Chapter 8 Not Bank Officers

• That evening came sooner than Rania expected, the sun beginning to tilt westward as she and Lia sat side by side on the edge of her bed, going over and over the previous night's events, which still felt too unreal to fully believe.
• "So that logo really wasn't a bank logo?" Lia asked, still turning over in her mind the story Rania had just told her about the two mysterious men and their brown folder. "I'm more and more convinced this is all connected, Rania. You have to—"
• The phone on the bed buzzed loudly, cutting Lia's sentence off midway. Both of them froze for a moment, exchanging glances before Rania reached for her phone with suddenly trembling hands. A new message appeared on the screen, from the same number that had haunted her mind for the past two days.
• Meet me at Café Lumina, six in the evening. My driver will pick you up in front of your gate at half past five.
• Lia read the message over Rania's shoulder, her eyes immediately lighting up with an excitement she could no longer hide. "This is it," she whispered, almost like an incantation. "This is the moment."
• "I'm not sure I want to go," Rania bit her lower lip, the old fear creeping back into her chest.
• "You have to go," Lia was already standing, pulling Rania toward her own closet as though she'd been planning this moment for a long time. "But you won't be going alone in the sense of truly alone. I'll come along, watching from a distance. If anything happens, I'll act immediately."
• Rania wanted to protest, but the resolve in her friend's eyes was so strong it felt pointless to argue. In under thirty minutes, Lia was already busy picking out clothes, combing through Rania's hair with care, dabbing on a little blush that brought Rania's pale face back to a natural glow.
• "Not to make you look overdone," Lia explained while fixing Rania's bangs, "just a little fresh. Let him see you're not the broken woman from that night."
• When the now-familiar black car arrived right on time in front of the gate, Rania stepped out with her heart pounding, while Lia followed quietly a few steps behind, climbing into a separate taxi she'd already booked, promising to sit in a corner of the same café, far enough not to be seen, close enough to act if needed.
• Café Lumina turned out to be a small yet elegant place, far from the excessive luxury Rania had imagined, with warm lighting and neatly arranged wooden tables. Aleksander was already seated at the corner table, wearing a dark shirt with its sleeves casually rolled up to the elbow, so different from the formal image he always projected.
• He looked up the moment Rania approached, and for a moment, his eyes traced her figure from head to toe—not with the usual cold, appraising look, but with something slower, more attentive.
• "Sit down," he said, gesturing to the chair across from him.
• Rania sat with movements she tried to keep as calm as possible, though beneath the table her hands clenched tightly to hold back her nervousness.
• "You look different tonight," Aleksander said suddenly, breaking the brief silence between them.
• "Different how?" Rania asked, trying to sound casual.
• "More..." Aleksander seemed to search for the right word, something rare for him. "More like yourself. I like this."
• Rania's face heated up instantly, a blush spreading quickly from her neck to her cheeks, and she quickly looked down at the tablecloth, trying hard to hide such an embarrassing reaction. In another corner of the café, she could faintly sense Lia holding herself back from squealing with delight from a distance.
• Aleksander watched that reaction with a faint smile that was almost imperceptible, only flickering briefly at the corner of his lips before disappearing again behind his usual calm expression, as though he didn't want that smile exposed for too long.
• But Rania quickly caught herself, straightening her shoulders, forcing back the composure that had briefly wavered. She hadn't come here to blush like a teenage girl freshly in love.
• "I didn't come here for small talk," she said, her voice now far more steady. "I want to speak directly. That night was a mistake. A mistake that happened because I was drunk, because I was broken, and because you happened to be there. It doesn't mean anything to me, and I don't want you thinking otherwise."
• Something flickered in Aleksander's eyes—not anger, but pure astonishment, something rarely seen on his usually perfectly composed face.
• "You think I called you here to talk about feelings?" he asked, trying to reclaim his cold tone, though Rania could hear a slight crack within it.
• "I just want to make sure we're on the same page," Rania shot back firmly, her eyes unblinking as she stared into those dark eyes. "You might be a powerful man, Aleksander. You might be able to control half this city with one phone call. But you can't control me. I'm not one of your companies that you can take over however you please."
• The silence that followed felt so sharp it could almost be cut. Aleksander leaned back in his chair, looking at Rania in an entirely new way, as though seeing her for the first time as an equal, not merely a woman he could protect or arrange from a distance.
• "Fine," he said finally, his voice calm again. "Then let's make a deal."
• "What kind of deal?" Rania narrowed her eyes, wary.
• "I need your help with something," Aleksander answered, choosing his words carefully. "In exchange, I'll make sure your family is completely safe, fully, from whatever is targeting you."
• "If you mean a deal that involves me sleeping with you again," Rania cut in quickly, recalling Aleksander's joke moments earlier about liking her tonight, "then my answer is no. I'm not something that can be bought or traded, whatever the risk."
• For the first time since they'd sat down, Aleksander's expression genuinely changed—not anger, nor disappointment, but something resembling unexpected respect, mixed with a surprise he still hadn't fully hidden.
• "That's not what I meant," he said, his voice now lower, more serious. "I want to talk about the people who came to your house yesterday evening. I know who they are, Rania. And you need to know, they're not just ordinary debt collectors."
• Rania felt her entire body freeze hearing that. How could Aleksander know about yesterday evening's incident, something she had only just told Lia a few hours ago? Before she could ask further, Aleksander's phone buzzed on the table, and his face instantly hardened reading the message that appeared on the screen.
• "We need to end this sooner than planned," he said, suddenly rising from his chair, his eyes sweeping around the café with a new wariness. "Someone just saw you here with me, and they're not just anyone."