Deceiving Dexter

Chapter Ninteen - Deception

Natalia’s POV

‘Where and when are you meeting him?’ I asked Dominika who was sitting on my couch, her phone in her grasp and her eyes trained on the screen. She had arrived at my small apartment a few hours ago, but she seemed more interested in her phone than soothing my not-so-quiet worries.

‘Twelve-thirty at our apartment, he’s picking me up and we are having lunch,’ I let out a sigh, I had two hours until I was meeting with my father and knowing that they were meeting at Dominika’s apartment, well it was supposed to be ours but I hadn't slept there in weeks, meant that I would have even more time, the apartment being a fair distance from the office.

The brunette seemed to be unaware, or just unfazed by my nervous pacing in front of her. I flopped next to her on the couch, bringing my knees up and stared at my best friend.

‘Why are you watching me?’ she asked, her eyes not lifting from the phone.

‘Because I am freaking out a little here.’

She finally looked at me, ‘Your father has refused you pretty much nothing in your life, I have no doubt that he will accept your proposal.’

‘What if he doesn’t? What if he makes me kill him? What if he completely loses trust in me for aski-’ my rant was stopped when Dominika cut in.

‘You are overthinking this Natalia, just go in there, tell him what we talked about, and then it will all be ok.’

I took a deep breath and got up, walking to the bathroom. I observed myself in the mirror, my eyes were dark and puffy, no sleep tended to do that to a person. My skin looked sickly pale, causing my pink lips to look a deeper shade than usual. I put some concealer under my eyes and fixed my make up.

My hair was straight today, the blonde stands falling harshly around my face. I curled one strand around my finger nervously as I prepared to stare at a clock for the next few hours until I had to leave.

I was momentarily saved from that boredom as my phone buzzed in the other room and I rushed to pick it up. Dexter’s name was displayed, so I made sure that my voice held no Russian accent as I answered.

‘Hey Dex,’ I said as happily as I could.

‘Hi Natalie,’ his voice was unemotional and held none of the usual cheeriness and love I knew it to harbour.

‘What’s up?’

‘I was wondering, could we meet before dinner?’ This looked promising, maybe I had been overreacting.

‘Yeah sure, is there a reason?’

‘Uh, I- I think we need to talk.’

Yeah, I wasn’t overreacting. We need to talk? I was about to save his life and he was about to break up with me?

I blinked back the tears in my eyes and tried to throw as much confidence as possible into my voice, ‘Ok, when do you want to meet?’

‘How about at 1:30pm, there’s an Italian place on San Lorenzo Ave, we could have lunch?’

‘That sounds great Dex,’ I said, pressing end and dropping the phone into my bag.

How is this supposed to work? I am about to tell my father that I want to tell Dexter everything, and he was on the verge of breaking up with me?

I pushed the thoughts away, well, as much as I could, yet the tears still formed in my eyes and the dread pooled in the pit of my stomach.

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