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𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍

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"Sophie Iwobi just tweeted that she's doing a segment about you and Kendall." Olivia said, looking up from her phone. "Like one tonight."

Cora tried to turn her head to face the girl but was met with a hiss from the makeup artist. She'd been in the chair for what felt like hours, a dressing gown draped over her outfit to save it from any potential fallout. She huffed under her breath as the woman continued her attempt to attach a strip of lashes to Cora's upper lash line. They were currently all gathered in one of the bedrooms of the venue Gerri and Karolina had chosen, a top-floor suite in the Mark Hotel. Outside the catering staff and various Waystar employees had finished setting the stage, clearing much of the furniture to make way for the sizable guest list. Cora had given it a quick once over when she'd first worked in, and she had to admit, with the time they'd been allowed they'd certainly filled the brief of opulent yet tasteful.

"Do you have a read on the angle?" Gerri said from across the room, where she stood beside Karolina. Despite the strain of their timeline, both women seemed completely unphased by the sheer amount of work they had committed to the debut. "This could be good if she goes for Kendall's throat."

"And bad if she doesn't." Shiv remarked. She was perched in the chair beside Cora, one leg folded over her knee, scrolling through her own phone to find the tweet in question.

"Let's hope for something even-handed." Karolina said, her tone diplomatic. "An enforcement of the current opinion. Maybe some jabs about Kendall's hypocrisy? Thankfully Cora wasn't involved in the congressional hearing."

"Right." Gerri nodded. "I think the correct course of action with it this evening though is to keep screens off and just work the room. Remember the angle: Kendall is the jilted ex-wife of Waystar, hellbent on dragging a well-respected media organisation down because of a personal vendetta."

"And what if anyone asks about the stunt from yesterday?" Cora could tell from the tone of her voice that Shiv had arched an eyebrow. She knew Shiv had been the least impressed with her actions, but she'd never understood Cora's inclination towards public attention.

"Well I was thinking of just playing it o-" Cora hissed loudly as the makeup artist's mascara wand caught the edge of her eyeball. "Jesus fucking Christ not in my fucking eye! When is this going to be over with? Are you done?"

"That's what she said." Roman said, shutting the door to the bedroom. Olivia, unable to stop herself, tittered under her breath but stopped immediately when she registered Shiv's glare. "Noted. Not in her eye."

"Aren't you meant to be running your himbo through the anti-guest list?" Shiv said, standing from her seat and smoothing the dark grey fabric of her dress.

"Yeah I mean it wasn't a long list. No paps, no Arthur what's-his-face. Besides, I wanted to see what you ladies were up to. I've never been in a war room that was so estrogen-y before. I feel like I need to join the pack, anyone got any birth control?"

"It's Pruitt." Cora corrected, letting out a theatrical sigh of relief as the makeup artist finally backed away from her.

She rolled her neck, working out the kinks that had built up from keeping so still as she took the mirror the makeup artist had handed her. Despite the slip-up with the mascara, she really couldn't fault the artist's work, having completely erased the wear that the last couple of days had done on her ability to sleep.

"Oops! Unfortunately it doesn't make much of a difference because I told Peter to address him as rat fucker, so ... "

Just as she was about to hand off the mirror, she caught a glimpse of Roman's reflection in the glass, his eyes meeting hers. Quickly he pulled a face and she rolled her eyes, passing the mirror back to the makeup artist.

"Wait, who's Arthur?" Olivia asked innocently. Just as Cora was trying to find the right descriptor, Shiv beat her to the punch.

"Ex-boyfriend of Cora's." She replied quickly, turning to address Karolina. "Did you manage to find out what his deal was? Like yeah Kendall's a prick but he didn't even know Cora was named interim when he hired him."

"I called around to his employer earlier, Kendall put out a bulletin to the top firms and Arthur was the first to put up his hand. Said he always wanted to work with a Roy."

"Any idea why your ex-boyfriend would be so keen to volunteer for Kendall?" Gerri's gaze was pointed as she addressed Cora, cocking an eyebrow. "Is there something he knows?"

Cora swallowed hard. She had thought long and hard since she'd seen Arthur turn up at Rava Roy's apartment about how she would best tackle the issue and she'd come up dry. Granted she hadn't tried very hard before she'd retreated to the bottle, but regardless it was a conundrum she was ill-equipped to deal with. She'd considered telling Gerri about it but the idea of giving Logan even more ammunition made her feel physically ill. No, better to just pretend the problem didn't exist.

"Nope, not at all." She replied, straightening up and shrugging off the dressing gown to reveal the white boucle dress beneath. From his place beside the doorway, Roman whistled comically loud. Cora tried to keep a straight face as her cheeks began to glow bright red.

Gerri still appeared unconvinced, but a trill from her phone stole her attention before she could follow up. "Alright, the guests are starting to arrive downstairs. Out everyone, except you Cora. Karolina's going to brief you on the major players."

The room quickly dispersed, Shiv heading up the rear as she lingered to try and catch a hint of the conversation. Her skin itched with irritation when she felt the sharp edge of Gerri's gaze as it swept her, swallowing her pride and resolving to go and find Tom. He'd been sent back to New York to aid the team with the debut, but Shiv couldn't shake the feeling there were underlying reasons for his return that had gone unstated. It was something she had been forced to become unwillingly accustomed to since Kendall's bombshell. It felt like everyone was conspiring to keep in the dark: her brothers, her father, her own husband. Cora too had been tight-lipped, and though Shiv had been resentful of her friend at first, she'd be denying reality if she couldn't admit neither of them had had agency in her father's machinations.

Yet with no real indication of what forces had caused the palpable undercurrent, Shiv was feeling her way around in the dark. She knew Cora enough to know she couldn't just ask what was going on. For the time being, at least, she was simply forced to observe and hope something would give.

So as the guests began to filter into the suite, the steady stream of clinking champagne flutes and conversation swelling around her, that was exactly what she did. She began to watch, scanning the room as guests of various notoriety gathered around her. It didn't take long for her eyes to find her first point of interest, fixing on a familiar face who had just entered the fray.

"Vi?" Shiv called to the other woman. Violet's lips spread into an enthusiastic smile, greeting Shiv with a chaste kiss on the cheek. Shiv pulled away to take the other woman in, her eyes running up and down the other woman's dark green ensemble. "Cora didn't mention you were coming tonight."

"Oh, well, you know her." Violet replied with a soft shrug. Shiv got the feeling that her mind was somewhere else. "Speaking of, where is the hostess? I have a present for her."

"Uh, last I saw she was in one of the back rooms. I think she was just running over some of the last de-" Before Shiv could finish, Cora appeared at the far end of the room, waving towards Violet. Shiv felt a spark of jealousy at the look on Cora's face, how genuinely happy she appeared at the sight of Violet, realising how unfamiliar she had become with Cora's smile.

"Speak of the devil, right?" Violet said with a giggle, waving back to Cora. She turned to Shiv quickly. "I guess we should catch up soon. Girl's night? I'll have to run it by Cora, but definitely drinks some time, yeah?"

The other woman quickly patted Shiv on the shoulder, a tight smile setting on her lips. As Shiv watched her depart, it occurred to her that maybe even Violet Ingram had a better idea of what was happening around her than she did.

Meanwhile, as the party had begun to come together in the walls of the suite, Roman found himself on the landing outside with Peter as they waited near the doors of the elevator. Minutes ago Roman had received a text message from reception below that a man fitting the description of Arthur had entered the building. Could Roman have had him stopped in the lobby? Probably. But that was no fun. Plus maybe, just maybe, he could deal with the Arthur problem without having to drag Cora into it.

Nervous energy ping ponged through his body as he tapped his foot against the floor, his arms folded across his chest. Peter meanwhile leaned against the wall puffing from a vape, seemingly unaware of the tension that was beginning to swarm Roman. He blew a series of o's into the stagnant hotel air, proceeding to cut through them with a forceful gust of breath, the blueberry smoke fading into nothingness.

Roman's eyes fell to the vape. Peter cocked an eyebrow. "You want a hit, bro?"

"Yeah fuck it. Give it to me." The other man obliged, passing him the vape. Roman took a deep inhale, the sensation cooling his throat but not his nerves. He passed it back, exhaling a cloud, his eyes falling back to the elevator as he watched the floors begin to tick upwards on the electronic panel beside it. Peter followed his gaze.

"So this guy, he's a no go, right?"

"Yep."

"You think he'll cause a scene? I can rough him up a little' if you want, man."

Frankly Roman was banking on the idea of Arthur causing a scene and giving him an excuse to sock the jock on him. After all, what was the point of having someone like Peter around if it wasn't to deliver physical retribution that Roman had always been incapable of. He nodded, Peter grinning in response.

"Nice bro, was hoping you'd say so. Hey, hold my pen for a sec, I gotta warm up." Roman caught the vape midair, looking down to see Peter immediately drop down to the floor and begin doing push-ups. Under his breath, he snorted. It was safe to say he liked Peter, even if he seemed a little one-note. At least he was consistent.

His eyes flickered back to the panel, watching the number growing higher and higher. In his chest, his heart was beginning to quicken its pace with each passing second. Yes he wanted this confrontation, but the idea of being face to face with Arthur unlocked a past he'd let go unexplored in his mind.

Roman had been bullied more than a few times in his youth, but the instances between himself and Arthur had always sat with him in a different way. It wasn't as though they had been more brutal, military school naturally bred violence and Arthur wasn't the kind to get his hands too dirty, but the added knowledge that Arthur had done worse to Cora had entangled the memories with a deep sense of shame. Shame that he had never done anything to stop him, to Cora or himself.

Excitement flooded his system as the elevator dinged announcing its arrival, the metal doors sliding open to reveal Arthur's languid form. The man seemed unphased by the welcome party, meeting Roman with a cool and collected gaze as he strode forward with an unassuming confidence. Peter, realising the appearance of the other man, suddenly jumped up from the ground and cut off Arthur's path.

"Yo bro, you gotta move on, unless you want there to be trou-"

"A little pathetic, isn't it? Having another man fight your battles for you?" Arthur interrupted, looking past Peter and squarely at Roman.

"Not any more pathetic than showing up to a place you aren't invited to. Gatecrashing's pretty fucking 90s in all of the worst ways. I'd expect as much from someone so keen to take a job from my brother. Smooth, by the way, I can tell you know how to woo a woman." Roman replied curtly.

"Is this your way of asking for tips?" Arthur said, taking a step forward. Quickly Peter shoved him back, light but with warning.

"Roman, you want me to shut this guy up?" He said, glancing over his shoulder. Roman shook his head.

"Nah, it's alright. I can deal with this. Not that there's much to deal with," Roman sighed. Peter obediently stepped aside, folding his arms against his chest as he continued to glare at Arthur warily. Now properly face to face, Roman was unable to deny the fact he'd remembered Arthur being a lot shorter than he actually was.

"Oh, that's cute. If only you felt that way when we were younger."

"So what's your plan anyway? Try to wear her down and win her back? What ever happened to just showing up outside a girl's house with a boombox? Nope, gotta turn on the charm by ruining someone's life."

"You Roys are all the same. Doesn't the hypocrisy get tiring?" Arthur replied with a chuckle. "What about the projection? The uncontrolled narcissism?"

"Yeah thanks for the psych 101 class, I can't wait to introspect after that. While you're at it, maybe you can give me some tips on how to psychologically and physically terrify women?" Roman shot back, grinning as he did so. God, it was so invigorating to finally tell him he was an asshole. Why had he never done this sooner?

"I don't know, maybe ask your brother," Arthur said. "He seems to really want to outdo himself this time, but I think that'll be a challenge."

Roman felt himself falter, his chest growing tight. Arthur's dark eyes were shining with challenge. Despite the alarm bells ringing in his head, Roman knew he couldn't back down, even if Arthur confirmed what he had always feared was the truth about Kendall and Cora. He could handle the worst case scenario, he told himself as he stared the other man down, just as long as it meant he could permanently remove Arthur from Cora's life.

"You forget it's my brother you're talking about. Whatever boogeyman you're trying to pretend Kendall has up his sleeve, trust me, it's nothing."

"Oh, you don't know what I'm talking about, do you?" Arthur smirked as Roman gritted his teeth. Without waiting for a reply, Arthur leaned down, his lips hovering near Roman's ear as the cloying smell of the man's cologne filled his nostrils. Roman resisted the urge to flinch. "Your dad might've coined 'Cokehead Cordelia', but your brother takes the cake. After all, who do you think got her hooked in the first place?"

For once, Roman was lost for words. Arthur pulled back to take in his expression, a sly grin curling its way onto his lips.

"That's what I thought."

Roman barely registered it as Arthur pushed forcibly past him, his hearing suddenly overtaken by a high-pitched whining. It wasn't until Peter gave his shoulders a firm shake that he snapped out of his head. "Hey man, you alright?"

He nodded, tensing his jaw. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

"He went into the party, you want me to go drag him out?"

Roman blinked at the other man blankly, unsure of what he even meant. His mind was consumed by a single thought. He needed to find Cora, to confront her, and he had to do it right this second. Without another word to Peter, he turned on his heel and followed in Arthur's footsteps.

Back inside the party Shiv, who had indeed kept her eyes peeled, had come to the horrifying realisation that her brother had been right about something.

"God, just watch her." Tom muttered beside his wife. "You'd think a canape killed her mother. Is she saving the contents of those napkins to feed a nest of baby birds?"

Shiv hissed under her breath for her husband to stop, which he promptly obeyed, much to her gratitude given that she had little else to spare in the way of scolding. No, all of her concentration had shifted to hyper-analysing every point of contact she could remember between the other woman, a catalogue that spanned roughly 24 years. She didn't entirely know what to make of the memories that were beginning to resurface for her, other than an uncomfortable sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

As she saw Roman enter the room from the corner of her eye, she flagged him down. Roman nodded at the pair, grabbing a glass of champagne from a passing waitress and immediately throwing it down the hatch.

"You were right."

"Mm," Roman hummed, sounding distracted. "Is it bad taste to say I told you so? Considering the subject matter and all. Actually, I don't care. I told you so."

"But ... How'd I never notice this? I spent how many years being practically inseparable from her and I never noticed that she has a weird thing around food?" Shiv was genuinely rattled. She'd always taken it for granted that she thought she knew Cora, and thought she'd known her in a way that Roman could never have hoped to. Roman's gaze was not unsympathetic as she met it, shaking her head incredulously. "Was I ... A bad friend?"

Roman chewed this question over for a moment, and Shiv became certain that he was trying to find the best words to further humiliate her, because humiliation was the emotion radiating through her core. Surprisingly his tone had softened when he spoke again, his eyes sweeping the crowd of guests. "I figured out pretty early on that talking to Cora is like ... playing a one sided game of two truths and a lie. That's why you have to watch her. She tells the truth in her actions."

Her brother's insightfulness struck something inside of her, a chord or perhaps a nerve. It occurred to her that maybe Cora wasn't the only person she'd been wrong about in this whole equation. She searched Roman's face as his eyes found Cora, unable to ignore the hint of softness that had swept his features. Shiv inhaled, blinking hard. Was she seeing what she thought she was seeing?

Roman patted his sister on the shoulder, giving her and Tom yet another nod. "I'm gonna go flag down the hostess." He said. Shiv nodded, her eyes catching on another figure in the crowd. From the sidelines, Arthur raised his hand in a solitary wave. Shiv narrowed her eyes, tightly waving back. Maybe it was time to find out just how incorrect she had been.

Across the room, Cora was roused from her conversation with a small group of journalists when she felt a hand on her back. She turned to find Roman, his expression tight.

"Hang on guys, sorry." Cora said quickly, before bowing away from the group. "Hey, what's up? Has Kendall arrived?"

"I need to talk to you. Alone. Right now."

Cora fought to keep a smile on her face, unable to ignore the tone of his voice. "Um, yeah! Sure. I guess we can go find a bathroom or something."

"Yeah, let's do that." He replied quickly, taking her hand. She barely had any time to react as he led her out of the main room, through the crowded hallway and deeper into the suite. Cora sniffled beneath her breath as they walked, hoping that Roman wouldn't detect the difference in her since he'd seen her earlier. Finally they found the bathroom, Roman opening the door and stepping aside for her to enter.

"Ok, I have to say something." He said, shutting the door behind himself.

"Ok, ok I'm listening alright. Go on." Cora muttered, seating herself on the edge of a laundry hamper. Roman's shoulders slumped as he stood before her. Even through the haze of liquor and cocaine in her system, she could see he was agitated. She averted her eyes to the white tiles below. Inspecting the grout was favourable to nursing the guilt that was creeping into her chest.

He took a deep breath. "You're out of control. Or you're heading off the rails, I don't fucking know, but what I do know is you're in trouble. And don't lie to me Cora, because last time I checked I wasn't blind. I can see with my own two eyes that something isn't right."

"Oh fuck off, I'm not going to be lectured just because I'm having a little fun! It's just fun Roman, I know my limits! I'm not even that drunk." Cora cleared her nose as she spoke, moving to stand. She couldn't do this right now, not when she had a room of people she needed to impress several feet away. Quickly Roman placed his hands down onto her shoulders, firmly keeping her in place.

"Look at me. Look me in the eyes." He said suddenly, and she could tell by the tone of his voice that he knew.

"What? Why?" She said, attempting to deflect.

"Cordelia." His voice was sharp and unfamiliar, trying to lean down and look for himself as she tried to pull away. Roman huffed under his breath. "You're high. You're high on coke."

"What? No I'm not. I don't do that." She replied quickly, panic rising in her voice.

"Yes, yes you are Cora. You're high on coke." Roman's voice was firm as he spoke, but the hurt was obvious. "You weren't just in rehab for alcohol, were you?"

"Oh, so you believe the crap your father wrote about me? It was all lies, you know. I haven't ever touched that shit." She retorted.

"I believe what Arthur told me." She could feel her heart sinking. "I know he'd probably lie about a lot of shit but you know what, I believe him on this, and you wanna know why? Because he told me who gave it to you in the first place."

She bit down on her lip, her eyes climbing each button of his shirt in slow succession. Barely hidden beneath the fabric of his collar, his Adam's apple bobbed against the skin of his neck as he spoke. She traced the lines of his jaw neck, the shadow of his stubble. Finally she met his eyes, his gaze pleading.

"Cora, you need to tell me what's going on. You haven't been the same since we got on the yacht. I'm not just going to stand aside and watch you become a trainwreck. What does my father have on you? What actually happened with you and Kendall? Everything. I need to know everything."

When it became obvious he was waiting for an answer, she gave him one. She reached to take his wrists with her hands, sliding them from her shoulders and rising. Her mind recalled him when he had stood before her in Turkey, though the voices that had swarmed her mind then were surprisingly silent now. Did the past really matter? Did anything? From where she was standing, it felt like she had the world in the palm of her hand, like she was finally wielding something that caused others to pay attention. She no longer simply wanted to be someone, she wanted to be someone formidable. No longer would she be forced to be a pragmatist; now she held the cards.

But he was threatening that, threatening to knock her back down by forcing her to dwell on everything that had kept her frightened and meek. And she couldn't have that, oh no, she couldn't have that at all.

She could feel his breath hitching in her mouth when she kissed him, breathing in his scent, jasmine and cedar wood. For a beat he remained frozen, his body rigid beneath her touch, but this was short lived. His hands found her, tangling in her hair, pressing his fingers into the small of her back to mould her body against his. He tasted familiar and yet his movements were foreign, when she had last touched him this way he had been timid but now he held her with seasoned hands. His tongue flirted with her own, eliciting a shiver that wracked her spine, a moan blooming in the back of her throat.

It was the sort of kiss she'd attempted to chase from every lover she'd had after him to no avail. It hit her square in the chest that no one had ever made her feel this way but Roman, and that she had known this instinctively when they had first kissed. His lips brushed the scar of their past, reawakening the wound her body remembered in searing clarity, the wound she had created. At once it was too much and not enough. She wanted him, wanted him to devour her whole then and there, yet the idea of just what they were doing deeply disturbed her. Did this mean that they would finally be forced to confront the past? How could she possibly consider doing so, when the present had become so overwhelming?

Roman pulled away from the kiss but remained hovering before her lips. His hand, still tangled in her hair, cupped the back of her head as his eyes searched hers. Nervous energy ping ponged inside of her as she anticipated his next move, expecting him to press his lips to hers once more. Instead he inhaled sharply, as if he'd had something on the tip of his tongue for a long time and he'd finally come to realise what he wanted to say. His brows creased as he opened his mouth, a slightly pained look sweeping him.

"Fuck, it's always been you, hasn't it, Cordy?"

She let out a soft noise of startle, her head light and airy as though her brain had been simultaneously replaced with cotton the moment he'd uttered the words. God, she hadn't heard that stupid nickname in years, not since she'd spent her very first summer with him by her side. It was impossible to deny the hope that burned in his gaze, a hope that sent spikes of fear through her chest, pressing on her worst instincts. Bury, run, hide.

Inside her ears, the whooshing sound of her own blood beating hard and fast clouded her hearing to the creak of the bathroom door.

"Oh! Oh! I didn't kn-" Cora broke away from Roman, crossing the bathroom to quickly shut the bathroom door. Greg was towering beside it, a look of shock on his boyish features as he gawked at Roman. "I-Is this back on? A-are you two a thing again?"

"Wait, you told him?" Roman muttered.

Cora ignored him, instead turning her frustrations towards Greg. "Are you fucking serious? Who doesn't knock before they enter a bathroom?"

"I-I just ... I really needed to go dude, I'm sorry, I just drank so much of that punch out there and I don't know what you put in it but I really gotta piss."

"Oh yeah, by all means, go right ahead Greg. Don't mind us." Roman muttered.

"Really?"

"No, not really. Go find another bathroom." Cora snapped. Greg nodded dutifully, turning to leave. Cora stopped him short, shaking her head. "If you tell anyone." Cora hissed under her breath, motioning her finger to slash the air in front of her neck.
"Yeah, loud and clear. Message heard. But uh, to be clear, does this mean we're definitely not dating anymore?" Cora stared blankly at Greg. He seemed to take this as a response, nodding his head enthusiastically up and down. "Yup, got it, you don't need to tell me twice."

The bathroom door closed behind him. Cora placed the palm of her hand against the wood, flattening her forehead against it as she closed her eyes. She jumped when she felt Roman's hand on her shoulder. He looked visibly shaken, his hand massaging the side of his jaw. She knew from the look on his face that while the kiss had been a good distraction, staying in the room alone with him would only lead to more questions that she didn't want to answer. Sheepishly she giggled, reaching a hand behind her back and turning the doorknob.

"I guess that means Kendall's here, I better go greet him." She said quickly. "Um, chat later."

"Wait, can we just ta-"

But she had already slipped out through the doorway, taking quick strides as she attempted to put as much distance between herself and the bathroom as possible. Subconsciously she reached her hand upwards to brush her fingers against her lips, unable to believe she had done what she had. Her mind was a haze as she attempted to process the flurry of thoughts now clouding her mind. Should she have done that? Was this going to bite her in the ass? Could she ever possibly tell him the whole truth? What was clear to her was the fact that with one stray kiss, she had opened the Pandora's box she'd been wrestling to keep closed.

[ 𝑨𝑵: omg hope you guys enjoyed! i can't wait to write & post the coming chapters! i'm adding these to the main page of the fic but i made these playlists so pls give them a listen if you're curious! the first is the general fic playlist and the other two are ship ones. ]