Page 33 of King of Deception

“Why are you even here? Go home. Call Toby. Attend a yoga class. Get outta here!”

“You’re sabotaging this date!” she yelled as I laughed, pressing my palm against her face and pushing her out before closing the door.

Turning back into the dressing room, I slowly scanned the rows of shoes neatly arranged at the bottom. I knew that I had an old pair of sneakers somewhere and prayed that Briga hadn’t thrown them out.

Naturally, I couldn’t take any of the cars in my garage. Instead, I decided to download a rideshare application on my phone and order an ordinary vehicle. In front of the estate gates, the driver arrived in a blue Ford—perfect.

As I waited underneath Ella’s building, I saw a man selling one-dollar bangles in all shapes and colors. One of them caught my eye; a marble-like appearance in all shades of pink. It reminded me of the dress she was wearing the night we made love, so I decided to buy it for her.

Five minutes later, she came down with a smile on her face. She was wearing a mint green top and jeans. “Why didn’t you come up?”

“I didn’t wanna rush you.” I lifted up my hand, showing her the bangle. “And I got this.”

“Aww!” she took it and closely examined it, smiling. She then looked up at me, “I see Mike got to you,” she loudly said, and the man a few feet away laughed out loud. She turned to him, lifting it up, “I guess you finally got what you wanted, huh?”

He shrugged, “Hey, it’s about time.”

“Thank you,” she turned to me as she slid her hand in, shaking her wrist as she did. “It’s really pretty.”

My heart beat faster by the effect of her sweetness. “Shall we?”

“So, where are we going?” she asked as we began to walk side by side.

“There’s this place, Fresco’s?”

“Oh, I’ve heard of it.”

“Never been?”

“Nope.”

“Well, I used my connections to get us a nice table,” I tittered.

“Nice! Don’t you go and make me fat, now.”

Eyeing her from the head down, I smirked. “That won’t be easy.”

“You literally work with food. I’m surprised you’re in such good shape.”

“I told you, I swim a lot.”

“Right. Where do you go?”

“Uh—Well? When you’re me, you pretty much know all the security personnel, hosts, and concierges in every hotel in town.”

“I see.”

We stepped into the restaurant where nobody actually knew me, and the waitress acting as hostess squeezed two menus under her arm. “Good evening. Do you have a reservation?”

“Yes. Abel—?” I drew it out as she looked at the list on her clipboard.

“Gotcha. Follow me, please.”

I had to hide my relief for not having to say my full name out loud. While ‘Drakos’ was a common Greek family name, I didn’t want to risk being recognized. As requested, we got the best seats in the house; a corner table overlooking a small garden.

The woman placed down the menus, smiling, “Your waiter will be with you in a minute.”

Having studied everything they had offered before making the reservation, I knew the safest options to order. It gave me a chance to observe Ella as she read through the items. “Oh, gnocchi! I’m definitely gonna have that.”

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