She smirked and opened her mouth, but quickly shut it again. This was her chance and she knew it. He didn’t know who she was. This could be the out she was looking for for the past 3 years. Waiting. Saving. Planning. She swallowed hard with her new realization. “Grey. My name is Grey.” She smiled warmly.

“Grey…?” he said, smirking a little, “Nice to meet you. I’m Milo.”

“What?” Grey asked as he chuckled.

“Oh nothing... I guess I'm just very impressed. I’ve never met someone who has as good of an eye as myself. Plus, that fighting. Where did you come from?” he inquired as he sat down on the floor in front of her.

“Mars,” She joked. They both laughed. Grey pulled against her restraints, attempting to take in every moment of this odd connection. They both were curious… and interested.

For the next four hours they sat there. Talking, asking questions, and attempting to figure each other out. Neither one succeeded. Their questions ranged from their favorite Chinese dish, to their preferred weapon; hers was Butterfly knife, spider edition while his was a beretta “85 cheetah” 360 auto.

Finally, they came to the big question. “So...” Grey started, “What’s going on with the business. You kinda said that there were money problems.”

She tried to put her question in as nice of terms as possible. Normally she would have asked this question with the motive to exploit him or his company. But this time, she didn't know why she wanted to know, but she wanted to, nonetheless. He chuckled quietly.

“Ahh… about that… It's a family business...? Of sorts? I kinda inherited the business since my father passed away… he died about a year ago… and when he died, so did the business…” quietness had passed between them, until Milo broke out laughing, “ahhh... I shouldn’t be telling you this… but you seem pretty trustworthy,” he said looking down and smiling.

Her mind ran in circles. She knew she’d never run a business like this before. Nowhere near this extent, but she knew how it worked. Inside and out. I have the skills... and we both have the drive… and we seem like we’d make a good team… “wh-- what if I could help…” Grey said cautiously.

Milo’s head whipped up to meet her eye to eye. “What do you mean…” he said not really knowing what she had in mind.

“You have the bones of a potentially amazing, successful business. All you need is someone that has some experience in this… someone who could be your partner and help get this behemoth into gear,” She was excited. Her mind was dancing with possibilities.

“That would be amazing, any brilliant ideas of who can help?”

“W…well yea… me...” She said looking deep into his eyes. Watching for his changing body language. “I know people... I have connections, funds... experience...”

A few moments passed, but when Milo spoke, it was barely audible “if we were to do this, what would your proposition be…?

“A compromise, a partnership, equals in all rights. A courtship in a way...”

“and what happens when we meet new clients? What do I say, what do we say? That you’re a consultant? A long-lost cousin helping rebuild the company?” He was slightly exasperated. He wanted this to workout. He wanted to be a partner with her. They’d make a good team.

“No, nothing as suspicious as that. That would either draw too much attention or show us… The Company I mean, as weak… it’d be... something much simpler... hopefully...

“What are you saying then...?”

Grey swallowed hard, “relationship. Boyfriend-girlfriend. No one would think a second thought. It’d just be ‘oh look, he has a girlfriend. He must trust her to bring her into the business’ I mean, you don’t have a SO, do you…?

It was easy to tell that he was shocked, it was written all over his face. Luckily it wasn’t the kind of shock that came from pure horror, but that of astonishment. He never thought about it like that. Finally, after composing himself he chuckled and breathed a sigh of relief.

“You really caught me off guard, which doesn’t happen often. Can I have thirty to think this over...? He said quietly as Grey nodded. She knew it was a big decision. And she was asking a lot of him. It had a lot of weight. She’d happily wait till he had his answer straight.