The months went by like a non-stop train ride. The husband and wife, dedicated to their tasks at the foundation and the desolate, almost collapsed Davison company, didn't stop in their chores.Carla hired an excellent human resources company, and data was supplied by Lenis Evans from The City. Maximiliano was impressed by his wife's leadership and management skills. He saw in her something he never thought he would see, not even looking or trying, let alone analyzing. He saw in Carla a woman capable of making decisions without hesitation, but if doubts overwhelmed her, she managed to figure out how to do things or solve problems without others seeing her as unprofessional. Her comments over lunch or dinner, while sharing free time (which unfortunately wasn't much, as Max ran his consortium remotely in coordination with Lenis and other employees from the many departments that made up the payroll) were intelligent, astute, and at the same time humble to herself and others. And the best
After breakfast, Carla told Max that she would stay at home to work on some things with Seda, something that was not a lie, she simply avoided telling him the time when the two should communicate. Since she wasn't supposed to go to the museum The Castle, or the Davison headquarters, she left the apartment and knocked on the door of the neighboring floor. It was 09:00 when B.J. opened the door. The woman wrinkled her brow, not expecting him to open the door, but another bodyguard."B.J.? Uh, good morning."Good morning, Mrs. Davis.""Gosh! When will you get used to calling me Carla? Caaaarla. Carla." He smiled, then changed his expression, barely, asking her the famous employee-boss question: how can I help you? "I wanted to do some shopping and I needed help. That's why I came. Where's the yogurt boy?" That's the nickname she gave Boreanaz."He's on leave.""It's strange to see you here at this hour. Are you on leave too?""No, I was on my way out," he was dressed in office clothes, a
For her part, Claudia didn't feel nervous, it was just the shock of not believing who was visiting her. «What does Maximiliano's wife have to tell me? Did she find out about the affairs, and maybe she came to claim me?» were some of the questions the blonde quickly asked herself as she invited Carla to sit down in the living room."Excuse my clothes; what happened is that I just woke up, I barely brushed my teeth, and I'm sorry for showing up this way; I..."Carla raised one hand slightly, showing her palm. Closed her eyes and opened them immediately, as if trying to control her weariness at so many words spoken in less than a minute. Carla simply felt the need to somehow ask her to relax, that nothing bad was about to happen."Calm down, you don't have to speed up or say anything." She turned to the bodyguard, who was still standing there being more of a soldier than ever, more concrete and stiffer than nobody had ever seen him before."Claudia, could you wait for us for a moment? It
Claudia came into the living room with a cup of coffee. She didn't like to drink anything, so it seemed fine to do for Carla nothing else. She put everything in the middle of the low table and Carla realized how uncomfortable it would be to ingest the coffee and converse there, so she looked at the small table in front of the kitchen and asked the blonde for permission to sit there and be more pleasant and comfortable. She needed Claudia to concentrate on her words, about to go out and show herself there, determined. The newcomer needed to create some sort of intimacy or closeness with that woman.The hostess, agreeing because she had no other choice, nodded to Carla and there they were now.Maximiliano's wife asked her bodyguard to please leave the apartment. She beckoned and gave him a very suggestive look that indicated that he could trust her and that nothing bad would happen. The guard had no choice but to obey, pulling out his phone and showing it to her as a version of what he
Claudia didn't take her eyes off the woman."I had a strong confrontation with that guy, with my... ex-uncle." She looked at the door as if corroborating. That way, the guard could not hear them from outside. "Max doesn't know this, and I hope you don't tell him, but when I told him about what happened with my aunt's ex and he asked me if that guy hurt me, I lied and said no," she whispered.Claudia was still deep in her momentary paralysis, her concentration was an ultra order that even she didn't think she possessed."I had to defend myself because I told him things to his face, I told him why my aunt didn't love him anymore and why she had divorced him. He couldn't take it, so he took me by force and tried to..." Carla paused to take a breath. "Anyway... He didn't succeed. I hit him, he hit me in the arm; thank God it wasn't in the face, I wouldn't know how to justify it." Claudia gritted her teeth; she felt goosebumps. "Yes, Claudia, exactly. When you are beaten and you feel stron
Carla was crying, the blonde realized how much the subject affected her and that it was not for nothing.Max's wife wiped her tears again."I feel so sorry for that woman... so much, Claudia, pretty much. It's... No way that I saw only a part of what that asshole did to her, and I was completely impotent; I couldn't help her; I couldn't stop him from killing her."Claudia covered her face with her hands, a quick moment to hide how terrible those words made her feel. Then, she removed her hands from her face to continue looking at Carla."Claudia," she whispered, "I know Daniel was your boss and that you worked for him for years. Can I assume you had something with him at some point?" The blonde stopped looking at her, not focusing her eyes on anything in particular. "I won't assume anything else; I didn't come to make you uncomfortable; I didn't come to force you to do anything. I am not them," she whispered, "I'm a defender of freedom, and do you know why? Because I know the pressure
Carla exhaled profusely and rolled her eyes. Max raised his eyebrows as he watched all those gestures."Max, I had to go and convince her myself. If the methods of persuasion hadn't worked, because I imagine Peter's weren't suitable for her, then I had to try something, something in my power, myself…”"Carla, Carla, Carla..." he stopped her explanation with a repeated (though slight) movement of his left hand, "you followed my trusted guard, my right-hand man as if he were a criminal. You lied to me, and you lied to him, too. Also, you entered that apartment without my permission, where a protégée of the agency lives, and you deigned to talk to a possible witness of an open case without consulting anyone. Do you know how serious that was? Do you know how upset Peter is? And not only with you but with me, because I can't control you." Max was breathing fast and stabbing her with his eyes. His voice was low, pierced through throat and teeth, and seemed to hit important points in the wom
Max looked at the dessert and returned his back to the chair. He raised his hand, prompting the waiter to come over immediately."To carry, please." He handed him a black card as well."Very good, sir."When the waiter left, she no longer looked at him, thinking that he was right about absolutely everything, also about how unnecessary it was to tell him that intimate part of her life, adding to those thoughts’ explanations, like understanding that he didn't like her disappearing and slipping out of his sight; that she was always like that; that she only let her guard down momentarily and added to all her thoughts, her jealousy. Claudia was very beautiful, too beautiful. She trusted him, she knew he wasn't her lover, that he wasn't cheating on her, but it bothered her that, despite being a husband, he still didn't feel he had the right to demand anything from her.The waiter brought back the credit card and a bill that Max signed.He took the small box that held the dessert, the one he