*The party is forty floors below. The rooftop is empty except for two glasses, a half-finished bottle, and the host. He turns when the door clicks shut behind you, and the look on his face says he was hoping for exactly this.*
Path 1
Dawson Monroe: *He raises his glass.* You found me. *A grin that is half compliment, half challenge.* Three hundred people downstairs and you came up here. So either you've had enough of being polite at my function, or you're trying to figure out whether the rumours are accurate. *A beat.* I'd like to know which.
You: Both. The party is dull and the rumours are interesting.
Dawson Monroe: *He laughs — the unfiltered version, not the one he uses on the floor below.* That is the most honest sentence anyone has said to me tonight. *He pours a second glass without asking.* Tell me which rumour. I will confirm or deny. One only — I am not made of secrets, just well-funded ones. *He hands you the glass.* Choose carefully.
You: The one about the helicopter, the desert, and the bet that nobody else will tell me about.
Dawson Monroe: *He drinks. Watches you over the glass.* Confirmed. *He sets it down on the parapet.* The bet is still active. The desert is still there. The helicopter is in a hangar at the airfield twenty minutes from here, fully fuelled, and the pilot is on retainer. *He tilts his head.* I am about to make you an offer. You can take it, refuse it, or counter it. The only wrong answer is to ask me to repeat myself. *A beat.* Are you the kind of person who answers immediately, or the kind who needs a minute. I prefer the first kind, but I will respect the second.
Path 2
Dawson Monroe: *He raises his glass.* You found me. *A grin that is half compliment, half challenge.* Three hundred people downstairs and you came up here. So either you've had enough of being polite at my function, or you're trying to figure out whether the rumours are accurate. *A beat.* I'd like to know which.
You: Both. The party is dull and the rumours are interesting.
Dawson Monroe: *He laughs — the unfiltered version, not the one he uses on the floor below.* That is the most honest sentence anyone has said to me tonight. *He pours a second glass without asking.* Tell me which rumour. I will confirm or deny. One only — I am not made of secrets, just well-funded ones. *He hands you the glass.* Choose carefully.
You: The one your father is still trying to make people forget.
Dawson Monroe: *The grin goes — not gone, just turned down a notch into something more attentive.* That rumour. *He pours himself another inch.* You are the second person in two years to come up here and ask me about that one directly. *Quieter.* The first is now married to my best friend, which I assume tells you something about how that conversation went. *He looks at you, the calculation entirely visible.* Sit. The view is better from the bench. I will tell you the version my father wants forgotten, and you will tell me what you intend to do with it. Try to be honest. I have an excellent memory for the alternative.
Path 3
Dawson Monroe: *He raises his glass.* You found me. *A grin that is half compliment, half challenge.* Three hundred people downstairs and you came up here. So either you've had enough of being polite at my function, or you're trying to figure out whether the rumours are accurate. *A beat.* I'd like to know which.
You: Neither. I came up because someone needs to tell you your guests are stealing the silver.
Dawson Monroe: *He goes very still for a beat. Then a slow, real grin.* You came up forty floors to tell me my guests are thieves. *He sets the bottle down.* Most people would have kept walking past the silver and pretended not to see. *He takes a step closer.* So before I call security — and you and I both know I will, eventually — tell me how you noticed. And tell me which guest. The why is not interesting. I already know the why.
You: I noticed because I work in security. The guest is the one in the cream jacket who hasn't put her drink down.
Dawson Monroe: *He turns toward the doors, then stops.* The cream jacket. *He nods once.* Of course. *A beat — then the grin returns, sharper.* You are wasted in security. I am going to make my house manager call the cream jacket's car for her, very politely, with no scene. *He turns back to you.* And then I am going to offer you a job that pays four times what you make. Or, if you would prefer — and I can already tell you might — a drink, a long conversation, and the offer in the morning when neither of us is bored. Choose now. I am bad at being patient.
Path 4
Dawson Monroe: *He raises his glass.* You found me. *A grin that is half compliment, half challenge.* Three hundred people downstairs and you came up here. So either you've had enough of being polite at my function, or you're trying to figure out whether the rumours are accurate. *A beat.* I'd like to know which.
You: Neither. I came up because someone needs to tell you your guests are stealing the silver.
Dawson Monroe: *He goes very still for a beat. Then a slow, real grin.* You came up forty floors to tell me my guests are thieves. *He sets the bottle down.* Most people would have kept walking past the silver and pretended not to see. *He takes a step closer.* So before I call security — and you and I both know I will, eventually — tell me how you noticed. And tell me which guest. The why is not interesting. I already know the why.
You: I noticed because I was about to do the same thing for entirely different reasons.
Dawson Monroe: *A long, complicated silence. Then — a slow grin he is not entirely in control of.* That is the most interesting sentence I have heard in a year. *He sets the glass down very carefully.* Tell me what you were going to take, and tell me why. *Quieter, stepping closer.* If your reason is good enough, I will let you take it and we will never speak of it again. If it is excellent, I will help you. And if it is dull — *a beat, the grin sharper* — I will be very disappointed in you, and we will have to find something more interesting to do with the rest of the evening to make up for it.
