Next of Kin

Chapter 17

Félix held out his hand to help Lila out of the car. She looked up at him and smiled with those same seductive eyes she had pulled on him that night in London. There were two big differences since then though- one he was perfectly sober this time and two, he had someone else to love. The last thing Félix wanted was another drunken filled night with Lila. No, he would wait to be with the one he really wanted to be with. When this was all said and done he would take Kagami away somewhere, anywhere she wanted to go, and he would lavish on her all the beautiful things she deserved for having to put up with him doing this. Not that this was a date, oh no, this was a business dinner, nothing more, and he wasn't going to let Lila manipulate it otherwise. Not this time.

As he led Lila to the exclusive restaurant, she wrapped her arms around his and shivered a little. "It's still a little chilly out. I should have brought my coat." She said, looking at him expectantly.

"If you were going to wear a sleeveless dress, then yes you should have." Félix replied dryly. Lila's face dropped into a scowl and Félix let out a huff as he slipped off his jacket and placed it around her shoulders. He knew from the smug grin on her face this was going to be a long and painful dinner.

Once they were seated and ordered from the menu, Lila engaged in a run of babbling small talk which she knew Félix hated. As she talked her well healed toe started making its way up his calf. He was well aware of what she was doing and it didn't take long for Lila to make her intentions known, even as he shifted his leg away from her and crossed them. "This is such a lovely restaurant for a date, Félix. You really are spoiling me tonight." She said in her honeyed tone as she walked her fingers along the edge of the table towards his hand. Félix slipped his hand back, gathering his napkin as he did and placing it on his lap.

"Don't get the wrong impression Lila. This is a business dinner, not a date." He said flatly. "I have something you want but you haven't offered me anything worthwhile in return."

Lila looked him up and down, running her tongue along her bottom lip. "Do you really think I'm only interested in the Gabriel business? Didn't London mean anything to you?" She battered her eyes at him.

"Did it mean anything to you?" He shot back. "You used me for information and then disappeared in the morning."

"You can't really tell me someone like Kagami could light a fire in you the way I did. I know that under that cool exterior you like to show the world is someone full of passion."

"That was drunken fueled lust, nothing more. Kagami is different, something someone like you wouldn't understand."

Lila sat back into her seat as the waiter came over and poured the wine into the glasses. Once he had finished she picked up the glass and brought it to her lips, taking a sip while the food was set down on the table. Lila picked up her knife and fork, cutting onto her rare eye fillet steak aggressively. 

"You know that looks like it's still mooing." Félix said, screwing up his nose as he cut into his own medium-well done steak.

"You seem to have gotten rather cocky all of a sudden." She observed. She had expected Félix to be a lot more grovelling, but he was far too confident for her liking. "You know something don't you?" For a brief moment she wondered if he knew where Gabriel was.

Félix dipped his hand into his inner pocket and pulled out the photos of Gabriel and Hawk Moth that had been left behind on the day Gabriel disappeared. There were several red marks on the Hawk Moth image. "These were fake, weren't they?"

Lila froze with her glass part way to her lips before she took another sip and placed the glass down. "I guess it takes one to know one." She said, her voice betraying no emotion. She could see the question on Felix's face and she let out a small laugh. "I caught Gabriel once talking with his Kwami. That's what they are called right? He was in his office at the time and he didn't know I saw him. I thought about confronting him about it, but once my employment was, shall we say terminated, I decided to keep that information for better use. Unfortunately it turns out kwami's seem to be invisible on camera, and Gabriel was quite careful where he transformed even in his own house. Breaking into the surveillance system was just a cover to make the photos seem more realistic, although I did enjoy snooping around, and I'm still curious as to where Gabriel goes when he pressed the buttons on the painting, but no... I had no tangible proof he was Hawk Moth."