Lucian stepped into the meeting restaurant. She raised her right hand to signal where she sat. He saw her seated on the left wearing a red dress revealing too much cleavage.
He walked over to her table and took his seat. She smiled at him excitedly and wasn't embarrassed. Despite the surgery to keep her body young, one could still tell she was older.
"I didn't think I could count on you coming," she said.
"I am a man of my word," he told her.
"Impressive," she said.
Her voice had a carefree tone to it. It was like her words came with ease and eloquence. She seductively moved her eyes - she didn't just need to look like it, she had to sound like it as well.
"You haven't ordered, shall I?" he asked, signalling a waiter.
"Oh no. I already ordered a bottle of wine. It should arrive soon," she told him.
"Alright. I am here now. You said something about a loan?" he asked.
"Come on, you know this is not about a loan. I have money." She said.
"Then what is this about?" He inquired.
"Lucian. I am not a girl to beat around the bush. I have learned that time flies and one must fly with it.
You are my fantasy. You may not remember but I was your uncle's neighbour many years ago. We were friends and I would come over to the house and play in the yard.
I watched you grow into a fine young man. Brilliant, ambitious, flawless." She said.
"I remember. And I remember how you looked at me differently once I turned sixteen." He said.
She smiled, lowering her eyes.
A waitress came over with the wine bottle carefully placed on a silver tray and two tumblers.
"And then you stopped coming." He added.
"I had to." She replied.
She carefully placed the glasses first in front of them, aiming for perfection.
"The last thing I wanted was you remembering me as some pervert." She added with a smile.
The waitress filled their glasses.
"Don't tell me the frequent visits to the knife room are because of me." He said.
She blushed a bit.
"No, I just dislike the word old." She said and sipped from her glass.
He raised his eyes.
The waitress turned to leave but was interrupted by another customer.
"I heard you never got married. Never had kids," he said.
"Yeah. Not a fan of all that. I believe more in liberty to love and live." She said.
"Lucian… I want you." She said.
"As a sugar boy?" he asked.
"Oh come off that. Times have changed. We can be together and no one cares why." She said.
"Considering our personalities, yes people will care to know why but that is not the point. It takes two for love to work and in this case, you are the only one there yet.
"Darla, I need your help." He said.
"Why? Are you in some kind of trouble?" She immediately looked disturbed.
"Someone came up to me. Some man who goes by the name El Dorado," he said.
She blinked her eyes twice with her mouth partially open.
"You know him." He said.
"Well, I know he is a very dangerous man." She told him.
"How then does he know my uncle? He claims Theo owes him money?" He said.
"It's wise to pay him," she said.
"Pay him? Just like that? If he is as dangerous as you say, me paying him makes me a part of whatever is going on here. I have a reputation to protect." He said.
"They call him Diablo- the devil. Looks cute on the outside, has a nice personality, and all that is just a way of enticing you into his world of darkness.
Money laundering, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, arms trafficking and more, he is in on it all." She told him.
"Are you saying Theo was involved in all of that too?" He asked.
"Pay him the damn money, Lucian. You don't want that man hovering over your head. He would ruin you, everything and everyone you care about." She said.
"Is this how you wish to help? Well, thanks for not helping." He said, getting up.
She stopped him.
"Just sit." She pleaded.
"Theo was an honourable man. I heard he got entangled with some girl
Who worked for Dorado.
He took her from him, from the market — he loved her. There was supposed to be a delivery that day. However, he orchestrated her escape and it cost Dorado a lot of money." She narrated in a low tone.
"When was this?" He inquired.
"It was recent, three months before his passing. I always wondered why he never married. Like me, he had a childhood sweetheart he longed for. " She replied.
"Did you ever see or know this woman?" He asked.
"No. No one has." She told him.
"But he does," he said.
"I presume he located Theo after his death and now wants you to clear the debt," she said.
After all those years, he didn't give up on finding the man who rescued the girl. After learning he was dead, he came after me." He said.
"Just give him the money," she said softly.
"I need to visit someone first," he told her.
A smile spread across her face, and she placed her right hand on his.
- "Why not visit me tonight?" she asked him.
The waitress who was just walking from behind Lucian's chair bent the tray to save it from falling for she had missed her step. Not quick enough, the red wine from the glasses on the tray poured on Darla's cleavage.
She opened her mouth in shock as her eyes blinked. Realising how embarrassing the moment was. The one caused by the careless waitress.
"I'm so sorry." The waitress apologized,
Darla had no words to say and the incident attracted stares.
"Are you blind or something?" Lucian got up to scold the lady but one look at her and he couldn't believe it.
The waitress ran away once their eyes met. It took a while for him to recover. However, he soon bent over to help Darla with a napkin brought by other servers on the ground.