Syndicate (John Wick Spinoff)

Chapter 12

Lilith drove over to the Continental to have a meeting with the hotel manager. Nyx escorted Lilith to the rooftop where Valentina was waiting for her. Valentina sat in the patio, drinking wine and examining a fresh batch of gold coins. She placed her magnifying glass down when she acknowledges Lilith's presence. The employees then cleaned up the table for her.

"Miss Knight, a pleasure to finally meet you in person." Valentina stood up and shook her hand.

"The same with you." Lilith said.

"Please sit." Valentina motioned her to the empty chair and waited for her to sit down first before she takes her seat. "You've held residence here over a year ago and I haven't met you until now. But that doesn't mean I don't hear about you. You've grown an impressive reputation for yourself considering your age. The Director wasn't kidding when she said you'd do great things.  I must say I'm quite envious. I can't decide whether it's your ability or your youth." She joked. "I also can't fail to mention that you've done well financially."

Lilith smiled at the amount of praise she was getting, especially someone who is in high ranks.

"Now, rumors spread that you had apparently died three months ago. It became quite the controversy, really. And here you are living and breathing." Valentina said.

"Am I in trouble?" Lilith said.

"Of course not. But to be quite honest, I initially assumed you were trying to disappear off the grid and you know we can't have that, well the high table can't have that. They must at least know your whereabouts, even if you retire, and disappearing like that is a no-go. But your friend...uhhh....I believe Chris Whitley explained the situation and made it very clear that this incident was out of your hands." Valentina said.

"Does everyone know about this?" Lilith said.

"Well not everyone. But I did have to tell your superior your whereabouts." Valentina said.

"Right." Lilith said, making complete sense of how Ivan knew about this.

"Now, I had an incident with your attackers that night you were taken. They came in fully armed ready to shoot up my hotel." Valentina said.

Lilith rolled her eyes and laughed, "Idiots."

Valentina joined, "You're right. It baffled me who would be idiotic enough to pull off a stunt like that. I hope you have these outsiders taken care of?"

"I'm waiting for Petrov's call." Lilith said.

"Whatever happens, I do have the higher jurisdiction in Los Angeles. If it doesn't get done as soon as possible, or things get out of hand, I will handle it under my control." Valentina said.

"Trust me, I would love for you to do it, but I'm waiting for Petrov" Lilith said.

"I bet we all are." She said, causing Lilith to become curious as to what she meant, "Well, then. I don't want to keep you here any longer, I'm sure you have better things to do. Off you go, then. And...Happy Hunting." Valentina said.

Lilith hugs her goodbye and went on with her way. She entered her car and headed to meet Chris using the address he gave her. She headed away from downtown and up near Malibu. She parked in front of a Villa, looking over the beach. She enters the home and admired the aesthetic. A maid directs her to the balcony that overlooked the beach.

"Lily!" Chris walked over to her opening his arms wide to hug her.

"Chris." She smiled. He gave her a bear hug but it ended up hurting her, "Ow Ow."

"Sorry. Forgot about all that." He releases her, "You are just in time." He pulls out a chair for her, then took his seat across from her. He then lifted the cover on the plate revealing the dish.