Deena sat across Ferhat. He was wearing a different suit. It was a 3 piece that clearly cost as much as the car his man tried to tow earlier that evening.
An event that she considered bringing up but thought against it. She didn't want to set a negative mood to this dinner before it began. Deena was waiting for him to do that. Playing offense is not something that she was interested in.
The waitress had yet to come around to take their order. They were seated in the middle of the room. Not as private as she expected from a man like himself. She wondered if this placement was because he felt threatened by her. A smile crossed her lips.
Good, she wanted to be the kind of unpredictable one couldn't trust.
His cologne wafted towards her as he leaned forward.
"You look beautiful." he murmured as his eyes roamed the parts of her body the table didn't cover.
She wore a low cut red dress that showed more than it covered. Deena knew men to trust the brain in their pants more than the one in their heads. She had every intention of taking advantage of that.
"You don't look so bad yourself." she smiled bringing the wine glass up to her rouge lips.
Growing up away from alcohol proved to work as a barrier now that she wanted to portray a certain image. During the last couple of weeks she's been visiting wineries and vineyards. Attending every wine tasting she could to appear as though she were a woman who drank it regularly.
Her mind trailed back to Jack Simmons the minute that the fermented fruit touched her tongue. The taste of it reminded her of him, like it did every time. He offered her a drink many times, she refused it each time.
A glint shined in Ferhat's eyes the minute he saw her tongue dart out to pick up the few drops that escaped her mouth.
There was one thing she enjoyed about wine. How it worked to seduce the watcher. She watched him behind hooded eyes. Deena was as bored as she believed she appeared. She wasn't excited about spending her afternoon at an upscale restaurant with a man who was meant to be no more than a pawn in her game.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked.
"Someone I used to know." She lied.
"and is this someone a man?" There was displeasure in his voice.
"wouldn't you like to know."
"I would, actually. You see before making a woman mine, it interests me to-"
Deena threw her head back and laughed. Color filling her eyes for the first time since she entered the restaurant.
"And what makes you think I have an interest in being yours."
"You don't?"
She shook her head.
"Then what are you doing here?"
"I see you like redundancy."
"What do you mean?"
"We had this conversation already."
"You didn't give me a real answer."
"I gave you an answer as real as the truth."
"You want to help me?"
Mhmm. She nodded.
"What are your motives?"
"Justice."
"Revenge?"
"What's the difference?"
"The intentions."
"I have good intentions for the good, and bad ones for the bad."
"And you'd help someone bad to bring justice to the bad?"
"Lesser of two evils."
This time it was his turn to laugh.
"You think I like coming in second? "
"No, that's why I'm here to help you become first." she moved her head to the side.
Deena knew he was a bad man. She had no doubt in her mind as to the kind of person he was. He was probably even worse than Mr. Masser. But she had no affinity to the people Ferhat hurt or destroyed the way she had an affinity to the people Mr. Masser hurt. He hurt her. He stole from her.
Looking at the way Ferhat played with his glass reminded her of him. Michael kept his cup on his lap. He was comfortable like that.
Coffee tables weren't a necessity around him. And when they went out to eat, from the moment he picked it up to the moment it was empty, Michael never placed the cup on the table until it was finished.
When she first met him she thought it was an odd thing. Later she began relating it to the other things he did, how he wasn't worried about who saw him do anything. How uninhibited and bold. How uncouth society may have viewed him, but he was unbothered. How he lived without shackle or self-restraint.
"Are you thinking about him again?" Ferhat's voice broke into her thoughts.
"What makes you say that?"
"Your breathing changes and your eyes wander the way they did just now. And your eyes only wander this way when you're thinking about someone ."
Deena frowned at that. Not that he was perceptive of her movements but that he was analyzing her. Building a profile. She wasn't comfortable with him doing that.
"No, you just reminded me of my sister." she lied. Deena needed to ruin this profile he was building of her.
"Oh? How so."
"She used to tell me the same thing. Whenever she wants to have a conversation and I begin to doze off. She'd say 'who's the guy'?" Deena smiled at the fake memory willing it to be real.
"Used to?"
"I'm sorry?"
"You said 'she used to'."
Deena cleared her throat. "What're we doing here?"
Ferhat watched her. She was sure that he came up with the conclusion that she wanted him to come up with, that she had a sister who was now dead. And if this would lead to the final conclusion she'd hope it would, Ferhat would think that this vendetta that she has is against the person who murdered her sister.
He sighed. "Where are the papers?"
She pulled them out of her bag and placed them between the both of them. Deena didn't want to appear too eager.
Ferhat stopped eating and wiped his mouth with the cloth napkin. When she realized he was going to start reading the documents, Deena stood to leave.
"Valentina..."
She paused and looked at him.
"I don't kill woman."
Deena didn't know if he meant that her life wasn't in danger with him, or that he wasn't in any way responsible for her sister's death... or fake death.
