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
Claudia stared at the ceiling of her room, one that didn't belong to her, and couldn't stop thinking about what had happened with Carla that day.«That woman...» she thought. «Perfect for him,» she said to herself, like a balm for her conscience, giving all the reasons to her, making decisions regarding her speech, one that seemed to work in favor of Max's wife.But she didn't want to do things this way, the fear prevented her from doing so. She calibrated the idea of asking Carla herself for money to go to the other side of the world in exchange for information so she wouldn't be sent across the ocean. She wouldn't go back to The City, she couldn't! Daniel would hurt her, but she was ashamed to ask that of her, she would not. If Claudia had to get out of there, it would be by her means, and she needed to find a way to sneak out of that apartment; it was the moment. But at the same time, she had a desire for revenge. Claudia wanted Daniel to get scrubbed; she wanted to see him in trou
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.