boring wasn't it? Too busy trying your hardest to fuck everything that moved."
Mr. Black glanced down at his phone.
"I'd check SBU. And Richmond Associates. Then move on to Delfrey."
Mr. Black's reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a black and silver pistol.
"I lied. I do have a gun. Stay right where you are."
Mr. Stone stepped in front of me, shielding me from the gun. Over his shoulder I saw the moment it happened as Mr. Black tapped his phone: his face drained of all color except for two red spots high on his cheeks. He went so pale I thought he might pass out right then.
"What did you do?" he said. His voice was trembling and so was the arm holding the gun.
"Only what you taught me," Mr. Stone said. "By the way, we have your men who broke into my house. There were tracking dots on those papers. You really should pay more attention to what we actually make in this business."
Mr. Black waved the gun towards the computer. "Undo it. Put it back."
"You know it doesn't work like that. Put the gun down."
"Undo it or I'll put a fucking bullet in her head!"
Mr. Stone was fast, I knew that. He was quiet too. But I'd never seen anything like this. One moment he was in front of me and the next he was grabbing Mr. Black. A shot went off, an impossibly large explosion, and wooden chunks flew out of the door. But Mr. Black didn't get another chance. I heard the sound of breaking bone, a meaty crunch that echoed across the room as Mr. Stone broke his nose and knocked him out in one blow.
"Delilah, there are handcuffs in the drawer," Mr. Stone said. He kicked the pistol away from the unconscious Black and turned him over, pulling his hands behind his back. I rushed over to his desk and opened the bottom drawer. Eeep ... a vibrator. For some reason I found this incredibly hilarious and started laughing even as I opened the next drawer up and found the handcuffs. I gave them to Mr. Stone who was watching me with an amused look on his face. He snapped them on Mr. Black and at the sound of the metal clicking shut I burst into a fresh round of laughter.
"Do ... you want ... the vibrator ... too?" I could barely speak I was laughing so hard.
Mr. Stone turned his business partner over on to his side and made sure he was breathing before walking over to me. I was gripping the edge of his desk, laughing so much that tears were streaming down my face. He took hold of me and pulled me into his chest and in that moment, my laughter turned to crying.
"Shh," he said, stroking my hair.
"I don't know why I was laughing," I said.
"I couldn't have done this without you. Let's go."
He led me out of his office and into the elevator. We reached the lobby just in time to see the police arrive. Mr. Stone let them in and began to explain what happened. It took a long time but he never let go of my hand.
Not even for a second.
*
It was nearing dawn by the time we returned to the mansion. The police had hauled Mr. Black away and in a few hours Mr. Stone would have to go to the police station to hand over more evidence. There had been more cameras in Mr. Stone's office than Mr. Black had known about and the whole thing had been captured in glorious high-definition full color.
We went to Mr. Stone's study. I was wrapped in a red blanket, sitting by the crackling fire. He handed me a coffee and I took a sip and then breathed out.
"Your coffee has some brandy in it," he explained, pouring some into his own cup.
"My brandy has some coffee in it," I said, taking another sip. I felt the warm down my throat and spreading through my body.
Sometime during the long wait with the police I'd calmed down. Maybe# that was why they always took so long - just to make sure no one was going to keel from shock the second they walked away.
Mr. Stone sat down on the chair facing me, our knees almost touching and sipped his coffee.
"Without you, I could never have done it," he said.
"What is it? And what did I do?"
Mr. Stone laughed and then took my hand. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I suspected that Black had bugged my house so I could only say what I wanted him to hear. Otherwise I would have told you the moment I saw your amazing diagram."
"Of the companies?"
"That was it. I'd been searching so hard for the links and you had drawn it all up in black and white. I'd had some evidence myself and had various shell companies in place trying to draw out more information but it was you that helped me see it clearly."
"So all that stuff on the computer with the split sell..."
"He'd set up some stock trades on my behalf. I don't know if he intended for me to put them through or maybe he just wanted to rub it in when we arrived. But I already had my pieces in order and as soon as I put through what he wanted, mine kicked into gear and destroyed everything he'd done."