𝟮𝟮𝟳 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀 [𝙏𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙚]

4. 𝘼𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙊𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚

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Sitting face to face with Tangerine was intense to say the least. His eyes bore into Nadine with scrutiny, shifting up and down, drinking in her appearance like he was utterly parched. It was somewhat unnerving. The brunette had made the smart decision to put his gun away, but both were aware it was close at hand, ready to be drawn quickly should he so desire. Nadine's weapon was on the vacant seat beside her, but she would only use it if he did.

"So," She clasped her hands on the surface of the table between them. "Mr Tangerine, I believe we have a common interest."

"I'm sorry, who are you?" He reiterated. "You keep cropping up, on the platform, at our seat, are you following me and my brother?" Nadine noted how Tangerine referred to Lemon as a sibling.

"Nadine Sedgwick." Usually this introduction would be proceeded by the woman in question sticking out a hand to be shook, but quite frankly, she didn't feel like being as courteous to the man across from her. "No, I'm not following you. But I am here, I was hired at least, to steal your case." She admitted upfront.

"So it was you?" Tangerine narrowed his eyes, noticing the slim object underneath the table.

"No, not at all-" She tried to explain further, but was cut off.

"Then what's this under here then?" He snarked, elegantly pulling the decoy case from under the table and flipping it onto the surface with a raised eyebrow. The entire movement was fluid, and Nadine gave herself a moment to admire someone who's mannerisms were so careful yet flowing like a river. "You can stop staring, love, I know I'm pretty but flattery won't do you any favours." Tangerine smirked, noticing her looking at him.

"That's hardly what I was implying-" Nadine then chose to ignore the comment instead of pushing further, face aflush with frustration. "Nevermind. That's not your case. This is a fake I was given to switch with yours."

"Given by who? And how do I know you're not lying?" He immediately questioned.

"I don't know my real employer," She leaned further forwards, constantly keeping his eyes in a firey lock in an attempt at intimidation. "Work comes through my contractor anonymously and I do it. Simple as that. As for how you know I'm not lying, surely you know how unintelligent of me it would be to take your prized case and then taunt you with it. You are supposed to be looking after it, but then again, you were supposed to look after him, and look how that ended up." Nadine smiled icily, indicating the dead man to her left.

"Look, Miss Sedgwick, I don't know your game, but I'm not gonna play it." Tangerine laced his fingers together and dropped his chin to rest in their cradle-like lattice, bringing his face close to Nadine's.

"There's no game. You want the case, I want the case, now someone else has the case." She smiled sweetly. "We engineer ourselves a little alliance to deal with this third party, and voilà, everyone is happy."

"Everyone is not happy." He refuted, right eyelid twitching. "You still want to steal our briefcase."

"Well from there it's fair game, the best if us will get it, whoever that may be. I'll give you, and Lemon I suppose, a cut of my pay for your troubles." Nadine shrugged. "I can be amenable."

"How do you even know our names?"

"Because I have ears and you talk loudly." She replied almost instantly, the conversation rallying quicker and quicker like and incessant tennis ball being hit between the two, ferocity ever increasing.