"I'm surprised to hear from you after all this time," Anna remarked as she stepped into the private room of the Blue Velvet restaurant and joined Constantine at his secluded table. Her eyes swept across the dimly lit, elegantly decorated space. "And this secrecy..." she added, lowering her voice as she took her seat, "do we really need to meet in such private conditions?"
Constantine offered her a charming grin as he uncorked a bottle of red wine and poured her a generous glass, sliding it gently across the table.
"Yes," he said, his tone calm but deliberate. "I thought it best to have this conversation in complete privacy—no interruptions, no ears that shouldn't hear."
A flicker of unease passed through Anna. Her body tensed, and she rubbed her palms discreetly against her skirt, feeling the faint trace of sweat. There was something unsettling about the way he said it—something that made her worry that whatever he wanted to say might not bode well for her.
