by Tia Lewis
The day had taken a strange turn. One minute we were sitting in a restaurant, discussing Dustin’s childhood and how much we appreciated each other. The next minute we were arguing and I was ready to run back to the states. I truly did care about Dustin, I wanted him to be innocent more than he knew. I just couldn’t go another day with there being secrets between us. We were on the same side, and it was time for him to start acting like it.
We sat down to eat the steak, mashed potatoes, and salad he had prepared for us. We drank red wine and talked about anything but the case. Dustin apologized for raising his voice, I said I couldn’t apologize because I meant every word of it. Every now and then in business, a woman needs to stand her ground. It was time for me to be taken seriously and to find out if Dustin was innocent.
Bianca
After winning our argument, Dustin finally convinced me to go to the party with him. You’d think he would’ve had enough of parties and big crowds, but maybe it was his way of keeping his mind off of what was really going on. I sat in the corner at the party, trying to avoid eye contact with everyone around me. I knew I looked a little out of place, sitting with my arms crossed as I sat on a leather couch.
They arrived by the dozen, each sporting expensive looking masks decorated in gold and silver which covered half of their faces. Everyone wore a new dress or suit which would be discarded after the night passed. I looked out of the window to see the moon providing a natural disco ball and lighting the gardens of the house which held the main event. Greetings were offered out along the gravel path in front of the house, dainty fairy lights added a great amount of color to the parade of footsteps pouring in the door.
A sweet melody was drifting through the busy atmosphere. I watched Dustin weave his way through the crowds of champagne bearing waiters and drunk partiers with their masks shimmering in the light. As I watched Dustin walk over to a woman in a tight, white dress, I caught another woman staring at me from the busy dance floor. Even though her mask was covering half of her face, I could tell she was tracking my every move.
As soon as my eyes moved back toward where Dustin was standing, the woman that had been staring at me took a seat on the couch by my side. She took her mask off and put it in her lap, adjusting a few strands of loose hairs.
“You’re not from around here huh?” The woman said in a thick Brazilian accent. I looked at her flawless olive toned skin and dark brown eyes, in comparison to my pale skin. I guess it was pretty obvious.
“I’m in town from New York. Is it that easy to tell I’m not from here?”
“You look a little out of place. Why aren’t you wearing a mask?” the woman asked, taking a sip of her drink.
“I’m not planning on being here too long,” I looked back over toward Dustin. He was putting his hand around the waist of the woman in the white dress, pulling her in close. I felt the heat of jealousy flow through me. I darted my eyes away as if I had just seen something I wasn’t supposed to.
“Is that your man? You need to go check him, does he usually talk to other girls while you are at parties with him?” the woman asked curiously. I wondered if she was usually so nosey. I wasn’t in the mood to explain myself.
“No, that isn’t my boyfriend. He is a client of mine, I am here working on a case. I am a lawyer. It is strictly business between us,” I told the woman, lying to her face.
“He’s pretty sexy. It’d be hard to keep it strictly business with a man that looks like him. How do you resist?” the lady whispered.
I looked over toward Dustin, the woman in the white dress grabbed his hand and pulled him into another room. I felt my heart start to raise as I wondered if they were leaving to have sex. I couldn’t help but assume Dustin had bad intentions.
“It’s not as hard as you would think,” I said sarcastically. “Please, excuse me.”
I immediately stood up and headed for the door. I needed some fresh air. I couldn’t believe that Dustin would take me to a party and then have sex with someone while I was there. He could at least have some respect for me and the time we had spent together. I knew we were not officially together or moving toward a serious relationship, but I did have feelings for Dustin, I did care about him a lot. I thought he’d care about me enough to not pursue a woman right in front of my face. I thought he had more class than that.
I sat outside on a bench, looking at the sky and thinking about my time in Brazil. Shortly after I sat down on the bench, a tall man walked toward me from the shadows. As he approached, he pulled his hand from his pocket and handed another colored card to me. As I looked at the red card, I realized it had another “J” emblem on it. Before I looked up, the man was already walking away. How weird that he would’ve given me a card and not say anything to me.
I probably sat there for about forty-five minutes before Dustin came outside looking for me.
“There you are, I was wondering where you went. Are you ready?” Dustin asked politely as if nothing was wrong at all.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
We headed toward the valet together. We got into Dustin’s car and started to head back to his home. For the first few minutes, I didn’t say one word. I kept my arms crossed as I stared out the window, watching the other cars pass by on the road.
“Well I don’t know about you, but I had a great time. I always love going to parties there. For some reason, everyone I have ever met there is really nice,” Dustin smiled.
“Yeah, I bet they are,” I said dryly.
“What do you mean? Are you alright? You’re acting strangely.”
“I’m fine, it doesn’t matter,” I said. I didn’t see any point in bringing up the topic to Dustin, I was going to be gone in a few days anyway.
“No, what is it? What’s wrong?”
“I really don’t feel like getting into it, I’m tired. Let’s just go home.”
“No seriously, what is wrong? Are you upset? Why don’t you want to talk about it?” Dustin was confused. He tried to put his hand on my upper thigh, but I quickly moved it away, turning away from him.
“I just can’t believe you fucked that girl while I was in the other room. Really, it was just so disrespectful,” I shook my head but kept my eyes fixed on the window.
“What? What girl? I didn’t fuck anyone.”
“You don’t have to lie about it! I saw the woman in the tight white dress pulling you into the other room. She was all over you, she couldn’t wait to get a piece of you! Obviously, you couldn’t wait to get a piece of her or else you would’ve waited until I wasn’t under the same roof!”
“Wow, okay. I didn’t have sex with that girl. I have had sex with her before, but we didn’t tonight. She took me into the other room to meet her husband, she got married recently, but I wasn’t able to attend the wedding because I was out of town. Her husband is in the transportation industry, and I could really use his services in the future. So, while you thought I was fucking that girl, I was actually talking about international shipping. Not half as amusing but surely will benefit me in the future,” Dustin said calmly.
I felt really stupid and embarrassed. I felt like I had just behaved like a high school girl that assumed her boyfriend was cheating on her. I don’t know why I felt entitled to Dustin’s attention and time, but it quickly made me realize that our situation wasn’t casual for me. I really was getting invested in him. I wish I hadn’t said anything at all but was glad that I did to know that he hadn’t been with that woman tonight.
“Damn I’m really sorry, I got the wrong impression. I feel really bad for accusing you of being disrespectful toward me. I jumped to conclusions.”
“That’s alright. No need to apologize, it was a simple misunderstanding. I suppose, in a way, it is nice to know you care. A lot of other women don’t seem to care about what I do as long as I keep making money. But once again, you’ve proven to be different from all of the other women,” Dustin said gently. He reached over to grab my hand. I turned my hand over and interlaced his
fingers in mine. It was the first time he was outwardly affectionate toward me.
I didn’t even want to take the chance to think twice about it. I couldn’t help but smile as I looked out the window, feeling the softness of his skin on mine. I always felt really safe when I was around him. Even though he could be a criminal, even though there was a strange man still following us, even though there were probably a million details I didn’t know about Dustin, that moment was perfect. We listened to Frank Sinatra as he drove me back to his house. We stayed hand in hand until we got to the end of his driveway.
When we went inside, Dustin invited me into is room. For the first time, I accepted his offer without any hesitations or second thoughts. He had a way of finding the softness in me. He was always hard to resist. To my surprise, we didn’t even have sex that night. We stayed up for a few hours, laying side by side as we talked and made jokes. We fell asleep in each other’s arms, I could hear his heart beat as I stayed pressed against his chest. I was in a state of bliss I had no idea that I could achieve. As I drifted off to sleep, I knew I was falling in love with Dustin. I realized later that I had forgotten to show him the card the man gave me.
Bianca
The next morning, I fluttered my eyes open, taking in my surroundings. The weight of reality flooded back into my mind. I suddenly realized what I had done—how I had slept next to Dustin, how we cuddled all throughout the night, how I had reflected on my feeling for him as I drifted off to sleep. It was all bad; very, very bad. I pulled away from him, lifting his heavy arm off of my stomach as I rolled away. I sat up in bed, wiping my eyes as I tried to piece the night together. I wasn’t even drunk, how did I let this happen? How could I let my emotions get in the way of my logic? All I needed was to feel threatened by one woman to allow myself to fall for Dustin? Why had I let my guard down so much, why was I so comfortable building something with a man that was supposed to be my client—a criminal that I was supposed to help defend!
I had really let myself down. I knew I was happy the night before, I knew I only did all of those things because they felt really good and comfortable. But it was the wrong decision, I couldn’t allow myself to be foolish anymore. The intimacy we shared last night, was so much more than our sexual encounter from before.
I packed my belongings and had Dustin’s limo driver take me back to the hotel while Dustin was still asleep. I didn’t care if some weird man was watching me or tracking my every move. I was feeling too conflicted to stay near Dustin any longer. Once I was back at the hotel, I ordered room service and ate breakfast while I caught up on a few emails. I opened a message from my boss. In the email, he had attached a file that provided new information on the case. I didn’t even want to open the attachment yet. I knew it was my job, but I wasn’t mentally ready to find out that Dustin was definitely guilty. For all I knew, the file could’ve been proving his innocence, but I wasn’t willing to take the risk at the time.
I decided to close my computer and head to the beach. I had reached my final days in Brazil and wanted to take the time to relax in the sun while I could. Everything had gotten really messy, I had become tangled in Dustin’s web. It was hard to separate how I felt toward him romantically and how I felt toward him as a client. I wondered if he had intended for me to fall for him. It was very important for me to like him and understand him, perhaps he had done everything just so that I would like him more. I didn’t want to underestimate Dustin anymore. He was a very powerful man and, even though I didn’t want to admit it, he was dangerous. I had told myself this so many times but this time I had to take it seriously—I had to remove my feelings from the equation and focus on doing my job. That was the most important thing in my life, and I had to stop pretending otherwise.
I had always been told I was a good legal intern, but lately, I hadn’t been feeling that way. I felt like I was watching my efforts slip through my fingertips and the scary thing was, lately, I didn’t care that much. I was happy running off with Dustin and letting him distract us from reality. I shouldn’t let my desires distract me from the fact that he is my client. I had said that so many times, why did I need to keep repeating that to myself? Was he really so great in bed that he could’ve my mind so twisted around? I couldn’t think straight. I thought of going to a local bar to drink on the matter, a few margaritas always make decisions easier. But I knew the best idea was to go back to the hotel and really think about the case.
I got back to the hotel, showered, and straightened my belongings. A few times I passed by the window and could’ve sworn I saw a man standing outside, looking up at the building; every time I went to check, I didn’t see anything. I was feeling rather paranoid now. The initial urgency to run away from Dustin’s house that morning was wearing off, and I was becoming more aware that I could’ve put myself in danger.
I picked up my phone, realizing it was still on “Do Not Disturb” mode from the night before. I looked at my phone to see Dustin had been texting me for the last few hours. He was asking where I had gone and if everything was okay. I knew I should have responded immediately to let him know I was alright but I figured his driver would let him know where I was. I needed some space to get my head straight. I couldn’t let him get to me again. I looked through my phone little more. There was also another email from my boss asking about the case. I wondered if he was starting to doubt my ability to complete this job, he was contacting me more than ever. I was doubting my own abilities, so I couldn’t blame him for it. But I knew I needed to pull through and show him that I was capable of handling this big of an assignment.
I picked up some of the files on the ground and placed them on the bed next to my computer. I stared at them, thinking through every scenario that I had played over and over in my mind. Every single one leads to Dustin being guilty. I just couldn’t possibly see a way where he could be innocent. I had no idea how I was going to defend him in court if I couldn’t find one single piece of information that showed he still had a chance.
I grabbed my phone and called Dustin. I thought he was going to sound casual and relaxed, but instead, he sounded desperate and anxious. I assured him I was alright and asked if he could come pick me up for dinner. Dustin agreed and was waiting outside my hotel within an hour.
When I got into the car, I saw him in the back of the limo with both of his arms spread out on the seat. He looked like he had been drinking. His mouth curled into a big smile.
His head sloppily fell to the side when he saw me, “Bianca! Come here, you sexy woman, I’ve been waiting to see you all day. Come here, come here.”
I gave him a kiss on the cheek and sat on the seat next to him. He held his cheek where I had kissed it as if it had hurt. He looked somewhat confused and tried to reach out to me.
“Dustin, please. Don’t. Have you been drinking?”
“Only a little,” he said with a smile. “Do you want a glass of champagne?”
“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. In fact, I think you shouldn’t have a glass either. I’m worried.”
Dustin raised an eyebrow and suddenly looked extremely sober. “What? Why are you worried? What did you find out? Was new information uncovered?” He said in a deep, professional voice as he sat up straight and adjusted his tie.
“No, and that’s why I’m worried, Dustin. You’re not telling me everything, there has to be something else that you haven’t admitted yet. It just doesn’t add up,” I put my face into my hands, feeling the heat of my frustration coming off of my body.
“Hey, just relax. Let’s just have a good time tonight, alright?”
“No! No, we are not just going to forget about this and go to another party! We are not just going to forget this and go to the beach or dinner or to a tourist location or to another city or to one of your rich friend’s houses. We are going to deal with this okay. Pull the car over,” I yelled to the front.
The driver slowly pulled over to the side of the road and parked the limo. I moved over to where Dustin was si
tting and looked into his eyes.
“When I was 15, all I wanted to do was work at a law firm. I didn’t want to get married and have kids like all of my other classmates, I wanted to study law and social issues. I didn’t aspire to have a house with a big yard, I aspired to uncover justice. Now that I am finally doing that, I really want to be the best I can be. I really want to make my boss proud and move up in my law firm. I have had a great time with you and doing all of the amazing things we have while I have been here. I think you are a really nice and considerate man that has more than most people. That means you have more responsibility than most people, as well as more options than most people. I want to make sure you keep your freedom and your options. This is your last chance, no more games or distractions. We have to stay focused or else you could really lose everything; this could be it for you, Dustin. There isn’t much hope for people who go to prison, especially in places like Brazil. It’s not going to be a fun journey for you. So, this is the last time I am going to ask you—Is there anything you want to tell me?”
“Okay. There is something I need to tell you, and I hope that you will understand my reasoning once I am done explaining it to you. I met a man named Jacque when I was in Grad School. We used to hang around the same social circles, so we got to know each other well over time. A few years down the road, our companies worked together, so we started to connect again. I got to know his family, his wife became good friends with my ex-wife. We had a lot of fun together. He felt like a brother to me—someone I could trust with my life. One night he came to me and said he was in trouble. He said his business was getting audited and he needed to ask for a big favor. He asked if I could hold a large sum of money for him for a few years. After the audit was done, he said I could keep 10% of the total and receive some stock options. So, the answer is yes, yes I was involved in bulk cash smuggling. I deposited the money in an offshore bank account and held it there for him for a few years. It wasn’t until I returned the money that I learned Jacque had gotten all of it from drug trafficking. I didn’t really feel like what I had done was that much of a crime until that point. I figured it would be nearly impossible to find out about my accounts in Europe and South America. I didn’t think that this would ever go to trial and, if it did, Jacque wouldn’t bring me down with him. He told me if he didn’t pass the audit, his wife would leave him and take the kids with her. He said that he would lose the house and his family. He even threatened to take his life if he lost everything. I didn’t know what else I could do, he was my close friend. I thought I was using my power for good but was really using it for evil…”