Natalia’s POV

I ended up cancelling dinner that night with Dexter. I had too much to think about.

The other day was such a close call, not only did they almost see me but my mission is failing miserably. I still didn’t have any leverage over Dexter and my family was still in danger. The fear of failure loomed over me, like a dark cloud and I was waiting for the rain to fall.

I decided to change tactics and follow Dominika’s advice, distancing myself. I shouldn’t be so selfish when my family was so close to danger. My brother’s protection meant more than my feelings, right?

I had half a mind to tell my father that I was giving up and to hand the job over to someone else, but my pride stopped me. I had to do this.

I was sitting in my real apartment, alone when my phone rang on the sofa next to me.

‘Hello.’

‘Kitten.’

‘Papa!’ The sound of his voice was reassuring and I hoped that he had good news.

‘How is you’re task going Kitten?’

‘Uh, Good,’ I lied, but I couldn’t exactly let my father know of my current predicament, otherwise he would surely pull me from the task. He couldn’t know I had mixed feelings about the task.

‘Any new information?’

‘Uh Not yet.’

‘Ok, I need you to get some information for me.’

‘Sure, what is it?’

‘A murder in a bar last night, the name’s ‘Steve Keller’ and I need to know if Dexter thinks we are involved. Erik did it, and I just have to make sure that they are not going to be on his case again. According to Oleg the police don’t think so, but it seems that Dexter hasn’t been sharing everything he is suspicious of.’

‘I will find out.’

‘Let me know what you find, tomorrow.’

‘Tomorrow?’ he was giving me one night to do this?

‘Yes. Is that a problem?’

‘N-No.’

‘Good. Bye Kitten.’

He hung up and I felt conflicted.

I took a deep breath and tried to remember that I was distancing myself from Dexter, that this was important.

I looked at my phone, it was only a few hours until I was going out to dinner with him. I was going to get this information out of Dexter, one way or another.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

I got to the restaurant and was surprised by how nice it was. The room was quite big and elegant, the many tables covered in pristine dinnerware and glasses, the chairs high backed and expensive looking. There was a band playing in the corner of the room and as the waitress led me to the table I passed many smiling people, some on dates others with their family. All looked quite dressed up and proper.

As I approached the table I noticed Dexter, he was wearing a suit, a smile covering his features as he saw me.

‘Nat!’ He jumped up from his chair to give me a light kiss and motioned for me to sit down.

‘Dexter,’ I said looking around, ‘This place is amazing.’

‘I wanted tonight to be special,’ He said, pulling my hands into his. His thumb rubbing gentle circles on my skin as we talked.

‘You’ve done well, I wish I was dressed nicer,’ I admitted looking down at my outfit. My salmon coloured dress had a high neck and fell just below my knees, with black flats covering my feet. This seemed to be a place where designer outfits were more common, not these clothes which were more versatile.

He didn’t seem to agree with me, squeezing my hands and smiling, ‘Are you kidding? You look beautiful!’

His words were genuine and I felt my heart swell a little. It was strange to think that he liked me, that he thought of me as beautiful.

I never looked beautiful, according to men I dated I looked ‘hot’ or ‘sexy’, but never beautiful. Men stared at me with lust in their eyes, their gazes always flicking down to my chest when they thought I wasn’t looking. Dexter’s eyes however, held affection, and genuine interest.

I never thought of myself as a girl who men could be friends with, I was the girl men wanted to sleep with. Yet, when I was with Dexter it was like all of that fell away and I was listened to, I was loved.

Loved?

Was that love?

To care about someone for more than their looks, to hold genuine interest for them and to want to know them?

If it was, then I had never been in love before. The men I thought I could have loved never treated me like Dexter has, never cared for me like him.  

 ‘Really?’

‘Really,’ he smiled before his eyes lit up for a moment and he let go of my hands, only to reach under the table.

‘Here,' he said, putting a little box on the table, pink wrapping paper covering the item, and a small card on top.  

‘What is this?’ did he get me a present?

‘A present, what? Did no one ever get you presents on your birthday before? You poor deprived child,’ he laughed, pushing the box towards me.

My birthday?

Wait, it was the 20th, that was my birthday. How could I have forgotten my own birthday?

‘It is the 20th right? Oh god, did I get it wrong?’

‘No, no, it is my birthday.’

He looked relieved, ‘thank-god, I thought I just made a fool of myself.’

I laughed, and took the present in my hands. Dexter remembered. My brothers, my father, my best friends, they had all forgotten, but Dexter hadn’t.

I felt a pang of hurt at the thought, I had never forgotten one of their birthdays, yet they all forget mine? I guess we had all been busy lately, but it still hurt to be forgotten like this.  

‘It won’t bite, promise’ Dexter assured me, I realised that I had just been looking at the present, not opening it.

I opened the card and read it.

            Nat,

            Happy 24th Birthday

“If on your birthday, I could make your dreams come true, I would. But for now, I’ll make mine true by being with you!”

Dex xx

I couldn’t help but smile at his sweet words, and I saw a slight blush on his face when I thanked him for the card.

I slowly pulled back the paper to reveal a little black box. Inside sat a beautiful charm bracelet, a little ‘24’ hanging off of one link and a delicate ‘N’ hanging off another.

‘I thought that you could fill it up in time.’

‘Dexter, this- this is beautiful,' I told him, gently picking up the chain and admiring it. The bracelet was stunning.

I started to put it onto my wrist, but it was difficult to do with one hand. Dexter’s fingers took over from my own, gently doing up the bracelet, his hands warm and soft against my skin.

‘I’m glad you like it.’

‘Like it? I love it,’ I told him, playing with the delicate silver around my wrist.

As we ate our meal we talked about our childhoods, mine riddled with lies but based in truths. He turned the topic onto his job and I took the chance to get some information.

‘…Bridgette ended up arresting him right there.’

‘Wow, Bridgette sounds like an amazing cop.’

‘She is,’ he said proudly and I could tell how much he respected his partner.

‘So, my friend was telling me that some guy got murdered in a club last night, Steve something? You were working last night weren’t you?’

‘Oh, yeah, I saw that. It was horrific, the guy was shot three times.’

‘Do you know who did it?’

‘I think that it was one of Cherkesov’s men,’ I need more than that, I need to know if he thinks it was specifically Erik? I hoped that Erik covered his tracks well enough.

‘Ah, do you know which one?’ I asked, as casually as I could.

‘No, but I have an idea,’ he said and I hoped that this idea was not my brother. He continued, ‘These Cherkesov’s, I’ll be glad when they are taken down’

‘Why do you think they will be taken down?’

‘I know they have half the city in their back pockets, but I’ve been talking with a few higher up policemen and it seems that they have less power than they think.’

This seems like bad news. ‘How so?’

‘We are working to take them down, off the record. They have spies everywhere, but we’ve managed to get quite a lot of dirt. Even got the identity of one of the Cherkesov boys.’

‘Did you make an arrest?’ I knew full well that they did arrest Erik, but ‘Natalie’ didn’t know that.

‘Yeah, but an hour later, suddenly the files and security tape we handed into our supervisor went ‘missing’, all our proof, gone, just like that,’ he said, slightly exasperated.

‘What are you going to do?’

‘We’ve got a plan, but enough about work. It’s your birthday! Tell me all about your day, did you see any family or friends?’

This is bad. Dexter is working off the record with other cops, so that will be harder for Oleg to figure out what they know. Who is he working with? What is the plan?

I needed to know the plan, but what’s the solution?

Will my father order Dexter to be killed to stop whatever this plan is?

I have to tell my father what I know, right?

‘Uh, yeah, my friends at work had a cake for me, and my parents called this morning’ I lied, but Dexter didn’t seem to realise, spending the rest of the evening in good spirits.

I, however, was dreading the phone call I would have to make in the morning.

Remember to Vote and Comment if you enjoyed the chapter! xx