"I know what you are trying to do and thank you, but it's not necessary."Seda and Lenis looked at each other. They expected Carla to say those words.Max's mother entered the room assigned for the new lady after the other two women had done so. She settled into one of the two chairs that surrounded the small tea table located by the window, while Lenis chose to pull the armchair in the corner and sit there and Carla, trying to keep her distance, decided to sit on the bed.At first, the newlywed didn't understand why these women were there, together, with some plan in mind. The secretary began to talk about her wedding with George in Türkiye, mentioning the hard and the good aspects of everything she had experienced with the lawyer that day. Seda sent out for canapés and white wine as the conversation flowed, all laughter, all friendliness, pure entertainment.Then Carla realized that both women were trying to make her laugh, to get her to put aside the bag of tension and let off some
At that moment, the door rang."Come in," said Carla.Maximiliano opened the wood and raised his eyebrows at the sight of the three women gathered in that alcove, with drinks, snacks, and laughter. For a moment he felt afraid to be there."What's going on here?"Seda rolled her eyes and stood up."We are conspiring against you, dear son, don't you see? Lenis, let's go. The bride and groom will want to be alone.""What? No, don't worry, Mrs. Seda, we can continue talking," a nervous Carla said.Her mother-in-law was serious, they were leaving the bedroom.And they did so without looking back or adding anything else, closing the door.Carla tilted her head a little to one side and went about arranging things that were already taken care of, all to avoid the idea of being alone with him, now that they were husbands and wives."We're going on a trip tomorrow afternoon.""What?" The information caused Carla to turn all her attention to Maximiliano."If you want to rest now, do it, but then
"FAMILY UNION?" was the almost joking headline, playing at not being sensationalist, that read the showbiz section of the newspaper that Daniel Glint was reading that December morning.His toast, coffee, jam, and slices of ham and cheese were forgotten thanks to the absolute concentration that the owner of that city's nightlife poured over the pages."Businessman Maximiliano Bastidas, founder and CEO of one of the most powerful consortiums in the country, and Carla Davison, daughter of the recently deceased Fred Davison, founder of the English corporation Davison & Associates, have married in the intimacy of the Bastidas mansion, this twenty-sixth of December of this year."Under a simple ceremony, the only guests were the couple's closest friends."Bastidas and Davison had already known each other for several years, the bride being part of the Bastidas payroll, serving as head of the corporation's Protocol Department."'We decided not to let any more time pass for our love to be bles
"Good morning," greeted Maximiliano, entering the dining area of his house, to a self-absorbed Carla, reading that morning's entertainment headline.She didn't say good morning back, because, after all, it wasn't good anymore.She managed to get some sleep after the sleeplessness of the early morning. It was snowing outside, so the heating, working perfectly, generated warmth in her room, and waking up, being able to open the curtains and watch the snowflakes fall without pressure, calmed her down a lot. At last, she didn't have to deal with a broken boiler or a boiler that was running at half speed, or maybe the hot water wouldn't come out, or worse, it would come out, but frozen.If she had to travel to London with her new civilian status, she would do so and at the same time would take the opportunity to fulfill her promises, such as visiting her mother on her deathbed, leaving her flowers from her aunt, perhaps meeting again in the cold streets of that beautiful and gigantic city.
The plane landed at London City Airport, one of the six air terminals, the best located and most exclusive, almost always dedicated to business flights.The short crew left the aircraft, dressed in winter clothes because of the mild weather with which the city welcomed them.At the foot of the stairs, a black Bentley with a local license plate was waiting. The chauffeur, dressed much like the bodyguards (black executive suit and tie), adding a luxurious overcoat and dark leather gloves, welcomed the couple as security, being part of the passengers, and opened the doors. After making sure they were inside the vehicle, the driver got in, the engine was already running, and driving the auto on the left side, as was customary in that part of the world, they managed to start the car and leave the airport.Before the Bastidas couple disembarked, the CEO's security did. B.J. and his assistant corroborated that the vehicles they would be using during their stay were out of danger. They activa
Maximiliano could not change his clothes, dawn came. He had chores to do and errands to run, but he could not move. She didn't know that he was watching her sleep.Max felt so guilty... especially when Carla, almost without realizing it, began to rant words about her aunt in the midst of her crying, data stipulating how well she saw her the last time went to visit her in the mountains, how safe she felt contemplating the idea of her defense before that gentleman who supposedly would not be capable of doing anything so perverse.Carla asked what her death was like. He didn't want to tell her too much right now, and if given the choice, he never would. He only gave the facts in a very precise, concise, and summarized way, devoid of cumbersome details that could worsen the strong feelings that were trying to break his wife.He had never seen a woman cry so much in his life and almost ran out of options to help him handle the situation. His instinct was to wrap his arms around her, be the
Carla clasped her hands to her chest, wrinkling part of the fabric of her white sweater.Slowly she moved her body towards the inside of the room. The door closed and she slid like ink to the floor, dragging her body against the wall.Her eyes flooded with tears, and she could not even emulate what she felt, as if the word "lie" was bouncing in her neurons, as if they, the neurons, were "that" word and others, such as "deceit" or "betrayal", were slowly destroying her interior completely.She could not believe it, what that guard said could not be true. Did her husband hide the death of her aunt just to avoid the delay of the wedding? A wedding that (Carla thought) benefits him in all aspects, despite not wanting to succumb to it in the beginning. A contract wedding where truth entertains reason. Carla Davis, or rather, Carla Davison d'Bastidas, felt trapped, deceived, and with no way out.Outside, the agents looked at each other as they heard the door close. It was obvious or very li
She just needed to get away from him, at least away, away for a while, and she didn't realize the magnitude of that decision until her eyes collided with the Christmas decorations, the snow, and the bustle of people making life on the streets of London.She walked, needed to.Bundling up tightly, adjusting the thick scarf around her neck, and covering her head with the hood of her coat, Carla walked around the hotel and beyond, her eyes on everything, her mind elsewhere, and her heart trying to arm herself to survive.Sadness gripped, but her tears were already shed. Anger argued with the former feeling to rule her heart. Life was simple until her famous father passed away; she never thought she had longed for him to live. Fred Davison was not a man enlisted in her mind, she never remembered him, not even to hate him. Between living across the ocean, her job, the gym, keeping her house warm, paying the bills, and saving to someday take out the housing plan she had dreamed of, her Mr.
Arriving at the mountains, Daniel's pick-up entered the second village, a very picturesque place that welcomed him with the decoration of the local fair, and quiet people walking here and there.From rock they went to pop, then to ballads... several songs played on the vehicle's stereo helped them to cheer up, especially the guards. Glint wanted them to feel that this was not a job, but an adventure, an outing with friends. Daniel loved empathy, he thought that this word and its precise action saved his nights and days of boredom and idleness. Sometimes, he felt people inside his hands; it was not something too pleasant when it happened all the time, but in the moments he needed it most, perfection was something that always worked for him."Turn on the GPS," Daniel commanded to the driver, who obeyed, lowering the volume of the music to open the app that would help them get to the inn.There were still a few meters to go, as the reservation was located at the end of the village. At th
She sighed; at least she got what she wanted, for him to walk away to change clothes.One of the things Max assureds her once during those long conversations on the bed, was the lack of cameras on that side of the building, functioning as an intimate area where people could be naked if they wanted, people she never saw, but Max only indicated the two of them could undress there if they wanted to; he did it constantly, didn't care because he knew very well that there were no cameras. For that reason, Carla used to always make sure she was not accompanied, to go with her bathing suit on, however, because of the recent circumstances, she went down without anything prepared and had to undress there, so she took off the gray panties with unusual details in its confection and armhole sleeve, staying in her underwear, a tight white bikini tailored, which she then took off without looking away from the gym.Carla put on the full white swimsuit, gathered her black hair in an onion-style ponyta
Daniel gave precise instructions to everyone. Leaving the original bar in charge to his assistant, he decided it was time to withdraw for a moment from all the pressure, even from the networks, promising to turn off his cell phone by the time he reached his destination.His driver was already waiting for him in one of the pick-ups destined for his trip; two guards from the new team he recently hired, all dressed in civilian clothes, were standing by, one at the door of his apartment, the other in the lobby of the building.After paying a good amount of money to each of them, especially to the heads of the yellow and pink media who were after him, he remembered the words of his lawyer, who repeated on several occasions how beneficial it was for him that the police had Hilary's sister, who was the only troublemaker who could disrupt everything with her denunciations a vox póluli, in custody and isolated.Daniel was in a hurry. Several days before that September 15, he found out who the
Carla didn't let anyone open the door for her and when the youngest bodyguard wanted to help, Maximiliano signaled him not to intervene, to leave her alone.She went up the elevator alone, Max had to resort to another one to get to the floor. She entered the apartment alone and slammed the door a few seconds before it arrived, without missing anything, neither noises nor stomping much less the enormous female annoyance.Max walked in and closed the door, wanting very much to slam it too, but restrained himself. His phone was ringing, but he didn't pay attention, didn't even take it out of his pants pocket. As soon as he took off his jacket, he threw the keys to the apartment into the glass bowl and continued walking with energetic steps in search of his wife, wherever she was.He found the door to Carla's room open, the handbag on the bed, the golden sandals on the floor, scattered as if nothing, messy. He heard water but not much. He knocked on the door."Carla, let me in."She didn'
Carla tilted her head to one side, throwing it back slightly with a smile full of doubt."What?""I imagine your husband wouldn't have wanted to bother you with such a tidbit of information, and I apologize for being the unwise one to blurt it out, but I think you should know all about it. Brandon Hial is the nephew of your father's wife, Carla. That's a reality that he knew all along."Carla didn't speak for a couple of seconds."What?"Yul exhaled quite a lot of air, stirring in the armchair. Age and so much work added to her back a perennial pain that always made her move every time she sat down."It's a fact of life, girl, sorry again to tell you. Brandon was sought out by his aunt when she found out who his girlfriend was. They didn't have any kind of closeness, but he always knew who his aunt was, of course, you wouldn't think the reporter found out about her roots late." She laughed a little at that. "What he didn't know was you, his girlfriend, were the daughter of Fred Daviso
Already upstairs, and after crossing the threshold of the hall, the couple was greeted by each member of the board directors, except, of course, the head of the press office, since there was still a vacancy to be filled after what happened with Brandon, he was expelled from the payroll.Everyone surrounded the big table. When they saw the majority shareholders arrive, they rose courteously to greet them. "Please, come in," Romina D'Marc greeted, head of publicity, who was currently in charge of filling the gap left by the journalist after what happened at the museum."Mr. Bastidas," Mr. Francisco Billabond greeted, shaking hands with both the newcomer and his wife, "let me express my most sincere congratulations on your day, on behalf of the entire team," the head of the public relations department of Davison & Associates continued. "Please take your seats."Maximiliano looked around, analyzing everyone's body language, as well as an inspection of the place in question, realizing tha
One of the things he most admired about Carla, and what Max liked the most, was that she didn't wear the clothes that he ordered to put in her closet, expensive clothes he ordered to buy, clothes he offered her as a gift. She always left everything put away, Carla didn't touch the pants, dresses, or shoes, and Max knew that the word pride didn't fit, she wasn't proud, Carla simply didn't see the need to wear anything else if she already had her closet, one that she could bring from The City and that, to his surprise, worked perfectly, everything suited her very well and looked exquisite because Carla always (proving it to him every day) had good taste.Max began to corroborate this again when he saw his wife almost parading out of the hallway of rooms in the apartment they shared wearing a sublime outfit that made her look extremely elegant and even much more so than any party dress he could have bought for her. A gray-blue panty with vertical timbered reliefs that were only noticeab
Pissed off, very upset, almost scared. Peter couldn't believe that one of the most dangerous criminals that The City had ever had the misfortune to meet was still harming, regardless of being in prison. He didn't want to say anything to anyone yet, despite the need to keep Max and George informed. He wanted to corroborate his suspicions by finding out much more about this Oswaldo Hurtado, who seemed like a ghost.In about two weeks, Oswaldo took him through a line of inquiry he didn't want to revisit, points in the capital, and contacts he had left behind.When Lenis Evans, the secretary of his friend Maximiliano, came into their lives, Peter realized that Evans' name must be false, and little by little, the very vicissitudes of destiny, a destiny that would keep them together forever, made them understand that it was indeed so. Her name was not Lenis Evans, but Lisa Diaz; she was married to the advisor of the ex-governor Jefferson Smith, currently imprisoned as well and not only for
(Fifteen days earlier).Peter was sitting in one of the office chairs that surrounded the large central table of his office, which was the interior of a shed and a large gray building nicknamed Spaceship, which was nothing more than the headquarters of his security agency, one that he created several years ago after specializing in international security and high-risk protocols.In front of large computer screens, monitors connected to several computers, surrounded by keyboards and mice, he was watching everything, still, thoughtful, after having reviewed the evidence in front of him.He was accompanied by one of his star agents, Jaya Takur, nicknamed J.T., who was an expert in communication technology and research, updated with the latest trends used by the best agencies in the world. Both of them, silent, each one immersed in their investigation, analyzed everything they ordered in front of them.The autopsy was approved by the judge and Peter had just given Maximiliano the results.