The vehicle entered the private garage. They got out, greeted the bellman on duty, got into the elevator, and went up to one of the top floors of the tower.Carla led the way, exiting first and arriving in the same order at the door."I don't know why you're rushing if I have the key." Max pulled out the card and swiped it through the reader, opening the beautiful white wood of the main entrance."You should give me one of those," she said, stepping into the hallway of the rooms. "You've got me like a prisoner!"He exhaled a good puff of air, trying to release the tension in his shoulders. The smell of new, flowers and wood wafted over them. Carla walked straight to her room.Max sighed and closed the door, leaving his over everything: hat, scarf, and gloves on the coat rack to his right and on a small table against the wall. Right there, on that wall, a series of switches served as controls for the light, heating, and curtains. He flipped the last one, causing the large, heavy off-wh
"This is not fair, it can't be," said Carla as the vehicles belonging to Maximiliano Bastidas and his people entered the castle grounds and the museum that now belonged to him.She put on her gloves with discomfort and prepared her jacket to go out to face the mild weather. Maximilian watched her as long as he could without creating further discomfort between them. She seemed annoyed with him but at the same time with herself. In the only times he spoke to her, she ended up hitting herself with something, the card, the gloves... more than angry or nervous, she seemed anxious."What are you talking about?" he asked, ready to get out of the vehicle, which had stopped in front of an old building whose façade showed magnificence but, at the same time, ruin."I'm from here; I was born in this city. I lived half of my life in it, and it's taking me a while to get used to the climate, but you seem to have been in this city since before you were born."Max laughed lightly and put his hand on
"Brandon..." Max replied, shaking his hand. "Where's the rest of the staff?"Brandon sighed, putting his hands in his anorak pockets."They're part of the resignations, Mr. Bastidas." He looked uncomfortable about having to give such information.Carla smiled ungracefully and denied, not surprised by so many irregularities."OK," laughed Max. "Carla, I don't see any point in staying here, let's go...""Why have you been coming here?" she interrupted, the question directed to her ex.Max would not refute such an interruption, wanting to know the answer as well."Why don't we go inside?" the reporter proposed.Carla looked quickly at her husband, they both suspected that something very unusual was going on there. They were breathing a heavy atmosphere, they could feel it. Not only the newlyweds but also the chauffeur, who didn't leave the vehicles, and B.J., standing on the threshold of the entrance without taking his eyes off the outside but protecting his bosses at the same time. Max
They walked towards the museum, which was a few kilometers away. The whole structure itself, which used to belong to Fred Davison (now owned by Maximiliano Bastidas), used to be known as "The Castle", which—apart from being so—was nothing more than an exhibition of local, a place where works by renowned artists, but mostly from Great Britain, were supposed to be exhibited. However, Maximiliano didn't know important facts. One of the things he did not know, of which he was not informed before that visit, was that there were still objects inside that place, which was supposed to be empty. The businessman was notified of something very different, and Carla, being the owner of the percentage share of the foundation, was living in the structure. He was surprised that she was simply not notified at all, something that Maximiliano was just now corroborating: his wife never received the same document or folio as him and he was anxious to find out what was going on.As they walked, crossing gr
Maximiliano was silent for a brief moment, analyzing the information."Why are you telling me all this?""Because it's most likely that all those things were taken from there.""Who would take that stuff out of there?" Brandon didn't answer immediately. "Who?"The roar of a vehicle interrupted the diatribe between them. They all looked towards the path; they were closer to the museum than Max remembered. They only had to go around the previous building, and they would enter the last stretch of road where no vehicles were supposed to enter. That morning, almost noon, they realized (at least the newcomers) that this was not the case: vehicles could enter the museum, and how way."Watch out!" Max's shout went off, cut through the roads, and filled the other two men with alarm.Guard, businessman, and journalist immediately moved aside, almost falling to the ground on both sides, when an old white van full of mud sped off through the sea of grass and mud, sparking everyone to flee at full
"I deserve an explanation, where are you taking me?""Where do you think I'm taking you? Aren't you hurt? To the hospital," Max explained and took advantage of that answer to tell the driver where he needed to go.She snorted, but a headache shot through her skull. Max shook his head in exasperation. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Peter's number, who answered in less than three rings."I'm sick of this shit!" Max snapped into the phone, no longer caring if his driver heard everything. "There's too much misinformation here and Carla is bleeding! Yeah, Carla's hurt, yeah! Fuck! Some assholes stealing stuff from the museum that I didn't even know we had. They did everything like vile criminals and that Brandon..." He looked at Carla. "Investigate, do your own thing. That idiot told me what was going on already when we were about to find out."He heard Peter say that he feared the reporter tried to duck the issue by wanting to confess, but he knew about the robbery, so he was in
Daniel Glint lived in an apartment the size of a large house. The place had a terrace adorned with flowers and even a concept space to the left, with lawn chairs set up there, giving the feeling of not being high up, but flush to the ground. Of course, he owned much more, but he adored that apartment. He always embraced the idea of being close to the original GLINT bar, his office, and his workplace. Owning vehicles of various sizes and colors, and a staff to work around the clock, people who could bring him to and from wherever he wanted, was not important to him as long as he could walk to the nightclub, as long as he could enjoy the scenery of the city he loved.Daniel was the epitome of simplicity and opulence, of hard work and relentless leisure, of having a pleasant yet pedantic attitude, a compendium of everything, he was a very curious character. Daniel laughed out loud, made jokes, cracked the best jokes, and had outlandish and crazy ideas for almost every aspect of his life,
Maximiliano left the restaurant escorted by a couple of his bodyguards. The exit was made from the back.The protocol changed, since inside that place, which he knew very well, casually met an old friend. He had dinner with her and shared a couple of drinks but could not shake off the uneasiness of the argument with his wife.Max was not a guy who liked to argue, and it seemed strange that he did it constantly with her, who, it seemed, didn't much like conflict either. But together they were explosive, seeming not to put up with each other most of the time. Getting married for a commitment very different from love was the worst decision made. "Imposition," he corrected himself when he thought about it. And the worst was knowing that they liked each other. He couldn't obviate or forget all the kisses (for him, too few), that touch of her hands on his body, her gasping words, her resigned face understanding that they might as well move on, but her being truly mature in stopping, knowing
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.